20.05.08 - MAGNA WEST SOMERSET HOUSING ASSOCIATION SCORE HIGH IN MIDST OF CREDIT CRUNCH

The impact of the ‘credit crunch’ is high on many people’s list of priorities at the moment. So in the current financial climate, it was good for Magna West Somerset Housing Association (MWSHA) to learn that its residents feel that the rent they pay for their homes represents good value for money. That, was the response received recently after survey results showed that an encouraging 84% of residents who responded felt that their rent was either fairly good (40%), or very good (44%), value for money.

MWSHA commissioned an anonymous survey of 1,500 of its residents to assess satisfaction levels with its services. The survey was undertaken by the National Housing Federation and the results have just recently been released showing that its residents are more than satisfied with their landlord’s service.

A similar survey was carried out in 2005 and although results were good then, the Somerset based association (which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year) has improved even further.

Of those residents surveyed, 89% said they were satisfied with the overall service that MWSHA provides. As an extra compliment, just under half of those (43%), said they were ‘very satisfied’.

To help MWSHA make comparisons its results were compared with a group of 10 similarly sized housing associations across the south west. Results have compared favourably and in many areas MWSHA has performed higher than the average for its peer group. In fact the response of 89% satisfaction with the overall service was in fact joint highest in its group.

In addition, residents were satisfied with the Association’s repairs and maintenance service. 86% of residents who responded were satisfied with the service, being 9% higher than average for its peer group. This is praise indeed, given that residents highlighted repairs and maintenance as their single most important service.

MWSHA Director, Tony Murray, was very pleased with the response, “We’ve had very good results over the last few surveys, improving year on year. However, it was still impressive to see still further improvement and indeed to see that we compare so favourably with other associations.”

Staff at the frontline were also commended by way of high levels of satisfaction with customer contact. Residents who had contact with MWSHA staff in the last 12 months scored them highly on getting hold of the right person, helpfulness of staff and dealing with the problem.

Tony Murray adds, “These results are testament to the continuing hard work of all our staff. Continuous improvement is what we aim for however and so we won’t be resting on our laurels. There is always some room for improvement and we will be looking closely at any weak areas where service could be still be improved for our customers.”

 

Last updated 20.05.08