Until Mr Noakes injured his back he was proud to do all the maintenance.

Now he relies on Family and Community Services staff to do the work – and that process has just been improved with a new iPad app that was trialled in Orange and has now been introduced across the state.

The I Visit You (IVY) app was launched in Orange on Wednesday.

FACS staff said it would halve the time for field workers to process tenants’ information, maintenance requests and property condition reports plus increase their capacity to manage rent issues.

It will also enable field workers to log the condition of abandoned houses quicker to get repairs done.

The app means tenants no longer need to visit, or post paper forms back to, a FACS Housing Office.

Instead field workers can now fill in online forms with tenants in their home with the information fed directly into the FACS Housing data system.

Mr Noakes said they were pleased with the improved response times.

“Normally you go into the office in Summer Street and you sit on the phone for 30 to 40 minutes,” he said.

“We had a fellow come out here about four-five months ago, he came with an iPad.”

Mr Noakes said repairs to a hole in the ceiling were done the next day.

“I’ve got no complaints,” he said.

The app was trialled in Orange and the inner-Sydney suburb of Waterloo in November.

FACS secretary Michael Coutts-Trotter said it would speed up administration.

“The IVY app enables staff to spend less time on paperwork and more time in the field visiting properties, listening to tenants and assisting them,” he said.

Manager Housing Western NSW Kaylene Moore said it would benefit staff.

“It reduces the administration burden on staff in terms of collecting information on tenants,” she said.

“In the Central West we’ve got about 2500 tenancies managed by 12 client service officers.”

Across NSW the IVY app will be used by 600 staff to manage 120,000 social housing properties.