We celebrated our 10th anniversary on 1st April 2018.
Since we merged two housing associations in 2008, we've gone from strength to strength. We have increased the number of homes from 4,200 to almost 6,000 and we now have over 240 employees. We have paid particular attention to growing those teams delivering direct services to communities. This includes our in-house repairs team, who have expanded to include decorating and gas engineer teams and our community housing officers, whose patches have been reduced so they can be more connected with communities. These are just some of the positive changes that have taken place this year.
This report shares some stories and our performance from 2017/18.
Maintenance and Repairs
Our dedicated maintenance team works throughout the year carrying out repairs and improvements that mean people can live safely and comfortably in their homes. They are great ambassadors for Coastal, a real asset to our overall mission of providing quality, safe homes.
We have 32 men and women in our estates team, 13 in our assets and surveying teams, 11 gas engineers, 9 electricians and 6 decorators. Our team of 8 schedulers manage the dedicated telephone line, answering queries, liaising with teams and arranging all the repairs.
Last year, we completed over 19,000 repairs and 95% of people told us they were happy with the service provided. When a call comes in and we need to arrange a repair, we ask people when it would be convenient for them rather than try and fit repairs into categories like emergency, urgent or routine.
We take (on average) five days to complete a repair.
People have told us that what matters is that we complete repairs right first time. If we have a mobile phone number for the householder, we send a text after each repair asking for feedback. It is important that we keep learning about what we are doing well and how we can improve.
Customer Services
Our customer services team are the voice of Coastal, answering telephone calls and dealing with any queries. They can take rent payments over the phone, book City Wheels car hire and complete initial housing applications. They keep our social media channels full of helpful information and links to activities, events and resources in local communities.
96% of people say Coastal is easy to contact and 91% say we are easy to deal with.
People have told us that what matters is being answered quickly and accurately. The customer services team pride themselves in being able to answer most queries and have access to information systems that mean they can deal with these instantly.
Lettings
People told us that what mattered was that they got the right home, in the right place, at the right time. As a result, we changed the way we let homes. We now only hold a few housing registers and most of our properties are advertised online and in our office and hubs. The application process captures people's circumstances, in their own words, and community housing officers meet several potential residents for each available home. Our aim is to provide homes to those people where most value is created.
Community Building
We are embracing as asset based perspective to community development in our activities alongside neighbourhoods. This means we are focusing on discovering, connecting and mobilising what is strong in communities and tapping in to the skills, gifts and passions of people within them.
One example is the 'Hub on the Hill', which was created as the local community wanted a place to help them tackle some of the issues they were facing, including county lines drug dealing, noise, litter and feelings that there was a lack of interest in the area and that they weren't being heard.
We used an asset based approach, supported by Swansea's local area coordination team and we provided a property for the local community to host their conversations and nurture their connections. Community leaders brought their collective gifts and talents to this space and are working collaboratively to sustain it. So much happens at the Hub, with a mix of Coastal residents and other local people, from regular volunteers meeting where new activists are encouraged to get involved to arts and crafts, yoga, support groups, food tasting, litter picking, book clubs and more.
Employment and Skills
We have dedicated staff who work to increase people's skills and opportunities. This includes help with the digital world, like getting online, using software, communicating through social media or becoming more confident with laptops and tablets. We also help people looking to secure employment (or change their employment) or access training or studies.
Partnerships
We have continued to invest in Local Area Coordination in Swansea. This is a fresh approach to supporting people to live a good life and strengthen the capacity of communities to welcome and include everyone. Using an asset based approach, Local Area Coordinators have breathed new life into community life in both Swansea and Neath Port Talbot. We are proud to have been part of this journey from the outset.
We know that feeling safe is an important part of living in a community. That's why we've partnered with the South Wales Police and signed up to an information sharing protocol on all incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour, like noise, drug dealing and nuisance. We now receive daily updates about any reports of anti-social behaviour in Coastal properties and work closely with the police on 'hotspots' that local communities tell us they are concerned about.
We attend regular forums in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot along with the police and fire services, community safety teams, child sexual exploitation teams, trading standards and environmental health teams as well as agencies like victim support and other housing providers. The purpose is to work collectively to keep communities safer and stay aware of current issues and how we can work together to tackle them.
We continue to run the ADAPT partnership to match people who need highly adapted homes to available properties across the housing portfolios of Coastal, Swansea Council, Gwalia (part of the Pobl group) and Family Housing.
Wellbeing
The 'Dementia Friends' programme aims to transform the way the nation thinks, talks and acts about the condition that touches the lives of millions of people across the UK. Dementia friends was launched to tackle the stigma and lack of understanding that leads to many people with the condition experiencing loneliness and social exclusion
In 2017/18, 131 staff became dementia friends.
Coastal has made a commitment to be a dementia friendly organisation, by helping staff and communities better understand dementia, the ways it can affect people and the many small changes we can all make to tackle the stigma and support people to live well with dementia.
Arts and Culture
The Arts Council of Wales funded project ‘From the Station to the Sea’ came to an end in 2018. It was a joint project between Coastal Housing and the Volcano theatre company with the objective of using arts and culture as a tool to re-imagine and re-vitalise Swansea High Street as a place to live, work, visit and enjoy.
Activities and events included the Troublemakers and Jambori children’s festival, a theatre project with the Wallich foundation, the reintroduction of traditional awnings to shops, children’s literacy workshops and movement/dance sessions, a collaboration with the textile department of the University of Wales Trinity St David to animate utility boxes and an art installation in conjunction with Ysgol Crug Glas, amongst many others.
Adaptations
We co-ordinate adaptation grants to help people live independently in their own homes. We receive grants that help to adapt homes, including walk-in showers, adapted toilets, stair lifts, access work and kitchens. We also have a minor adaptation scheme, which is used for equipment that is not covered by grant for example, grab rails and key safes.
Extra Care
During the last year, both extra care schemes in Neath Port Talbot have undergone lots of changes after listening to what matters to the residents. We worked alongside people living in the schemes to balance how the facilities could be more welcoming to the local community, while assuring everyone can still feel safe and secure. The doors have opened to the community, holding successful events such as open mic nights and musical evenings and some internal changes have happened to lounges and other shared spaces.
£16 million was spent developing new homes and premises
Cwrt Yr Afon, Bridgend
Alexandra Road, Swansea
Leonard Charles, Swansea
Sir Harry Secombe Court, Swansea
Gower View Road, Swansea
Development Awards
The development team has a great portfolio of awards and one of our recent developments, Leonard Charles in the Sandfields area of Swansea, has won a number of awards.
Targeted Recruitment & Training
In addition to providing high quality new homes, Coastal maximises value for local communities and economies by including social value objectives within the procurement and delivery processes.
Local needs and skills gaps are identified before each new development and the findings are reflected in specific tender requirements which ensures the developments benefit those communities by providing jobs, training, apprenticeships and placement opportunities for local people.
We support and monitor contractors to ensure the maximum social value is gained from our investment and partner with them to deliver community projects.
2017/18 was a busy year for the Pennant Homes team, which saw the completion of the fifth phase of the highly popular Parc y Dderwen development and the opening of Quayside, a mixed-tenure development with Coastal in Swansea’s desirable SA1 waterfront area.
Quayside, SA1 Waterfront, Swansea
Consisting of 22 three and four bedroomed townhouses for sale via Pennant, Quayside sits in a prime spot within Swansea’s SA1 district. Surrounded by local amenities and with the beach right on the doorstep, the development has proved very popular with home buyers. The show home is currently open seven days a week, from 10am to 5pm.
Parc Y Dderwen, Pontardawe, Swansea
This was the latest in a line of successful phases built on the previous Cwmtawe comprehensive school in Pontardawe. Phase five saw the development of 37 homes, 29 of which were for sale via Pennant Homes. The three and four bedroom homes proved to be hugely popular, with a number of the homes enjoying panoramic views across the Swansea valley.
We are regulated by Welsh Government and receives an annual judgement based on our financial viability and governance and services. Our last judgement was in December 2017, which awarded the highest rating in both categories.
Welsh Government publishes performance standards which all housing associations are expected to meet. We regularly assess how we're performing against these standards, identifying strengths and areas for improvement. A summary of this assessment is published annually.
Gender Pay Gap
Coastal is a 'Living Wage Foundation' accredited employer, committed to fair and equal pay based on the accountability of the individual’s role within the organisation.
We believe that in order to sustain Coastal we must draw on talented individuals from all backgrounds to create a diverse and inclusive workforce. This helps us benefit from their innovation and creativity to help us, and the communities in which we work, to thrive.
At Coastal, we are proud that our board has always had a fair gender balance, with members from a wide range of sectors and backgrounds. None of our board members receive payment for the time and commitment that they give to Coastal.
A gender pay gap is the difference between the average female and male rate of pay. We are reporting a negative gender pay gap as, unlike the majority of employers, our gap is marginally in favour of female employees.
While we recognise that this is positive news, we are committed to ensuring that our pay and reward structures remain fair, equitable and sustainable for the future.
Staff Training & Development
On 31st March 2018, Coastal had 240 employees all contributing to the success of the organisation.
During the last year ...
12 employees commenced the Advanced Leadership and Management programme, endorsed by the Institute of Leadership.
One employee passed their final Association of Chartered Certified Accountant exams, one employee completed a Project Management and Construction Degree and two employees completed their Higher National Certificates in building studies.
An additional 11 employees completed restorative practice training, bringing the total number to 82, helping us to improve how we build, maintain and repair relationships.
Five employees began studying Welsh, and one employee passed their level 3 in British Sign Language.
The average spend per employee on learning and development was £427.
Coastal Board
Value for Money
Financial Indicators
Value for money indicators are reported annually and published by Community Housing Cymru. The analysis shows that we are performing in the top quartiles in nine of the eleven indicators. Work is underway to improve outcomes in both areas currently in the fourth quartile, which is being reported regularly to the board.
The figures are for financial year 2016/17.
Efficiency
As a systems thinking organisation, we understand that how we think determines the design of how we work and how we design the work determines how we perform. Our focus is on staying true to purpose, doing what matters to the communities we serve and studying demand to remove waste and strip out activity that adds no value.
Social Value
As a social housing provider, everything we do is orientated towards tackling structural inequality and leveraging social value. We recognise there are different interpretations of social value but what matters to us is the perspective of the communities we serve. As a result, we continually study whether the work is designed to meet purpose from these perspectives and measure how we know if we're delivering against this. Consequently, we undertake work and initiatives that are designed 'bottom up' or 'outside in' rather than 'top down' or 'inside out' which consistently reduces bureaucracy and waste meaning resources are maximised where it matters.
Coastal takes a proactive approach to community benefits and leveraging social value from our capital developments. We work closely with contractors to ensure that procurement contracts include benefit clauses that build a range of economic, social and environmental conditions into their delivery.
Feedback
Our last all tenant survey was undertaken at the end of 2016 by Opinion Research Services. The findings of this survey demonstrated high levels of overall satisfaction in key areas which were broadly consistent with responses from previous surveys.
Typically, we seek feedback on overall satisfaction, value for money in rents and service charges, satisfaction with specific services (i.e. repairs), quality of homes and neighbourhoods and communication.