Annual Review 2022-23
GROWING
TOGETHER
Grove Community
HOUSING ASSOCIATION
Residents are
the roots of our
community
202
CONTENTS
25
Finance & Economic
30
Governance &
Regulation
31
Board of Management
& Advisors
04
Chair & Chief
Executive Review
06
Performance Review
10
Great Homes
14
Our Achievements
15
Community
Engagement & Events
22
Our People
03
OUR MISSION
“To provide quality homes and services
for our tenants and wider community”
GCHA consulted
with the Tenant
Voice Group who
agreed that printing
costs for this document
are reallocated to Fuel
Vouchers. This document will
be available online.
04
A REVIEW OF
THE YEAR –
CONSOLIDATION &
TRANSFORMATION
Just as our much-loved City of Belfast, where we are based, has a long history of
reinventing itself, we too at GCHA have reinvented ourselves. We have transformed into a
strong, visible, forward-thinking, outward looking organisation, building solid foundations for
our future strategic plans.
Through good governance and a restructured Board and staff team we have breathed life
and resources back into how we operate and most importantly into tenants homes and the
community. We have engaged positively with a wide range of stakeholders and advisers
in shaping our work and services. We worked closely with our regulator DfC and have
improved our Regulatory Rating to One standard. This places us in a strong position for
procuring new nance for growing the number of new homes that are desperately needed.
We in the reporting year we had a turnover of £1.3M and operating costs of £1.07M and
have prudently cleared a lot of our borrowing early in the reporting year.
We collectively strive to maintain the highest standards. We actively involve tenants in our
work and in the delivery of our new Tenant Engagement Strategy. We are proud to have
one of the most active Tenant Voice Groups with over 17 members. We are grateful to
them for helping us improve how we deliver our services.
We have faced many challenges as the impacts from the global pandemic continue to
have a detrimental affect on government funding. We have also had additional external
pressures created by the cost of living crisis and rising interest rates. We actively work in
partnership with many other organisations to try and ease the burden. You will read in our
report some examples of the great assistance provided through a welfare advice service
based in our ofces. We appreciate the worry that the rising costs create for many living in
our communities.
Our operating environment remains complex. Having particular concerns around rising
costs in an arena of severe budget cuts, we have publicly called for changes. Through
our local media BBC NI and Radio Ulster we have highlighted the potential impact
Joint Statement By Chair And Chief Executive
05
these cuts could have on the lives of those waiting on new homes, including our own
local families. We require a review of the negative impact of Article 15 on our new build
schemes. Additionally, the chronic delays and the tremendous cost burden to developers
from NI Water puts unnecessary burden in the way of progress. We continue to call for a
functioning Executive to work on our behalf to enable the much needed investment and
legislative changes that are needed to meet the growing demand of providing more homes.
With rising mortgage interest rates forcing many private landlords out of rental markets
and additionally placing many home owners into mortgage arrears, the demand for social
housing will reach crisis point. The waiting lists are already the worst seen for many years.
We are grateful to our sector partners like NIFHA who are actively lobbying on these
issues. We will jointly be appealing with our sector colleagues to the Executive for NI to be
brought to an equal funding level as other areas in the U.K. There is an urgent need for
retrot funding in Northern Ireland to enable homes to be brought up to a higher standard
of thermal comfort with reduced energy costs. This is something that can’t come quickly
enough as tenants face another winter with some of the highest utility costs in the U.K.
We our condent that our growing Board of Management and staff team will expertly
navigate around these barriers through positive engagement with all stakeholders. We
will continue to demonstrate that our award winning Housing Association has the ability
to deliver on its plans for great homes for our tenants and much needed services in our
community, steadily growing and stretching our ambitions to do more.
Thank you to all who have contributed to our success and we look forward to a making a
positive impact on the lives of our residents, who are at the heart of all we do.
Mr Brian Dunn
Chairperson
Ms Agnes Crawford
Chief Executive
Grove Community
HOUSING ASSOCIATION
606
PERFORMANCE
REVIEW
We are delighted at the end of the reporting year, through a joint procurement exercise
to have appointed new contractors. We look forward to speedier response times and
professional workmanship.
PERFORMANCE FOR RESPONSE REPAIRS FOR THE YEAR
Type of Repair No. of Jobs Completed % Rate Achieved DfC Target
Emergency (24 hours to complete)
90 out of 104 on time
86.54% 85%
Urgent (4 working day response time)
220 out of 265 on
time
83.02% 80%
Routine (4 week response time)
155 out of 181 on
time
85.64% 80%
707
We are delighted that no homes were lost through ASB
or Court Action during the year highlighting that Great
homes lead to Happy Tenants and a Settled Community.
Compliance
with Statutory
Obligations
Gas Safety
Certicate
(CP-12)
up-to-date
100%
Required Fire
Risk
assessments
carried out
100%
Required Carbon Monoxide
Alarms tted
100%
% of HA stock
that meet the
decent standard
100%
RENT ARREARS
Rent, rates & service charges due
£1,138,791.00
Amount Collected
£1,118,949.53
Grove rent collection of rent due in 2022/23
98.25%
RENT ARREARS AS AT 31 MARCH 2023
Arrears of all tenants
£33,954.60
Current Arrears as % of total amount due
2.98%
DfC Target Rate for Arrears
<5%
VOIDS LOST
Voids
£15,817 (1.38%)
DfC Target Rate for Voids
<4%
Abandonments
0
Allocations 11
ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Complaints (First Stage)
1
Anti-Social Behaviour Cases recorded
0
Court Action
0
Units Recovered
0
Grove Community
HOUSING ASSOCIATION
ADDRESSING THE
CHALLENGES
OF DEVELOPING
NEW HOMES
Our community based Housing Association has a small stock portfolio of homes to manage
and allocate from the Common Selection Scheme waiting list.
We continue to rise to the challenges of getting planning permission for our new build
scheme following a number of constraints and obstacles we faced. The scheme plans
and layout had to be revised and the new mix of homes are set out below. Despite the
setbacks we were bolstered by NIHE swift response to support the new mix bringing 31
new additional homes to the Grove area (including 4 for those with a physical disability).
The scheme will be able to house 112 people and greatly improve the health outcomes and
wellbeing of many families.
8
Grove Community
HOUSING ASSOCIATION
We have worked hard with a number of
stakeholders, statutory agencies and local
politicians to bring the scheme to planning
approval and hope for positive news in the
coming months in order that we can seek
our contractor and get on site. We have also
raised our concerns in local media on the
very real impact cuts to the development
programme funding will create for local
families waiting too long to be rehoused.
We continue to call for increased funding to
address the housing crisis and infrastructure.
Over 6M will be invested in much needed
homes in the area, to households
registered on the waiting list. North Belfast
continues to have one of the highest waiting
lists in Northern Ireland.
To reduce fuel poverty we would hope
that any additional homes could be built
to Passive House Standards if adequate
grant funding is provided and are working
through the feasibility of funding for new
pilot schemes.
Our residents would be educated on the
use and benets of living in these modern
homes of the future. This would build on
GCHA’s previous achievements in eco-
housing awards e.g. UK Retrot of the Year.
15 x No. 3-PERSON, 2-BEDROOM
GENERAL NEED HOUSES
8 x No. 5-PERSON 3-BEDROOM
GENERAL NEED HOUSES
1 x No. 3-PERSON 2-BEDROOM
WHEELCHAIR BUNGALOW
1 x No. 6-PERSON 4-BEDROOM
WHEELCHAIR BUNGALOW
2 x No. 3-PERSON 2-BEDROOM
WHEELCHAIR APARTMENTS
4 x No. 3-PERSON 2-BEDROOM
WHEELCHAIR BUNGALOWS
Ending of the
House Sale
Scheme
We sold 4 properties in 2022-23 under
the compulsory House Sale Scheme. We
notied and reminded tenants that due
to a change in legislation as detailed in
the Housing
(Amendment)
Act (NI) 2020,
the Statutory
House Sales
Scheme ended
in August 2022.
Housing
Stock
As at 31st March 2023, we owned and
managed 215 homes made up of:
1 BEDROOM FLATS – 8
2 BEDROOM FLATS – 8
2 BEDROOM BUNGALOWS – 8
2 BEDROOM HOUSES – 74
3 BEDROOM HOUSES – 111
4 BEDROOM HOUSES – 6
9
We look forward to adding
these new builds to our existing
stock portfolio. We call for
any developers to contact
us directly regarding any
potential sites or schemes.
GREAT HOMES
Safe and
secure homes
There were a total of 42 front
and back doors installed in Ayr
Street totalling £39,744. The new
composite doors are to a Secure
By Design standard which will
provide better safety, comfort
and warmth for our tenants.
The feedback from residents
was very positive, all being
delighted with the high standard
of doors installed.
10
Delighted with my
new door. It feels like
Christmas has come
early. The Contractor
did a really neat job.
Tenant Feedback
Maintenance
We continue to carry out stock condition surveys on a
rolling programme. This information was used to inform
further planned investment in our homes for 2023/24.
At the end of the reporting year 2022/23 we had
completed a door replacement scheme. In 2023/24 we
have continued with both door replacements kitchen
replacements.
As we publish this report 44 new kitchens were tted
by September 2023. Paul Pollock expertly overseen
the programme and enjoyed introducing Agnes to Mr
and Mrs Magee who where delighted with the high
standard of their new kitchen.
Routine Maintenance
There continues to be UK wide challenges in the construction sector with rising costs and
construction staff shortages.
We continue to work hard with our heating services contractors CTS, to deliver the Gas
Servicing Programme and heating contract services.
We have recently appointed PK Murphy to deliver our responsive maintenance and
planned maintenance work. PK Murphy were selected through a joint tender exercise with
other housing associations and tenants are delighted with the standard of work they have
delivered so far.
11
12
4
2 minor - 2 major adaptations completed
in this year
Enabling
Independence
We understand that our tenants can be
affected with health and mobility issues and
we continued to support our tenants as their
needs change.
We carried out a number of adaptations in
2022/23 to support tenants to retain their
independence. The works also reduced the
possibility of falls and hospital admissions.
We are pleased that this enables many of
our residents to remain in their home and
community for as long as possible.
We wish to thank the local Occupational
Therapy Service (located at the Grove
Wellbeing Centre) who work hard to provide
a free assessment of tenants needs.
We also with to pay tribute to the many
tenants who look out for their neighbours.
Their case and support make a world
of difference and reduces isolation and
promotes wellbeing?
12
13
Our
Customers
Working in
Partnership
Finance &
Economic
Great
Homes
Our
People
Governance
& Regulation
Grove Community
HOUSING ASSOCIATION
DELIVERING
ON OUR
STRATEGIC
PLAN
We are pleased to be achieving our
strategic objectives as set out further
throughout this document.
13
We were delighted to be the rst Housing Association
in Northern Ireland to implement the use of Plentic
real-time compliance software. With this software
we can gain real-time transparency, accountability
and insight into all key areas of compliance.
Use of this robust compliance management
system resulted in GCHA winning the CIH,
Excellence in Housing Innovation Category
at an award event hosted in May 2022.
We were delighted to have been shortlisted for
a second year in a row for the CIH All-Ireland
Awards in the ‘More than Bricks & Mortar’
category for our tenant engagement work.
We were up against some very strong competition,
but it was a brilliant achievement to have been
shortlisted for these prestigious awards.
Congratulations to the winners,
Radius Housing Association.
Both staff, Board, tenants and guests had a
brilliant night celebrating Sector achievements.
OUR
ACHIEVEMENTS
L to R: Niamh O’Hanlon, ASM, Vivian Chestnutt,
Board Member & Agnes Crawford, Chief Executive.
14
15
Community
Clean-up
The scheduled community clean up event took
place on 20th September 2022. This event
was well attended by the local community who
made their way to the community garden to
offer assistance in any way they could. It was
a fantastic fun afternoon for both tenants, local
children, boys from Grove United FC and GCHA
staff to get together and make a difference in
the area. GCHA would like to say a BIG
thank you
for all your help.
Bulb
Planting
Event
Local residents and children came together on the
4th November 2022 to help prepare the planters
and pots in the Community Garden with a variety
of bulbs for both spring/summer.
The event was a fantastic opportunity for some
outdoor working and a great neighbour bonding
exercise. It was amazing to see the Community
Garden back in use and residents taking
ownership of this unique space.
16
Festive
Fun
Tenants and staff came together on a cold afternoon in
December to decorate the new community Christmas
tree. Some of our tenants provided their own angel
wings decorations in memory of loved ones who
had recently passed and shared stories of old and
new. This added a more personal involvement
from tenants in remembering our past tenants at
Christmas time. Tea & coffee were provided to
warm up the hands after all the decorating.
17
Santa’s Sleigh brings
Seasonal Joy to
North Belfast
There was a magnicent turnout for the Grove’s Santa
Sleigh event. Many people in the community and their
children attended and enjoyed having their picture taken
with Santa and his elves. Santa and his elves started their
journey at the ofce, made their way through the streets of
the Grove area and nished at the community garden. All
the children received treats from Santa. Lots of fun was had
by all – especially Santa as you can see by our pictures.
Thank you to ASDA for their continued generous donations.
18
Christmas
Dinner
We hosted a Christmas Dinner and invited
all of our older tenants to join us. As you can
see the tenants (and staff) enjoyed a delicious
meal at the Orchardville Café in the Grove
Wellbeing Centre and all those who attended
received a small Christmas gift.
We were delighted that NIFHA’s new Chief
Executive, Seamus Leheny, took the time to
join our tenants and share in their stories.
Special thanks to the late Reverend Best for
his wonderful singing. Reverend Best was
well respected in the Grove community
and is missed by us all.
Also special thanks to the
staff at the Orchardville
Café for the
outstanding service
they provided.
19
202020
In 2022-23 the Tenants
Voice Group helped to develop
the Tenant Engagement Strategy
for 2022-27. Through this strategy,
GCHA plans to empower more
tenants to take an active role in the
Tenant Voice Group. This provides
training opportunities, confidenc
building and service improvements.
It also supports the development of
sustainable communities.
Group members are being empowered to form a
constituted group with advice from ‘Supporting
Communities’ organisation.
During the year the group were consulted on key
policies that impact them and they put forward
their suggestions, giving the ‘thumbs up’ prior to
going to Board for nal approval.
Tenant, staff, board members have joined with the
local community in a number of events including:
• Community clean up at the community
garden
• 2 events during Good Relations week
including gardening and a quiz night
jointly with Newington HA
• Bulb planting wellbeing event funded
by GCHA
• Christmas event including decorating the
Christmas Tree at the community garden,
a visit to the local community by Santa and
his Elves and a Christmas Dinner at the
Orchardville Café
• Breakfast morning and a coffee and advice
morning with the support of NBAP
• Tenant’s Beat the Blues Breakfast Event
• With increasing costs and fuel poverty the
ofce reopening provided an opportunity
for wider community engagement with free
advice being provided 3 days per week by
an Adviser from NBAP and the creation of
a warm space open to residents and the
wider community.
Staff also worked closely with other community
based support networks including Food banks,
Social Supermarkets, ROC and LCAP to identify
need and source vouchers and food parcels for a
number tenants. The fuel poverty hardship fund
(£100.00 per household) took place at Grove’s
Ofce in January 2023.
Good relations
week, getting to
know one another.
We were delighted to welcome our rst tenants to our
cosy newly renovated space, “Lottie’s Lounge”. This
was named after a former, fondly remembered long
standing Manager in Grove, Lottie McGrath.
We look forward to more tenants visiting and enjoying
treats and some craic with our team.
Staff go out with both Tenants and Board Members
on a regular basis for Estate Walkabouts. They make
recommendations for area improvements and everyone
enjoys chatting to people in the community.
21
Lottie’s Lounge
Estate
Walkabouts
Marcia McMath
Housing & Property Manager
Marcia has over 30 years experience working
in housing and have covered all aspects from
sheltered, supported housing, redevelopment
and new build as well as tenant participation
and community involvement. She enjoyed
meeting tenants and local community at the
recent fun day and looks forward to getting to
know more about life in the Grove community.
Outside work Marcia is involved in fundraising
for different charities, loves spending time with
her family, walking the dog, paddleboarding and
reading a good book.
A GROWING
ASSOCIATION
Paul Pollock
Compliance & Assets Offic
GCHA is delighted to have invested in a new
Compliance & Assets Ofcer, Paul Pollock and
warmly welcomes him to the Housing &
Property team.
Paul brings a wealth of experience and knowledge
to GCHA. He has 40 years’ experience with the NI
Housing Executive and construction sector in both
response and planned maintenance. He also is
a qualied Chartered Building Surveyor (MRICS)
and commenced his early career as a carpenter.
He looks forward to starting work on our planned
maintenance programmes and values work
completed to the highest standard and to the
happy satisfaction of tenants.
In his spare time Paul is a qualied IFA football
referee and referees in the Belfast & District
League and occasionally in the South Belfast
Youth League. The rest of his spare time he likes
to spend with his 2 young grandchildren.
22
Lisa Mills
Compliance and Maintenance Offic
Lisa joined the social housing sector in 2015 after
graduating and working in general surveying for 8
years. She covered a very challenging patch in her
previous role and believes this has provided her with
the knowledge and ability to reactively problem solve
and provide the tenants with a positive outcome.
Her new role includes compliance and day to day
response repairs and is looking forward to meeting
the tenants and getting to know the community of
which she is now part of. Lisa is enthusiastic, always
willing to help and believes that working closely with
the tenants and building good relationships can
make a big difference in community life.
In between work her family life Lisa is an artist.
She paints textured abstract art with sand, stones
and shells from Ireland’s’ coastline. She also loves
exploring new places and having adventures with
her two young children, husband and dog. Another
great passion of Lisa’s is food, whether it be creating
something new in the house or trying the latest new
restaurant; and is passionate about supporting local.
Terry Boyd
“When I came through the gates of GCHA in late
2019 as a temp, I had no inkling that nearly four
years later I would still be here, but the time has
come for me to move on to other pastures. When I
look back and reect on my spell with Grove what
a roller coaster of experiences it has been, both
rewarding and challenging.
It would be remiss not to mention the difcult
times that the pandemic of 2020/2021 brought for
everyone right across society in Northern Ireland.
The impact was also felt in Grove in a number
of ways for both staff and tenants but somehow
despite all the difculties the provision of housing
services was maintained.
Yes, some days far from perfect but somehow with
staff perseverance and a lot of understanding and
support from tenants we managed to keep going.
As we come out the other side of the pandemic
its fantastic to see a number of improvement
schemes for Grove properties come to fruition
and I look forward to seeing the new build at the
primary school site completed.
Ultimately, for me the role has been about
interacting with people and trying to resolve or
improve the housing issues they were having. I do
hope that I have contributed to that, however small
it may have been over the last four years.
Finally, my very best wishes to all associated with
Grove including staff, board members and tenants
and every blessing for the future”.
The Board and Staff wish to thank Terry for the
support he has given GCHA for the past four years
and we wish him all the best in his retirement plans
and adventures.
Although staff are losing a work colleague we
know we have retained a friend for life.
“THANK YOU”
23
Lisa’s art
CORPORATE
STRUCTURE
2022-23
Chief
Executive
Offic
Finance
Offic
Housing &
Property
Manager
Corporate
Services
Manager
Senior
Housing
Offic
Administrator
(Vacant)
Admin
Assistant
(P/T)
Compliance &
Maintenance
Officer (F/
Compliance &
Maintenance
Officer (P/
Compliance &
Maintenance
Officer (P/
(Retiring
Sept 2023)
24
25
FINANCE & ECONOMIC
Statement of Financial Position as at 31st March 2023
Notes
2023 2022
£ £
Fixed assets
Housing properties 9 11,911,346 12,030,368
Other tangible xed assets 11 557,442 558,048
12,468,788 12,588,416
Current assets
Trade and other debtors 12 109,174 102,203
Cash and cash equivalents 1,321,853 1,405,642
1,431,027 1,507,845
Less: Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 13 543,774 -523,382
Net current assets 887,253 984,453
Total assets less current liabilities 13,356,041 13,572,869
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year 13 9,201,461 -9,682,454
Pension fund liability 18 -14,000 -208,000
Total net assets 4,168,580 3,682,415
Reserves
Share capital 19 8 16
Revenue reserve 20 4,168,442 3,682,287
Capital reserve 21 130 122
Total reserves 4,168,580 3,682,425
Statement of Comprehensive Income for the Year ended 31 March 2023
Notes
2023 2022
£ £
Fixed assets
Turnover 3 1,367,343 1,348,927
Operating costs 3 1,071,374 -1,010,635
Operating surplus 295,969 338,392
Loss on disposal of xed assets -24,207 -16,344
Other income 3a - 475
Interest and nancing income 6,683 181
Interest and nancing costs 6 -70,290 -77,738
Surplus for the year 208,155 244,866
Other comprehensive income
Actuarial gain / (loss) in respect of pension scheme 18 278,000 181,000
Total comprehensive income for the year 486,155 425,866
VALUE FOR
MONEY
GCHA is committed to
delivering Value for Money
(VfM) by continuous
performance improvement.
This is a key principle of GCHA’s business
plan which aims to deliver VfM under
business objectives and DfC standards of
Finance, Governance and Consumer. We
have improved our regulatory position and
are ‘MET’ across all three areas in 2022/23.
Achieving a balance of progress against
the specic targets within our Strategic Plan
and Business plan will ensure we remain
true to our core mission and values and we
believe, ensure success.
We continue to benchmark our services
against our peers and achieved many
of our Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs). We always aim to meet targets
and standards set by our regulator and
prioritise performance in these areas. We
will continue to focus on investing sufcient
resources to enable us to meet the highest
levels of performance possible and
engage fully with sector partners like our
construction industry.
GCHA considers VfM in terms of the
maximum outcomes for the minimum cost
of service provision.
GCHA therefore strives to provide quality
homes at reasonable cost. The service
charges were also reviewed to ensure all
eligible costs were included and we strived
to ensure the servicing contracts provide
good value for money, for example using
tender frameworks for new maintenance
contracts and pricing for grounds
maintenance and upgrades to systems.
Affordabl
Rent
As a small, community-based Housing
Association with tenants at its heart, we
have always strived to provide affordable
rents. We compare our rents to the sector
and they demonstrate value for money and
the majority of our rents remain the lowest
in the Housing Association sector and in
Belfast City. To enable us to continue to
invest in our properties and the services
we offer we ensure any rental increase still
enables our rents to stay low.
We examined all Housing Association
weekly rents (including any service
charges) and many are below the local
housing allowance level. Our rents also
remain approximately 30% lower than other
Housing Association landlord rents.
26
We reserve the use of consultants for
critical work and ensure competitive costs
are secured that have provided us with
signicant savings that can be used in other
areas of our work.
Our consultants engaged this year provided
us with value and we are grateful to them
for their support in our work.
Responsible management of our rental
income enables Grove to achieve the
strategic goals set out for it’s customers,
plan ahead, invest in its homes, consider
new ways of interacting with the ‘Tenant
Voice’ Group, improve services and meet
aims and objectives.
GCHA has always beneted from
volunteerism, with many of our Committee
members and shareholders undertaking
tasks on behalf of GCHA such as actively
participating in the provision of tenant
participation activities such as social
events, community garden activities, joint
initiatives with others for those in food
poverty and partnered with Asda who
provided many welcome supplies for tenant
engagement events.
We signposted many tenants to receive
fuel vouchers and the Belfast City Council’s
voucher scheme was hosted from our ofce
for the areas citizens.
We attend ‘Supporting Community’ events
for good practice examples in the sector
and have brought these to our tenants.
We supported one of our residents by fully
funding study to achieve a formal qualication
in Community Development work.
We met with other Housing Associations
with a strong community focus to share
support and good practice and pave a path
of positive community relations. We also
shared staff training costs to reduce budget
spend and promote shared learning.
To ensure we met our objectives an annual
business plan and budget is produced
to enable us to set measurable KPIs for
the organisation. Each quarter we report
on our performance to both our Board
and our Regulator and have been able
to demonstrate excellent performance in
each quarter long with signicant savings
against the budget. This performance
demonstrates we are able to deliver high
value, meaningful services while enabling
GCHA to keep costs to a minimum.
GCHA activities that contribute to
VfM include:
• Key performance indicators which
encourage efcient and effective services
and behaviours (see performance against
targets in this Review).
• Continual review of services
and suppliers and investment in
technology to enable procedures to be
streamlined and improve compliance.
• Delivering maximum value to the
customer while minimising costs.
•
Working effectively and efficient y
while maintaining and improving the
service to our customers by making
the best use of resources.
•
Effective procurement of services
including use of joint procurement with
other Housing Associations to provide
very competitive maintenance
costs e.g. tender frameworks and further
maintenance contract.
• For the past number of years we have
been able to obtain value on our
annual insurances all while
having added cover leading to
potential further savings and efciencies.
• Tenant feedback to assess quality
of services provided from a tenant
viewpoint. Understanding their needs and
focusing on the right things and doing the
right things.
27
•
Ongoing investment in our
properties, ensuring high standard.
•
Investing in our stock by replacing end
of life cycle items with top end products.
We understand that value for money
can be best achieved by striking good
balances between:
• Economy – Spending less. The
price paid for what goes into providing
a service. It’s about delivering services
at optimum cost, through minimising the
cost of resources.
•
Efficien y – Spending well. A measure
of productivity and performance and the
process and delivery of procurement.
• Effectiveness – Spending wisely.
A measure of the impact that has
been achieved, which can either be
quantitative or qualitative.
GCHA’s Board leads the approach to value
for money by setting the strategic vision
and mission. GCHA is also focused and
determined to secure VfM into the future.
28
From the start of this service the in October
2022 until 31 March 2023, the Advisor had
dealt with 476 enquiries on behalf of 13
clients. 76% of those enquiries were benet
related. In cases where we know the
outcome, she helped secure additional benet
entitlement for people totalling over £350K.
Value can also come in the form or advice
and assistance. GCHA works closely with
North Belfast Advice Partnership and we
have been providing them with free ofce
space and facilities three days per week.
This enables our tenants and other people
from the community to avail of condential,
free, money and benets advice.
ADDED VALUE
FOR
OUR
TENANTS
29
Helping our
Older Tenants
Retired couple both in receipt of State retirement
pension got advice and support from the Advice
Service based in GCHA. They both have ongoing
health difculties/disabilities so the Adviser
completed Attendance Allowance claims for them.
Thanks to the Adviser they now
receive the higher rate Attendance
Allowance and Pension Credit and are
now better off by £350 per week.
Supporting
Part-time Workers
A tenant was off work due to ill health and was
in rent arrears. They were struggling to cope so
contacted the Advice Service who were able to
assist with getting them Universal Credit and
other benets.
They are now better off by £200 per month
and this has helped to reduce their stress
and ability to cope and get back to work.
GCHA’s Board leads the approach
to value for money by setting the
strategic vision and mission. GCHA
is also focused and determined
to secure VfM into the future.
Grove Community
HOUSING ASSOCIATION
30
Members undertook risk
management training expertly
facilitated by Jonny Boggs.
The Board were pleased to
recommence face-to-face
Board meetings from May
2022. We also engaged in
online training and conference
attendance throughout the year,
widening the Board’s expertise.
Attendance was also good,
with members enjoying many
housing sector events and
conferences, networking and
learning best practice.
GOVERNANCE
& REGULATION
30
“Mere good
governance is not
enough; it has to
be pro-people and
pro-active. Good
governance is putting
people at the centre
of development
process”.
Narendra Modi
Prime Minister of India
Our Board has overall
responsibility for the strategic
direction of GCHA.
Good Governance
& Leadership
We were delighted to approve
in the reporting year updating
of our Models Rules and also
agreed to boost our Board of
Management. This was done
through an open recruitment
exercise, expertly facilitated
by ‘Distinctive People’. We
successfully appointed a
number of new members at
our AGM in September 2023,
and we are grateful for the
expertise, knowledge and
professionalism all members
bring to the table.
We continue to utilise
governance software;
‘Decision Time’ and all Board
Regulatory Performance
We are pleased that our
regulatory position has been
upgraded to a ‘ONE’ rating. We
have been reassessed in the
reporting year as being ‘MET’
across all three Regulatory
Assessment Areas, namely,
Consumer, Governance and
Finance.
The achievement of a Grade
‘ONE’ places GCHA in a
strong position for competitive
borrowing at an exciting time as
we progress our plans to invest
over £6M to provide 31 new
homes to the area.
We remain focused and
not complacent to ensure
this regulatory standard is
maintained.
BOARD OF
MANAGEMENT
& ADVISORS
Board of Management
Mr Brian Dunn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Chair)
Mr Jim Chapman
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(Vice Chair)
Mr Vivian Chestnutt
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Treasurer)
Mr Robin Arbuthnot
Mr Erskine Holmes OBE
Mr Eamon Hunt
Mr Barry McCarron
Ms Catherine Mullan
. . . . . . . . . . (Left June 2023)
Ms Amanda Johnston
. . . (Left September 2022)
Chief Executive & Company
Secretary
Ms Agnes Crawford
Registered Offic
171 York Road, Belfast BT15 3HB
Registered Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . IP000173
NI Charity No. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NIC104573
Department for Communities
Registration No. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NIC104573
Solicitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edwards & Co
Internal Auditors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TIAA Ltd
External Auditors . . . . . . . ASM Accounting
Accountants . . . . . . Connon Associates Ltd.
Bankers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ulster Bank
HR & OD Services . . . . Distinctive People
31
Grove Community
HOUSING ASSOCIATION
Note of thanks and tribute
We wish to thank our dedicated staff team, Voluntary
Board, contractors, service providers and community
representatives for their continued dedication in rising
to the challenge of continuing to deliver services to our
tenants and community.
We also would like to thank our tenants for
enthusiastically engaging in the work we do and always
helping us improve what we offer.
We would also like to pay tribute to those in our
community that have been impacted during the year from
the cost-of-living crisis. We appreciate the hardship this
causes and we strive to alleviate this and build hope in
our community for better days. We will continue to provide
support and understanding.
We shall keep you informed of other joint community
initiatives planned for the coming year and of course in
the plans for our new build homes.
Grove Community Housing Association
Contact Details
Registered Offi
171 York Road,
Belfast,
BT15 3HB
Telephone
(028) 9077 3330
Out of Hours Repairs Line
0800 7313 081
E-mail
info@groveha.org.uk
Website
www.groveha.org.uk
facebook.com/grovecommunityhousing
twitter.com/grove_housing
uk.linkedin.com/company/grove-community-
housing-association
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