annual report 2014-15 - accessible homes, supportive services...delivering great services 8 small...

Accessible homes, supportive services

Small delivers betterAnnual Report

2014-15

Our survey of residents

homes are having new bathrooms, kitchens andheating systems installed. We will provide similarimprovements for more of our properties infuture years.

Two recent government announcements representreal challenges to our organisation: the four yearsof rent reductions included in the July 2015Emergency Budget and the proposed extension ofthe right to buy to housing association tenants.

Rent reductions may be good news for tenants inthe short term, but they reduce our income at atime when costs for services like repairs andmaintenance are rising in London. Inevitably, thiswill affect the amount of money we can spend onour properties.

Whilst we have no objection to the right to buy inprinciple, we will be concerned if the Governmentfails to compensate landlords fully for the proposeddiscounts. We do not believe that hard-earned

2 Small delivers better

Report from our Chair and CEOSmall delivers betterSmall delivers better

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charitable assets should be squandered on a fewlucky tenants, if it means that people unable tobuy, or the many thousands of families who arehomeless in London, are denied adequate housing.

In our view, the discounts offer poor value formoney at a time of a housing crisis. If the right tobuy is extended, then the discounts should be repaidto the taxpayer when the property is sold on andthe landlord should have the first option to buyback the property.This would prevent our blocksbeing pepper-potted with former right-to-buy homesthat have been sold on to buy-to-let landlords.Weunderstand that around 40% of council propertiessold under the right to buy are now being let outin the private sector – often at a higher rent andat a higher level of Housing Benefit.

Whatever happens, as with other policy changesannounced in the past three decades – includingthe Supporting People regime and the substantialcuts that later followed – we will adapt to the newoperating environment. We will continue toprovide accessible homes and supportive servicesto our local communities.

We would like to thank our staff and Board, aswell as our partners, for continuing to supportour important work.

Noreen Sumra (Chair)Jai Dosanjh (Chief Executive)

Apna Ghar is:■ a member of the National Housing

Federation

■ a member of the g320, representingLondon’s small housing associations

■ a member of the benchmarking group runby Acuity Research & Practice

■ a BMENational association, based in theblack and ethnic minority communities,and

■ affiliated to Disability Rights UK.

We carried out a major STAR survey of all our residentsbetween September and December 2014 and nearly half (47%)responded.

The headline figure is that overall satisfaction with our serviceshas risen to 82% (more than eight out of 10 residents) – that’s7% higher than in our 2010 survey.

We include more survey results throughout this report – lookfor the green, amber and red traffic light symbols.

We will work to improve all these satisfaction levels – but wewill work hardest where the results are shown as amber or red.

We continued to follow through on our growth strategy in 2014-15.

We bought two houses this year and signed oursecond private loan facility with Metro Bank plc.We used the £3.8m funding to help us purchaseeight new homes at Dovetail Place in LawrenceRoad, N15.

Six of the homes, which were handed over inSeptember 2015, are wheelchair accessible.Theybring very valuable new housing stock to theborough of Haringey. For Apna Ghar, the homesalso represent our continuing commitment toproviding homes and services to disabled people.

During the year, we agreed a new repairs contractin partnership with Arhag Housing Association.There were teething problems in the earlymonths, but we believe that our tenants will seereal benefits in the future.

We also began rolling out our first co-ordinatedreinvestment programme. Four of our blocks havenow been externally decorated and many of our

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4 Small delivers better Small delivers better 5

Delivering value for money

Value for Money (VfM) means the delivery ofApna Ghar’s social objectives in the most cost-effective way possible.

As well as providing good quality homes, we seekto provide our residents and clients, many ofwhom are disabled or elderly, with appropriatesupport to live independent lives within thecommunity.

Apna Ghar’s business plan and policies haveVfM considerations embedded within them.

We deliver VfM by:■ having a value for money culture, with all

employees acknowledging theirimportance in ensuring that we spendmoney in a diligent manner

■ recognising that quality is important andnot just the price – this is embedded inApna Ghar’s procurement system, and

■ comparing (‘benchmarking’) Apna Gharwith other landlords in the club run byAcuity Research & Practice, to ensure thatApna Ghar remains competitive.

Apna Ghar’s Board leads on VfM and holds the management team to account for VfMperformance.The management team cascadesthis down the organisation through staff teammeetings, appraisals and one-to-one meetings.

Our value for money statement

75%agree

rent is goodvalue formoney

64%agree servicecharges give

good value formoney

We earned more than £1,000 morein interest by switching to higherearning treasury accounts.

We reduced staff costs by morethan £30,000, whilst maintainingservice levels.

We opened an IT suite for tenantuse and donated 5 computers.

We provided work placements andencouraged 4 tenants into paid work.

We saved £3,500 by renegotiatingwith communal electricity suppliers.

We gained Discretionary HousingPayments for 8 tenants hit by thebedroom tax, helped 2 tenantsdownsize and 1 to take in a lodger.

During the current financial year:■ We expect to save around £800 on staff training by partnering with other landlords.

■ We will improve our handling of empty homes and lettings by buying two new modules forour housing management IT program.

■ We expect to save £10,000 on our next round of cyclical works – thanks to partneringwith Arhag Housing Association, who are tendering the work using the National HousingFederation’s schedule of rates (which sets a fixed price for each type of job).

Samantha Hyde moved out ofher living room to a ground-floor flat:Samantha Hyde is very pleasedwith her new home, after getting amove to Shepherd’s Close inAugust 2015.

Until recently, Samantha lived in ahouse. However, as a wheelchairuser, she had been stuck on theground floor for a very long time– sleeping in her living room andunable to use her shower or bath,or any of the upper floors.

What weachievedValue for m

oney

57%happy with

benefits advicewe gave

Now Samantha, who has round-the-clock carers, has a groundfloor flat with Apna Ghar at anearby location.

She said: “It’s nice. There’s twobedrooms and a nice big garden.It’s really really good. It gives memore space and freedom”

We supported more than 130people to remain independent intheir own homes.

Delivering great services

ComplaintsWe resolved 9 complaintsby the end of the year.

Small delivers better 76 Small delivers better


Over the next few pages, we report on some of our services and howhighly residents rated them.

We use our strengths as a small housing association – knowing all ourstock and close to our residents – to provide good quality services at the best possible value for money.

In March, we launched a new ITroom for residents, with a ‘GoDigital’ day at our offices.

The four computers are availablefor resident use on Monday andWednesday afternoons – and wecan arrange for volunteers toassist.

We set up the IT room to helpmake sure our residents keepup with the digital world. Weknow that many still have nointernet access, and some lackconfidence. This is a particularproblem now that housingbenefit claims have to becompleted online.

The internet is also the place tofind the best energy and otheronline deals.

The IT room is a good exampleof how we can use our resourcesto get the best value for moneyfor residents. This additionalservice costs little to provide,as we no longer needed thecomputers.

Our volunteers for the launchwere young people gainingwork experience from theircourses at the College ofNorth West London.

An IT room for residents

Resident Zuhair Hadi fromDamask Court:“I have a laptop at home, but ifI need help, I can come to theoffice.”

Zuhair is pictured above, with BoardChair Noreen Sumra.

Resident Hekma Abdalamirfrom Pound Lane:“I like to send emails to myfamily in the US, Iraq andJordan. I check the Apna Gharwebsite too – I like to knowwhat’s going on and about thecompany where I live.”Hekma is pictured with her cousinOkba Hasib.

Customer service

We received 10 complaints.

82%satisfied withApna Gharas landlord

86%found iteasy to

contact us

77%able to speakto the right

person

Contacting us

76%happy

when theycontacted us

76%happy they

were treatedfairly

62%kept informed

about theirrequest

64%happy with

finaloutcome

75%got a helpful

response

58%request dealt

with inreasonable

time

Complaints handling

46%happy with

how wehandled their

complaint

86%found iteasy to

contact us

77%able to speakto the right

person

Information, consultation

76%happy

when theycontacted us



Housing & community services

We strengthened our tenancy services team thisyear, when Amarjit, Gujral who used to be an ApnaGhar support worker, became our new part-timeTenancy Services Officer. Amarjit covers ourresidents in Ealing, Hackney, Haringey, Harrow andIslington, leaving Audrey Chambers to concentrateon our residents in Brent and Newham.

Susan Gustave volunteered with us for six monthsbefore joining the office-based team permanently.

Four tenants agreed to become our first tenantchampions – keeping a close eye on their blocks andacting as a link between us and their neighbours.

Zuhair Hadi, Babu Bhayani, Najat Daouma andStacey Coughlan from Damask Court, andSivakumaran Kanagalingam from Rutland ParkMansions met with us for the first time inFebruary.They are now monitoring our cleaningcontractors and letting us know when there areproblems such as graffiti, dumped rubbish,abandoned cars or fly tipping.

We focused on providing better local services and involving residentsin our work.

Day trip to SouthendFor our summer trip this year,we took 49 residents and theirfriends to Southend on 30 July2015 – a big increase on the 17residents who came with us toBournemouth last year.

With sunny weather andbrilliantly well-behaved children– despite lots of excitement –our families enjoyed their dayon the beach and at the funfair,though the rides proved pricey.

Audrey and Susan say that thehealthy snack fruit strips weprovided for the coach tripwent down well, but so didRossi’s ice cream, fish and chips,and sweets from the traditionalshop on the high street!

We let 8 homes.Lettings

We lost just 0.28% of our rental incomethrough homes being empty.The average forour benchmarking group (small housingassociations similar to Apna Ghar) washigher at 0.51%.

52%happy with ourmanagement

of sharedareas

58%happy with our

handling ofneighbourdisputes

Estate managem

ent

52%happy with

our handling of anti-socialbehaviour

Lettings and transfers38%

happy withtransfers andlettings (20%+

neutral)

Mrs EA and her husband andson got a transfer to a two-bedroom ground-floor flat,with a garden:“We had a one bedroom flatand we really needed to movebecause my son, who is nearlyfive, has autism. It was on thefifth floor and we couldn’t openthe windows, because he wanted

to get out all the time. He hasno sense of danger and it madehim angry to be stuck inside.

“Apna Ghar were very, very,very helpful – the way theytalked to us and encouraged us.They showed us how to bid andit really helped.

“Since we moved, theimprovement in my son has

been mind-blowing! He likeswater, so I got him a poolyesterday and he has atrampoline and a bike. Now he’soutdoors all the time. We’rehappy – because if he’s happy,we’re happy too.

“The place is quite spacious.Sometimes I look for him and Ican’t find him!”

We issued our new Tenants’ Handbook, withimportant information about your tenancy.Wecontinued to use our quarterly newsletter to keepyou up to date with our news and give you adviceon issues like benefit changes.


67%satisfied with

information, timetaken and quality

of work

76%satisfied with

repairs to ApnaGhar

properties


Repair services

Our repairs service was poor in 2014 because, forseveral months, too many repairs were beingcompleted late.

We took our contractors to task and things didget better – but we decided to take more controlover our repairs in future and we put our repairscontract out to tender.

We picked Arhag Housing Association as our newprovider and they took over from the start ofNovember.

There were some teething problems as we alladjusted to new systems, different contractors andchanging personnel, but things have now settleddown and we are pleased with the new arrangement,which gives better service to residents and deliversgood value for money.

We spent more on repairing empty properties thisyear – up to an average of £1,745 per home.

We worked even more closely with our repairs contractors and tookaction to improve services and ensure good value for money.

We completed 100% of emergencyrepairs on time. (Benchmarkingclub average 100%.)

We carried out 663 repairs.We completed 94% of urgent repairson time. (Benchmarking clubaverage 97%.)

We completed 95% of routinerepairs on time. (Benchmarkingclub average 97%.)

We completed 100% of gas safetychecks. (Benchmarking clubaverage 100%.)

Repairsperformance

71%satisfied withthe overall

repairsservice

Agata Mohamed Al-Maamiry’smove to Rutland Park Mansionswith her son (12) and daughter(10) has given them their firstpermanent home in 13 years:“It’s been a long journey –everything went wrong,” Agataexplains.After losing a child andthe end of her relationship, Agatafound herself as a single Mum,with little help.

“I tried childminding, but thenthe landlord kicked me out.Wewere homeless and being movedby the council from one place toanother all the time.

“I had a good education backhome, so I did specialist coursesto work with children. Luckily, Igot a job as a teaching assistantand a special needs assistant. Buthaving to keep moving was really,really stressful.

“After all this, I am extremelyhappy where I am now, and Ihope I can go and do my teachertraining. My son and daughterlove it too. They are so happy.

“It’s an extremely lovely placeand in lovely surroundings – withgood links to schools. I alreadyknew the area and I liked it.

“I couldn’t wish for more. I feellike I’ve won the lottery!

“I’m decorating and makingthings how I like it. Now I knowI can stay forever, it’s worth theeffort. It isn’t worth it when youdon’t know how long you canstay somewhere.”

“I have never met such lovelypeople in a housing associationas the people at Apna Ghar.Withother housing associations, Ihave felt like a number, but withApna Ghar, I feel like a humanbeing, and it’s lovely.”

54%happy with timewaiting for work

to start

60%happy with aids& adaptations

service

Repairs79%satisfied withattitude ofoperative

We arranged forRutland ParkMansions to bedecorated.

Cyclicalprogramme



Meeting housing need

Our new development at Lawrence Road inHaringey, N15, was finally completed in September2015, after a last-minute hitch delayed handover.

Our eight newly built maisonettes include twohomes with four bedrooms and six two-bedroomhomes that are wheelchair accessible – whichmeans they have wider door withs, space forinternal lifts, ground-floor bathrooms and a wastepipe allowing for a wet room to be installed at alater date.

The homes are all being let as fixed-term‘affordable rent’ tenure units, charged at 50% ofmarket rents.

We continued to make the best possible use of our existing homes –as well as developing new homes.

81%happy with theirneighbourhood

82%happy with

the quality oftheir home

Homes people value

76%of wheelchairusers happywith their

home

By 31 March 2015, we owned 70homes and managed a further 220– a total of 290 properties.

By 31 March 2015, we ownedand/or managed 131 homessuitable for wheelchair users.

Our housing stock We manage homes in 7 local

authority areas.

Sandra Castano Obandomoved to Lawrence Road inSeptember:“I live with my husband andthree children.We were livingin a property that wasn’t right

Samsam Hassan gets readyto move in to Lawrence Road:“The scheme is quite good. I’vegot an 11-year-old with severedisability and he requiresadaptations that can only bedone in a property like the onewe’ve been offered. I’ve got ayounger son too, who’s 10.

“We’ve been waiting a very longtime for a permanent house thatwe can make adaptations to.Theadaptations will help my olderone to achieve more steps andto have his own freedom. It willalso give my younger one morespace. He’s sharing with me atthe moment.

“It’s been a long process, butnow we just have to get theflooring done, then we can sortout the adaptations.”

for special needs – Dylan is nineyears old now and too heavy tocarry, but it’s very difficult tofind a property to rent forspecial needs and the councillist is up to the sky.They gaveus temporary accommodationand we were on the waiting listfor one and a half years.

“We are really, really happy withour new home. We feel blessed.We have space! Now we cando therapy with Dylan. Hisequipment was in storage, butnow he has a big room and hisequipment is here. We can alsobring Dylan’s adapted bed withhoists.

“Before, we couldn’t easilyaccess the garden, but now wehave no stairs and can accessthe garden and the park infront of the house.

“We’re very happy and pleasedwith everyone helping us, andthe support from Apna Ghar.”



Strong foundations

We achieved some significant financial milestonesduring the 2014-15.We took on our secondprivate loan, for £3.8m, with Metro Bank plc, andbought eight newly built homes at Dovetail Placein Haringey from Sanctuary Housing Group.Wenow own 76 homes and manage 290 homes.

In 2015-2016, we plan to take out a third loan, sothat we can buy new-build properties and 18 ofthe homes we currently manage, from threehousing associations.We are already in the processof buying two wheelchair accessible flats in PenstockHouse in N8, from Circle Housing Group.

Buying properties is one of the key ways we canuse to give Apna Ghar a strong long-term future. Itis cost-effective, adds to our balance sheet andmeans we are in a better position to secure loansfor more new-build properties.

Board member changesIn September 2014, Mahesh Amin and AshokGhose both retired from the Board. Both hadserved since 1993.

There will be further changes at the AGM thisyear, when a further member will retire and twonew members will join us.

We ended the financial year, with a surplus of £38,830 – comparedwith a deficit of £18,719, the previous year. Our operating surplus rose by around £150,000.

Tenant welfare fundWe welcome donations to ourTenant Welfare Fund, which paysfor trips and events, as well asgiving residents crisis payments.

You can pay by BACS to CAFbank account number:00097069. Sort code: 40-52-40.Or send us a cheque payable tothe ‘Tenant Welfare Fund’.

If you are a personal tax payer,using the Gift Aid form on ourwebsite, can enhances the valueof your donation by 25%.

Income and expenditure for year ending 31 March 2015

2015 2014

Turnover 2,215,297 2,010,722

Operating costs (2,022,889) (1,970,445)

Operating surplus 192,408 40,227

Interest payable & other finance costs (156,324) (64,673)

Interest receivable 2,745 5,677

Surplus/(deficit) 38,830 (18,719)

Expenditure2014-15

21.8%

Rent (91.7%)

Service charges (8%)

Supporting People grants (final year) (0.2%)

Rent payable for leased homes (57.2%)

Management and support (21.8%)

Services (8.2%)

Maintenance (5.6%)

Interest payable & other finance costs (7.2%)

Income2014-15

57.2%

By year end we had collected 99% of the rent that was due.(Benchmarking club average 99%)

By year end, rent arrears wererunning at 5%. (Benchmarkingclub average 3.5%.)

Rentfigures

7.2% 5.6%

8.2%

0.1%0.2%

91.7%

Interest receivable (0.1%)

8%

Small delivers betterBalance sheet as at 31 March 2015

2015 2014

Tangible fixed assets

Housing properties at cost 10,337,381 9,778,098

Social housing grants (4,823,084) (4,619,801)

Accumulated depreciation (301,903) (218,917)

Other fixed assets 39,065 33,422

5,251,459 4,972,802

Current assets

Debtors 129,929 170,830

Cash at bank and in hand 862,147 917,099

992,076 1,087,929

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (411,183) (214,648)

Net current assets 580,893 873,281

Total assets less current liabilities 5,832,352 5,846,083

Creditors: amounts falling due more than one year

Long-term loan 3,887,913 3,887,913

Unamortised loan issue cost (162,575) (110,017)

3,725,338 3,777,896

Capital & reserve

Share capital 9 11

Revenue reserve 2,107,005 2,068,176

5,832,352 5,846,083


ManagersJai Dosanjh has been Chief Executive since 2010.Jai was previously New Initiatives Director forLocal Space Housing Association and ChiefExecutive of Passmore Urban Renewal. Jai is aprofessionally qualified Fellow of the CharteredInstitute of Housing and has more than 30 years’experience in the housing sector.

Mohammed Shaikh has been Finance Managersince 2011. Mohammed is a fully qualifiedchartered accountant and a Fellow of theChartered Association of Certified Accountants.He has 20 years’ experience of working withregistered providers at finance manager anddirector level.

The staff teamPictured (back row left to right): MohammedShaikh, Finance Manager; Abbi Vimalan,Volunteer; Jai Dosanjh, Chief Executive; SusanGustave, Admin Officer (part-time); AudreyChambers, Tenancy Services Officer. (Frontrow left to right): Angela Frontin, VolunteerNeighbourhood Worker; Andrian David,Income Collection Officer; LalithaShanmugarajah, Finance and InformationOfficer; Gift Bassey, Volunteer; ShabanaAhmed, Admin Officer (part-time); AmarjitGujral, Tenancy Services Officer (part-time).

The staff


Sanjay Chadha hasbeen Vice Chair since2003 and has served as aJustice of the Peace since2004.A former trusteeof the MS Society (2002-2007), Sanjay co-foundedthe Asian MS SupportGroup in 1997. He worked in a variety ofexecutive and managerial roles at Xerox (UK) inthe 1990s. (Retiring from the Board in September2015)

Ashok Ghose OBE isthe founder member ofApna Ghar and the AsianPeople’s DisabilityAlliance. He joined theBoard in 1993 and wasawarded the OBE in2007 for services todisability. Ashok is on the Age UK panel workingfor a new UN Convention for the Rights of OlderPeople. A member of the Chartered ManagementInstitute and a Registered Healer with the HealingTrust, Ashok was formerly a scientist. (Retiredfrom the Board in September 2014.)

Mary Hanningtonjoined us in 2005. She iscurrently a consultantworking in housingdevelopment. Mary wasmost recently the Headof Development atGuinness South (East andWest Regions) and was formerly Head of NewBusiness at John Grooms HA. Mary is also on theHousing Services Committee of Aspire.

Noreen Sumra joinedus in 2003 and has beenChair since 2009. A qualified solicitorspecialising in employmentlaw, and a member of theLaw Society, Noreen iscurrently HR Directorfor a retail business. She was previously LegalDirector for an HR consultancy and Deputy MDfor a training provider.

Mahesh Amin joined usin 1993. He is a wheelchairuser and Day CareServices Co-ordinator at the Asian People’sDisability Alliance.Mahesh has been atrustee for severalorganisations and is consulted UK-wide ondisability issues. (Retired from the Board inSeptember 2014.)

Ursula Arendolfbecame a Tenant Boardmember in 2012. Shewas formerly aPA/Secretary at Marks &Spencer and at theSecondary HeadsAssociation. Ursula hasbeen a tenant since 2011.

Kaushik Bhagat hasbeen Treasurer since1995. He is a qualifiedaccountant (FCCA) andMBA, and is FinanceDirector for Starz Media.Previously he worked fora number of internationalcompanies and spent seven years with Metropolitan.

Board members

18 Small delivers better Small delivers better 19

Syed Hussain joined usin 2010. He is a repairsand maintenance ProjectManager for CamdenCouncil and previouslyworked for firms ofconsulting engineers. Hehas been a director andvolunteer with two other not-for-profitorganisations.

Varsha Mehta joined usin 2012. She is currentlythe Operations Managerfor Harrow ChurchesHA, where she has beensince 2012. She waspreviously a consultantworking in the SupportingPeople and care sectors. She has also heldmanagerial roles with Brent Council, ending as aService Development Manager. Varsha is a trusteefor Age UK Brent.

Nitin Parmar joined usin 2003. Nitin is a trainingconsultant coveringgovernance, policy andstrategy, leadership,management, andspecialist subjectsincluding data protection.He is an assessor for the Business Excellence Modeland a former Board member with East Thames.

Indran Thavendrajoined us in 2005. He is afully qualified accountantand the Finance Directorof Shian HA. Indran isalso a Board member forthe Tamil CommunityHousing Association.

Equality and diversityApna Ghar has signed up to the 10 by 20challenges on equality and diversity set by thePresidential Commission of the CharteredInstitute of Housing.This includes providingdetailed data on the make-up of our staff andBoard – as listed below.

Staff &volunteers

Boardmembers

Gender:Male 2 4Female 8 7Ethnicity:Asian/Asian British –Indian

3 3

Asian/Asian British –Pakistani

1

Asian/Asian British –Other

3 1

Black/Black British –Caribbean

2

Black/Black British –African

1

White – Other 1White – Irish 1Mixed – White & BlackCaribbean

1

Disability:Yes 4No 10 7Nature of disability:Mobility 3Wheelchair user 3Sexuality:Heterosexual 10 6Religion:Christian 2 3Hindu 2 3Muslim 3 1Sikh 2 1None 1We speak a combined total of 10 languages.

Local authority partnersBrentEalingHackneyHaringeyHarrowIslingtonNewham

Housing association partnersArhag Housing AssociationAsra Housing GroupA2Dominion GroupCircle Housing GroupFamily MosaicGenesis Housing AssociationGuinness PartnershipIslington & Shoreditch Housing AssociationL&Q GroupMetropolitan Network Stadium Housing AssociationOctavia HousingOne Housing GroupPeabody TrustSanctuary Group

20 Small delivers betterAccessible homes, supportive services

External AuditorsKnox Cropper

Internal AuditorsTo be appointed

BankersBarclays Bank plc

FundersMetro Bank plc

SolicitorsHodders LawPenningtons Manches LLPPerrin Myddelton

Apna Ghar Housing Association1 Olympic WayWembleyMiddlesexHA9 0NP

Tel: 020 8795 5405

Web: www.agha.org.ukAffiliated to BME National, Disability Rights UK, g320 and the National Housing Federation

Registered provider number L4443.Registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act, number 26395R.

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