Housing Association Issues: Repair Services and Rent Arrears

This report addresses two critical housing management issues faced by the Silvertree Housing Association: resident dissatisfaction with responsive repair services and rising rent arrears due to the introduction of Universal Credit. The report delves into the challenges, proposing actionable solutions inspired by successful practices of other housing associations. To improve repair services, the report suggests implementing stringent repair policies and appointing a dedicated maintenance executive. To combat rising rent arrears, the report proposes a 7-day grace period for rent payments and the establishment of a rent credit committee to provide short-term loans to residents. The ultimate goal of these actions is to enhance resident satisfaction and ensure the financial stability of the housing association, leading to better living conditions and effective management of housing resources. The report references several academic sources to support its analysis and proposed solutions.

HOUSING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Actions to deal with Residents being dissatisfied with the responsive repairs service..........2
Actions to deal with the level of rent arrears rising due to the introduction of Universal Credit
................................................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Housing refers to the dwelling intended for a person. Housing associations can be
referred to as the not for profit, private entities that are engaged in provision of low priced social
housing for personnel that are in requirements of homes (Jonasson, 2016). Any surplus of the
devised budget for this purpose is utilised for maintenance of prevalent houses as well as to carry
out financing of new houses. The surplus sum of money can not be in any instance used for
individual benefits of shareholders or the directors. Within the confines of United Kingdom,
majority of the supported accommodation is rendered by housing associations. The present
report is specifically designed to undertake the two housing management issues that are being
addressed by the Silvertree Housing Association, namely, ineffective responsive repair facilities
and increasing rent arrears.
MAIN BODY
Looking forward to the issues being faced by management as well as residents of
Silvertree Housing Association in association with the repair services and inflating rent arrears, it
has been ascertained that there is an urgent need to come up with solutions in order to deal with
such issues within a timely manner. This will result in betterment of housing facilities as well as
convenience of people residing in them. Further, when residents will be satisfied with the
services received by them within their homes, they will be encouraged to make timely payments
of maintenance as well as rent of their houses (Camarda, Rotondo and Selicato, 2015). This
would aid the management to invest the money received as rent in activities such as maintenance
of existing homes as well as construction of new homes. Thus, it can be seen as a constant and
continuous cycle having no beginning and end. The satisfaction driven by residents is directly
associated with the funds that will be received by the higher Silvertree housing authorities. All of
this will aid in proper upkeep and maintenance of homes present under the confines of this
housing association, thus managing to keep the goodwill of the houses as positive as it can be.
Thus, in relation to the above discussion, the issues that have been highlighted to be solved
within Silvertree Housing Association are ascertained to be:-
 Residents are dissatisfied with the responsive repairs service
 The level of rent arrears is rising due to the introduction of Universal Credit
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To deal with the above mentioned challenges that have been causing discomfort and
inconvenience to people and authorities, some actions have been proposed upon which work
would be started with the approval of everyone within the meeting. The actions that have been
proposed are inspired by the good practices of other nearby landlords. They have been taken to
be the base as it would be suitable for the housing association to base decisions as well as actions
on an aspect which has gained success and is resulting in welfare of other societies falling under
rival housing associations.
Actions to deal with Residents being dissatisfied with the responsive repairs service
Residents have been constantly complaining of the delayed or inefficient level of services
being received by them in association with repairs. In this regard, two actions have been
proposed which are aimed at the betterment of service delivery and ensuring that the facilities
delivered would be effective and timely.
1. The Board has stipulated that strict and stringent policies for repairs would be devised
and thoroughly implemented throughout the premises of Silvertree Housing Association
(Grigsby, 2017). This would aid in ensuring that the services are provided in due course
of time, i.e., set to be 3 days from the time a resident has called for the repairs. This has
been solely done to ensure the comfort and convenience of people living in this society so
that they can lead a comfortable life devoid of any kind of hurdles or challenges that
restrain their quality living experience.
2. The Board has also proposed that an in-charge would be appointed who would be solely
responsible for looking into the matters of repairs and the requests for repair made by
residents (Yu and et. al., 2017). The in-charge would be “Maintenance Executive” and
would hold the responsibility to ensure that the policies developed in relation to repairs
are being adhered to and that residents are receiving repair services within 3 days of
request or not.
Actions to deal with the level of rent arrears rising due to the introduction of Universal Credit
This is an issue that is being encountered by the management of the respective housing
association. Owing to the delayed payments of rent, the society does not have funds to execute
repairs and maintenance on time as it is executed with the same payment. To deal with the rising
level of rent arrears owing to the Universal Credit, two actions have been proposed, these are
explained as follows:-
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1. The residents who do not make the payment of rent on the due date would be given an
extension period of 7 days in which they would be allowed to make payment without
being subjected to fines and penalties (Clapham, 2018). Post the elapse of this period of
time, they will be subjected to per day fine for the delay in payment of rent. This has been
solely done in order to ensure strictness and stringency in relation to rent collection from
residents. it is noticed that people are availing Universal Credit owing to which the first
time receivers get delayed payment from government and thus they also pay late to the
housing association. This action has been proposed to discourage the procurement of
fund from Universal Credit for payment of rent.
2. The second course of action that has been devised is development of own rent credit
committee of the housing association (McKee, Muir and Moore, 2017). This committee
has been solely made to provide loans to residents on a short period so that they can make
payment of rent of houses on due date and do not get subject to the fine that is laid down
on delayed payments. The policies as well as regulations of credit would be prior
communicated to the residents and would not be altered in any type of condition.
With the help of above mentioned actions for both the issues, the Board of Silvertree
Housing Association aims at ensuring total comfort and convenience for residents as well as
board itself. It is intended that post the execution of all the 4 course of actions discussed in detail
above, there would not be any type of query or complaint from the residents to board or vice
versa. Thus, this will result in effective and quality of living for residents of this society.
CONCLUSION
In accordance with above stipulated report, it has been recognised that housing is the
basic need of an individual. Further, it has been analysed that non-timely response to repair
needs as well as increment in rent amount are both serious issues that need to be taken up the
respective housing association. In this relation, several good practices exercised by other
landlords are being considered by the respective housing association in order to generate actions
that can deal with the acknowledged issues. For the resolution of delayed delivery of repairs,
stringent repair policies would be designed along with the appointment of an in-charge who
would be responsible for looking into matters associated with repairs management. To deal with
the enhancing rent arrears, the two solutions that have been proposed comprise of stipulation of
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fines for delayed payment by more than a period of 7 days and setup of own rent credit
committee.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Camarda, D., Rotondo, F. and Selicato, F., 2015. Strategies for dealing with urban shrinkage:
issues and scenarios in Taranto. European Planning Studies, 23(1), pp.126-146.
Clapham, D., 2018. Housing theory, housing research and housing policy. Housing, Theory and
Society, 35(2), pp.163-177.
Grigsby, W. G., 2017. Urban housing policy. Routledge.
Jonasson, M., 2016. Horizontally organised and innovative spaces of dialogue for dealing with
‘wicked problems’ related to housing in rural Sweden. International Journal of Housing
Policy, 16(4), pp.458-472.
McKee, K., Muir, J. and Moore, T., 2017. Housing policy in the UK: The importance of spatial
nuance. Housing Studies, 32(1), pp.60-72.
Yu, T. and et. al., 2017. Managing social risks at the housing demolition stage of urban
redevelopment projects: A stakeholder-oriented study using social network
analysis. International Journal of Project Management, 35(6), pp.925-941.
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