STATUS Survey Success for Magna Housing Association

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Magna residents have reported an increase in overall satisfaction since 2005 in the latest survey results to be released. This puts the organisation firmly in the median quartile of results from different landlords across the social housing sector.

The results give Magna some very useful information relating to the service given to tenants and nearly three quarters (71%) of respondents were happy with the advice they were given on rent payments. In addition, nearly as many (68% ) were happy with how enquiries were dealt with generally and two thirds (60%) of respondents were satisfied that Magna takes account of tenants’ views; a huge leap from just over 40% in 2005 for a similarly worded question.

David Aldwinckle, Magna Housing Association director, said, “It is really important to us that we continue to improve over time and the results from this survey show us where we are doing well and where we can make improvements. We will certainly be acting on the results.”

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Housing Corporation requires social landlords to carry out tenant satisfaction surveys at least every 3 years, the last survey for Magna was carried out in 2005. The standardisation of the questionnaire enables comparisions of results between different landlords in order to develop benchmarks across the social housing sector. The STATUS questionnaire was sent to a sample (1,500) of Magna Housing Association tenants across all housing types.

Those who replied to the survey were just as happy with the quality of their home as they were in 2005, the figure being a solid 84%, but they were more satisfied than before that they were getting value for money from their rent with an increase of 5% to 79%.

The repairs service came out of the survey very well with an increase in satisfaction from just under 65% in 2005 to 71% in 2008. Most importantly, satisfaction with the overall quality of work increased to 86%.

Car parking was identified as the most common neighbourhood problem, with almost half of those who replied (43%) giving this as their main cause for concern. This is a change from the 2005 where over half of respondents (51%) said that litter and rubbish was the main problem.

Ruth Ashdown, housing manager for the anti-social behaviour team, said, “We are aware that there are a number of problems that cause concern within neighbourhoods, but the information from the survey will help us tackle the areas that our most important to our residents.”