The Work

Community Housing (Victoria) Ltd (CHVL) is a registered housing organisation in Victoria and manages a portfolio of over 2,023 properties across Victoria. CHVL provides both long term housing, transitional housing and a range of homelessness services for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in the Eastern Metropolitan region and Gippsland.

In 2016, Community Housing (Victoria) Limited (CHVL) wanted to implement a Customer Promise as part of its accreditation program.  The main purpose of the Customer Promise was to provide a framework for defining service delivery standards, the rights and responsibilities of customers, and how complaints from customers will be handled.

Our Approach

CHVL commissioned Survey Matters to conduct research with their customers to give them the opportunity to provide feedback about the proposed levels of service levels they can expect when dealing with CHVL. The research consisted of a focus group, followed by a quantitative survey which was distributed to all CHVL customers. 

Outcomes

Feedback from this research lead to the development of the Customer Promise including the inclusion of 2 new statements that reflected the wishes and requirements of CHVL customers. All direct service staff took part in training to highlight the final key elements of the Promise with the aim of improving customer service and staff accountability. Further, CHVL displays an A3 framed poster setting out the Customer Promise in each of the CHVL offices, and all customers were provided with a copy by mail.

The Customer Promise was a very successful exercise that went beyond satisfying the original requirements of program accreditation. As a result, a similar approach is now being rolled out in the other Australian States.