You can learn a lot about your community when you ask the right questions.
And with the right questions, you can find ways to meet shared challenges.
Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust’s annual Tenant Satisfaction Survey asks questions that help measure the trust’s performance and understand tenant needs.
Many of the answers tell the Trust which aspects of its work are working well, and which need work. Even great results will always push us to make improvements.
Overall, the survey found 82% of respondents were satisfied with the quality of our tenancy service. That’s the highest score since 2015.
It also found 93% were satisfied with their new heat pump, installed as part of the ŌCHT/Christchurch City Council Warm & Dry Initiative.
Eighty three percent of those surveyed said the initiative had a positive impact on their lives.
The initiative might also be linked to more people – 84% – agreeing their home is warm, dry and weathertight. This is a big change – it was 59% before.
Seventy nine percent of respondents were satisfied with the condition of their unit. This is another big change (it was 61% before) and another we want to grow.
There were big improvements in what people though of our maintenance work. Eighty five percent (up from 76%) were satisfied with the work done by our maintenance contractors; 83% (up from 76%) agreed maintenance was completed when needed, and 80% agreed the lawns and gardens are managed well.
Overall, the survey results suggest ŌCHT is on the right track. Our improvements were noticed, and we know more about what needs to improve.
Tenants are at the centre
We’re interested in more than our performance. We also ask questions to help us learn more about the health and wellbeing of people living in ŌCHT homes.
We asked people to rank things that can make a difference. Learning more about health and wellbeing, having a connection with neighbours, and having digital skills and connectivity were all considered important.
What the survey tells us about: Health and wellbeing
Are we healthy?
Like other years, more than three quarters (77% this year) of the people surveyed say they are in good health. Those 65-years or older were more likely to rate their general health as at-least good.
The New Zealand Health Survey 2019/20 was released after our survey. It found 87.2% of adults it surveyed nationally said they were in good health.
That’s more than in our survey, though our survey has fewer people aged 18-50 as a proportion of the sample than in the general population.
It concluded people living in the most socio-economically deprived areas were less likely to report being in good health than those in the least deprived areas.
Need help? We’ve got some tips and links on our Staying on top of your health page.
Remember: if you need help accessing services, you can contact our Well-being Team on 0800 624 456
Smoking
We know smoking can have a significant impact on people’s health and wellbeing, and it can be a tough habit to break.
Most (73%) of the people surveyed were non-smokers. Twenty one percent of people considered themselves regular smokers, which means they smoke more than once a day.
Men (27%) and those aged 25-49 (33%) were most likely to be regular smokers than the rest.
The New Zealand Health Survey found about 13.4% of adults nationally were smokers. That’s less than in our survey, though our survey has fewer people aged 18-50 as a proportion of the sample than would be true of the general population.
It also found smoking was lowest in those aged 65-74 (7.3%) and 75+ (3.9%). Our survey suggests higher proportions in our community.
The national survey found adults living in the most socioeconomically deprived areas were 4.5 times as likely to be current smokers as adults in the least deprived areas.
Of non-smokers, 34% used to be regular smokers – that’s more than 26% in the national health survey. That suggests publicity, quit-smoking programmes and even the price of tobacco are helping to reduce smoking rates.
It also shows quitting is possible.
ŌCHT has a smoke free policy. Smoking is not allowed in ŌCHT homes, we support the government’s Smokefree 2025 goal, and we can help connect people with help to quit.
The survey found 80% of people thought our smoke free policy was a good idea.
That proportion has steadily grown since 2017.
Need help? We’ve got some tips and links on our Getting help to quit smoking page.
Remember: if you need help accessing services, you can contact our Well-being Team on 0800 624 456
What the survey tells us about: Connections
Social connections
Positive social connections enhance our wellbeing with a sense of community, belonging and support.
At the other end of the scale, social isolation can lead to loneliness, which can have negative emotional and health effects.
Our survey found 90% of people had positive contact with their neighbours in the last 12 months. This is consistent with previous years.
Over half (58%) never or only rarely felt isolated over the past 12 months. However, 31% said they sometimes felt isolated, 6% felt isolated most of the time, and 2% always felt isolated.
About a quarter see their neighbours a lot, and socialise with them, and nearly half stop and chat and do small favours for each other.
Those aged 65 and over report feeling less isolated than those younger than them (64% report feeling rarely or never isolated).
The last Stats NZ General Social Survey, in 2018, found 16.6% of the general population aged 15 and over experienced loneliness at least some of the time in a four-week period.
It was 15.4% in Canterbury.
Need help? We’ve got some tips and links on our Getting connected socially page.
Remember: if you need help accessing services, you can contact our Well-being Team on 0800 624 456
Computer and internet connections
Most of the people, services and business we need to connect with have an online presence. Facebook and other social media keep us connected and websites help us interact with the organisations that help us.
Nowadays, the internet is often the first port of call to access services and to do business.
More than half (57%) of people we surveyed access to the internet on their smart phones; 52% have internet access at home and 51% have an email address.
More than a third use social media.
The results in all these areas has been consistently climbing, with big jumps in home access and email address use since last year.
Older people were less likely to be using the internet on their devices.
The Digital Inclusion and Wellbeing in New Zealand 2019 found 92% of people living in a major city had access to the internet.
Slightly more than 69% of people renting community housing had access to the internet (30.15% did not).
About a third of people who took part in the ŌCHT survey were interested in using community computers for training purposes if they were available at ŌCHT.
Twenty three percent were interested in getting support setting up an email, and less than 10% were interested in help preparing a CV and getting ready for interviews or volunteering work
Need help? We’ve got some tips and links on our Getting better connected online page.
Learn more about what you told us about using the web for job hunting – and explore some useful links – on our Using the web to find a job page.
Remember: if you need help accessing services, you can contact our Well-being Team on 0800 624 456
What the survey tells us about: Disaster preparedness
We have had more than our fair share of emergencies in Christchurch over the past decade and many of us have planned what we’d do if disaster strikes again.
The survey found 72% of respondents feel they are prepared for a significant emergency, such as an earthquake or tsunami.
That leaves 28% who are unprepared. Older people were significantly more likely to say they are prepared for emergencies – 82% among those aged 65+.
Need help? We’ve got some tips and links on our Getting ready for an emergency page.
Remember: if you need help accessing services, you can contact our Well-being Team on 0800 624 456
About the survey
Tenants were surveyed in the years before ŌCHT was established to manage the Christchurch City Council’s community housing portfolio, and develop its own, in 2016.
ŌCHT took the survey over in 2017 and has since partnered with Research First to deliver the findings annually.
The survey includes similar measures to allow for comparisons, and also provides additional insight into tenants’ wellbeing and lifestyles.
This year’s survey included additional questions addressing ŌCHT’s response during the COVID-19 lockdown and the Warm & Dry initiative introduced in January 2020.
All tenants received a paper copy of the survey in their letterbox and had the option to complete and return the paper survey by post, or to submit their feedback online.
The fieldwork period was from September 7 to October 13, 2020.
Overall, 681 people took part in the latest wave of the survey. Most – 92% – completed the survey by post.
The achieved sample size of 681 respondents represents 31% of tenants and is considered representative to +/-3.2% at a 95% confidence level.
This means that 9.5 times out of 10, the figure reported is true for the wider population within +/-3.2% of the reported value.