New figures reveal the overall satisfaction rate from Gateshead Council tenants has dropped to just 44%.
A survey of 1,086 council tenants shows the satisfaction rate has plummeted from 88.5% in 2015 to 44% in November 2022. Residents' complaints mainly revolve around house repairs, anti-social behaviour, street repair or cleaning.
Locals have also voiced their frustration around getting in touch with the council via phone. A problematic situation that "cannot be denied", according to Mayor Dot Burnett.
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The council has reportedly struggled to retain staff to answer housing-related calls from customers. In relation to housing repairs delays were attributed to storms and Covid-19.
Kevin Scarlett, service director for housing strategy at Gateshead Council, said: "The satisfaction figures are understandably disappointing but not inconsistent with other councils in urban areas or other housing providers. But that is elsewhere and we are talking about Gateshead.
"Not surprisingly amongst the most important issue is repairs and maintenance. There is a desperate need to invest in our council housing stock analysts has had this in place for a year now the council now has a plan to invest £168m in council homes over the next five years.
"We hope that would have a significant impact on the quality of people's homes."
Mr Scarlett went on to comment on several other improvements the housing repairs team had made. The percentage of house repair appointments that were made and kept increased in one year from 50% to 94%. In addition, within twelve months the percentage of house repairs being completed on the first attempt has risen from 36% to 73%.
Officers also informed councillors £2m has been allocated to keep streets and estates tidier.
The council has also drawn up a new model to deal with how anti-social behaviour is reported and handled. A previous report into the council's process to deal with anti-social behaviour found it was based on "flawed assumptions". Now a "multi-disciplinary" team will handle cases of such behaviour complete with a review.
Council officers said they were willing to explore making salaries for staff handling housing calls more competitive and provide further training to ensure customers do not have to call repeatedly for the same issue.
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