Report 2012 - Wishaw and District Housing Association

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2 Chairman’s Foreword As you read through this annual report, you will see how Wishaw and District Housing Association have been performing in our main aims and aspirations during 2011/2012, particularly as a landlord. Our Board of Directors and staff take our responsibilities very seriously and continue to perform well in terms of quality and efficiency. I am proud to say that our rent collection levels, the swift re-letting of vacant houses to ensure minimum loss of rent revenue, and repair response times are among the best, and that our rent levels remain competitive and affordable. We are also proud of our ongoing home improvements which have brought new kitchens and bathrooms, new roofs and external doors, and upgraded paintwork and central heating systems. We are continually looking for ways to improve and extend our services. As we look to the future, I believe that we approach the coming year in a strong position but times are changing and there are some challenging situations ahead. We know that there is little in the way of grant funding and this means we are unlikely to build many new houses in the next few years. However we hope there will soon be some positive news about the plans for the large site at the bottom of Main Street, Wishaw. There is also uncertainty about how welfare reform will affect our tenants and I know the proposed changes are causing concern. We are doing everything we can to prepare ourselves and help those affected by these changes. Please don’t hesitate to contact the Association’s staff if you wish help, advice or more information. I hope you find this report interesting. Edward Mullen Chairman Our Board of Directors Last year, at our AGM in July 2011, four board members were due to stand down having served for the three years that the Rules allow. All of these members, Cath Brown, Bill Graham, Charles Keeper and Liam McCabe, opted to stand again and were unanimously re-elected. Kash Arshad, who had been co-opted during the year, was also elected at the AGM, but unfortunately Kash left us later in the year as personal commitments meant that he could not attend as often as he felt he should. Additionally we had two nominations from the general membership and Jim Robertson and Frank McKay (who is also a Councillor and was formerly the Council’s representative to our Board, but who now serves in a personal capacity) were also elected. As reported during the year in our newsletter, ‘Association Matters’, we lost our long time board member and Secretary, John Forbes, in October 2011 when he died just a few weeks short of his 90th birthday. Although we continue to miss John, the position of Secretary has been ably filled through the appointment of Helen Russell. We welcomed to our ranks Councillor Sam Love, who became our local authority representative after the election of the previous incumbent, Councillor John Pentland, to the Scottish Parliament. Following the 2011 AGM the board reelected Edward Mullen to serve once again as Chairperson, and Bill Graham as Vice Chairperson. Our Rules say that normally a Chairperson will serve for a maximum of three years. However, in view of the current
Chairman’s steadfast commitment, his ever growing knowledge and experience, and in the absence of any other Board Member willing to serve, he once again received the unanimous and unequivocal support of the Board. The Board deals with all business directly and met 16 times during the financial year 2011/12, and was quorate at all meetings with an average attendance rate of 73%, slightly under our own target of 75%. At the time of writing the Board is operating on a full membership complement. The Board of Directors governing the Association up to the meeting in July 2012 consisted of: Edward Mullen Chairperson Bill Graham Vice Chairperson Helen Russell Secretary Cath Brown John Carr Jean Fagan Charles Keeper Grant Kennedy Irene Love Liam McCabe Frank McKay Jim Robertson Councillor Sam Love serving as Representative of North Lanarkshire Council Our Board of Directors. From left to right, back row: John Carr, Grant Kennedy, Liam McCabe and Jim Robertson. Middle row: Irene Love, Sam Love and Bill Graham. Front row: Helen Russell, Charles Keeper and Edward Mullen. 3
Page 1: Wishaw & District Housing Associati
Page 5 and 6: Managing Tenancies Common Housing R
Page 7 and 8: Living With Neighbours The occasion
Page 9 and 10: Maintenance News Scottish Housing Q
Page 11 and 12: The Cost of Maintenance Works Betwe
Page 13 and 14: People and Communities We believe t
Page 15 and 16: Our Little Patch of Green - Easter
Page 17 and 18: Our capital expenditure this year o
Page 19 and 20: Staff Team Our staff team is now: C

Report 2012 - Wishaw and District Housing Association

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