COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, June 13, 2022

QUESTION NO. 26

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive to report on actions being taken to ensure that all housing maintenance requests are dealt with as quickly as possible; will he provide details and make a statement?

REPLY:

Planned and implemented changes to our housing maintenance service delivery to enhance the quality of maintenance services provided to tenants and for properties in conjunction with the introduction of the Integrated Housing System include:

• Review and restructuring of maintenance depot staffing to:
  • redistribute staffing numbers across critical trades
  • allow introduction of new trades,
  • provide additional supervisory positions within the depot, and,
  • ensure adequate staff resources available for critical areas of demand.
  • (This has resulted in recent recruitment competitions for plumbing, carpentry and plastering trades in recent months with further recruitment planned in the coming months, although it should be noted that recruitment has been difficult due to the current nature of the employment market.)
• Revised area boundaries and supervisory structures based on volume of maintenance requests, housing stock numbers and profile, and tighter geographical areas to provide enhanced and more responsive local maintenance services.
• Review of contracts coming up for review to re-tender to provide more local area contracts to align with the revised supervisory structures and to similarly enhance the responsiveness to maintenance requests. (There are currently two contractors in place for each of the critical maintenance work areas (general response maintenance, electrical works, mechanical works) with one operating in each of the areas north and south of the Naas Road).
• Ongoing staff training and consultancy “health-checks” to optimise the use of the Integrated Housing System to its full potential, to track progress of maintenance requests and performance of the department and contractors in the delivery of the service and to enhance reporting to Elected Members.
• Continued optimisation of Housing Online for customers to report maintenance requests through their online accounts which will support faster allocation of work orders to staff and contractors as well as increased visibility of progress on repairs for tenants.
• Categorised, area-based reporting on housing maintenance work requests and completions through integrated housing system will commence in the coming weeks for local area committee meetings.