Tenants Talkback Sept 2009 – Text only version Article 1 – National housing expert to chair Commission on future funding options Article 2 – Let’s celebrate… RBH Celebration & Information Day Article 3 – All change at Kirkholt and Pennines Article 4 – Time to play in Chesham Article 5 – Community Crime Fighters Programme Article 6 – Back to School for Falinge tenant Article 7 – Young Artists Wanted Article 8 – Come and have your say Article 9 – Health Matters Article 10 – Forget Kew Gardens, come to Falinge Article 11 – Communities First News – Have you seen this person? Article 12 – DIY Training for RBH Tenants Article 13 – New Senior Appointment Article 14 – Our Legal Eagles could help you… Article 15 – The “Digital TV switchover” is nearly here Article 16 – We’re helping you “get set” for the Digital TV’ switchover Article 17 – Money Matters Article 18 – Basic Bank Accounts: Just the Facts Article 19 – Top Tips from the Money Matters Team Article 20 – No bias in housing allocation Article 21 – Pinpoint – pointing you in the direction of your new home Article 22 – RBH joins the National Big Lunch Article 23 – How did we perform last year? Article 24 – Useful Telephone Numbers Article 1: National housing expert to chair Commission on future funding options RBH and the Council have agreed to establish an Investment and Involvement Commission to examine future options for how Council owned housing in the borough is financed and managed. This Commission has been set up following recent Government announcements proposing changes to the way the current national Council housing finance system works. Over the next few months, the Commission made up of RBH Board Members, Councillors and tenants will meet to explore future options. They will be looking at these options in terms of how they might generate increased investment on properties and estates, and to ensure that there is continued funding available to improve services. They will also assess whether each option will ensure that RBH has the ability and resources to contribute fully to regenerating neighbourhoods and to increase tenant influence over decision making regarding the housing service. One of the country’s leading housing experts, Professor Ian Cole of Sheffield Hallam University has agreed to be the independent chair of the Commission. Professor Cole has led a number of national projects for a range of different agencies including the central Government. We are very happy to have secured his services for this vital project. The Commission met for the first time on 3 September. It is anticipated that the Commission will conclude its work early in the New Year. RBH also wants to involve a group of tenants in shadowing the work of the Commission and learning more about the future options. Any tenant who is interested in joining this group should contact Doug or Betty in the Tenant Participation Unit on 01706 273820 or email rbh.tpu@rbhousing.org.uk Article 2: Let’s celebrate… RBH Celebration & Information Day RBH CELEBRATION & INFORMATION DAY. SATURDAY 3rd OCTOBER ROCHDALE TOWN HALL 10am – 3pm All RBH tenants and their families are invited to come along to the free Celebration and Information Day. The event is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of tenants and residents and for you to find out more about RBH – together with lots of fun things to do! WHAT’S ON? As well as the timetabled activities and demonstrations detailed below, there will be a colourful display of Communities In Action and a host of ongoing events throughout the day, both in the Town Hall and outside. You can browse the information stalls, have fun with badge making, driving simulation tests and hair braiding, try out fitness equipment and train your brain. Learn how to arrange silk flowers, try your hand at DIY and lots more. There will be plenty of our staff there too to chat about our services and answer any housing queries you may have. Demonstrations and activities cannot be pre-booked. However, we recommend you arrive early as some activities are popular and space is limited. Children must be accompanied by an adult. All day events include: OUTSIDE • “Where it’s at” youth bus (internet, computer games, videos and a chill out zone) • Police Pod (for information and any local policing enquiries) • Environmental Management (Love Food Hate Waste - 6.7 million tonnes of food is thrown away by households in the UK every year. Find out how you can help reduce food waste) INDOORS • Face painting • Henna Art • Hairbraiding • Badgemaking • Make a mask • Tombola • Road Safety (test your road awareness on the driving simulator) • Health & Fitness zone with equipment and advice from Link4Life and brain training tests • RBH Information Area (Find out more about RBH and what we do. There will be plenty of our staff there too to chat about our services and answer any housing queries you may have) • Information stalls from a whole host of local organisations • Hot and cold drinks served all day with light refreshments provided at lunch time Demonstrations and Activity Sessions Time Backdoor Music Project 10am – 12 Create your own music on the computer and take it away on CD 1pm – 3pm Drop in anytime Pop Up Art 10am – 12 Get creative and help build a pop-up community with artist Paul Pickford 1pm – 3pm Drop in anytime Stone Decorating and The Thoughts Tree 10am – 12 An activity for children by the Children’s Council for RMBC Drop in anytime Try Your Hand at DIY 1pm – 3pm With the Jericho Foundation including wallpapering, hanging shelves Drop in anytime and wiring a plug Silk Flower Arranging Demonstration and Activity 11am – 12 with Sheena Rai (Azalea, bespoke floral designs) 1pm – 2pm Healthy Cooking Demonstration 1pm – 2pm by Crofters Catering Entertainment Hebron Church Choir 10.45am Castleton Dance Academy (including the World Street Dance Champions) 11.30am NESTAC African Dance Group Bhangra Dhol Music Group Award Ceremonies Sunflower and Photography Competition Prize Giving 11.15am Communities First and Good Neighbour Awards 1.30pm Charity Raffle 2.30pm It would be helpful if you could let us know if you are coming along, so that we can order enough refreshments. Please call us on tel: 01706 273820 or email rbh.tpu@rbhousing.org.uk There is also an online link to let us know you are coming on our website at www.rbhousing.org.uk/celebrate Article 3: All change at Kirkholt and Pennines As part of our Access to Services review, we have been looking at when and how you want to contact your Housing Officers. Accordingly, we have made some changes in our opening hours and where our staff are based. These changes should provide greater flexibility and value for money for all our tenants. At Kirkholt from 5th October, we will close the office between 12.30 pm and 1.30 pm to free up counter staff who were only receiving an average of two customers per day at this time. With a half past twelve closure, this should allow those who can only get to us at lunchtime to still be able to do so. Our Kirkholt repairs team will also be based in a central hub in Newbold from October 2009 and can be contacted on tel: 01706 714460. All new repairs and repair enquiries should continue to be made via the Contact Centre on tel: 0845 076 3636. The Kirkholt Housing Officers and local caretakers will continue to work from Kirkholt, as will the Vision for Kirkholt Team and the front line Customer Services Team. There is also no change to the Kirkholt Drop-in Centre which will remain open as usual on The Strand. In Littleborough and Milnrow, the Housing Offices have now closed and staff have also moved to the central Housing Office at Witley Road, Newbold, Rochdale OL16 5HE. This office is not open to the public, but appointments can be made for Housing Officers to come to you or to a community venue convenient for you. If you wish to contact your Housing Officer the new general telephone number is 01706 714460. Some of the Littleborough and Milnrow Housing Officers have changed the individual estates they serve and you can find details for your Housing Officer below. Birch View Estate, Wardle. Christine McNicholas - 01706 714497 The Cray Estate, Milnrow. Michelle Kelly - 01706 714498 Ashbrook Hey, Greengate, Wardle, Crowther Court, Halliday Court, Smithybridge & Hollingworth Lake. Rita Gratton - 01706 714232 Stansfield, Shore, Calderbrook, Sheriff St. Julie Greenwell - 01706 714491 Bentgate, Haugh, Holt, Firgrove. Kathryn Ashworth - 01706 714479 Article 4: Time to play in Chesham The Chesham Tenants and Residents Association and Chesham Youth Section held a fun day in May to tie in with the official opening of the new play area on Chesham Park. Council Children’s Officer, Sue Birtles, performed the Opening Ceremony alongside Ward Councillors. The event was the first of its kind on Chesham and everyone had a great day. The glorious weather helped to transform the event from good to great, as it had rained most of the week. There was a lot on offer including a children’s entertainer, children’s rides and a face painter. The playworkers from the Doorstep Project and Youth Services bus co-ordinated games and young people could try out new skills with Skylight Circus. Officers from the Fire Service brought a Fire Engine along and Police Officers were on hand to give advice. The organisers wrote in to Tenants Talkback to say a big thank you to all who helped out. Debbie Lord, Secretary of Chesham TRA added, “We also want to thank our local community who came together on the day. We know that everyone, especially the children, had an absolute ball. Some of the children were on the park as earlier as 9 AM, asking when the fun day was starting. It was all worthwhile just watching them have a great time.” Article 5: Community Crime Fighters Programme Rochdale Safer Communities Partnership is appealing for volunteers to come forward and help in the fight against crime. We know that there are many responsible members of the community who are committed to helping tackle crime and disorder in their neighbourhood. These people deserve our support, help and encouragement to become a ‘Community Crime Fighter’. As a Community Crime Fighter you will be given the opportunity to work with neighbourhood policing teams and local authorities to help make your community safer. Training and support will be offered in order that you may become an even more effective advocate for your community. The Community Crime Fighter programme will help create stronger links between crime fighting agencies and the communities they serve. The programme is part of a government initiative, ‘JUSTICE SEEN, JUSTICE DONE’ that aims to empower. For more information on the Community Crime Fighters programme, please contact Lindsay Dunn, Neighbourhood Crime and Justice Co-ordinator on 01706 924693 or email: Lindsay.dunn@rochdale.gov.uk Article 6: Survey Success Mother of three, Kederia Mohammed from Falinge, has gone back to school in her bid to improve her employment options in this country. Kederia, originally from Ethiopia, came to England from Kenya after being granted refugee status. Her original job as a journalist meant she was in danger from the government in her own country. With three children ranging from 16 to 23 years in schools and college locally, Kederia originally felt a little isolated in her new country and turned to RBH Housing staff for support. She said, “It was so lovely to have people to talk things through with and all the staff were very helpful and keen to see my family settle in. They arranged for my son, who is football-mad, to join a local group so he could make new friends and helped me access a variety of training which would improve my career prospects in the UK. RBH Community Support Officer, Julie Harper even took me along to the Law Centre and introduced me on my first day. I have just passed a course on immigration law and returning to education has helped me feel a part of the wider community. It is also good for my children to see me studying alongside them. Without doubt, I feel very happy and supported in Falinge. “ Kederia has joined Hebron Pentecostal Church and also helps as a volunteer youth worker at the Community Base. She has gained ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) qualifications since arriving here and plans to take further courses in numeracy and social work with her ambition to develop a career in that field. Article 7: Young Artists Wanted RBH invites young artists to design our company Christmas Card. If there’s a young person under 13 years old in your home who has artistic flair, then ask them to design us a Christmas card and send it in by 30th October. The winner will see their design in print, receive copies to send to their family/friends and win tickets to take their family to a local pantomime. Please send your entry to The Editor, Jane Howard, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, The Old Post Office, The Esplanade, Rochdale. OL16 1AE Article 8: Come and have your say The next round of Area Panels will be held on the following dates All tenants and residents on and around RBH estates are welcome. Light refreshments are provided. Middleton Tuesday 22nd September 2.00pm - 4.00pm Middleton Community Training Centre, Long Street, Middleton. Heywood Thursday 24th September 10.00am - 12.00 noon Heywood Magic Market. Rochdale Monday 28th September 2.00pm - 4.00pm Floor 2 Conference Room, The Old Post Office, The Esplanade. Pennines Thursday 1st October 6.00pm - 8.00pm Meadowfields Community Centre, Eafield Road, Rochdale. For information on the subsequent round of panels in January, call the Tenant Participation Unit on 01706 273820. What happened at the last area panels? Middleton 19 people attended the last area panel. Roy Thompson updated the members on DIY training available, the building work to be carried out by Brighter Horizons on Croft Street and the improvements on Dixon Street. Julia Block from the Tenant Participation Unit reported on a Safeguarding Children event available to tenant group representatives. Updates on the Environmental Quick wins were given including Wood Street fencing, Parkfield Flats communal doors, door entry systems at Rhodes and Fern Close flats for example. New projects and their costs were also put forward including the installation of steel fencing and new gates at Lonsdale Court and Norman Weall Court and security measures at Hollin EMB office. £5,500 was approved for the new fencing and metal gate at the latter. Some costs on schemes agreed last year had gone up in cost due to contractor changes, which might necessitate a reduction in this year’s available spend for environmental improvements. £265 was approved for a partial grant to Moorclose, Junction and Baytree TRA to help with a new clock, signage and the redecoration of the community base. There is still £1776 remaining in the Middleton township one off budget. Andy Wadsworth told attendees about the Independent Commission which has been set up to help ensure long term funding in council housing and improved channels for tenant participation. (See front page). The next meeting will be Tuesday 22nd September 2pm-4pm at Middleton Community Centre. Heywood 21 people came along to Heywood Magic Market in June to discuss plans for their local area. An update on the Environmental Quick wins schemes was given. There is still around £19,000 left in the pot for this financial year. Some additional funding was granted to earlier schemes where costs have increased, such as fencing to flats on Angel Meadow. New schemes were approved including courtyard resurfacing and fencing in South Avenue at a cost of £17,000 and lighting in passageways on the Plum Mill Estate at a cost of £8,000 and a one-off tenant participation grant for a garden party hosted by Isherwood Close TRA. Other items were deferred to a later date or feasibility studies planned. Progress on current works was also given. Nigel Allan reported back on the estate walkabouts where the key issues raised had been fly tipping and untidy gardens. Nigel reiterated his call for more tenants to join the next estate walkabout. John Rodgers talked a little about the Investment and Involvement Commission which is being set up to explore the best options to ensure long term investment in our estates as well as increasing the options for tenants to get involved in decision making. Bryn Hackley gave an update on the Service Improvement Panels. Debbie Hopwood reminded everyone that Cedar Avenue Housing Office would close in the near future due to the unsatisfactory state of the building. The Heywood and Middleton offices will merge and subsequently occupy new premises in Heywood which should provide a superior service to tenants. The next Area Panel will be on Thursday 24th September 10am- 12noon at Heywood Magic Market. Pennines Deborah Jamieson, Principal Housing Manager updated the group on matters arising. One of these was that a feasibility study at West View Flats into creating a parking area had shown the benefits were minimal and would not justify the expense required. There followed an update on environmental works proposed for this year including Hebblebutt Close fencing as well as a discussion around fencing and anti social behaviour on Birch View. One off grants were approved for Green Meadow Children’s Group for a new computer and games and Thistleyfield Tenants Association for garden furniture. Finally, the 17 attendees discussed possible future projects including the proposed play area and metal kick wall for Bower Avenue. John Rodgers talked about the Investment and Involvement Commission, referred to in the other summaries above and how tenants could get involved. The next meeting will be at Meadowfields Community Centre on Thursday 1st October, 6-8pm Rochdale Sixteen people came along to the Area Panel meeting at the Town Hall. Kath Shaughnessy, Principal Housing Manager explained that the resurfacing of the footpaths at Ravendale had used funds from the maintenance budget and so had released an additional £3,000 to go into the Quick Wins budget. Other schemes approved in Quick Wins included fencing and landscaping on Yorkshire Street, Edward Street and Jack McCann court in Rochdale North at an estimated cost of £35,000 and grassing of areas on Kirkholt costing around £10,000 and improvements to fencing and hard landscaping on Meadway, costing around £11,600. The budget of £148,520 for Rochdale South was now fully committed with these and other works approved at the meeting. John Rodgers from the Tenant Participation Unit talked about the Investment and Involvement Commission, referred to in the other summaries above and how tenants could get involved. Four one off tenant participation grants were allocated of £500 for Cutgate TRA to buy two new doors, £304 for Brotherod TRA for swing beam devices for the play area and £209.60 for gardening equipment and bedding plants for Arnold Bagnall Court as well as £500 for Yew Court towards a Freeview TV and CD player. John Rodgers reminded the group that tenant elections may be upcoming in Rochdale South. The next meeting will be held on 28th September 2-4pm at RBH, The Old Post Office, Rochdale – all are welcome. Article 9: Health Matters A new Doctor’s surgery is opening in November, next to Morrison’s Supermarket, Kingsway. The surgery will have extended hours at times during the week and will also open Saturdays. For information or to register, call 01706 715280 Article 10: Forget Kew Gardens, come to Falinge A partnership team made up of Lower Falinge Housing Office staff, the Police, the Priority Area Action Team, Communities First, the Council’s Street Services and Bowlee Nursery organised the supply of several planters and plants to tenants from Abbeydale, Lindisfarne and Ollerton in Lower Falinge. All mucked in, along with the new tenant “owners” to plant up the pots in July, which individual tenants will maintain outside their homes. Housing Officer, Khalida Crossley co-ordinated activities and thinks that the planters will go a long way to brighten up the estate and help give tenants a shared interest Communities First, the Council’s Street as “budding gardeners”. Article 11: Communities First News – Have you seen this person? A young person or adult who helps or supports people in your community. Maybe it’s someone who organises local activities or improves the environment or perhaps they help improve community spirit in some way. Why not show them that you appreciate their efforts and nominate them for a Communities First Award. They could receive £50. You can nominate anyone who lives on a local Council estate and gives up their own time to benefit their community. To find our more and fill in a simple nomination form, visit www.rbhousing.org. uk/information/ CommunitiesFirstAwards2009 or contact the Tenant Participation Unit on 01706 273820. Closing Date: 28th September Article 12: DIY Training for RBH Tenants Offered by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing in conjunction with Jerico Foundation. Courses will be held at the Jerico Training Centre, Meadway and at various Community Centres across the Borough. Transport from potential pick up points can be arranged. Learn how to carry out small but useful DIY jobs/tasks in your own home e.g. patch plastering, grouting, fixing shelves with our fully qualified trainers. The course is for groups of up to 12 people and consists of two – three hour sessions. You will learn basic skills on the first session. The second session will be more advanced for those who want to learn a little more. Interested? Please contact Hilary on (01706) 717255 Article13: New Senior Appointment We are delighted to announce the appointment of Nickie Hallard (39) from Earby in Lancashire as our new Director of Resources – a move which completes the company’s management team. Her new role will involve leading on financial and business planning issues, co-ordinating policy and development and ensuring that all central support services are effectively supporting the service improvement agenda. RBH’s Chief Executive, Gareth Swarbrick said “Nickie’s appointment is the final one to the executive management team. As a multi million pound business operating in a constantly changing environment we can now face the future growth and expansion of RBH with an experienced and committed team, as we move the company into new and diverse markets.” Nickie has worked within Finance across a number of sectors, including Banking, Retail & Local Government, for over 20 years, most recently as Financial Services Controller for the Incommunities Group in Bradford. She said, “One of the first things that attracted me to RBH is the fact it genuinely has the customer at the heart of everything it does. It is also an exciting time to be joining the team, as RBH look to secure long term investment in the housing stock and begin its first new build developments”. Article 14: Our Legal Eagles could help you… Rochdale Legal Advice Partnership (RLAP) are providing surgeries at the Lower Falinge Housing Office. These are held every two weeks on a Wednesday morning. RLAP gives free confidential,impartial and independent information and advice and can work with people to solve problems in areas such as debt and consumer issues, benefits, housing, legal matters, employment and immigration. To book an appointment please contact Lower Falinge Housing Office, 236 Newstead, Lower Falinge, Rochdale tel: 01706 642220 Article 15: The “Digital TV switchover” is nearly here There’s just under two months to go to the Digital TV switchover which will happen on Wednesday 4th November. The whole process will be complete by Wednesday 2nd December 2009, which is before our next edition, so we are using the September magazine to send you some final reminders now. Our Digital TV installer ‘ABCA Systems’ has nearly finished working on properties that needed new communal reception equipment. This will ensure our tenants will be able to receive digital broadcasts. ABCA is now completing the two-storey and below properties that share communal aerials which will need upgrading or completely new aerials. New single aerials will be fitted where required or a new communal aerial where single ones cannot be fitted. If your home is affected by the works RBH will have already informed you. ABCA is carrying out road shows to RBH staff to enable them to give advice and direction to any tenants that may need it during the switchover process. It seems from Digital UK figures that most of you are aware of all the changes with nine out of ten Granada TV households having either converted their TVs or feeling comfortable with the switchover. Digital UK should also have sent you a guide, which explained their options for going digital, what happens during switchover and the need to retune if you have Freeview, BT Vision or Top Up TV equipment. Their Autumn Roadshows are taking place all over the Granada region until 2nd December and the next local ones are: 3rd October – Manchester Dashehra Diwali Mela – Platt Fields 14th October – Shaw Kershaw East Car Park, off Westway 15th October – Rochdale The Butts, South Parade 4-5 November – Manchester Piccadilly Gardens The full programme can be found at www.digitaluk.co.uk/granada. Voluntary organisations and community groups can also request talks and training sessions by our local rep, Sarah Cole from Digital Outreach. Sarah can be contacted on tel :07958 329692 or email: sarah@pebbleenterprises.org.uk . Sarah has been working with CVS and other charitable organisations. Our housing office staff can also help you, as can many branches of major electrical stores who have achieved ‘’Digital Adviser’’ status. This means they can give advice to customers on the switchover and suitable products. The Switchover Help Scheme has sent out information packs to all eligible older and disabled people in the last few months. You must respond to the Help Scheme information to get help – if you don’t reply, you will be contacted twice more before switchover. Please join with the Help Scheme in their campaign to encourage people to tell older and disabled relatives, friends and neighbours about the help they may be able to get to convert one TV set to digital. Charities working with this campaign locally and providing events and one-to-one help are Age Concern Cheshire, Lancashire, Stockport, Knowsley and Manchester. To talk to someone about the Switchover help scheme you can call 0800 40 85 900 (free calls) or visit www.helpscheme.co.uk You can also contact Digital UK, the not for profit organisation implementing the UK’s switch to digital television. Digital UK was set up by the public-service broadcasters and offers independent switchover advice to the public through its helpline (0845 6 50 50 50) and website (www.digitaluk.co.uk). You can also contact: ITV Digital - www.itvdigital/switchover BBC Digital - www.bbc.co.uk/digital Article 16: We’re helping you “get set” for the Digital TV’ switchover RBH have been awarded the prestigious ‘’Homes set for Digital’’ award which recognises those public and private sector landlords who can demonstrate that they have met the criteria to ensure that their tenants on communal systems have been given information and can receive digital signals before the switchover. The award was presented to Director, Eugene Wilson with local MPs, Paul Rowen and Jim Dobbin at Arnold Bagnall Court in August. Article 17: Money Matters RBH has welcomed a new team into its ranks. The four-strong Money Matters team has set up camp on the ground floor of the Old Post Office in Rochdale. The new section consists of Angela Havens, Financial Inclusion Manager, Shaziea Akhtar, Benefit and Debt Adviser and Mike Wolstencroft and Marie Flaherty, Money Advice Officers. So what’s it all about? Manager, Angela Havens, explains “Quite simply we are here to provide help and advice to RBH’s customers to make their money go further.” “We don’t want our tenants to have to pay commission to cash a cheque because they don’t have a bank account. We don’t want them to pay massive rates of interest to door step lenders or loan sharks because they feel they have nowhere else to turn. Neither do we want them to face the stress of getting into so much debt they face losing their home or to be unable to replace precious and costly items in the home because they don’t have home insurance. We are here to help.” The types of things we will be involved in are: • Providing advice and information on basic bank accounts • Pre-tenancy advice for 16 – 21 year olds • Debt and benefits advice • Affordable credit • Cheaper gas and electricity • Home insurance • Social fund loans and grants If you would like any information on the above or would like to make an appointment with a member of the team, please contact them on 01706 273817. The team will also be at the Celebration and Information Day in October. Article 18: Basic Bank Accounts: Just the Facts What are basic bank accounts? Basic bank accounts are simple current accounts that are designed for managing day-to-day money. They offer fewer features than a standard current account and don’t allow overdrafts. Most basic bank accounts provide you with a cash card. This allows you to withdraw cash from ATMs, commonly known as cash machines or “the hole in the wall.” Some may even provide a debit card, which you can use to buy things when you go shopping. How basic bank accounts work A basic bank account allows you to receive money and pay bills. If you open a basic bank account you can:- • Have your wages, benefits, state pension or tax credits paid in. • Cash cheques for free – you will have to wait a few days before the money is available to spend. • Take out money at cash machines with your cash card. This is usually free, but some may charge. • Withdraw money at the Post Office • Pay your bills by direct debit. If you pay by direct debit you could pay less for some things, especially gas, electricity and phone bills. RBH offers tenants a £10 discount if paying by direct debit and also enters you into a prize draw annually for up to £1,000 if you are up to date with your rent. Who are they for? Basic bank accounts are available to almost everybody. The bank or building society may want to check your credit history when you apply for an account, but even if you have CCJs (County Court Judgments) or have been made bankrupt, you may still be able to open an account. Remember, the Money Matters team can help you if you are facing problems. What’s the right bank account for you? • Might you overspend if paying by card? Think about having one without a debit card so you have to withdraw hard cash. • Can you access the cash machines near where you live or work for free? • Do you need a branch near you to pay in money or check your account? • Can you pay money in or get money out at a Post Office branch? • Will it provide the services you need like a debit card or direct debits? If you would like any more help and information regarding Basic Bank accounts please contact the Money Matters team at RBH on 01706 273817. Article 19: Top Tips from the Money Matters Team How to cut your energy costs The cost of gas and electricity is one of the highest costs in running a home. So with bills remaining high, what can you do to drive your bills down? Here are some ideas: Switch to a more competitive deal. Most people have never switched energy provider and as such will be paying the standard rate, which most likely is not the cheapest. Check out the utility switch sites like uswitch.com, energylinx.co.uk or moneysupermarket.com, but be careful to read the terms and conditions or you could end up paying more in the long run. Whilst prepayment meters enable you to pay as you go and can help with budgeting you generally pay more per unit than paying by direct debit. If you prefer to stay on a prepayment meter you could be better of with a company called EBICO. This firm is a not-for-profit supplier that charges the same to all its customers, regardless of the way you pay. The biggest savings are to be made if you set up a monthly direct debit. Direct Debits are where you sign up to regular set payments which are taken from your bank account every month by a supplier. These are free to arrange and you can choose the day they are taken. Perhaps you might like to set it up just after you have got paid, for example? You can pay this way, if you have a basic bank account, but you must leave enough money in the account to cover the direct debit payments. If you don’t, the bank will not be able to process the payment and you could end up in difficulties with your energy provider. Other ways to cut your bills • Adjust your thermostat. Just by reducing your room temperature by 1 degree, you could save a whopping ten per cent off your heating bill. • Remember to turn the lights off when you leave the room. • Close curtains to stop heat escaping and tuck them behind the radiator to make sure the heat is in the room not up the window. • Only boil as much water as you need, but remember to cover the element in the kettle. • Use energy saving light bulbs. They last around ten times longer than ordinary bulbs and can save you £40 over the lifetime of the bulb • Don’t leave things on standby and avoid leaving electrical items charging unnecessarily. • Defrost freezers regularly and don’t leave the fridge door open longer than necessary. For more information, contact RBH’s Money Matters team on 01706 273817 Article 20: No bias in housing allocation To scotch recent media coverage, RBH would like to ensure tenants that there is no favourable treatment given to people who have come to the borough from overseas. The Chartered Institute of Housing has also spoken out on behalf of landlords like RBH to give its full support to the evidence produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to show that this is just a myth. The independent report, commissioned by the EHRC, found that social housing policies target those in most need including the homeless, the elderly and families with children. The Report - called Social Housing Allocation and Immigrant Communities - found no evidence to support the perception that new migrants are getting priority over UK born residents. Nor was there any evidence of abuse of the system, including ‘queue jumping’ or providing false information. Sarah Webb of the Chartered Institute of Housing said: “The reality is absolutely not the case that council housing or housing association housing is being taken by economic migrants, asylum seekers or refugees. The real problem is that we just don’t have enough of it.” RBH is acutely aware of the need for more homes and our new subsidiary company, Brighter Horizons, has already secured £1.2m government funding for our first new build scheme of 22 homes in Croft Street, Smallbridge and £300,000 of government grant to help buy empty private properties on estates. We are now working closely with Rochdale Council’s Strategic Housing Services to identify further sites for acquisition and development and will keep you up to date with what’s happening. Article 21: Pinpoint – pointing you in the direction of your new home The new regional choice based lettings scheme, Pinpoint, makes it much easier for you to move from one of the ten local authority areas in Greater Manchester to another, for whatever reason – whether it is to be nearer family or work or simply to live in a different type of home. Like RBH’s HomeChoice system and similar choice-based lettings schemes operated by neighbouring areas, Pinpoint gives anyone already registered to be re-housed, with any of the participating landlords, more choice of home. There will be no need to register separately with each landlord. So, if you are registered with Rochdale Boroughwide Housing’s HomeChoice system for example, you can start using Pinpoint straightaway. Pinpoint is now a year down the line since its launch, so we thought we’d tell you about some new developments which aim to strengthen the scheme and improve housing options for people who want to move across the region. As well as RBH and the main council house providers across Greater Manchester, new landlords are joining which will increase the choice of homes available. In addition, a small number of approved private sector landlords have joined - again helping to widen and improve choice. Refinements to the way people are shortlisted when properties are offered have been made recently. Greater importance is now given to prioritising applicants who have certain established housing needs. So far Pinpoint has helped a number of Rochdale people to move to other areas in Greater Manchester, and also for people to come into the Borough, usually for work or family and social reasons. www.pinpoint.org.uk Article 22: RBH joins the National Big Lunch The BIG LUNCH is a national initiative designed to “put a smile on Britain’s face”. It aims to be a time when the diverse communities of Britain can sit down together, share food, drink and conversation, explore their differences and join together in a celebration of what unites us. This year RBH were delighted to be able to financially support five events held by tenants and residents groups and by our staff. You can see what we got up to with some snapshots in words and pictures from the events below. Top of Middleton TRA (TOMTRA): Tom Rodgers, “The rains came in the morning but we boldly went ahead at one o’clock when the sun shone through. Children came along and joined in skipping, egg and spoon races and ate cake and drank juice. Neighbours met who had not met before, drank a little beer and wine, ate sandwiches and pies and talked of joining whichever group had organised the event. We have a meeting this month and hopefully will have some new members of TOMTRA”. Tenants and Residents Association of Kirkholt (TRAK) RBH Housing Development Officer Julie Finigan, who helped organise the event said, “We had planned to be outside, but the weather turned nasty so we went in the community centre. More than 300 people came along and enjoyed the circus skills workshop, playbus and face painter, not to mention the variety of food! The older people really let their hair down, dancing on the floor, and the whole day had a wonderful community spirit.” Green Meadows Children’s Centre Green Meadow Children’s Centre invited the local community to find out more about the centre and what they did. They offered face painting and a range of healthy living activities. Freehold Senior Housing Manager, Chris Henderson, “Freehold residents celebrated their big lunch at the housing office. It was a great opportunity for tenants to get to know other people from the estate and our staff in a friendly environment.” Lower Falinge: Local residents joined in the fun to celebrate the launch of the new police base and RBH’s new “1 Shop “at 518 Abbeydale, Lower Falinge. Sports and craft activities were enjoyed by young people and entertainment included singing, street and breakdancing. Article 23: How did we perform last year? In 2010 we can expect to see the government’s new housing regulator taking action to ensure that if you rent your home from a housing association or the council then you will be able to compare how well your landlord is performing. We compare our performance with other Arms-Length Management Organisations (ALMOs), because the ALMO sector outperforms both the housing association sector and councils that don’t have ALMOs. RBH has continually provided this sort of information. Here we briefly show some of the headline results for 2008/9. If you want more information please contact the Policy & Performance Section: Telephone 01706 273830; or e mail policy@rbhousing.org.uk Rent collection Collecting the rent is vital to all landlords. For tenants of Rochdale Council the rents provide most of the funding for repairs to your home and other services. In 2008/9 we collected 97.43% of all rent due. This ranked 45th when compared with the performance of 61 other ALMOs. The ranking is slightly disappointing, but most other ALMOs are operating in more affluent parts of the country. Letting empty properties You probably know that both nationally and in the borough there is a shortage of social housing that means long waits for new households or tenants wanting transfers. Obviously building new housing will help solve this problem. Not so obvious is the fact that the vast majority of new households will move into existing housing. This makes it important that we don’t leave properties empty. In 2008/9 we put a lot of effort into reducing the average time that our properties are empty between one tenant leaving and the new tenant moving in. This resulted in the average time being improved from 34 days to 27 days. As we relet over 1,900 properties, the shorter time spent empty was the equivalent of 36 new homes. Our performance ranked 24th when compared with 63 other ALMOs. Given that the borough has much higher turnover than virtually all other ALMOs this was a very high standard of performance. Repairs In order to ensure that you are satisfied with the repairs service we measure many different aspects of the repairs service. One example is that we try to offer and keep appointments for all non-emergency repairs. In 2008/9 we increased the percentage of repairs appointments from 87.7% to 92.5%. Our performance ranked 42nd when compared with 54 other ALMOs. For 2009/10 we want to carry on the improvement in this area and our Board has set a challenging target of 96.7%, which should improve this ranking. Article 24: Useful Telephone Numbers Rochdale Boroughwide Housing………………...…. 0845 070 5170 24hr Repairs Call Centre .........................................0845 076 3636 Programmed Repairs Helpline.................................0845 123 5627 Telephone Rent Payments ..................................................866180 HomeChoice freephone ..........................................0800 091 2248 RBH Legal Team (ASBOs, nuisance) ……………………... 273972 RBH Formal Complaints ...........................................0845 123 5628 Special Needs Team, Strategic Housing Services….01706 926616 01706 924016 HOUSING OFFICES Cedar Avenue (Heywood) .............................364124 Freehold ........................................................924063 Kirkholt ..........................................................354222 Littleborough ..................................................714460 Lower Falinge ................................................642220 Middleton .......................................................927120 Milnrow ..........................................................714460 Newbold…………………………………………714460 For opening times please ring the office or check our website http://www.rbhousing.org.uk/contact_us/ area_offices.htm HELPFUL CONTACTS Council Tax......................................................................0845 121 2970 Municipal Offices (Council Switchboard) .………………………...647474 Refuse Collection and Recycling ....................................0845 226 1800 Street Lighting/Highways ................................................0845 121 2979 Street Cleansing .............................................................0845 226 1800 Grounds Maintenance ....................................................0845 226 1800 Environmental Health eg Drains,Noise,Graffiti,Pollution..0845 121 2975 Social Services (office hours) ......................................................647474 (the Council switchboard will help you find the right Social services section you need) Social Services (5pm-8.30pm+weekends).................. ...0845 121 2975 Forced Marriage Helpline................................................0800 5999 247 (9.30am - 9pm - 7 days a week) WEB ADDRESSES www.rbhousing.org.uk www.rochdalehomechoice.org.uk