Welcome
A message from our Chief Executive
Welcome to our annual report to residents for 2023/24, which gives you an overview of what we did throughout the year, including how we performed.
Performance was a key focus for us throughout the year, as the government introduced Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) – a new way for all housing associations to monitor customers’ views and measure how well we are doing.
TSMs are a standard set of questions that all housing providers now ask tenants. They are about the issues that matter most to residents, such as our repairs service, how we handle complaints and the way we manage your home and your tenancy.
We have already learnt a lot from the first year of TSMs, with well over 1,000 Watford Community Housing tenants providing responses to tell us what we do well and where we could improve.
One of the areas we have particularly concentrated on over the last year is repairs, where we have already been able to make significant improvements – but we know there is always more to do and we will keep on using your feedback to make our services better for you.
We had lots of other successes throughout 2023/24. Alongside our work to deliver great services for our current tenants, we remain committed to providing new homes that give more people the opportunity to find somewhere affordable to live.
We are proud to have ensured that all 145 of the new homes at Yeatman Court – once known as the headquarters of Mothercare – would be affordable homes. By offering these homes for social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership, we made it possible for more people on lower incomes to move into a great new home at a reasonable price.
An important part of our approach to delivering new homes is to work closely with our nearby local authorities, so we were thrilled to secure our third joint venture company, Hertsmere Living, which is a partnership with Hertsmere Borough Council. This follows on from our successful Hart Homes and Three Rivers Homes joint ventures in Watford and Three Rivers.
In February 2024, we also welcomed a number of new customers when West Herts Homes transferred its 28 homes to Watford Community Housing. The transfer offered these customers a more secure future, giving them access to a wider range of services and ensuring that their homes would continue to be well-managed and maintained to a good standard.
As always, we are not resting on our laurels. In April 2025 we will be launching our new strategy for 2025-2030, so we will be inviting and listening to residents’ views throughout the course of 2024. As a Community Gateway housing association, we put tenants at the heart of our work, and we will ensure that our plans for the future continue to reflect what matters most to you.
Tina Barnard, Chief Executive
A message from the Chair of our Gateway Membership Team
The Gateway Membership Team (GMT) and I continue to work closely with Watford Community Housing and are proud to have been able to continue to improve services and outcomes for tenants.
In 2023/24 we led a number of scrutiny events, which let us do a ‘deep dive’ into a particular issue or area of Watford Community Housing’s service, and really get to the heart of what is working well and where we should be focusing on improving. We’ve seen some real, tangible changes as a result of these sessions, such as changes to our out-of-hours service, a new ‘call back’ function on our customer service phone lines, updates to the policy on tenancy succession to make it more empathetic, and a review of Watford Community Housing’s approach to dealing with damp and mould.
We know that costs are increasing for everyone, and while we would always prefer to avoid rent increases, we’re pleased to see that Watford Community Housing kept their increases as low as possible. On top of that, we were delighted to see that our suggestion to use the extra income from the increase in garage rents to bolster the Welfare Fund was taken onboard. This means that there is an extra £70,000 available for tenants who may be struggling financially this year.
We know there is always more we could do to improve, and we’re always looking for new ways to do things, which is why we are pleased to have welcomed a number of new members onto the GMT. Bringing fresh eyes and new ideas to the group has helped us to represent our fellow tenants even more effectively, and I am confident that the group is in good hands going forward.
As always, thank you to my fellow GMT members and everyone who has come to a meeting, raised a question at a Tenant Question Time event, or helped us in any way over the course of the year to keep improving services for tenants.
Chris Blackett, GMT Chair