Welcome to the 2011/12 residents’ annual report for Oxford Citizens Housing Association. This report is about what happened last year – before we began operating with the ‘GreenSquare’ name.

This year, rather than publish a separate annual report, we have incorporated it into our new-look G2 magazine and provided you with a 12-page round up of the key projects, facts and figures for the year ending 31 March 2012.

It has certainly been a challenging year as we have seen some significant and wide-ranging changes taking place all around us. However, whilst these are tough times, we remain committed to supporting residents in lots of different ways.

With a big rise in the number of new residents getting involved throughout the year, and the development of our new Communities Boards (launched in April 2012), we have continued to put you, the residents, even more at the heart of everything we do.

The continued success of our Resident Scrutiny Panel, and all our other resident involvement forums and work, has also helped ensure that residents directly influence how we improve the quality of your homes; the services we offer; and the neighbourhoods in which you live.

With best wishes,

David Ashmore Chief Executive, GreenSquare

Kerry Law Chair of the Resident Scrutiny Panel

Local residents pictured at the celebration event to mark the completion of the Rose Hill redevelopment.

Kerry

Dave

Resident involvement and empowerment 4

Your home 5

Your neighbourhood 7

Value for money and financial viability 8

Governance 11

Impact report 2

Your tenancy 6

Every year we report on all our community involvement projects to the GreenSquare Boards. For every project we do, we look at cost, success rate and if there are improvements to be made. The projects vary in size – some engage with one or a few local areas, whilst others involve residents across all of our homes. All aim to improve residents’ quality of life and give us feedback on how we can provide a better service.

Through our projects, we hope to create better neighbourhoods where people want to live, and where they can live and work happily alongside their neighbours. Working with our partners, we seek to ensure communities are strong, stable and fit for the future. Below are some highlights of the key projects in 2011/12.

Building communities where our residents feel safe and happy remains a key focus for us. Over the past year, we have organised 12 community clean-up days to improve the cleanliness of our neighbourhoods and boost community spirit. Through our One Community project, run at Coopers Piece, a further four community events were organised and physical improvements, such as repairing fencing and clearing litter, helped to enhance the local environment.

Our Lottery-funded Rose Hill Community Regeneration project is now well underway, with the launch of a cultural food programme, a junior youth club, a health project and a community newspaper, Rose Hill News. In addition, the funding enabled the organisation

of three large community events including placing a Christmas tree on The Oval.

The project to decide on the use for community buildings at Greater Leys has seen 24 groups providing services for residents operating within the buildings, including a grandparent group, Leys Community Market and Zumba. The buildings have also been used for 14 public events including scarecrow building, a fashion show, and a Blackbird Leys Choir workshop.

We encourage residents to give us feedback on their homes and neighbourhoods and our customer service satisfaction survey helps us to assess areas which need to be improved, and take on board suggestions from residents. Over 460 residents took part in our telephone surveys and 1,200 paper surveys were completed – satisfaction with customer services was 94%.

We continually rely on the input of residents, to ensure we are building homes that best suit their needs. We consulted residents about plans to build three new housing schemes in Oxford and the

Citizens Panel, which is now made up of over 300 residents, took part in

11 consultations to discuss housing support, home improvements, customer services and

antisocial behaviour. Residents who are members of the Design Panel have built up their knowledge

Making an impact

Our community clean-up days have helped keep neighbourhoods tidy.

We are happy to share more details of these projects with you. If you would like to know more, please contact the Community Involvement team on 01865 773000.

of design issues and used this to comment on new developments to ensure we build user-friendly homes.

Feedback from the four 55+ Housing Forums helped to make service changes to improve housing management and support. The Disability Forum enabled residents with disabilities to give feedback on issues relating to them as GreenSquare residents and held three events including a disability conference with a variety of speakers and feedback opportunities.

We also encourage residents to have a say in how GreenSquare operates as a business and gain clearer understanding of how we decide to allocate funds. The Estate Improvement Fund helped residents to get involved with choosing where to allocate £40,000 to improve communal areas. 21 bids for improvements were made and voted for by residents; projects supported included improved laundry facilities and the addition of benches, a garden shed and a BBQ. In a similar way, the Community Chest Fund allocated £20,000 to over 36 community projects, with residents playing a key role in making the funding decisions. Projects included fitness training, a singing group, Christmas meals for the elderly, an environmental project, and children’s play equipment.

The Resident Scrutiny Panel, made up of ten GreenSquare residents, met ten times and carried out five inquiries; the RSP drove our continuous improvement programme and its members spoke at a number of national events. They also hosted a successful ‘Scrutiny in the Spotlight’ conference with over 70 delegates. The Residents’ Business Plan empowered residents to influence business priorities on value for money, homes, customer service, neighbourhood and community issues. As part

of this project residents have successfully drawn up a 2012-14 Residents’ Business Plan containing residents’ priorities at a strategic level.

Through our community involvement, we try to engage young people and encourage them to get involved with their communities. Our SHOUT! project has worked with 142 children and young people and 200 adults creating approximately 150 volunteering opportunities, while our youth outreach project has held regular youth sessions across our neighbourhoods.

We also recognise the importance of providing training and a helping hand into the world of work and as such we offer a variety of employment and training projects. Our GreenSquare Academy was established in partnership with Oxford and Cherwell Valley College and the Workers Educational Association to deliver an accredited training programme, in which 62 residents participated.

With a high proportion of our residents using Facebook, we created a social media strategy and launched new Facebook pages to communicate with residents and for the Communities Boards to give information about what is happening in their area. And our Resident Communications Group has been expanded so that residents who are part of it have the chance to review our web pages, leaflets and magazines and make contributions to to the new G2 magazine.

The GreenSquare Academy offers free sessions for residents.

3 ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 PAGE

Complaints

There were 27 formal complaints received in 2011/12, a large decrease from the 79 received in 2010/11. (Last year we experienced an increase in formal complaints due to a poor performing contractor who, as a result, we are now no longer using.)

Our formal complaints process has three internal stages which customers can access if they are not happy with our response, before having the option to escalate their complaint to the Independent Housing Ombudsman. In 2011/12 no complaints were escalated to the Housing Ombudsman.

We reached our 90% target of resolving complaints either informally or at stage one.

Of the resolved complaints in 2011/12, 95% of complaints were responded to in target times, which is the same as the previous year and is just below our 99% target.

24% were satisfied with the handling of their complaint, which is below our target of 60% and is also a 39% reduction compared to 2010/11’s satisfaction. However, the number of people who took part in the satisfaction survey was low (at just 17), and many of these complainants did not have their complaints upheld, so the overall satisfaction figure is not representative of all customers who made a complaint in 2011/2012. Several responses were also from the same complainant who is considered vexatious. 48% of complaints were upheld.

Repairs & maintenance 35%

Housing 28%

Customer accounts 3%

Grounds maintenance 3%

Supported / older services 14%

Development 7%

Recharges 7%

Other 3%

What do residents complain about?

Who’s getting involved?

A diverse range of people are taking part in our resident involvement activities:

19.6% are from a black minority ethnic background12.3% are young people16.5% are older people 31.4% have a disability

These are all on target, based on the profile of people who live in our area.

In 2011/12, 327 residents took part in resident involvement activities, which is over 11% of all residents. This a healthy 38% increase from 2010/11.

Resident involvement

and empowerment

OUR RESIDENT PROFILE

Age %

16 – 24 years 5

25 – 44 years 42

45 – 64 years 34

65 – 84 years 16

85+ 3

Gender

Male 39

Female 61

Disability

Has a disability or long term illness 26

Ethnicity

White British 86

Black or minority ethnic 14

Sexuality

Heterosexual 97

Religion

Christian 54

No religion 39

Other religion 7

This is the percentage of people who have given us this information, not all of our residents.

The One Community project organised a fun day held in Wallingford.

Your home

Developing new homes

During 2011/12, OCHA built 29 new affordable homes, with a further one home on site at the end of the year. This included completion of the final phase of 19 homes in the £12 million regeneration of the Rose Hill estate in Oxford, and six homes plus additional car parking for existing residents at Park View in Thame, on land acquired from South Oxfordshire District Council. In the village of Hornton, north of Banbury, four rural homes were developed for local residents with the parish council and the Oxfordshire Rural Housing Partnership. A mix of both modern and traditional heating solutions provided in these homes proved to be very popular with residents; these comprised air source heat pumps and solar water heating, supplemented by a traditional multi fuel stove. This project also included provision of new car parking for the village sports ground. A number of new rural projects are also being progressed that will see the Oxfordshire Rural Housing Partnership achieve its 500th completed rural home during 2012-13.

And we have continued to work with our joint venture partner Hab (the development company set up by Kevin McCloud, presenter of the long-running TV series Grand Designs), as Haboakus, on proposals to develop 108 new homes and community facilities on three sites that Oxford City Council owns in Northway and at Barns Road in Cowley.

5 ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 PAGE

REPAIRS PERFORMANCE

On 11,573 repair jobs in 2011/12 March 2012 (%)

How do we compare?

Emergency repairs completed on time (24 hours) 99.4

Urgent repairs completed on time (in 7 days) 98.7

Routine repairs completed on time (in 28 days) 98.8

Repairs completed “right first time” 86.8

Satisfaction with last repair job 95

= top 25% = above average = below average for other landlords across country = improved = stayed the same = declined

(source BSC Q4 2011/12) Benchmarking data from HouseMark benchmarking 2011/12

Your tenancy

OUR HOMES

At March 2012, we owned or managed:

General needs 1702

For older people 548

Shared ownership 365

Supported housing 154

Temporary units 48

Leaseholders 49

Total social rent 2866

Mortgage other 14

Total homes 2880

Lettings

General needs homes empty and AVAILABLE for people to move in at March 2012

5

General needs homes empty and NOT AVAILABLE for people to move in at March 2012

1

During 2011/12, we let 123 general needs homes, and

59 supported/older persons homes (182 altogether).

Rents in 2011/12

We were paid £12,397,000 in rent and service charges (general needs and supported / HfOP tenures).

Rent we were owed at the end of the year: £284,129. This is 2.3% of the rent we should have collected.

Rent lost because homes were empty: £24,402 or 0.27% (general needs) and £29,185 or 1.07% (supported & older people).

We evicted 6 people for not paying their rent.

Resident Scrutiny Panel The Resident Scrutiny Panel (RSP) has completed three inquiries during 2011/12 and sent reports about these to the GreenSquare Board. The first looked at levels of resident satisfaction and the ways in which information is gathered. It found that residents respond better to telephone surveys and suggested using these more often to gather satisfaction data regarding ASB, complaints and new homes.

The RSP studied the consultation process regarding the proposed new ‘One GreenSquare’ governance structure. It also looked at the proposals for setting up three new local area boards and asked how the proposed changes would strengthen the position of residents and how they were able to influence the business. It recommended that particular effort should be made to retain experienced and conscientious existing board members to ensure a smooth transition process.

The third inquiry looked at how prepared GreenSquare is to support residents facing financial problems as a result of the current economic climate and welfare reform. The RSP was pleased to find that a range of support is offered to residents. However, it also found that many residents are unaware of how they will be affected by the upcoming changes to benefits and will need to be provided with further support and information about this.

Please see our website for more information about the work of the RSP and to see copies of the reports they write and the minutes from their meetings.

Your neighbourhood

Tackling antisocial behaviour

We continue to be very successful at using early intervention to tackle most of the antisocial behaviour (ASB) reported to us, and customer satisfaction remains high (81% at the end of 2011/12, well above our 70% target). This year, we are proud that 89% of customers were satisfied with how we communicated with customers during their case.

A restructure has helped the Oxfordshire Towns and Villages team to strengthen relationships with the police, local authority antisocial behaviour teams (and dog wardens) to provide residents with a more locally-focused service. And the new Oxford City Team continues to work closely with community wardens, Police Community Support Officers and Environmental Health services.

Children at a community fun day dressed up in PCSO uniforms.

7 ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 PAGE

Value for money and

financial viability

How do we compare on cost?

Recent Housemark benchmarking shows that we compare well to other housing associations in terms of what it costs us per home for work on empty properties and planned and cyclical maintenance work, (we are in the top 25% for this). The cost per home for responsive maintenance is a little under average, and the cost per home for housing management services is well below average. We need to do some work to understand why this is, and how we might improve this.

For the year ended 31 March 2012

SUMMARY INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

2012£’000

2011£’000

Turnover 15,294 15,620

Operating costs (10,678) (11,675)

Operating surplus 4,616 3,945

Surplus on sale of fixed assets

146 142

Interest receivable and other income

19 8

Interest payable and similar charges

(2,991) (2,805)

Surplus for the financial year

1,790 1,290

Terms explained

TURNOVER

This is the money that you pay us in rent, and any other income that we receive (for example if we sell a shared ownership home).

OPERATING COSTS

This is what it costs us to manage and repair your homes, and to pay our staff and run our offices.

INTEREST PAYABLE

This is the interest that we have to pay on our loans.

SURPLUS

This means that we have received more income than we have spent this financial year. As an not-for-profit organisation we call it a surplus because we put the money back into the business for next year. We must use it for something consistent with our charitable purpose or activities beneficial to the community, rather than using it to benefit any individual.

Residents learn how to ‘Do it yourself’ at a GreenSquare Academy workshop.

CONTINUED

For the year ended 31 March 2012

SUMMARY BALANCE SHEET

2012£’000

2011£’000

Tangible fixed assets

Housing properties at valuation

107,255 92,319

Other tangible fixed assets

1,467 1,542

Fixed asset investments 3,315 200

Current assets

Stock 154 126

Debtors 1,936 1,750

Investments 446 441

Cash at bank 2,178 1,391

Creditors – amounts falling within one year

(4,110) (3,420)

Total assets less current liabilities

112,641 94,349

Creditors – amounts falling due after more than one year

66,415 59,895

Provisions for liabilities and charges

67 83

Net Pension liability 253 86

Capital and reserves

Designated reserves 44 46

Revaluation reserve 18,215 8,539

Revenue reserves 27,347 25,700

112,641 94,349

General needs 53%

Supported and housing for older people 23%

Temporary social housing 6%

Shared ownership 7%

First tranche shared ownership sales 2%

Surplus on sales of fixed assets 1%

Interest receivable 0%

Other services 3%

Where the money comes from

Terms explained

FIXED ASSETS

This is the value of actual things that we own, for example homes and garages, offices and computers.

CURRENT ASSETS

This is the value of cash and money that we have in the bank, have invested or are owed by other people.

CURRENT LIABILITIES

This is the money that we owe to other people within the next year.

When you subtract all our liabilities from our assets, we are left with more money in the bank, or owed to us, than we owe to other people, which means that we are in a strong position.

9 ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 PAGE

Where the money is spent

Housing services 7%

Housing and estate management 29%

Routine maintenance 13%

Planned maintenance 2%

Major repairs 2%

Voids and bad debts 1%

Rentals to landlords 5%

Depreciation and impairment 14%

First tranche shared ownership sales 1%

Other services 6%

Interest payable and other finance charges 22%

HOW DOES RENTING A 2 BED HOME FROM US COMPARE?

COST PER WEEK (£)

Rented from OCHA March 2012

98.47

Rented from another housing association (average) March 2012

94.74

Rented from a private landlord 262.00

CREDITORS (AMOUNTS FALLING DUE AFTER MORE THAN ONE YEAR)

This is money we owe long term back to our funders who have provided loans to help build our properties. We must also show any potential pension fund balances.

RESERVES

These are surplus funds built up over a number of years when an organisation’s income is greater than its expenditure. These funds cannot be used for day-to-day operations – instead they give us a stronger negotiating position with funders (people who lend us money).

VOIDS AND BAD DEBTS

Voids are empty properties. We lose rent because there is no one living there. Bad debts are money that we are owed and haven’t been paid.

DEPRECIATION AND IMPAIRMENT

Depreciation is where something loses value through normal wear and tear (for example, computers as they get older). Impairment is a sustained decline in value over time (for example, a long-term drop in house values).

FIRST TRANCHE SHARED OWNERSHIP SALES

This is the money we receive when we sell the first share of a shared ownership property. It also appears as a cost because as it is sold, that portion of the property is no longer a part of our assets. The two should balance out if we sell at the right price!

Terms explained

Surpluses from our in-house construction firm Tidestone helped fund the ‘Wheels to Work’ scheme.

GovernanceCONTINUED

The Board

(1 April 2011 – 31 March 2012)

GreenSquare is run by a Board of Management of ten members, including two residents. They have ultimate responsibility for all decisions about the future direction of the Group. They met seven times during 2011/12, as well as attending a variety of training events on subjects from customer services to Code of Conduct and the Bribery Act.

Below that, OCHA’s work is overseen by a Board of up to 12 members (four residents, seven independents and the Managing Director of OCHA). The Board is responsible for generally managing our affairs and for setting policy and strategy. They met seven times during 2011/12. Board members must uphold our values and objectives; support our policies; take responsibility for their decisions; and respect confidentiality, as set out in the Group Board Membership policy.

From 1 April 2012, we created parallel or co-terminous Boards for GreenSquare, OCHA and Westlea meaning that the membership of each of these Boards is now identical. Each of the Board members is a member of GreenSquare, OCHA and Westlea at the same time and makes decisions on behalf, and in the best interests of all three organisations.

Our shareholders

As of 31 March 2012, admissions to shareholding membership (other than for Board members) were still suspended. Following the Governance review three new Communities Boards were implemented as of 1 April 2012. New Board members were recruited and started their roles.

Committees

There are four committees that look at specialist areas across the Group:

Group Audit Committee provides advice on the effectiveness of the internal control system, including how we manage risk.

Membership as at 31 March 2012: David Line (Chair), Derek Day, Muir Laurie, Philippa Lowe.

Group Membership Committee establishes and reviews the criteria for Board membership, reviews Board members’ service agreements, recruits and selects Board and Scrutiny Panel members and shareholders, and manages Board members’ performance.

Membership as at 31 March 2012: Hilary Gardner (Chair), Allison Bucknell, Derek Day, Helena Taylor-Knox.

Group Remuneration Committee reviews the salaries and contracts of the Board members and Executive Directors. They also agree the annual pay review for staff and Board members.

Membership as at 31 March 2012: Wendy Hall (Chair), Derek Cash, Alice Copping, Hilary Gardner.

Group Development Committee started operation in October 2011 and considers development proposals on behalf of the Group, ensuring they are financially viable in accordance with strategy and pose an acceptable level of risk.

Membership as at 31 March 2012: Derek Cash (Chair), Hilary Gardner, Philippa Lowe, David Swann, David Ward.

11 ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 PAGE

OCHA BOARD From 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012

Name Attendance (%) Remuneration (£) Expenses (£) Left

Sue Brownill 86 3,000.00 38.00 31/03/2012

Stephen Butcher 71 3,000.00 55.35 31/03/2012

Alice Copping (Chair) 86 6,999.96 601.15 31/03/2012

Chris Cornforth 71 3,000.00 7.00 31/03/2012

Derek Day* 71 0.00 0.00 31/03/2012

Sheri DesBaux 50 1,250.00 97.30 20/09/2011

Nickie Harrison* 25 2,185.38 0.00 23/12/2011

Philippa Lowe 100 3,000.00 723.90 31/03/2012

Anna Mabile* 43 3,000.00 97.35 31/03/2012

Steven Peachey* 100 3,000.00 107.55 31/03/2012

Eleanor Thompson* 86 0.00 196.83 31/03/2012

*resident

Young residents added colour to a Rose Hill community celebration during the year.