Safe and warm homes
We want to provide homes and places residents are proud of and help create a more sustainable future for the neighbourhoods where we work.
By 2030 we will be:
- Maintaining safe, comfortable and good-quality homes. This means that 100% of homes meet the settle standard.
- Providing safe and good-quality homes for new residents. This means that 100% of lettings meet the settle empty homes standard.
- Improving the energy efficiency of homes so they are warm. This means that 100% of homes are at EPC C or above by 2030.
- Progressing on our journey to Net Zero Carbon.
By 2030:
100% landlord compliance
100% of homes meet the settle standards
All homes at EPC C or above
Repairs – 95% satisfaction with time taken
Providing safe and warm homes is at the heart of our responsibilities as a landlord at settle. We take all of our commitments in this area extremely seriously.
Throughout our previous plan, we maintained 100% completion of fire safety assessments and had 100% of gas safety certificates in place. We also maintained near 100% of electrical safety certificates in place, where these are due within 5 years, achieving at least 98% or above.
We also more than doubled the amount we spend on planned investment in homes, replacing things like kitchens, bathrooms, windows and doors. We increased this investment from £7.5m during 2019/20 to £14m in 2023/24.
How do we know these are the areas to focus on?
We know that the areas linked to providing safe and warm homes remain the highest priority to residents. This is highlighted through resident feedback informing development of our 2030 plan, and wider insight we have through areas including feedback on the Tenant Satisfaction Measures and complaints.
From over 200 responses to the surveys informing this plan, the most important theme residents believe we should focus on is investment in homes.
The priorities we are working to around providing safe and warm homes are of course also reflected in the regulatory environment.
The government requires all properties for which we and other social landlords are responsible to achieve an energy performance band rating of at least C by 2030.
We have rightly seen a spotlight on the quality of homes provided to all social housing tenants, with the Social Housing Regulation Act becoming law in July 2023, new consumer regulations coming into force from 1 April 2024 and proposals to launch Awaab’s Law being developed at time of launching this plan.
How will we know we are achieving these ambitions?
We will work to maintain 100% compliance with all landlord safety requirements and the Decent Homes Standard throughout this plan. We would also expect to meet the requirements confirmed as part of Awaab’s Law.
Our targets reflect our ambitions to deliver the settle standards. These are based on the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard and go beyond this, by ensuring that things like kitchens, bathrooms, windows and roofs are updated when needed. Sometimes this will be completed before the requirements set out in the Decent Homes Standard.
The settle standards set out a way of working across our services at settle, based on our intention to provide homes that are not just compliant with the requirements on us as landlords, but go beyond this to ensure homes are comfortable to live in. We do this because we are driven by putting residents first and our 2030 vision of providing a safe, comfortable and affordable home for every household.
We will monitor the overall progress we make by ensuring that we are meeting 100% of the settle standards by 2030.
We will set metrics and targets for each of the ambitions we have set ourselves in this area, particularly linked to service provision and the Tenant Satisfaction Measures. These will include:
- Repairs - they will be completed quickly and efficiently with feedback scoring above 95% satisfaction for time taken.
- Planned investment – we will continue to make progress on planned investment and achieve high levels of resident satisfaction with work completed.
- Empty homes - residents moving into a settle property will feel immediately at home due to the good standard of works completed before they move in. This means meeting the settle empty homes standard. Our standard will be in the top 25% of housing associations based on resident feedback. We want colleagues to be proud of the homes we provide.
Warmer homes
In March 2023 we were awarded funding through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to improve the energy efficiency of settle homes, as part of our Greener Herts partnership with two other Hertfordshire-based housing associations and one other Hertfordshire-based local authority. Our first measure will be to complete commitments of this funding within two years of this being awarded, so that these homes will have benefitted from investment works, bringing them up to an EPC Band C.
Throughout the plan, we will continue to leverage opportunities for grant funding so that all settle homes and our workplaces are at EPC C and above by 2030.
Over the coming years, the technology supporting warmer and more sustainable homes will no doubt continue to evolve. By the end of this plan we expect to have increased our use of this technology, particularly through modern heating systems, to improve the thermal comfort of properties and support delivery of the ambitions we have set.
