January - March 2026

In this issue: Tenant Satisfaction Measures, community engagement updates and neighbourhood priorities.

🗣️ Help Shape Housing in 2026

Your voice can help shape housing services across St Albans.

As we begin 2026, we’re inviting tenants and leaseholders to join our Tenant & Leaseholder Forum — a friendly, constructive group that works directly with the Council to help improve housing services.

Members contribute to discussions on repairs, estate standards, customer service and communication, ensuring decisions are shaped by lived experience.

Can you spare just 1 hour and 30 minutes a month?

Why join?

✔ Help influence housing services and priorities
✔ Speak directly with Council officers
✔ Take part in surveys and service reviews
✔ Receive support, training and travel reimbursement

“The Forum has helped me feel more informed and listened to.”
Forum member, 2025

📩 Get involved:
Email residentengagement@stalbans.gov.uk or speak to your Housing Officer.

Your voice matters.

👋 Your Housing Team in 2026

🛡️ Protecting Your Belongings

St Albans City & District Council is committed to supporting residents to live well, stay connected and remain independent as they grow older. As part of this commitment, the Council is proud to be working with partners across Hertfordshire to support the development of age-friendly communities.

An age-friendly community is one that recognises how people’s needs change over time and ensures that housing, neighbourhoods and local services support later life. This includes having homes that are safe and adaptable, welcoming community spaces, clear information, and opportunities for older residents to stay involved and have their voices heard.

Across Hertfordshire, residents are already getting involved in age-friendly work by becoming Age-Friendly Ambassadors, helping to shape local priorities, influence services and ensure that older people’s experiences are reflected in decision-making. You can find out more about what this involves at:
👉 https://afcherts.org.uk/get-involved/

Looking ahead, St Albans City & District Council is working towards establishing a St Albans Forum for Older People, providing a dedicated space for residents to share views, raise issues and help shape local services and communities. This will sit alongside existing engagement opportunities and help strengthen resident voice across the District.

If you are interested in getting involved — whether as an Age-Friendly Ambassador or by finding out more about the planned St Albans Forum for Older People — we would be very pleased to hear from you.

To express your interest or ask any questions, please contact:
Peggy Sharp
Community Engagement Officer (Equalities and Grants)
St Albans City & District Council
📞 01727 819340 (Ext. 9340)

By working together with residents and partners, St Albans City & District Council is committed to creating inclusive, supportive and age-friendly communities — now and into the future.

🏘️Keeping Communities Safe

The Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Team provides a front-line response to reports of serious anti-social behaviour, domestic abuse, safeguarding concerns and other community safety issues across the district.

The team focuses on the most serious cases, including actual violence, threats of violence, drug dealing or cultivation, hate incidents and other serious criminal activity. Alongside this, the ASB Team also carries out important statutory duties under Prevent, Modern Slavery, Hate Crime legislation, and through partnership working within the Community Safety Partnership.

Although small, the team is highly experienced and effective, working closely with residents, internal council services, the police and partner agencies to take firm and proportionate action where behaviour causes harm, distress or risk to the wider community.

The team currently consists of one Team Leader, two full-time Anti-Social Behaviour Officers, and one part-time Anti-Social Behaviour Officer, who joined the team at the end of January 2026.

Enforcement activity: January 2025 – December 2025

During this period, the team took significant enforcement action to address serious cases, including:

• 7 Closure Orders

• 2 Civil Injunctions

• Possession proceedings initiated on 7 council tenancies (ongoing)

• 1 eviction

• 33 Tenancy Warnings issued

• 8 Community Protection Warnings (CPWs) issued

• 2 Community Protection Notices (CPNs) issued

These powers are used only where necessary and are supported by robust investigation, evidence gathering and partnership working to ensure decisions are fair, lawful and proportionate.

We hope to provide a full introduction to the Anti-Social Behaviour Team in a future edition of Housing Times, including more detail on how the team works and the support available to residents.

💷 Free Money Advice Event

St Albans City & District Council is hosting a FREE Money Advice Event to help residents access practical, confidential support with managing household finances.

Taking place at the Council Chamber, Civic Centre, this drop-in event brings together a range of trusted local organisations, all in one place, to offer guidance, reassurance and practical help. There’s no need to book — residents can simply come along at a time that suits them.

Whether you’re worried about rising costs, need help understanding benefits, or would like support with budgeting and money management, specialist advisers will be available to talk things through and signpost to further support where needed.

Event details

📍 Council Chamber, St Albans City & District Council, Civic Centre, St Peter’s Street, St Albans, AL1 3LD
📅 Wednesday 28 January 2026
⏰ 10:00am – 2:00pm
✅ Free event – everyone welcome, no appointment needed

Support available on the day

Residents will be able to speak confidentially with advisers about:

• Debt advice and money management tools

• Budgeting and managing household finances

• Benefits and welfare support

• Help with energy costs

• Local services and community support

This event is open to all residents and is designed to provide practical, supportive advice in a welcoming setting. Whether you have a specific concern or just want to understand what help is available locally, staff will be on hand to help.

For more information, please contact:
📧Healthy.Hub@stalbans.gov.uk

💬 You Said, We Did

We continue to listen to your feedback through surveys, community events and the Tenant & Leaseholder Forum. Your views help us focus on the improvements that matter most — and we’re using what you tell us to shape our priorities for the year ahead.

📘 You said:
“It’s hard to know which repairs the Council covers and what tenants are responsible for.”

✅ We did:
With support from Tenant & Leaseholder Forum members, we’ve developed a new Repairs Handbook. This clearly sets out responsibilities, explains how to report repairs and outlines what residents can expect from contractors. The handbook has now been shared with Forum members and will be rolled out more widely.

🏘️ You said:
“Community events are really useful — can you do more of them?”

✅ We did:
Over the past year, we’ve delivered a programme of Community Days across the District, including events in Harpenden, Camp, London Colney, Redbourn and Wheathampstead. These events have helped residents access advice, speak directly with officers and partners, and raise local issues.

Looking ahead, future Community Days will be planned using data from the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), once the full results are received in mid-February. This will help ensure events are targeted where they are most needed and reflect the issues residents have told us matter most.

🏘️ You said:
“We want more of a say in how neighbourhood improvements are planned and delivered.”

✅ We did:
The Cotlandswick Neighbourhood Focus Group continues to meet regularly, bringing together local residents to help shape priorities, review progress and provide feedback on neighbourhood improvements. This group plays an important role in helping us stay accountable and responsive to local needs.

💬 Keep sharing your views
Your feedback continues to influence how we deliver housing services and plan improvements. We’ll keep updating you on how resident voices are helping to shape our work.

📣Tenant Satisfaction Measures Survey

From Friday 12 December until around 20 February, some council tenants will be invited to take part in our Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) survey.

The survey is carried out independently on our behalf by specialist research companies CX-Feedback and Pexel. You may be contacted by phone, text message or email and invited to share your views.

What are Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs)?

Tenant Satisfaction Measures, often shortened to TSMs, are a national set of questions introduced by the Regulator of Social Housing. Every council and housing association in England must now ask tenants for feedback once a year using these same measures.

The questions focus on the things that matter most to tenants, including:

• the repairs service

• how well we communicate

• safety in your home and building

• how complaints are handled

• anti-social behaviour

• neighbourhood management

• overall satisfaction with our housing service

Because all landlords ask the same questions, the results are published nationally. This helps the regulator understand how well housing providers are performing and ensures landlords are held to account.

Why your feedback matters

Your responses help us understand:

• what we are doing well

• where things are not working as they should

• what we need to improve

We use this feedback to shape future services and priorities, and to make sure we focus on what matters most to residents.

Is the survey genuine?

Yes. The survey is legitimate, and responses are collected securely by CX-Feedback and Pexel on our behalf. You will never be asked for bank details or sensitive financial information.

Want to know more?

If you have questions about the survey or want further information, please contact the Resident Engagement team at:

 residentengagement@stalbans.gov.uk

Thank you for taking the time to share your views — your feedback helps us improve housing services for everyone.

🚪Reducing Missed Repair Visits

Did you know that one in four repair appointments are recorded as “no access” — meaning a contractor attended but couldn’t complete the repair?

We know this doesn’t always mean no one was home. Sometimes calls are missed, appointment times aren’t clear, or there are access or communication issues. Whatever the reason, each missed visit means delays and extra time before repairs can be completed.

That’s why we’re reviewing the process — with your help. Over the coming months, the Council will contact some residents who’ve recently had a missed appointment to find out what happened, how we communicated, and what could make things work better in future.

Your feedback will help us to:
✅ Understand the main reasons behind missed visits
✅ Improve reminders and appointment flexibility
✅ Reduce wasted trips and speed up repairs for everyone

If you’re contacted, please consider taking part — your insights will directly shape a fairer, more reliable repairs service for all residents.

📩 Already have feedback?
Email residentengagement@stalbans.gov.uk – we’d love to hear from you.

Together, we can make our repairs service smoother, quicker, and easier for everyone.

🌐 Getting Online with MyStAlbans

More and more tenants are managing their Council services online — quickly, securely, and at any time of day — using MyStAlbans.

Whether you want to check your rent balance, report a repair, view your bin collection dates or access your Council Tax account, MyStAlbans brings it all together in one place, available 24/7.

What can tenants do on MyStAlbans?
✅ Report and track housing repairs
✅ Check your rent balance and recent payments
✅ View Council Tax and set up paperless billing
✅ Request bin collections or replacements
✅ Contact your Housing Officer directly
✅ Link your tenancy to see your full account overview

Need help getting started?
Your Housing Officer can guide you through registration or provide a printed step-by-step guide if you prefer. All you’ll need is an email address and your tenancy or Council Tax number.

“It’s easy to use – I checked my rent account and booked a repair in under five minutes.” – Tenant, 2025

Ready to register?

Visit MyStAlbans or ask your Housing Officer for help getting started.