Versatile services get praise, but the opportunities for influencing raise questions

Housing, Kortepohja, News, Soihtu Vehkakuja / 4.5.2021

A survey for the tenants of Soihtu Vehkakuja and Kortepohja Student Village got a huge number of responses this spring as well. The response rate of the survey conducted in April was almost 28%. The aim of the annual spring survey is to map the Soihtu Housing tenants’ thoughts about the area, their own building and apartment, the area’s services, community and tenants’ activities. The annual fall-time tenant survey, in turn, focuses on property maintenance.

According to the respondents of the recent survey, JYY (Soihtu) is considered as a reliable and safe landlord (85%) and the rental level of Soihtu’s housing is reasonable (88%). 86% of the tenants say that they enjoy the place they live in and 84% of the respondents consider the area’s services to be versatile enough. Measured by the NPS recommendation index, 53% of the tenants would recommend Soihtu as a landlord. The NPS index of Soihtu is 38.

“If someone I know came to Jyväskylä to study, I would recommend Soihtu, because I know that everything works well here, living is made easy and you know where to contact if there are problems.”

Soihtu’s Tenant survey, spring 2021

Respondents quite satisfied with their apartment and residential building

83% of the respondents say that they are quite or very satisfied with their own residential building. Tenants are most satisfied with the location of the building and most dissatisfied with the common storage facilities. Satisfaction with one’s own residential building has remained fairly at the same level as in the previous year. Construction sites and the noise disturbances they cause came up in the feedback collected from the Student Village, and it was also mentioned that the gradual development of the area does not seem logical for all tenants.

“Green construction, yea right ‐ I only see concrete from my window.”

Soihtu’s Tenant survey, spring 2021

Respondents are generally quite satisfied with their own apartments. 85% say that they are quite or very satisfied with their own apartment as a whole. 81% of the tenants feel at home in their apartment. About half of the tenants would apply for a new apartment from Soihtu if their life situation changed and they needed a new apartment. In the open comment section, some respondents mentioned the floor plans of the one-bedroom apartments in the newer residential buildings being a bit inconvenient. It was also unclear to some of the respondents whether they could live in Soihtu apartments after finishing their studies. Versatile services, good price-quality ratio, location and closeness to a student restaurant were positively highlighted in the open comment section.

“I have recommended Soihtu several times. Its strengths are rent, location, services, internet, etc.”

Soihtu’s Tenant survey, spring 2021

As the greatest benefits among the Soihtu housing services, the respondents consider for instance water and electricity that are included in the rent, free laundry turns and Funet wifi connection. The majority of the respondents (85%) say that they use Funet internet connection (Kortex network). Tenants are quite satisfied with the speed and functionality of the connection. 95% of the respondents say that they use Funet connection for free time communication, 88% for getting study-related information and watching video study material, and 86% for real-time distance learning.

Possibilities to influence raise thoughts

The majority of respondents (91%) living in Kortepohja Student Village like the village. The corresponding figure for the tenants of Soihtu Vehkakuja is 81%. Two out of three tenants in Kortepohja are optimistic about the future of the student village. When it comes to Soihtu Vehkakuja tenants, on the other hand, two out of five are optimistic about the future of the location. One out of three Soihtu tenants believes they can influence what the housing location is like.

“Great community, easy to make friends, affordable housing, it feels like living in a real village.”

Soihtu’s Tenant survey, spring 2021

13% of the respondents say that they have participated in tenant activities. The main obstacles for participating in tenants’ activities are the lack of interest and the lack of time. Lack of possibilities to influence received criticism in the open comments.

“The concept of the student village is great, but the reality is insufficient. Tenants have little influence over the affairs of the village, or at least the communication is not enough.”

Soihtu’s Tenant survey, spring 2021

The most common reasons for participating in the tenants’ activities were the desire to belong to the community and to get to know other tenants. Tenant activity and democracy are generally considered very or fairly important by 60% of the tenants. Electronic voting on current topics is considered the best way to participate in tenants’ activities and influence one’s own housing.

“When something interesting is organized and effort is put into it, it’s nice to participate as well.”

Soihtu’s Tenant survey, spring 2021

Versatile suggestions

Tenant surveys are one of Soihtu’s ways of mapping the tenants’ wishes and opinions. In the surveys, the tenants give a lot of open feedback every year, which Soihtu staff then carefully reviews. Feasible suggestions will be taken into account either immediately or scheduled for later.

Ideas raised in the spring survey:

• “It would be nice to book one-time sauna turns as well.”
• “There should be significantly more space for storing bicycles.”
• “Still more tenant communication needed (future changes, renovations, etc.). In addition, opportunities to influence in an electronic form, not only via surveys.”
• “Student Village could use more green areas, it would improve the comfort of living.”
• “In the future, it would be nice to see more electric car charging points.”
• “The storage spaces could be a bit bigger.”
• “Alongside the activities of the Tenants’ Council, it would be good to have more opportunities to influence on the grassroots level, because the Council work may not be the most suitable way of influencing the affairs of the village for everyone.”

This article is a translation of the original published in 30.4.2021.