Decent Homes
Decent Homes Programme 2005 – 2010
The Decent Homes Standard is a government initiative, set up to ensure that all local authority and housing association tenants have access to and can expect a minimum standard of housing (i.e. a ‘decent’ home).
The Government has set a target to ensure that all public sector housing meets set standards of decency by 2010. In order to meet this target, Housing Associations, including “Johnnie” Johnson Housing, are being asked to report on the levels of non-decent housing and show how we are developing an investment strategy, in order to tackle any problems and to measure progress towards improvement.
- What is a decent home?
- How will you assess my home for the decent homes standard?
- How will you pay for any improvement works?
- Is the 3-year plan for planned maintenance part of meeting the decent homes standard?
- What else are you doing to meet our obligations for decent homes?
- How can I find out more?
In basic terms, a decent home is one that is wind and weather tight, warm and has modern facilities.
The Government’s minimum standard set for decent homes means that for a home to be defined as ‘decent’ it must meet the following criteria:
- It meets the current statutory minimum standard for housing
Currently the minimum standard for housing is known as the Housing Health & Safety Rating System (HHSRS), which assesses health and safety hazards in the home.
- It is in a reasonable state of repair
A home is considered to be in a reasonable state of repair, unless:
- one or more key building components are old and, because of their condition, need replacing or major repair; or
- two or more other building components are old and, because of their condition, need replacing or major repair
- it has reasonably modern facilities and services
Homes which fail to meet this standard are those which lack 3 or more of the following:
- a reasonably modern kitchen which is 20 years old or less
- a kitchen with adequate space and layout
- a reasonably modern bathroom which is 30 years old or less
- an appropriately located bathroom and WC
- adequate insulation against external noise, where external noise is a
problem - adequate size and layout of common areas for blocks of flats
- it provides a reasonable degree of thermal comfort
This means that your home must have both effective insulation and efficient heating. The heating system should be one of the following:
- gas or oil programmable central heating
- electric storage heaters
- LPG/solid fuel central heating
The specification for insulation depends on the heating system used and the nature of the dwelling:
- gas/oil heating – cavity walls should be insulated and lofts should have minimum 50mm insulation
- storage heaters/LPG/Solid fuel heating – cavity walls should be insulated and lofts should have minimum 200mm insulation
How will you assess my home for the decent homes standard?
Your home is continuously assessed for compliance to meet the decent homes standard, through ‘stock condition surveys’ and the information from these surveys is recorded onto a database. “Johnnie” Johnson Housing last completed a stock condition survey in 2003/04.
In the past 18 months we have put in place a new Asset Management system, which incorporates a new stock condition database to meet recent changes to ‘Decent Homes’. The surveying department is now underway with the collection of new data using the latest hardware to record live data whilst out on site. The new condition surveys are programmed for completion by April 2007.
How will you pay for improvement works?
In 2004 we identified the need to increase investment in existing stock .For comparison purposes the budget for 2004/05 was £3,839,903, which increased to £6,571,937 for 2005/06, this is a 58% increase in actual funding terms. This level of investment is set to continue, as previously published in our Newslink magazine.
Is the 3-year plan for planned maintenance part of meeting the decent homes target?
The 3-year plan has been designed to capture all elements of planned works linking it to the stock condition survey data, which incorporates the decent homes standard.
It will inform you of proposed works that have been planned for your property and also to provide you with the opportunity to comment or request changes to the plan when consulted on an annual basis. To view the plan click here.
What else are you doing to meet your obligations for decent homes?
We acknowledge the importance of the Governments Decent Homes standard as a minimum standard. Our objective, subject to sufficient resources, is to better the Government's decent homes minimum standard by the introduction of the ‘Johnnie’ Johnson Housing Trust Standard. This standard surpasses the Governments Decent Homes Standard and also recognise the different needs of our customers. This proposal was met with full support when we consulted the Tenant Involvement Panels in Spring 2006.
The introduction of the new Asset Management system will benefit the organisation by providing quality data that is comprehensive and accurate for future financial forecasting that will provide effective budget setting to spend monies in areas of greatest need.
More detailed information on the standard can be obtained from the government website http://www.communities.gov.uk
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