Local Space Annual Report

Local Space

2013 Annual Report

Now for the legacy Building on the legacy Local Space at a glance Local Space in action Looking after our homes Who’s on our board The facts and figures Information about us

Index

Now for the legacy

p4

Building on the legacy

p6

Local Space at a glance

p8

Local Space in action

p10

Looking after our homes

p12

Who’s on our board

p14

The facts and figures

p16-18

Information about Local Space

p19

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Now for the legacy...

What this report is about Every year we create an annual report so that our tenants and partners know exactly what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

John Layton Chair

In our report, we explain our work and our thinking; you can see what we’ve done and where we’re going. You can see the opportunities and the challenges - and join us on the journey.

Local Space – and indeed the whole political and housing landscape - has been changing in the last year.

We have been preparing for the future, and how we will continue to build our legacy. Here is how.

Moving ahead

By John Layton, Local Space Chair, September 2013

Richard Clark OBE Chief Executive

In my introduction to last year’s annual report I said that Local Space was in transition. That transitional phase still continues but I’m glad to say that we‘re now moving forward with both greater momentum and rapidly improving performance.

Local Space is financially strong having made a surplus last year of £6 million.

We’ve been fortunate this year to recruit a new chief executive in Richard Clark, and a new head of property services in Peter Wright, as well as making new appointments at more junior levels in the organisation.

Developing a new direction in an organisation always takes longer than you expect and the strategic review we began last year will not be complete until later this year.

Sarah Ebanja Vice Chair

The strategic review, which is being prepared for us with help from property experts at Savills, will be underpinned by a major asset management strategy which shows us exactly where investment is needed in our homes to guarantee their long-term future.

As part of our restructuring we’ve continued building relationships with our partners. We’ve worked hard to develop closer relationships with the London Borough of Newham and we’re very grateful that the Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales continues to take a direct interest in the work of Local Space.

We’re also working to maintain our relationships with the London Boroughs of Hackney and Waltham Forest and the East London Housing Partnership. We’ve reached an agreement with Hastings Borough Council and Amicus Horizon HA to complete the Coastal Space partnership in a way that suits us all.

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info@localspace.co.uk

The Local Space team

As you would expect in a period of transition, the board of Local Space has put in extra hours to make sure everything runs smoothly and I want to thank in particular my deputy Sarah Ebanja, Elaine Bowes and Andrew Baikie for giving up personal time to get us through this period. We’re also delighted to welcome Janet Marsh and Kene Ibezi.

Finally I would like to pay tribute to our new chief executive and interim management team and all the staff of Local Space who have risen to the challenge and who remain committed, knowing that there are still major changes to be made. Richard Clark sets out clearly the challenge which housing associations in London face today.

It is essential that we all do everything we can to make the biggest difference to the capital’s housing problems.

Local Space is in good shape not only to continue as we are but to increase the contribution we make to housing in the London Borough of Newham and in the rest of east London.

John Layton

www.localspace.co.uk

Developing the legacy

By Richard Clark, Chief Executive There can be very few people who doubt that housing is now one of the top three priorities in Britain.

All the major political parties refer constantly to one aspect or another of housing policy and house building as being critical to the economic revival of the country.

Organisations like Local Space are left in no doubt about this priority by the frequency of press and television reports on the many aspects of what can only be termed a crisis in housing.

Nowhere is this more evident than in London. The capital’s population has topped 8.17million (2011 census) and is still growing. Rents and house prices are moving rapidly upwards again and yet housing production is still far too slow. The pressures on affordable housing are great.

Last year in this report we celebrated the success of the Olympic Games, along with the rest of east London and the whole country.

This year there is a major push publicly for the legacy of the Olympic Games to have as much success as the games themselves. In our own way Local Space is trying to build on the legacy formed in its early years and the rediscovery of its path forward.

There have been a number of stories in which London boroughs, including the boroughs where we work, have been forced to relocate families across England to provide alternative accommodation for them. The new reality means many people have to change where they live, earn more money or drastically reduce their outgoings to afford their rent.

As we set out in last year’s annual report Local Space is on a journey from its relatively youthful origins into a new strategy and direction.

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Building on the legacy

Preparing for the future - building on the legacy Local Space is confronting this new world in three ways.

First we’ve got to know our tenants better. We found out the reality of their personal finances in detail and then started working on the best way of helping them deal with the new challenges. For some people this will most certainly mean moving to cheaper accommodation. For some people it will mean helping them find work, and in all cases it means making sure they have as much information as possible so that they can make good decisions about their lives.

Secondly we’re using our financial strength to help the local economy and local people to get work experience, training and jobs.

And we’re doing this in many different ways – from trying to place our contracts locally wherever possible, to working with partner organisations such as the London Borough of Newham, Community Links and East Thames to try to find work for tenants who are affected by the benefit cap but who wish to work, and also by providing direct apprenticeships for local young people.

We’ve already been successful, as you can see in this report, in recruiting two young people to apprenticeships within Local Space and we are looking to expand that to two more positions.

Lastly, Local Space is developing a new strategy which recognises our east London origins and our crucial link to the London Borough of Newham. It recognises the continuing desperate need for affordable accommodation within London and how we can use all our skills, experience and capacity to help the situation.

We expect to launch our new strategy around the turn of the calendar years 2013/14. And we’re determined that it will help our partners and our current and future tenants to access the maximum amount of temporary and permanent affordable housing it is in our power to bring.

The housing facts in Britain have changed beyond recognition and Local Space is rising to the challenge it presents. We will do this by recognising and building on the legacy of our successes to date, but adapt them to the new reality.

We need to respond to the challenge from John Maynard Keynes.

“When facts change I change my mind, what do you do?”

Richard Clark OBE

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info@localspace.co.uk

Where it all began – our origins Local Space was created in 2006 by a partnership between the London Borough of Newham and a group of housing professionals.

By gifting 450 properties to the newly formed charity, Newham Council helped to raise around £200 million to buy and improve over a thousand homes across east London.

These homes were all used to house homeless people mainly on housing benefit in good quality temporary accommodation.

“When facts change I change my mind, what do you do?”

John Maynard Keynes

The Local Space model was extremely successful and several similar enterprises were set up over the next few years.

And we also grew by merging with Passmore Urban Renewal which gave us key worker accommodation in Newham. And we worked closely with people living in our communities through TARA, our tenant and resident association.

Where it’s all going - the new reality When we look back on the last 30 years of the work of housing associations we will recognise it as a relatively benign and comfortable platform on which to provide affordable social housing.

Rents have been relatively affordable, housing benefit levels have been enough to pay rents and public subsidy for new house building has been directed to housing associations.

www.localspace.co.uk

But all of these things have been swept away in the last two years. The landscape has changed.

accommodation in London has now reached 40,229 (Q1 2013) and is rising constantly.

Housing benefit and the local housing levels have been dramatically cut and some people have stark, and often difficult, situations to face.

In Newham, the average rent for a two-bedroom house or flat in 2012 was £968 a month. But the new local housing allowance for a two bedroom house or flat is £919 a month.

Any household whose total benefit entitlement is above £2,000 a month will have their benefit capped from August 2013.

Partly as a result of these changes the number of households in homeless accommodation and temporary

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Local Space at a glance

Who we are and what we’re all about Local Space is a social landlord and charitable trust.

We own 1,763 homes, mainly in the east end of London, and 132 of them are for keyworkers, most of whom work in the public sector.

Beryl Condra, Head of Corporate Services

The rest of our homes give homeless people somewhere to live. And the people who live in them are chosen by the borough councils in Newham, Hackney and Waltham Forest and the City of London.

Around 1,450 of these homes are managed day-to-day by companies working for the London Borough of Newham.

We’re building communities We’re a registered housing provider, a social landlord and charity which helps house and support people on benefits, lower incomes or with essential community (but not necessarily highly paid) jobs.

Councillor Richard Crawford, Local Space board member

We don’t make money for shareholders. Everything we earn is either pumped back into making our homes better or spent on buying more homes, providing facilities for the community or activities to help people improve their lives.

We want to make the community stronger.

We help build up the strength of our communities by supporting them and improving people’s chances of living better and earning more.

How we involve our tenants Tenants have played a big part in our development over the years, and this has mainly been through TARA, our tenant and resident association.

Mic Clarke, Local Space board member

But we think there’s a way that tenants can have even more of a say and be involved in an even better way in the future.

As we review all our services, we’ll look at refining how we involve our tenants too.

What to do if you want to know more: Call Local Space on 020 8221 4000 or email info@localspace.co.uk Local Space

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info@localspace.co.uk

Exactly what needs to be done hasn’t been decided yet.

But we do expect it will give greater focus on our own tenants’ needs and expectations of the services we give.

And we expect it will also bring us more in line with new regulations in the Localism Act, which gives tenants extra powers to hold their landlord to account. We’ll let you know more in the future.

We own 1,763 homes. Our properties are mainly one and two bedroom homes, like these here on the right.

Who are our customers Not too long ago we carried out some research to find out who lives in our homes.

Ethnic group of Local Space tenants Didn’t answer 1%

The research said: • 40% of the people who live in a Local Space home were lone parents • 25% of our customers are under 60 and live alone • 23% of our tenants are couples with children In terms of ethnicity, our tenants are: 45% black, 30% white, 14% Asian, 6% mixed ethnicity, 3% were from other groups, 1% preferred not to say, 1% didn’t answer the question.

www.localspace.co.uk

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Local Space in action this year

Our day-to-day work this year - concentrating on welfare reform We agreed with tenants that our main focus (our local offer) this year was to get ready for the changes that welfare reform would bring.

We knew it had potential to have a big impact on our residents and for our business.

Our plan was to carry out research to see how it would affect us all and start preparing our residents for the changes.

What is benefit/welfare reform?

• People who have spare bedrooms will have their benefits cut (a scheme frequently called the bedroom tax in the papers) to pay for the extra rooms.

• It brings in a cap on the total weekly amount of benefit people can receive (including housing benefit). The total is £350 a week for single people, £500 a week for couples and families.

• It introduces Universal Credit, where everyone who receives benefits will eventually (it’s being phased in over a few years) have their benefits sent in one monthly sum, meaning benefits will no longer be sent straight to their social landlord.

What does that mean for our residents?

Our research showed: • Our residents and our business could be seriously affected by these changes • Tenants who were affected by the ‘bedroom tax’ would lose an average (median average) of more than £40 a week • Some tenants, who would be affected by all the benefit caps, could lose up to £350 a week (the average was £95.85) But not everyone knew about the changes and how it would change things for them.

Local Space

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What to do if you want to know more: Call Local Space on 020 8221 4000 or email info@localspace.co.uk

info@localspace.co.uk

Welfare reform - what are we doing about it?

To help residents fully understand what it would mean for them, we trained virtually all the Local Space team to go out and meet residents and talk through what was likely to happen and what they could do next.

The project was led by the Local Space housing services team who carried out in-depth customer profiling and sustainability interviews, and gave advice and support – mainly in people’s own homes.

Linmora Blair, our head of Housing Services said: “It’s important to us at Local Space that all our staff contributed to this process and understand the current challenges our tenants face.

“We’re pleased that our tenants are in a position to make informed decisions about their housing options, looking for work and training.

“We’ll continue to work with tenants and local services to make sure everyone has the best advice and knows their options.”

www.localspace.co.uk

While out meeting customers we found many different situations.

Here are two that show how the changes are going to affect people:

Nowhere else to go • A married couple – both in their late 50s and nearing their retirement age - who were in temporary accommodation for five years, were given a Local Space home in June 2009 • At that time they had both of their sons living at home but one has since married and moved out – making them affected by the under occupancy penalty • The woman suffers from mental health issues. She’s monitored by a psychiatrist and her husband stays at home to look after her • The family is severely affected by the benefits cap too – they will lose £36.54 a week

Too many bedrooms but little choice for work • A single mum with two children lived in a hostel before being given a Local Space home in October 2009 • But, right from the beginning, the home she was given was too big for her needs. The council gave her a three bedroom home instead of the two bedroom property she needed, according to the rules, for her and her two children • She’s now studying part-time for a childcare qualification and believes it’s unlikely she’ll be able to find a good job, that would cover the cost of childcare, until her daughter is older • Benefit reform, because of her extra bedroom, will reduce her benefit by £54.81 a week • She’s working with us to improve her chances of getting a job

But right now, there are no properties in the local area which meet their needs and which they can afford.

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Looking after our homes

What next?

When we met people who would be affected by the changes and would be better off going to work, we invited them to a special two-day workshop as a first step down the path.

Joel Inbakumar (Interim Head of Finance)

We will be doing more work in the next year to help people make the changes they need to avoid benefit cuts. People who don’t claim benefits aren’t affected by welfare reform.

Looking after our homes Preparing for the fall-out from welfare reform may have been our number one priority this year but we haven’t stood still in other parts of the business either.

One of the other important jobs for us this year has been to find out what our homes need to stay in top condition – and plan for the future. The asset management investment survey, which is being done at the moment, will help us know exactly what we need to do to our homes to stay strong and prepared for the years to come.

Terry Behan (Maintenance Manager)

At the same time, we’ve been making the best of our homes - day in, day out – to give residents the best service possible and keep them safe.

Our head of Property Services Peter Wright said: “We are in the business of providing homes for people to live in and it follows that when a property is vacated we want to get it let again as quickly as possible .

“All vacant properties are different and the amount of work required varies, but we are committed to reducing the turnaround time on voids.

“We have achieved a one day turnaround on repairs on some vacant properties and we aim to repeat this wherever possible.

Lina Yeung (Senior Finance Officer)

“We pride ourselves on getting 100% of our repairs done within the set timescales on a regular basis and we also strive to have all of the gas appliances within our properties serviced every year as the law requires.

“This often means working hard with residents to get access to the boiler so the engineer can do the work. We really do appreciate their help and understanding to make this happen.”

Local Space

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For more information on all our work and performance this year, see our web site at www.localspace.co.uk info@localspace.co.uk

Some of the “superbly helpful” Local Space team

Making a difference - everywhere we can Our work is diverse. We work with lots of different people in our communities.

And we try to make sure our impact is felt further than just in the homes we own.

Here are a couple of examples of other places where we, and our work, is making a difference.

people a chance to meet with people who may have similar experiences and challenges, and gives advice, support and information.

Our office is ideal because it has an easy to reach kitchen, a lift and a disabled toilet. And the group organisers love our staff too. They call them :

“Superbly helpful”

Deaf Blind group meeting Apprentices are the future Most of us couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be both deaf and blind.

The future has been changed for two young women, who’ve just started working with us at Local Space.

We rely on our sight or our hearing so much, especially for communication, and life without both senses would be extremely tough.

Teonie Hyde and Daniella Jacobs were both young mums looking for work and threatened with money worries because of benefit reform. But since they’ve been with us, their future has a more positive feel.

The Newham Uplift group, organised

by Deaf Blind UK, helps people who live in the East End, who have both limited or no sight and are totally or partially deaf, deal with their day-to-day life and meet new people.

The group meets once a month at the Local Space offices on Romford Road in Newham and gives deaf blind

www.localspace.co.uk

gaining my independence financially, which is very much appreciated.”

Teoni who’s 24 and from Newham and is doing a business administration apprenticeship with us said: “I feel like I’m gaining a lot of insight and knowledge within the housing sector as well as gaining experience. My time here so far has been great and I have adjusted very well to working life.”

Over time we hope to take on more apprentices and change more lives.

Daniella, who’s 23 from Hackney and also a Local Space tenant, is an apprentice with our customer service team. She said: “I’ve enjoyed every minute so far. I feel that I’m not only learning some valuable new skills to help me in the future but I’m also

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Who’s on our board

Our board is essential to our success They come from a very wide range of backgrounds and bring many different experiences to their work with us, here is a little about each one of our current board members.:

John Layton (Chair)

Cllr Richard Crawford

Mic Clarke

John is a chartered accountant and a former director of PriceWaterhouse Coopers who helped set up Local Space and was our first chair. He became our chair again this October.

Richard’s been a Newham councillor since 1998. He was chair of scrutiny before becoming executive member for community affairs. He also worked for local MP Tony Banks.

Mic was on the board of Passmore Urban Renewal and is especially interested in the regeneration of Forest Gate and Plaistow. He also teaches English as a second language.

Cllr Ian Corbett

Nilavra Mukerji

Chris Pope OBE

Ian has lived in Newham for over 27 years. He was elected to Newham Council in 1992 and is currently the executive member for infrastructure and environment.

Nilavra is a Westminster councillor with many years of housing experience, most recently as MD of Partners Islington, a housing PFI. He’s interested in green issues and sustainability.

Chris joined Newham Council as executive director of resources in 2011.

His past jobs also include working for Laing O’Rourke, Europe’s largest private construction company.

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info@localspace.co.uk

Cllr Andrew Baikie

Elaine Bowes

Donford Vardon

Andrew has been a Newham councillor since 1992. He has held many different roles on the council and is currently the executive member for housing and customer service.

Elaine is a specialist in equality, diversity and inclusion. She has worked mainly in public sector roles and has a strong track record of bringing in improvements in these areas.

Donford became a Local Space tenant in 2005 and joined the board in 2008.

He works for the London Borough of Newham and is very interested in improving customer service.

Sarah Ebanja

Kene Ibezi

Janet Marsh

Sarah is chair of Newlon Homes. She’s been deputy chief executive of the London Development Authority and Islington Council, and chair at the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.

Kene is the managing director of an international affordable and sustainable housing development company, and has worked in Europe, Africa and North America.

Janet has been a resident of Local Space since 2006, and chair of our tenants’ association (TARA) for three years. Her work has included our maintenance and scrutiny committees.

www.localspace.co.uk

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Local Space

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The facts and ďŹ gures

Summary of income and expenditure (Source Audited Accounts 31/3/2013)

94.4% 4.9% 0.2% 0.1% 0.3% 100%

2011/12 ÂŁ000 22,705 1,167 53 30 26 23,981

94.7% 4.9% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 100%

3,219 555 1,189 3,675 351 6,973 15,962

20.2% 3.5% 7.4% 23.0% 2.2% 43.7% 100%

2,332 486 2,236 3,275 367 7,559 16,155

14.4% 3.0% 13.8% 20.3% 1.7% 46.8% 100%

Newham Surplus Sum

2,303

14%

1,823

11%

Surplus

6,056

Rent receivable - temporary social housing Rent receivable - key worker housing Other revenue grants Commercial income Interest receivable Total income Management Service charges Repairs and maintenance Depreciation Other Interest payable and charges Total expenses

2012/13 ÂŁ000 22,963 1,202 53 30 73 24,321

6,003

Analysis of income 2012/13 4.9%

Analysis of expenses 2012/13

0.6% Rent receivabletemporary social housing Rent receivablekey worker housing

Management

43.7%

Grants, commercial rent and interest 94.4%

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Service charges

20.2%

3.5%

Repairs and maintenance

7.4%

Depreciation Other

2.2%

23.0%

Interest and payable charges

info@localspace.co.uk

2012-13 performance figures Repairs and gas safety annual performance 2012/13

Number of repairs undertaken 600

100 99.5 99 98.5 98 97.5 97 96.5 96 95.5

500 400 300 200 100

Emergency repairs

Urgent repairs

% achieved

% target

Routine repairs

Rent arrears 2012/13 Rent arrears as % of rent debit

0

Valid gas safety certificates

Emergency repairs

Urgent repairs

Routine repairs

Number of repairs undertaken

Breakdown of all 1763 property types

Bedsits

0

One bed

2

Two bed Three bed Four bed

4 6

Five bed % achieved

% target

Property re-let times 2012/13

Properties by portfolio (total 1,763)

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City of London

20 21 22 23 24 25

Durham Road Enfield Hackney Hastings Key Worker Waltham Forest Newham total days taken

total days target

www.localspace.co.uk

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Local Space

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The facts and figures

Income and expenditure accounts

2012/13 2011/12 £000

£000

Turnover: continuing activities

24,248

23,955

Operating costs

(8,989)

(8,560)

Operating surplus before Newham Surplus Sum

15,259

15,395

Newham Surplus Sum

(2,303)

(1,823)

Operating surplus: continuing activities

12,956

13,572

-

(36)

12,956

13,536

73

26

(6,973)

(7,559)

6,056

6,003

-

-

Surplus for the financial year

6,056

6,003

Balance sheets

£000

£000

Housing properties

336,059

331,693

Social Housing Grant

(35,864)

(35,898)

300,195

295,795

1,635

1,701

301,830

297,496

Current assets

£000

£000

Debtors

1,948

2,659

Investments

6,400

7,000

91

54

8,439

9,713

(6,403)

(4,106)

2,036

5,607

Total assets less current liabilities

303,866

303,103

Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year

172,000

184,000

£000

£000

-

-

103,345

96,541

4,848

4,848

23,673

17,714

131,866

119,103

303,866

303,103

Deficit on sale of fixed assets-housing properties Surplus on ordinary activities before Interest Interest receivable and other income

The income and expenditure accounts show the money we had in and the money that went out. It shows this year compared to last.

Interest payable and similar charges Surplus on ordinary activities before taxation Tax on surplus on ordinary activities

Other tangible fixed assets

The balance sheet shows the value of the things we own, the money we owe and money we have in the bank. It compares this year with last.

This is only an extract of our facts and figures. For more information see our full financial statement and other performance figures.

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Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year Net current assets/(liabilities)

Capital and reserves Non-equity share capital Revaluation reserve Designated reserve – for major repairs Revenue reserve Total funds

info@localspace.co.uk

Information about Local Space

Babra Iqbal Customer Services OďŹƒcer

Jan Bull HR Consultant

Ian Kilpatrick Repairs Inspector

Linmora Blair Head of Housing Services

Industrial and Provident Society registration number: 29840R Homes and Communities Agency registration number: LH4454 Registered OďŹƒce: 58 Romford Road, Stratford, London E15 4BZ Chief Executive: Richard Clark OBE Company Secretary: Beryl Condra Bankers: Lloyds TSB Bank plc, 25 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HN National Westminster Bank plc, 1-11 Broadway, London E15 4DX Solicitors: Winckworth Sherwood Solicitors, Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London SE1 9BB Auditors: Grant Thornton UK LLP, Grant Thornton House, 202 Silbury Boulevard, Central Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK9 1LW

NHF Code of Governance Local Space complies with the principal recommendations of the NHF Code of Governance.

Free translation service Albanian Arabic Bengali Chinese French

Gujarati Hindi Polish Portuguese Slovak

Somali Spanish Tamil Turkish Urdu

For our free translation service, audio, large print and braille, phone 0800 952 0119

www.localspace.co.uk

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2013

Local Space 58 Romford Road London E15 4BZ Telephone 020 8221 4000 Fax: 020 8534 1494 e-mail: info@localspace.co.uk www.localspace.co.uk Local Space is a registered charitable Industrial and Provident Society (Regulation Number: 29840R) Chair: John Layton Chief Executive: Richard Clark OBE