Aksa Homes Tenant Analysissummary Report

Aksa Homes’ Tenant AnalysisSummary Report

New Economy worked with Aksa Homes to analyse the demographic and labour market profile of their tenants in six different areas of Greater Manchester (GM) – with the majority located in Oldham – as well as tenants’ views of their neighbourhoods and their demand for Aksa’s services and support.

Profile

Currently, Aksa owns over 750 properties, principally in Oldham, split between the three wards of Coldhurst, St. Mary’s and Werneth. Other areas with Aksa properties (although less clustered than in Oldham) are in Cheetham Hill, Manchester; Bury, principally around the Fishpool area; and in Ashton-under-Lyne around St. Peter’s ward. These are all areas generally characterised by high levels of multiple deprivation. Despite this, the research finds that Aksa tenants tend to view their neighbourhoods in a positive light: when asked to score their neighbourhood, residents gave high scores – no lower than 7.5 out of 10 in Oldham and no lower than 7.0 in the other areas around GM, rising as high as 8.2 in some areas.

Demographics

Over 80% of Aksa’s tenants are from BME backgrounds, particularly of Pakistani origin, and in Coldhurst ward of Bangladeshi origin. There is a preponderance of large family units, especially due to large numbers of children, meaning Aksa properties tend to be larger than average social housing units. This profile is associated with overcrowding, with 23.1% of Aksa tenants at risk, nearly four times the national average for social renters of 6.6% (Source: English Housing Survey 2011/12). However, larger units also raise the risk of under-occupancy, with nearly half (47.8%) of tenants potentially vulnerable to benefit reductions related to under-occupied properties. Aksa is attempting to help tenants deal with this by offering a downsizing scheme, of which 42.6% of tenants were aware. Both overcrowding and under-occupancy are particularly prevalent within Oldham North.

Strengths

Across Aksa’s neighbourhoods, the analysis reveals that community spirit and neighbourliness are highly rated among Aksa tenants; as is the provision of, and proximity to, local amenities, including, among other things: shops, schools, and doctors’ surgeries. Moreover, over a quarter (27.7%) of tenants expressed an interest in increasing their involvement within the neighbourhood, either in decision-making bodies (such as tenant panels), or community improvement schemes (e.g. gardening). Aksa as an organisation can help to channel this interest into actions and further develop the community spirit of their neighbourhoods.

There was also a notable reluctance among respondents to move away from their existing neighbourhoods, with the vast majority (84.3%) of tenants saying they would be inclined to buy their current house, or one in the same neighbourhood, if they had the money available. These high figures were seen across Aksa’s neighbourhoods in Greater Manchester, but were particularly high in Oldham, reaching 91.3% in Coldhurst. This satisfaction was also evident in tenants’ appreciation of Aksa’s maintenance work in the neighbourhoods – over half (52.9%) rated the work highly, with only 6.9% saying the standard was poor.

Concerns

However these findings should not detract from the important concerns that tenants’ raised about their neighbourhoods. Access to jobs was seen as the most significant obstacle faced by tenants – especially given the low levels of employment evident amongst the respondents (49.1% unemployed cf. 9.9% in Oldham district and for social renters as a whole). Other issues included the availability of targeted services (e.g. for the elderly, childcare, and youth facilities) which were consistently scored low by tenants, as was the accessibility of a high-quality entertainment offer.

Support

In helping to deal with this problem, Aksa Homes offer a number of workshops and seminars to assist tenants on their way to employment, and more generally with life skills and other areas of interest. The most popular courses were those around employability and financial matters. Around a quarter (25.8%) of Aksa tenants would like help finding employment, just under a third (30.7%) would like support with their benefit claim, and another third would like assistance with grant applications for energy bill arrears (31.9%) and to become more fuel efficient in their everyday life (36.1%). There was also a sizeable interest in general assistance from Aksa, with about a sixth of respondents showing interest in social activities and health issues (13.1% and 15.9% respectively), and over a fifth wanting support with training/education courses and IT skills (22.4% and 22.2% respectively).

Conclusions

This research highlights the positivity with which Aksa tenants view their community, and the levels of loyalty shown to their neighbourhoods and Aksa as an organisation. However these neighbourhoods also face a number of serious challenges, particularly around worklessness and low financial security. These issues are exacerbated by Aksa’s tenant profile of primarily BME tenants, which results in associated low levels of English usage, and a tendency towards large family units, that make tenants vulnerable to both overcrowding and under-occupancy. This suggests that targeted and sustained support and community investment is required across a number of areas and from different sources if these challenges are to be fully addressed in an inclusive way. To deliver this, Aksa will work in partnership with the range of stakeholders involved in their neighbourhoods. Because of the sensitivity of some of the issues raised in the analysis, it is recommended that additional research is undertaken by an independent third party on an anonymous basis amongst tenants to understand issues such as informal economic activity and benefit dependency.

Research & analysis by