Clúid Housing Association today (04.11.11) announced the establishment of Ireland’s first ever centralised contact centre for social housing tenants. The centre will open in January 2012 and will serve as a single point of contact for almost 5,000 Clúid residents nationwide.

Ten new jobs have been created as a direct result of the Clúid contact centre, with this figure expected to rise in the coming years. In addition, 40 people were temporarily employed on the refurbishment of new Clúid premises.

The contact centre will be housed at the new premises on Amiens Street in Dublin city centre, which were officially opened today by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Andrew Montague. The premises will also house the organisation’s national office, as well as its Eastern Regional office.

Commenting today, Brian O’Gorman, Chief Executive of Clúid, said the organisation was delighted to open a world-class new housing facility and – in the process – to contribute to job creation.

“The opening of our Amiens Street premises marks a significant new departure for Clúid,” he said. “The contact centre will be the first of its kind in Ireland to serve tenants of social housing. Its establishment coincides with a major expansion in the role of housing associations, which are increasingly offering a sustainable solution to housing need.

“In the current economic context, achieving high-quality, cost-effective services is key. Our contact centre will enable us to respond to the needs of our customers in the most efficient way, while providing the highest standard of customer service. Our aim is to resolve the majority of calls at the first point of contact.”

Employees in Clúid’s new contact centre will provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ housing, maintenance, rent management and advice service to the organisation’s residents and prospective residents. They will also process all queries from Clúid contractors, business partners and members of the public. A Contact Centre Manager and Business Analyst have already been recruited, and the recruitment process to fill eight Contact Centre Advisor roles (four full-time and four part-time) is currently underway.

“As an immediate result of opening our contact centre, we will be creating new jobs for 10 people,” said Brian O’Gorman. “Over the coming years, we expect the number employed at the centre to rise in line with Clúid’s projected future growth. At present, our growth levels are in excess of 400 properties each year, so we’re confident that we’ll continue to provide employment opportunities well into the future.

“We intend to make our Amiens Street premises a resource for our nationwide organisation, the surrounding community and the wider housing sector. This facility gives us the capacity to grow and develop new projects, as well as to advise other social housing landlords on best-practice approaches to customer service.”

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Andrew Montague, officially opened Clúid’s new premises today and congratulated the organisation on the establishment of its national contact centre.

“Clúid is to be congratulated for a number of reasons,” he said. “Firstly, it is opening a world-class facility for social housing residents – the first of its kind in Ireland. Secondly, it is contributing to job creation at a time when new jobs are badly needed. And, thirdly, it is responding proactively to recent developments and changes in the social housing sector. It is now widely acknowledged by policymakers that voluntary housing organisations have a crucial role to play in meeting social housing demand, and Clúid has proven itself to be both capable and willing to take on an expanded role.”

Annual Report

Clúid’s annual report for 2010 was launched at the opening of its new premises today. The report highlights that Clúid also contributed to job creation last year, filling 14 vacancies that arose over the course of 2010. The organisation received 694 applications for the 14 roles, and was successful in obtaining a place on the list of ‘Great Places to Work’ last year.

The annual report also contains details of homes provided for new Clúid residents in 2010, including the following:

• The organisation provided homes for 584 individuals or families over the course of the year, the vast majority of which were previously on local authority housing lists.
• Out of all new residents, 339 moved into newly built houses or apartments.
• 245 obtained a property on one of Clúid’s existing estates.
• Over 120 of those housed were older people who moved into one of Clúid’s purpose-built sheltered housing complexes. Twelve of the new residents in sheltered housing were referred through the Safe Home programme for elderly returning emigrants.

“Last year was one of our busiest ever,” said Brian O’Gorman. “We now provide housing to almost 5,000 residents nationwide, and we are constantly adapting our services and introducing new initiatives to meet their changing demands. We are confident the facility we are opening today will enable us to continue to meet their needs well into the future.”