Access to social housing
We are part of the North Lanarkshire Common Housing Register (CHR). Our CHR allows people to apply for social rented housing owned by the council, housing associations or co-operatives who have stock in North Lanarkshire, by completing one application form.
We offer all applicants a chance to meet with a housing advisor to discuss their housing options. This ensures that we can explore all appropriate housing solutions to meet their needs.
New lets in 2022/23
In 2022/23 we successfully housed 2,815 applicants from our waiting lists. When properties become available, we aim to re-let them within as short a timescale as possible to minimise rent loss. Our re-let time of 32.34 days has increased by just under one day, however this is considerably better than the Scottish LA average of 66.9 days. We continue to review our processes and work with our contractors to ensure empty properties are turned around efficiently and that outcomes meet the expectations of our tenants.
Tenancy sustainment
In 2022/23 our tenancy sustainment level continues to improve, with 91% of new tenancies sustained for more than one year.
Experience tells us that tenancies fail when the issues our tenants face, be it financial or otherwise, become overwhelming. The tenancy sustainment work we undertake is underpinned by strong relationships with our tenants. Building strong relationships means we can intervene and provide support at the earliest possible time.
Our fully trained staff offer advice, assistance and support. This includes carrying out financial assessments, income maximisation and referrals to partner agencies, for example NHS Lanarkshire, social work and Citizens Advice.
Adaptations 2022/23
We carry out adaptations to people’s homes, including the installation of wet floor showers, handrails and ramps. This year we invested £1,375,763 completing 1018 adaptations to our tenants’ homes, ensuring those tenants can continue to live independently and more safely in their homes.
In 2023/23 our average days to complete adaptations was 45.79 days, which is below the Scottish Average of 46.90 days and a big improvement on our previous year’s performance. Our aim is to carry out adaptations as quickly as possible, however different types of adaptations can take longer than others to complete. This depends on the nature of the work required, for example an external handrail can be fitted much quicker than a wet floor shower which needs more work.