Wednesday, 23rd August 2017
PRESS RELEASE
Professional Housing Management is Key to a Sustainable Rental Sector
-ICSH Publishes Annual Housing Management Data-
We need to look seriously at professional housing management practice if we’re going to develop a sustainable rental sector. So says Dr Donal McManus, Chief Executive of the Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH), the national representative body for housing associations, launching the sector’s annual housing management audit results today. The ICSH believes that a vibrant and much larger social and affordable rental sector is integral to Ireland’s future. Reflecting on this, Dr. MacManus says, “We’ve been dealing with the legacy of oversupply and now the crisis of chronic undersuppy but we consistently fail to discuss the importance of robust and professional housing management practice. This is important as Census 2016 tells us that 30% of the population, almost 500,00 households, are now renting. These households have a right to good quality and well-managed social and affordable housing”.
Welcoming the 2016 ICSH audit results, Dr. McManus says “We’ve been assessing the performance of our members for the past 13 years and this year’s results are certainly impressive. We provide affordable rents to our tenants (between €180-€220 per month) and with only 4% of properties available for re-let last year, this tells us that our tenants are happy with their homes and are keen to remain there”.
The ICSH HAPM (Housing Association Performance Management) 2016 tool provides performance data on how housing associations manage nearly 18,000 homes. Commenting further on efficiencies within the sector that reflect good housing management practice, Dr McManus says that housing associations score highly on repairs and the turnaround of voids. “Almost 90% of emergency repairs were completed within 24 hours and the average time taken by a housing association to let a vacant property was only 11 weeks. It’s worth noting that the average re-letting period for local authority properties in 2015 was almost 30 weeks. In terms of tenant satisfaction, only 0.7% of tenants made a complaint over the course of the year and 130 notices to quit were served on tenants”.
“Professional housing management is an interdisciplinary field incorporating rent collection, repairs and maintenance and landlord tenant relations. When you get it right, as housing associations do, your properties will be sought after by future tenants and communities”.
ENDS
For further information and interview bids, please contact:
Ken Reid, Information and Communications Coordinator
Tel: (01) 661 8334
Email: kenreid@icsh.ie
Editor’s Notes:
- The Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) is the national federation for non-profit housing associations, representing approximately 270 members that provide social housing. The sector manages over 32,000 homes for families on a low income, older people, people with disabilities and homeless households.
- The ICSH HAPM (Housing Association Performance Management) tool provides data on size of housing stock, rent levels, service charges, rent collected and arrears, allocations, voids, response repairs and maintenance and landlord-tenant relations for nearly 18,000 homes.
- Key findings from HAPM 2016:
- Average weekly rent between from €43-€55
- 4.79% of rent received was in arrears
- 4.15% of properties were re-let in 2016
- The average void period was 11 weeks
- 95% of routine repairs completed within a month
- 88.5% of emergency repairs completed within 24 hours
- 130 notices to quit served on tenants (0.69% of total tenancies)