Sandwell Homes named Social Landlord of the Year

Thursday 3rd June 2010

Sandwell Homes has been recognised at a prestigious national awards ceremony as the best performing regional social landlord in the country.

The Housing Excellence award, which was presented at Manchester’s Palace Hotel, recognises Sandwell Homes’ high level of performance across all business areas including the delivery of a £425m Decent Homes Programme, meeting repair deadlines, effectively dealing with anti-social behaviour and supporting the local economy with a commitment to ensuring apprentices make up 3% of the workforce.

Sandwell Homes is one of the biggest housing organisations in the country with responsibility for managing over 29,000 homes on behalf of Sandwell Council, and it also has one of the biggest portfolios covering all housing service requirements for customers. Despite this demand on resources the organisation has managed to reduce non-decency levels in the borough’s social housing stock from 65% in 2005 to just 15% in 2010.

Chief Executive, Brian Oakley, said: “In 2008 we became the only housing organisation in the Black Country to achieve three star status. This year we have been recognised as the best performing regional social landlord in the country - the continuous improvement we are making is there for all to see.

“We hope this reflects the high levels of service we strive to provide our customers. It has certainly set a precedent for the quality they should come to expect of us in the future. Everybody here is really proud to receive this award.”

Council leader, Cllr Darren Cooper, said: “Congratulations to all our colleagues in Sandwell Homes for this achievement. We will keep working closely with them to support their efforts for continued improvements on behalf of our tenants.”

This year Sandwell Homes has been awarded the RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Gold Award for a third consecutive year, and also received Customer Service Excellence accreditation.

Posted by Rashmi for Sandwell Homes