Questionnaire Analysis - E&R Consultants

Review of Social Housing Property Plan Survey 2007

In early May 2007 the Housing Scrutiny Sub-Panel sent out 4437 questionnaires to all tenants in States rental accommodation. There was a large response of 1248 replies, which represents a 28% return.

The questionnaire consisted of tick box responses, with the opportunity to make comments at the end; however many respondents added their own comments within the text of the questionnaire.

DEMOGRAPHICS OF RESPONSES

Question 1. What sort of property are you renting at the moment? Table 1.0

*Note SHPP is the "Social Housing Property Plan 2007-2016"

Approximately 10% of respondents did not give full details of their accommodation, i.e. only ticking "Flat", "2 bedroomed" etc. Table 1.0 above looks only at the respondents that gave clearly defined accommodation type. It can be seen, and confirmed by a significance test, that the survey is an excellent representation of the accommodation size as given in the SHPP

Question 2. Which parish do you live in? Table 2.0

The distribution of survey replies by Parish is given in table 2.0 above. As nearly 90% of respondents are from the three parishes, St Helier, St Saviour and St Clement and numbers in the remaining parishes is small, further analysis in this report combines the rest of the seven parishes and non-responses into "Other".

Questions 3. Your age. Table 3.0

Reponses from Age Group States Tenants, General adult

Survey SHPP population 2001

Census

Aged 40 & 14% Aged under 40 20% 41.50%

under

Aged 41 to 16% Aged between 40 20% 19%

50 & 49

Aged 51 to 19% Aged between 50 20% 15.50%

60 & 59

Aged 61 51% Aged over 60 40% 24% and over

From table 3.0 there appears to be a slightly older age group replying to the questionnaire than the proportion of States tenants given in the SHPP. The SHPP figures appear to be rounded, as only 20% and 40% are given as values in the table, however a significance test confirms that the age groups from the survey are no different to the SHPP than would be expected from such a sample.

RESULTS

Question 3:Cross tabulation: size of accommodation by age Table 3.1

Age Group

Number 18 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 61 to 70 Over 70 Blank Total Question 3:Cross tabulation:

of type of accommodation by age Bedrooms:

1 0.4% 1% 2% 7% 12% 24% 0.3% 46% Table 3.2

2 2% 4% 6% 7% 5% 4% 0.2% 29%

3 1% 4% 6% 3% 1% 0% 0 15%

4 0 1% 1% 0.4% 0.3% 0.1% 0 2%

5 to 6 0 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0 0.2% Type of

Property 18 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 5 Blank 0.2% 0.4% 1% 2% 2% 2% 0.2% 7%

Bedsit 0.2% 0.2% 1% Total 4% 10% 16% 19% 21% 30% 1% 100%

Flat 2% 5% 7% House 1% 5% 8%

Blank 0.1% 1% 1%

Total 4% 10% 16%

of age and type of property occupied. In terms of ages, by far the largest groups are over 70s (24%) and from 61 to 70 (12%) living in one bedroomed accommodation.

Question 4. Your personal circumstances

Many respondents put down that they were widows or widowers; these have obviously been treated as "singles". A few respondents who recorded them selves as "single" indicated that they had partners; this allows for confusion, as it's not clear whether any of the other respondents who replied with "single" were in fact cohabiting.

Cross tabulation: number of dependents v personal circumstances Table 4.0

None 18% 43% 0.2% 61% One 7% 8% 0.1% 15% Two or more 8% 6% 0.2% 15% Blank 4% 6% 0.3% 9%

Total 36% 63% 1%

The results in table 4.0 reveal that 63% of respondents classified them selves as single, and of these 23% have dependents. Overall it would appear that, at maximum, 49% of accommodation is occupied by one person.

Question 4 Dependents

Cross tabulation number of dependents v age group Table 4.1

Age Group

Number of

dependants 18 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 61 to 70 Over 70 Blank Total None 0.5% 1% 4% 13% 17% 24% 0.5% 61% One 2% 3% 5% 3% 1% 0.2% 0% 15% Two or more 1% 6% 6% 1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.1% 15% Blank 0.1% 0% 1% 2% 2% 5% 0.2% 9%

Total 4% 10% 16% 19% 21% 30% 1% 100%

% with one 11% 31% 37% 14% 6% 1% 0% 100% or more dependents

Several respondents qualified their responses about dependants with "older children at school" "children at university" and " looking after older disabled relatives"; these were all coded as none. Interpreting blank responses as "none" it appears that nearly three quarters (70%) of respondents have no dependent children under 16.

As would be expected, of those with dependents, the majority (68%) are in the 31 to 50 age group.

Question 5. How long have you been living in States rental accommodation? Cross tabulation; Age v how long in States rental

Table 5.0

Tenancy in years

Age 0 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 1516 to 2021 to 25Over 25 Blank Total

18 to 30 27 2 1 2 13 1 0 46 4% 31 to 40 49 26 12 1 38 1 0 127 10% 41 to 50 45 47 32 14 32 29 0 199 16% 51 to 60 43 27 50 28 20 72 0 240 19% 61 to 70 54 12 19 22 25 124 2 258 21% Over 70 36 50 30 24 32 196 1 369 30%

Blank 3 1 0 0 1 3 1 9 1% Total 257 165 144 91 161 426 4 1248 100%

21% 13% 12% 7% 13% 34% 0% 100%

This distribution of raw data shows a dip in the middle years of tenancy and implies that the majority of respondents are long term or short term. 34% of the sample has been tenants of over 25 years, and so presumably they are there for life. The shortest tenancy term of 0 to 5 years represents the second largest group, 21%.

Cross Tabulation: type of property by length of tenancy Table 5.1

Tenancy in years

The small number of properties Number of with 4 and above bedrooms makes Bedrooms: 0 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20 21 to 25 Over 25 Total percentages misleading, so for the 1 21% 11% 11% 7% 7% 42% 100% rest of this report, they have been

2 22% 14% 12% 13% 7% 32% 100% combined into one group of "3 or 3 or more 18% 16% 22% 20% 8% 17% 100% more" bedrooms.

Blank 21% 17% 10% 11% 4% 36% 99% Table 5.1 shows the data as

Total 21% 13% 13% 12% 7% 34% 100% proportions of the age groups. i.e. 42% of one bedroomed accommodation is occupied by respondents who have been tenants for over 25 years.

Similarly 2 bedroomed accommodations is mostly occupied by over 25 (32%), whilst for 3 bed rooms or more, most respondents have been in States rental for 11 to 15 years (22%).

Cross Tabulation: size of property by length of tenancy Table 5.2

Tenancy in years

Number of Table 5.2 Shows the same Bedrooms 0 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20 21 to 25 over 25 Total data as table 5.1 but compares

1 47% 39% 40% 30% 47% 57% 46% length of tenancy with the size 2 31% 30% 25% 32% 29% 27% 29% of accommodation. Most

3 or more 15% 22% 29% 31% 20% 9% 18% respondents (57%) of over 25

Blank 7% 9% 5% 7% 4% 8% 7% years tenancy live in 1

Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% bedroomed accommodation . For one bedroomed accommodation, the proportion of 16-20 years (30%) is a lot less that the other groups. Two bedroomed accommodation is roughly the same for all age groups whilst the two groups, 11-15 and 16 to 20, have a higher proportion (29% and 31%) of the 3 bedroomed and above accommodation.

Question 6. Do you live in area where it is proposed that some homes are to be offered for sale? Cross tabulation: type of property v area of domicile

Table 6.0

Type of property renting No Yes Blank Bedsit 64% 27% 9%

Flat 63% 33% 3% House 39% 60% 0% Total 57% 40% 3%

The respondents were asked about a sale in their particular area, but not specific to their property. 40% of respondents said they "lived in an area for sale".

As can be seen from table 6.0 a far larger proportion of respondents (60%) lived in houses as opposed to bedsit and flats.

Cross tabulation: size of property v area of domicile Table 6.1

Clearly table 6.1 shows there is a larger proportion of respondents with larger accommodation living in the area

for sale.

The majority of respondents (57%) do not live in the areas proposed for sale.

6.2 Cross Tabulation: respondents living in an area for sale v age Table 6.2

Age Group

Do you live in an 18 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 61 to 70 Over 70 Total

area for sale? Overall 40% of respondents No 28% 43% 45% 56% 67% 66% 57% live in an "area for sale", but Yes 67% 57% 55% 43% 31% 27% 40% this response is clearly related

to age. 67% of the younger respondents live in the area and this gradually declines to only 27% of the over 70's.

Note:

A list of 778 units of accommodation that are proposed for sale was sent out with the questionnaire to all 4437 States accommodation units. The 778 units would be 18% of the total 4437 States units. Respondents were not asked if they lived in a particular property only "in the area" for sale, so the 40% "living in the area" needs to be treated with caution, respondents understanding of "in the area" could be very different. Of course in may also indicate than a larger proportion of the respondents that felt affected by the sale replied to the questionnaire, rather than those that didn't.

Question 7. Would you be interested in purchasing one of the properties for sale? Cross tabulation: Interest in purchasing v age

Table 7.1

Age Group Clearly it is only a minority of the total respondents (24%in the

Ipurntecrehastsiinng 18 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 87% 95% 72% inof bthuoysinegt hSatat aterse ,reangtea l isproa mpeartjoyr;

51 to 60 61 to 70 Over 70 Total last column) that are interested No 43% 34% 47% 68%

Yes 52% 61% 46% 28% 10% 2% 24%

factor in the interest to purchase. Blank 4% 6% 7% 4% 3% 3% 4% As there are a large proportion

of over 70's in the sample and very few of these would be interested in buying. A look at the individual age groups reveals that just over half (52%) of the 18-30 year olds would be interested in purchasing. The largest group (61%) is the 31 to 40 years olds; this interest in purchasing gradually declines to 2% of over 70 year olds.

Cross tabulation. Interest in purchasing by length of tenancy Table 7.2

Tenancy in years

Would you be interested We can see from the table 7.2

in purchasing 0 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20 21 to 25 Over 25 Total above the length of time in States No 61% 68% 68% 55% 67% 88% 72% tenancy and the desire to

Yes 33% 29% 25% 38% 30% 9% 24% purchase is not as diverse as age. Blank 6% 2% 6% 7% 3% 3% 4% The respondents of 16 to 20

years being slightly more interested than the rest (38%), whilst those of over 25 years tenancy are far less

interested (9%)

Reading the comments, most respondents are in favour of buying the property they live in at the moment, whilst a few are unhappy with where they live, but would buy in another area. There were many comments that respondents would like to purchase property but foresaw problems with getting a mortgage.

Qn 8. Do you think it is an appropriate use to reinvest all the proceeds of the sales into refurbishing and maintaining existing rental homes, as well as acquiring significant numbers of Sheltered Housing

8.1 Cross tabulation: is an appropriate use of proceeds by age Table 8.1

Is it an appropriate use of the proceeds

Age Group No Yes Blank 18 to 30 9% 85% 7% 31 to 40 7% 90% 3%

41 to 50 8% 88% 5% 51 to 60 7% 89% 4%

61 to 70 10% 86% 4% Over 70 7% 86% 7% Total 8% 87% 5%

There's a resounding acceptance (87%) that the money from sales of States accommodation should be re invested into refurbishment and maintenance of existing accommodation and further development of sheltered housing. As can be seen, age has little effect on this opinion. Looking at other respondents' factors such as the "length of tenure", " living in the area for sale" and the consideration of "moving into sheltered accommodation", has little effect on this overall percentage of 87%.

Question 9. If available, would you consider moving to sheltered accommodation

0. cross tabulation: willingness to move to sheltered accommodation v age Table 9.0

Would you consider moving to sheltered accommodation?

Age Already Immediately Five Ten Not Blank Total Total Group in Years Years interested Count %

sheltered

housing

18 to 30 0 4 1 0 34 7 46 4% 31 to 40 0 6 4 5 108 4 127 10% 41 to 50 0 8 8 34 135 14 199 16% 51 to 60 1 19 26 83 104 7 240 19% 61 to 70 2 14 41 77 115 9 258 21% Over 70 1 34 60 78 178 18 369 30% Blank 0 0 2 2 5 0 9 1%

Total 4 85 142 279 679 59 1248 100% 0% 7% 11% 22% 54% 5% 100%

As can been from the raw data in table 9.0 above, there was some misunderstanding on the part of respondents as to what constituted sheltered housing as four 18 to 30 year olds want to move in immediately!

59% of respondents were not interested in sheltered accommodation or left this question blank. This leaves 41% of respondents who are interested in sheltered accommodation.

Given the time scales involved and that some younger respondents' attitudes may change over the years, this is still a considerable number of respondents that could be interested in sheltered accommodation.

It's unlikely that anybody under the age of 40 would be eligible for sheltered housing with in the next 10 years, so the data has been analysed using only those respondents above the age of 41, other groups whose data was not included were those already in sheltered accommodation and those that gave no age group. This leaves 1062 respondents who might be looking at sheltered accommodation in the next 10 years

1. Cross tabulation: willingness to move to sheltered accommodation v age Table 9.1

Would you consider moving to sheltered accommodation? Age Group Immediately Five Years Ten Years not Blank Total

interested

41 to 50 1% 1% 3% 13% 1% 19% 51 to 60 2% 2% 8% 10% 1% 23% 61 to 70 1% 4% 7% 11% 1% 24% Over 70 3% 6% 7% 17% 2% 35%

Total 7% 13% 26% 50% 5% 100%

Table 9.1 shows that 50% of respondents above the age of 40 have an interest moving into sheltered accommodation at some stage. The table above suggest that 4% of over 60's would move to sheltered accommodation immediately.

There were 624 respondents above the age of 60 who might be eligible for sheltered accommodation. Of these, 49% said they would eventually want to move to sheltered accommodation. Given the opportunity, of those interested in moving, 8% of the over 60's would move immediately and 16% within 5 years. 13 couples and 24 singles of the over 60's sampled would be interest in moving to sheltered accommodation immediately . If these were all eligible it would extrapolate to approximately 200 current States tenants, that is 100 singles and 50 couples. i.e. 150 units of accommodation

Question 10. Which location for sheltered housing would suit you best? Cross tabulation: parish by location

Table 10.0

Which location would best suit you?

Country Town/ Near

Which parish side/ Quiet Existing shops More than Blank Total do you live in?Area Parish facilities one Count

St Clement 12 (24%) 28 (55%) 6 (12%) 3 2 51 St Helier 92 (31%) 85 (29%) 93 (31%) 15 11 296 St Saviour 23 (34%) 28 (41%) 10 (15%) 3 4 68 Others 10 (15%) 49 (74%) 1 (2%) 4 2 66

Total 137 191 110 25 19 482 28% 40% 23% 5% 4%

482 respondents aged over 40 made a positive choice of location for sheltered accommodation. Table 10.0 shows the raw data for preferred choice of location for those respondents. Clearly the overall majority of respondents (40%) wanted to stay in their existing parish.

The percentages (given in brackets) show that there is a clear difference between the parishes as regards the location of sheltered housing. The respondents may have different understandings of three categories (Quiet area, Town etc) but there appears to be evidence from St Helier residents that sheltered housing would be appreciated outside the Parish; only 29% would like to remain in St Helier and 31% would like country side or a quiet area. Certainly 74% of the respondents in other parishes would like to remain where they are.

Question 11. The Plan suggests that certain high rise buildings, (Convent Court, Caesarea Court and De Quetteville Court) could be demolished rather than refurbished, with the areas then used for the development of low rise and sheltered accommodation. Do you think this is a good idea?

Cross tabulation: parish v demolition of high-rise buildings Table 11.0

Which parish do you live in? An overall total of 70% of the Demolish high- Clement Helier Saviour Other Total respondents agreed that the rise buildings? high-rise buildings could be

No 14% 10% 8% 9% 10% demolished and replaced with Yes 60% 70% 72% 75% 70% other developments. This is a

No Opinion 24% 17% 16% 15% 18% fairly consistent view across all BTolatnakl 120%0% 130%0% 140%0% 110%0% 130%0% of the parishes, although

respondents in St Clement,

(60% yes and 24% no opinion) were less positive about the proposals.

Table 11.1: Percentage of each age group that would demolish high-rise buildings

Age Group Demolish high rise

18 to 30 65%

31 to 40 80%

41 to 50 77%

51 to 60 77%

61 to 70 64%

Over 70 62%

Total 70%

Table 11.2 Percentage of each group who are considering sheltered accommodation that would demolish high rise buildings

Respondents considering Demolish high rise

sheltered accom

Immediately 81%

Five Years 75%

Ten Years 76%

Not interested 65%

From the tables it can be seen that the three middle age groups (from 31 to 60), are slightly more in favour of demolishing high rise buildings than either the younger or older groups. There is a little more interest (81%, 75%

& 76%) in this demolition option from those respondents that are considering moving to sheltered accommodation with in the near future, rather than later (65%).

Question 11. Final Statements:

"There should be no further transfers of States Rental Homes to Housing Trusts" "The transfer of States Rental Homes to Housing Trusts should continue"

Respondents were given the opportunity to tick which of these mutually exclusive statements best reflected their view. However, many felt they did not have enough information or understanding of housing trusts and wrote "no opinion". The few respondents who ticked both boxes were considered to have no opinion.

Percentages of respondents agreeing with each statement Table 11.3

Clearly there is a majority, 56%, with the feeling that here should be no further transfers of States Rental Homes to Housing Trusts. If we consider only those respondents that expressed an opinion the figure rises to 65%

Percentage of respondents who agree there should be no further transfers by length of tenancy Table 11.4

Length of tenancy

Overall Table of number 0 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20 21 to 25 over 25 Total Agree. "There

hould be no

urther transfers 47% 50% 55% 52% 59% 64% 56%

Percentage of respondents who agree there should be no further transfers by age

Table 11.5

Age Group

Overall 18 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 61 to 70 Over 70 Total

Agree. "There

should be no

further transfers.. 37% 43% 50% 65% 58% 58% 56%

From the tables above (11.4 & 11.5) it can be seen that the respondents who have been in States rental for the longest time and the older respondents are more adamant that that "there should be no further transfers. " than those with a shorter tenancy and those who are younger.

Percentage of respondents who agree there should be no further transfers by interest in purchasing Table 11.6

Would you be interested in purchasing?

No Yes Blank Overall Total "There should be no

further transfers 59% 46% 43% 56%

Table 11.6 shows that those who are interested in purchasing as less concerned about the transfer to a housing trust.

TVB 03/06/2007