Better homes, better places, better lives.
With millions invested in the borough’s council properties every year, the local authority is asking tenants what future improvements they would like to see in their homes.
Dudley Council annually spends more than £50million on improvements and repairs to its homes, undertaking statutory duties such as gas servicing and electrical inspections and providing wider estate and housing management services.
In recent years the council has been assessing its housing stock to identify those areas where the biggest improvements need to be made to benefit today’s and future generations of tenants.
In a pilot survey, in areas where the biggest improvements need to be made, the council has written to tenants asking them to complete a short questionnaire.
The pilot areas are Chapel Street estate in Brierley Hill, Butterfield, Claverley and Clent Courts in the centre of Dudley and the Highfield estate and high rise in Halesowen.
People will be asked a number of questions, including whether they feel their current home meets their needs and is satisfactory and they will be asked to prioritise where they think investment needs to be made.
Councillor Laura Taylor, cabinet member for housing and community services, said:
Through better homes and better places, we want to create better lives for our tenants.
Following in-depth surveys of the council’s housing stock we know there are council homes in the borough which need work.
Many of our properties are mid-century and although we have been forging ahead to build new council homes, we have invested and plan to invest further in our older properties too to bring all homes up to the same standard of living.
To inform how we do this, we want to understand how tenants feel about their homes and the areas they live in and what they think we should prioritise when making improvements.
People will receive the survey through their door and the closing date is July 9. The council plans to extend the survey to all tenants in the future.