Building on success: North & East Housing Association announces a new Strategic Plan for 2020–2024

North & East Housing Association is launching a new Strategic Plan for 2020-2024, having delivered on our previous strategic objective of delivering 700 homes by the end of 2020, this has effectively seen the doubling of the housing in management since 2016.

From its Incorporation in 1993, North & East has focused on the simple philosophy of providing quality homes while supporting tenants to build communities. Having reached its previous strategic objective of delivering 700 homes by the end of 2020, this successful outcome has brought a doubling of the homes in management since 2016.

The Association has made real progress in the past five years, but it now needs to go further. North & East plans to build on the work of the successful strategy to increase its portfolio of homes owned or leased to 1,100 by 2024.

In recognising the changing demographic profile of both its residents and of the wider community; the Association will seek opportunities in partnership with other agencies, to provide housing for older people and those with special needs. It will also consider opportunities to participate in affordable housing projects.

North & East believes in strong and transparent governance and is fully compliant with all relevant regulatory frameworks. The Association will continue to invest resources and expertise to ensure the new Strategy is underpinned by this ongoing commitment.

North & East will continue to place tenants at the heart of its activities. In 2019, it launched its first ever Tenant Engagement Strategy. The three-year strategy lays out a commitment to engage, communicate and actively listen to the tenants of North & East. This will ensure a better understanding of tenants’ experiences and will affect the decisions made in all areas of the organisation.

“North & East will continue to place tenants at the heart of its activities. In 2019, it launched its first ever Tenant Engagement Strategy.”

One of the first objectives in the strategy was to conduct the Association’s first ever survey of its tenants to understand the baseline position when it comes to tenant experience and satisfaction. The Association is satisfied with the positive outcome of the survey but knows it can do even better.

Having listened to its tenants’ views, North & East recognises the need to provide an improved, easier to access and more consistent service. The Association will do a significant amount of work to appreciate the effectiveness of the services it delivers. An important part of this is having the latest information on its homes from stock condition surveys. This information will allow for proactive maintenance, which in turn will reduce the financial impact of emergency repairs.

North & East realises that it cannot achieve all this alone. It plans to continue building on existing partnerships and developing new ones both in the sector and further afield. The Association is committed to working with statutory bodies including local authorities, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Housing Agency and the HSE, as well as with other voluntary agencies (including care providers); with AHBs and private partners including developers and lenders and the Housing Finance Agency. It will continue to participate in governance and policy development activities, such as with the Irish Council for Social Housing.

Internally, North & East plans to consolidate its organisation by recruiting relevant expertise, increasing collaboration across the organisation, providing more training opportunities for its staff and modernising its digital infrastructure. The Association will further implement management and governance structures such as risk management and asset management that will underpin an expanded scale of activity.

North & East Housing Association is a value-based organisation and its values are meaningful throughout the organisation.. All North & East projects are underpinned by the aims of being tenant centred, trustworthy and collaborative. North & East’s Strategic Plan 2020-2024 sets out a series of strategic aims and objectives, each of which will help to deliver an enhanced level of service and tenant satisfaction within a financially sustainable business model.

These aims are backed up by clear performance metrics and will be delivered by a dedicated team. North & East Housing Association is poised for growth albeit in an operating environment of great uncertainty which will bring both opportunities and risks. This plan aims to minimise the risks and make the most of the opportunities. The Association remains confident it can deal with both.

T: 01 820 0002
E: info@neha.ie
W: www.northandeast.ie