Ardenglen touching 100% national quality homes standard

More than 99% of Ardenglen Housing Association homes now meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard, its annual general meeting heard.

Association chair Liz McKenzie outlined a range of achievements over the past year to an audience of tenants in Miller Primary School, Castlemilk. Ardenglen manage around 1000 houses in this area of south Glasgow. 

‘It has been fantastic year us for us including the development of our new Major Improvement Works programme resulting in more than £1.3 million being invested in new kitchens and boilers.

‘Our new in-house Financial Inclusion Team has now completed its first full year, achieving financial gains of over £500,000 for our customers. With ongoing economic challenges the team have become a vital resource in mitigating the impact of rising living costs, helping our customers access the benefits they are entitled to and making their lives a little bit easier.’

Over the past year the association has managed to upgrade 99.8% of its homes to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard, this is against a Scottish average of 92%

Liz outlined to the meeting that number of complaints received over the course of the year had dropped by 30%, partly due to a reduction in the time it takes to carry out repairs, now averaging 2.4 hours compared to a countrywide average of four hours

The meeting heard that rent levels for one, two and three apartment homes - 78% of total stock - remains lower than Scottish average.

‘Investing in our homes continues to be a priority for the us. This year, we’ve enhanced our understanding of our properties’ condition through stock condition surveys, this information drives our investment plan and helps ensure we provide a safe, comfortable and affordable living environment,’ said Liz.

The association continues to play a role as a community anchor and laid on a range of activities over the course of the year to support and sustain its neighbourhoods. 

This included a Spring and Autumn Fun Day, Family Summer Trips, and a Christmas Grotto. The Community Development team also successfully applied for grant funding to help tenants struggling with the cost of living crisis worth nearly £250,000.

Liz added: ‘Providing small-scale immediate support to minimise crises situations for the most vulnerable members of our community is an increasingly important area of our work as services reduce from other agencies,’