What we'll focus on
We want all our customers to have a place they’re proud to call home as we help end housing need. We will build on the positive changes we've made in recent years to ensure we are always bold and ambitious for our customers, ourselves and our communities.
Our four priorities for 2020 - 2025 set out how we'll achieve this:
Looking back at 2020-2021
The Covid-19 pandemic was unexpected in both its scale and impact. Although the ways in which we deliver our service temporarily changed, our direction of travel remains the same as our homes became more important than ever. Our strategy will need to be responsive to significant changes coming to the housing sector, most notably the implementation of the Social Housing White Paper and the new shared ownership model.
While we operated in an uncertain landscape during the past year, we have made great inroads progress towards achieving our strategic goals:
- Delivering for and with our residents: Despite the challenges of Covid-19, customer satisfaction during the year has stayed consistent with pre-Covid levels. Our pool of Customer Advocates has grown from 68 to 98, and we continue to act on feedback and satisfaction ratings gathered from telephone and text message surveys.
- Building good quality, affordable homes: Over 90% of the homes we build are for affordable rent and shared ownership and in the past year, we constructed 422 affordable homes across Kent, Essex, Sussex and south London. Although we faced some delays due to lockdown restrictions, we started construction of 397 homes, due for completion in 2021-2023.
- Ensuring safety and quality in our existing homes: We always seek to balance investment in our existing homes with the need for new, affordable homes. Over the last year, we spent £3,868,000 on repairs and maintenance and a further £12,075,000 on improvements and refurbishments.
- Bold and ambitious for the future: A digital-first, sustainable future drives much of what we do. We’re investing in energy efficiency at a critical time as the Government commits to achieving net-zero emissions across the UK by 2050. Our new Sustainability Strategy sets out our goals for all stock to reach EPC Band D or above by the end of 2025, as a stepping stone to a Band C rating by 2030.
The need to influence national policy and anticipate changes in the sector lies across all four strands of our strategy. The appointment of our new Head of Policy will allow us to participate in consultations, represent the interests of Moat and our customers, and remain resilient to change.
The year ahead
In the coming year, we want to go back to better, building upon the much-needed support we provided for customers during the pandemic:
- We will develop our Customer Engagement Strategy further, providing customers with more and better ways to shape our services and consistently relaying this feedback to our Board and internal committees.
- With our first development under the new shared ownership scheme due for handover in 2022, our focus for new homes will be on defining, embedding and communicating upcoming changes to this product.
- We will also complete procurement for our new ten-year property repairs and maintenance contract with a focus on customer satisfaction, social value and high-quality service. We remain mindful of the immediate need to invest in fire safety and the imperative for long-term investment in sustainability.
- Alongside this, we’re investing in the right digital tools, including a new housing management system, to allow our teams to deliver a streamlined, efficient and coordinated service.
