3 April 2002

Preliminary results of a survey of Christchurch City Council housing tenants indicate that over 90% of tenants rate their housing complex and the individual unit that they live in as satisfactory, very good or excellent.

1,336 City Housing tenants (50% of total), from all 113 housing complexes were interviewed voluntarily during January and February this year. The purpose of the survey was to find out how satisfied City Housing tenants are, and identify ways in which the City Council can improve the housing and housing services it provides.

Preliminary results of the survey indicate the following key findings:

- The main aspects that tenants liked about their housing complex were its convenient location, friendly neighbours and pleasant location.

- When asked what aspects tenants disliked about their housing complex, 31% of respondents said there was nothing they disliked. 18% of respondents said that they disliked neighbours who were noisy or inconsiderate, and 17% said that the gardens needed more attention.

- When asked to rate their complex overall, 93% of respondents said that it was either satisfactory, very good or excellent.

- When asked to rate their individual unit overall, 94% of respondents said that it was either satisfactory, very good or excellent.

- When asked what City Housing could do to improve their quality of life, the highest number of respondents (29%) said nothing at all could be done. The next highest response was a suggestion quite specific to the tenant’s own unit (27%), and 10% suggested tree cutting.

(Please note that the percentages above relate to the total number of respondents to the survey. There is not yet any information specific to any of the complexes).

Carole Anderton, City Councillor and Chair of the Housing Sub-committee, said that the results of the survey would be very useful information for Councillors making decisions relating to housing.

“Christchurch City Council is strongly committed to providing appropriate housing for our tenants, and continuing to make improvements for them where practicable. The survey results are a good reference for us (Councillors), and will help to inform our decision making processes relating to City Housing”, says Anderton.

Anderton says that the preliminary results indicate a good level of overall satisfaction amongst tenants, but also that some improvements will need to be done following more detailed analysis of the research.

Rob Dally, City Council Property Manager agrees, adding that once more details results are available, such as analysis by housing complex, City Housing staff will be able to pinpoint where the work needs to be done to make improvements.

The final report of the survey is due to be completed by the end of April. A copy of the full final report will be made available to City Housing tenants at the City Council’s Civic Offices, service centres and libraries.

City Housing is a self-financing unit within the City Council, which does not use ratepayers funds to operate.

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