The Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH ) has published the results of the 2020 Social Housing Tenant Satisfaction Survey.
Key findings of this, the most comprehensive housing association tenant survey to date, confirm that 90 percent of participating housing association tenants are satisfied with the services they receive. Tenants have identified good quality housing (93 percent ), efficient repairs service (88 percent ) and estate management (82 percent ) as the most important services provided by their housing association.
“The 2020 survey follows on from our first ever sector-wide survey commissioned in 2017, and ICSH members are hugely encouraged by this year’s findings, particularly in the area of tenant engagement and communication. Ninety one percent of tenants felt that they are kept well informed by their housing association of issues impacting them. This is up from 73 percent in 2017.
"Critically for 2020, and during what was an extremely challenging year for the sector, 81 percent of tenants stated that they were satisfied with services over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. ICSH members have stepped up in 2020 to ensure tenants feel safe and secure in their affordable homes.
“The fact that tenants have rated the quality and energy efficiency of their homes so highly is a very important metric. Since the first survey in 2017, our sector has increased its social housing stock by over 20 percent, and we have an important climate mitigation role to play, in terms of innovating with increasingly more energy efficient homes, and rolling-out deep retrofits of our existing stock. The survey findings are overwhelmingly positive and testament to the dedication of housing association teams managing almost 40,000 social homes across the length and breadth of Ireland," Donal McManus, ICSH Chief Executive, said.
The 2020 survey provides the non-profit housing sector with robust data to illustrate a well-performing sector committed to tenant satisfaction. High levels of performance continue in areas such as staff responsiveness, communications and tenant participation, as well as the build quality of homes and the associated reduction in fuel poverty. However, it also identifies other areas that require further improvements, such as the handling of anti-social behaviour (with Covid-19 Government restrictions proving particularly relevant ).
The survey also continues to raise important questions for the sector on attitudes to home ownership, providing improved accessibility in housing association schemes and retrofitting older stock to improve energy efficiency. The ICSH and housing associations believe that strong housing management is key to a successful social housing sector where tenants can enjoy long-term security of tenure at affordable rents.
