North Devon Homes shares 2023/24 annual report with customers

Customers of North Devon Homes will have recently received a copy of the 2023/24 annual report.

This yearly publication is designed by customers, for customers. As a community landlord, North Devon Homes (NDH) prides itself on listening to the customers’ voice, being open and honest and keeping customers informed. The sharing of the annual report is just one of the ways they do this.

I am chair of the Customer Board Partnership (CBP) and I work with a team of 'involved customers' to ensure the wellbeing of customers is at the heart of every decision made.

We have the opportunity to bring the voice of the customer to the decision-making process at NDH and get to see, first-hand, the changes that NDH make, based on our customer involvement.

Who better to tell NDH where they need to improve than the people who live in their homes and use their services every day?
I believe that this collaboration means that everyone at NDH works hard to improve our homes and our lives as much as possible. It also means that we can hold them accountable when things go wrong and help them put things in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

We worked with NDH to create this report which gives a thorough breakdown of how we are performing and our achievements over the past year. The report also details areas that need more work and areas where we can work together to make improvements over the next 12 months.

Some of the highlights that have been achieved over the last year include:

• 280 families given a new home to live in
• £3.7 million invested in customers’ homes which included 202 new kitchens, 27 new bathrooms, 179 new boilers, 202 new doors, 13 new roofs and 17 rewires
• £1 million spent on routine maintenance including gas certificates for 100% of homes, 672 electrical inspections, 84 new fire doors, 155 fire risk assessments, 161 appliances tested, 42 appliances replaced, and 208 homes checked for radon gas
• 448 damp, mould and condensation surveys completed
• £379,190 of additional income secured for customers aged over 65 through our Independent Age funded project
• The Hardship Fund continued to help customers in need including £7,194 in fuel vouchers, £15,389 Home Movers Fund payments and £12,571 crisis payments
• 92% of customers said our Customer Care Advisers are friendly and helpful
• 160 compliments were received
• 89% of customers are satisfied with our repairs service
• 96.5% of customers are satisfied with our planned maintenance service
• 50 people were supported with safeguarding concerns
• 229 people given specialise support with areas such as mental health, money or drug issues
• 177 people supported to live independently
• 13 new social rent homes built
• 0 evictions carried out

As a customer of North Devon Homes myself, I know how challenging times are for both customers and for NDH with rising costs for everyone.

However, I am heartened to see first hand the level of support and care from everyone in Team NDH in supporting customers and helping them to sustain their tenancies.
Our team of involved customers will continue to work for our fellow customers, with the team at NDH, to offer our support and the customer view.

If you are a customer of North Devon Homes and would like to get more involved in sharing your views and improving services, please contact customercare@ndh-ltd.co.uk

Our annual report is available to view on our website: www.ndh-ltd.co.uk