You Said, We Did Brochure 2015

WHAT YOU SAID

WHAT WE DID

Welcome I’m really proud to have been Chair of MHA over the past year and to see the difference that the association has made to our community. We’ve had a great year, improving the quality of our day to day services and housing stock as well as embarking on some really exciting projects.

This issue of You Said We Did contains a long list of achievements and these wouldn’t have happened without the dedication and support of both our staff and our tenants and I’d like to say a big thank you to you all. We rely a great deal on the support of our tenants in the feedback you give on our services, your willingness to talk to us about your ideas for improvements and the way many of you help us in our community projects. Your support is crucial to our success and if you think you’d like to be involved with MHA, even in a small way, we’d be delighted to hear from you.

Andrew Martyn-Johns Chairman of the Board

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Dads Can event 2014 3

The Big Chat The Big Chat is a project that has been set up to help MHA gain your ideas, goals and views about us so that we can use this information to shape our future services.

Focus Groups We held a number of group discussions encouraging you to share your ideas and opinions with other tenants.

The Big Chat Café We held a Big Chat Café for tenants to join us for coffee and cake and take part in a series of workshops, giving you the opportunity to make your suggestions and improvements about the services we currently offer.

Door to Door Interviews Our consultants Miller Research carried out face to face interviews across our neighbourhoods to offer a personal approach for you to communicate your views.

Community Reporting Video The Community Reporting Project gave tenants the opportunity to express their feelings about the area that they live in through the use of photography. Tenants who took part in the project were each given a disposable camera to take some photographs of the different areas in their local community and give their opinions.

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A video has been produced with all of the feedback and photographs that we received during the project. To view the video visit MHA’s website at www. monmouthshirehousing.co.uk

Who is my Neighbourhood Officer?

You said how important your relationship is with your Neighbourhood Officer and that we needed to communicate who they are. We have updated our website and publications.

For more information please see the ‘Your Neighbourhood Team’ page.

Here to stay The Big Chat is here to stay and we thank you for the feedback you have already given. Look out for activities and events in your area over the coming months. For more information, please contact Rob Carey on 01495 761115 or Jessie Sibthorpe on 01495 761007 or email rob.carey@monmouthshirehousing.co.uk or jessie.sibthorpe@monmouthshirehousing. co.uk

Glenys won ÂŁ50 vouchers for taking part in The Big Chat!

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Getting You Involved Ability Group

Tenant Training

We have taken on board tenants feelings to ensure that disabled tenants who can’t come to meetings have an opportunity to get involved. We applied to the Welsh Government for a Tenant Empowerment Grant to help us explore the options available.

A group has now been set-up and have used digital methods such as Skype to be as inclusive as possible.

You said that you wanted to learn more about the way we run MHA. We have carried out a pilot training programme for tenants which has helped actively engaged tenants improve their knowledge, build confidence and increase their skills. These sessions have been enjoyed by tenants and the feedback has shown the sessions have helped improve tenant’s skills, knowledge and confidence when getting involved with MHA.

Engagement and Empowerment Strategy You said that tenant engagement opportunities need to be diverse, easily accessible and value for money. Together, we developed an action plan which is designed to make your involvement more effective and meaningful. Tenants will monitor the progress of the strategy and action plan over the next three years and the strategy will help us to continually improve tenant engagement and expand the ways in which you shape the services that we deliver to you.

For more information about getting involved contact Jessie Sibthorpe on 01495 761007 or email jessie.sibthorpe@ monmouthshirehousing.co.uk

Engagement and Empowerment Strategy 6

Ability group Skype session 7

Home Improvements External Wall Insulation

Chestnut Close, Magor

We worked with you when identifying what you thought about the appearance of your properties. You said that there was:

Following a discussion with tenants, the houses were finished with a “classic spar” dash finish in Old Barn Way and a smooth cream render finish in Charles Crescent. All houses received brick detailing below the windows along with new front door canopies.

• Flaking exterior paintwork • Saturated brickwork • Insulation problems • Generally a poor exterior to the properties We made improvements by installing External Wall Insulation (EWI) which improved:

Old Barn Way & Charles Crescent, Abergavenny

Before Works in progress installing external wall insulation and new roof.

• The insulation problems, hence reducing heating bills • To provide a new smart appearance to the homes • Provide a lasting weather protection The properties also benefitted from additional wall ties to the exterior, new roofs and canopies above the front door.

After The completed properties at Chestnut Close.

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Typical property in Old Barn Way prior to improvement works.

EWI and roofing works

Typical property in Charles Crescent following EWI works 9

WHQS Environmental Works We are continuing to work towards an Environmental Standard and as we reach the final year, the project has certainly achieved both physical and social improvements to your neighbourhoods so you can continue to enjoy where you live.

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Residents within the community were and are encouraged to get involved and have their say.

Last year we listened to what you said when we consulted with you, here are some of the improvements:

Cae Pen Y Dre We erected new fencing, laid a new patio area and re-surfaced the car parks.

Wellfield Close We provided additional parking to help ease the continual congestion and provided signage.

Before New fencing in Cae Pen Y Dre After

Before

Before

New patio in Cae Pen Y Dre

Additional Parking in Wellfield Close

After

After

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Maintenance & Repairs Service We have recognised what is important to you and learnt how we can provide useful information to improve the customer experience.

The tenants represented at the Better Build Group expressed that the two most important things to you regarding the repairs service was ‘Right First Time Repairs’ and ‘Appointments Made and Kept’. Tenant Satisfaction is also important to us, as it is to you.

New Tenant Questionnaires From the feedback we received here are some of the improvements that we have made: • Continue to improve cleanliness of our empty properties.

• Close monitoring of the cleaning contractors that are employed.

Newly Refurbished 1 Bed Bungalows A number of bedsits were converted into 1 bed bungalows at The Bryn, Abergavenny.

Each of the homes have benefitted from an extension, creating a separate bedroom and new kitchen plus a newly refurbished bathroom/wet room.

A tenant commented “I am extremely pleased with the extra room I now have in my bungalow. I have benefitted from the extension to the property, which has helped improve quality of life and I can now have my family around for tea as I now have the room”.

• Decorating more rooms where appropriate and also where there has been a poor standard of decoration previously.

• The satisfaction surveys completed by new tenants identified that the decorative state of properties has improved from 70% to 73%.

Did you know you can go online to report your repairs: www.monmouthshirehousing.co.uk 12

Newly refurbished bungalow

ed e n If you rt an po r to re cy repai en g r e 980 0 em 0 8 call 0 751 7

Some of the Maintenance Team 13

Capsel MHA have set up a trading subsidiary called ‘Capsel Limited’. It will provide a whole range of property and community benefits both within and outside the County.

Homes

Waste Management

In addition to the 20 apartments built on the old Trevor Bowen Court Site, Capsel have also worked with Lovell to build 12 two and three bedroomed affordable homes for sale. All the homes at Bowen Gardens have now sold off plan. Mr Thomas moved in over Easter and said “It’s a lovely house in a perfect location close to the main town and within a stone’s throw of family and shops”.

We will work with local businesses to pass on items of furniture which can be used in the local community to support local community initiatives.

Lettings Capsel has launched a lettings agency and manages 21 homes on behalf of private landlords around the County. For more information visit Capsel’s website.

Property Services Capsel also offers a range of servicing, maintenance and installations options including carpentry, painting and external works.

For more information about any of these services please call 03332079000 or visit the website www.capsel.co.uk

Home Essentials Gas/heating, plumbing, PV/solar panelling and electrical services are available to the wider community and we have a range of packages to choose from.

Mr Thomas and his son are the first to move in at Bowen Gardens 14

Opening of the new waste yard

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Homesearch Homesearch is hosted by MHA and provides a single point of access to anyone who would like to register for social or affordable housing within Monmouthshire, with properties being advertised on a fortnightly basis.

100th Bidding Cycle

Property Waiting Time

Monmouthshire Homesearch celebrated its 100th bidding cycle in November 2014.

Customers were disappointed by the lack of available properties. We have now included the average waiting times in the Homesearch scheme user guide to manage customers’ expectations and help them to make informed decisions about their housing.

Improvements made to Homesearch in light of comments made in the annual survey include:

Help with Bidding Some applicants didn’t understand the Homesearch system and stated that they needed help to bid. We now provide applicants in higher bands with a welcome phone call offering further assistance and an explanation of the bidding system (if required) when they register.

Detailed Adverts Not enough information (especially photos) was provided on the adverts. We now include additional photos and floor plans wherever possible under the ‘additional information’ link on the advert.

There are currently 2,729 applicants on the housing waiting list.

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Welcoming new customers Some customers stated they had not received a welcome pack when they registered with Homesearch. Welcome phone calls are now carried out to ensure that customers know when and how they will receive their welcome pack.

Removal of the telephone bidding function This was inefficient for customers and was also hardly used. The result of this is that money saved has been re-invested to improve the service offered to customers.

Waiting List Update Undertaking a rolling monthly review; which ensures the Homesearch waiting list is kept up to date and current and takes on board people’s changing circumstances.

417 families across Monmouthshire had a new home in 2014 thanks to the Monmouthshire Homesearch Scheme.

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Benefit Changes Over the last year MHA and tenants have been faced with Government Benefit Changes.

MHA has been trying to help tenants to cope with these changes by introducing various initiatives to help minimise the impact to our tenants.

Smart Move Smart Move has been introduced to help support tenants to downsize from properties that are currently too big for their needs, such as having more bedrooms than needed. Our aim is to help tenants who would otherwise be unable to downsize due to affordability and the costs associated with moving. The Smart Move scheme also helps to free up larger homes in order to re-house families on the waiting list. For more information, please contact us on 0345 677 277.

Our Direct Payment Pilot project is now live.

We have appointed an officer who will work with tenants throughout the project to ensure they are aware of the various ways to pay rent to MHA and to monitor the level of support tenants require.

We have successfully signed up 59 existing tenants who will receive their Housing Benefit payments into their bank account and will be responsible for paying their rent directly to MHA.

We are working closely with Monmouthshire Council’s Housing Benefit team, who have agreed to a variety of payment dates to suit you as best we can through these changes.

The next few months will give us a unique opportunity to learn more about our tenants and their payment habits, it will also give us a valuable insight as to what support they might need in the future when Universal Credit is implemented later this year.

Help with your Benefits DVD A DVD has been sent to all our tenants explaining how your benefits are changing.

Anyone with any queries should contact Cally McCarthy on 01495 761183 or email: cally. mccarthy@monmouthshirehousing.co.uk A Money & Energy Saving Calendar was sent to all tenants which included money saving advice and energy tips.

2015 Calendar

MHA0224 Calendar.indd 1

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11/12/2014 13:50:11

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Money, Help and Advice Money Wise provides face to face advice to tenants assisting them with debt, energy and benefit advice. This is a free confidential service offered by MHA to help and support our tenants, by maximising income and reducing outgoings, so that you have more money in your pocket.

This year the Money Wise team have helped 488 tenants with a variety of money saving initiatives, from energy switching to assistance with benefit enquiries.

Money Wise has helped tenants save £357,172.09 For more information or help with this service, please contact Matthew Taylor on 01495 767182 or Sarah Jones on 01495 767181

Web Wise helps tenants get online and make the most of the internet – we have been working very closely with our tenants to provide support to get online.

Coffee and Computer Sessions We run Coffee and Computer Sessions in Raglan (held every Monday 1-3pm in the Fellowships Centre). The sessions include how to report repairs to MHA and communicate with others online – for this group, gone are the days of costly phone calls or waiting for someone to answer their call.

It is also a great opportunity to socialise, get together with other tenants, share their experiences and make new friends.

A second Coffee and Computers Session has started in Cae Pen Y Dre Close, Abergavenny.

If you are interested in holding Coffee and Computer Sessions please contact Claire Griffin, on 01495 767194 or via email on claire. griffin@monmouthshirehousing.co.uk

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Work & Skills Wise is a free service to help and support our tenants of all ages into work, education or training. Our Team provides jargon free, friendly support and the programme is tailored to suit the needs of each individual.

Additionally if you are aged 18-24 you may find our Way into Work Programme of interest.

We have helped: • 20 tenants into employment • 11 young people into employment • Provided 64 volunteering opportunities • Loaned 15 laptops via our laptop loan scheme and • Helped tenants with over £4,845.00 worth of bursaries to assist with training and courses If you would like to find out more about Work & Skills Wise or the Way Into Work programme, please contact Catherine Murray on 01495 767193 or email catherine.murray@ monmouthshirehousing.co.uk

Web Wise Session

This year we have worked with 164 tenants and 52 young people.

Work & Skills Wise 21

Your Neighbourhood Team Know Your Neighbourhood Officer

Helping Tenants with the Bedroom Tax

Due to recent feedback from tenants and communities, the Neighbourhood Teams are taking a number of steps to increase their visibility within the community and raise awareness with tenants about who their Neighbourhood Officer is and what they can do to help.

The Neighbourhood Teams have continued to help and support tenants affected by the Bedroom Tax this year. This has included supporting tenants to move using MHA’s “Smart Move” scheme which provides tenants with £1,000 to help them downsize to a smaller property. Further information is available in the ‘Changes to Benefits’ section.

Steps we’re taking include: • Purchasing uniforms for all Neighbourhood Officers • Developing promotional material which includes the Neighbourhood Officers photograph • Providing names, photographs and the areas covered by each Neighbourhood Officer on our website • Publishing articles in Tenant Matters • Developing targeted initiatives and campaigns in specific areas depending on need 22

Our Neighbourhood Officers are taking a proactive approach to helping tenants prepare for Universal Credit which will be implemented later this year.

Visit www.monmouthshirehousing.co.uk for more details.

Your Neighbourhood Team 23

Giving Something Back In May 2014, 39 members of staff took part in the national employee volunteering day called Give & Gain Day. Seven areas benefitted from the day with all of the projects benefitting our tenants and their communities.

Overmonnow Flying Start Centre A team of five staff teamed up with Lovell to give the centre a bright new look, carry out repairs and put in new shelving. The day was really enjoyable and the difference made to the centre, (which is regularly used by local parents), was brilliant!

Gardening Makeover at Davis Court Davis Court was treated to a garden makeover.

The tenants also gave a helping hand including tea and cake.

Deri View Primary School and Acorn Centre, Abergavenny Six members of staff gave a fresh look to the beds surrounding the school and also revamped the ‘Forest School’.

The Reddings and Fishermans Walk, Chepstow Overmonnow Flying Start Centre

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Five members of staff helped to complete the WHQS Environmental Standard works in the area.

Old Hereford Road and St Andrews Crescent, Abergavenny Four members of staff worked hard at clearing areas, creating a ‘natural’ habitat where they brought raised beds to life with tenants by planting herbs and vegetables.

Rother Avenue, Abergavenny Throughout the afternoon, staff helped tenants clear out unwanted items and encouraged tenants to take plants and flowers for their front gardens.

West End Flying Start Staff spruced up the outside playing space for the children during which the team created a racetrack, muddy kitchen, campfire, wildlife garden and pond and even convinced nearby workmen to mow the lawn!

Old Hereford Road, Abergavenny

The Reddings, Chepstow

West End Flying Start

Davis Court

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Sponsorship We have sponsored various projects and community groups throughout Monmouthshire; here are a few that have benefitted from our support.

Defibrillators in Rural Areas The defibrillators are part funded by MHA and the British Heart Foundation. Before installing the defibrillators, 20 residents undertook training on how to use them.

National Road Cycling Race As part of the National Road Cycling Race around Monmouthshire, MHA provided a children’s mountain bike for the winner of the jigsaw puzzle competition run by Monmouthshire County Council.

Mardy Juniors FC MHA helped towards the cost of purchasing sports wear for the young team.

Usk in Bloom MHA helped towards the costs of hanging baskets and flowers. Eight hanging baskets were provided at our Plas Mawr complex as part of the competition.

Cyclo-cross 2015

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Monmouthshire County Citizens Advice Bureau MHA awarded sponsorship to help provide more training and extend the service to more areas within Monmouthshire. The grant provided has been split over two years.

Children First at Llanarth MHA have helped support ‘Children First’ by providing them with sensory equipment for a sensory playroom for children with special needs. The room is based in Llanarth Village Hall.

Cyclo-cross 2015 MHA helped towards the cost of Abergavenny Road Club hosting the 2015 National Cyclocross Championships; part of the course was named after MHA!

White Ribbon Rugby Event Monmouthshire County Council worked with Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women to hold a day of rugby at Monmouth Comprehensive School to raise awareness of violence against women. Guest stars included Scott Quinnell and the young players from Newport Gwent Dragons.

For more information about sponsorship available or to request an application form, please contact Louise Davies on 01495 761104 or email louise.davies@ monmouthshirehousing.co.uk

National Road Cycling Race

Cyclo-cross 2015

Defibrillators in Rural Areas

County Citizens Advice Bureau 27

Community Investment Crafty Women

Making a Difference Awards

Celebration of Summer

The group has been successful in securing funding for future development. They were also shortlisted for the 2013 Welsh Housing Awards for the Empowering and Involving Communities Category.

A small tenant project group was set up to plan and choose the categories for the awards.

56 nominations were received and the project group had a difficult job in selecting the winners. The awards took place at the Glen Yr Afon Hotel with nine awards in total from Achiever of the Year to Neighbour from Heaven. The evening was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

The Celebration of Summer events were held in Abergavenny and Caldicot. There were activities for all ages including portable golf, a live DJ, face painting and a balloon man.

DIY Course Five of our female tenants asked for a DIY course to be run, to help them develop basic DIY skills and techniques. MHA hosted the course which ran for two hours a week over four weeks.

The tenants were trained by MHA’s tradesmen and contractors who showed them the basic techniques including health and safety, how to put up shelves, painting, wallpapering and tiling. The ladies felt the course helped them with their confidence in completing basic DIY tasks and following its success it is hoped more courses like this will be run in the near future.

Both events gave tenants the opportunity to tell us about their communities and the feedback was very positive.

Family Fest Family Fest was held over a four week period in the summer – it was full of crafty, sporty and arty fun! Over 400 people attended the events which included a range of activities such as steel drumming, Bollywood dancing, Let’s Experiment and Circus Skills.

Celebration of Summer 2014 28

Crafty Women

DIY Taster

Making a Difference Awards 2014 29

Dads Can MHA is host and lead partner in Dads Can a project that works with young men under the age of 26 in Monmouthshire and Newport who are dads, expectant dads or are fulfilling the dad role.

Fatherhood offers opportunities not just obstacles and the Dads Can team work with young dads to help them to realise the opportunities, while supporting them to overcome any obstacles.

Dads Can Launch To celebrate the launch of the project the Dads Can Team organised a fun day which was held at Caldicot Leisure Centre over Father’s Day weekend. Over 200 people enjoyed a range of activities to celebrate the launch of the project, including face painters and bush skills.

Play Sessions Dads Can also meet regularly at play sessions, where children and dads get in for free and also at the gym where dads can train for £1.

Check out the website www.dads-can.co.uk or follow Dads Can on Facebook & Twitter to find out what’s going on in your area or contact the Dads Can Team on 01495 761092.

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Jim Jones - Dads Can Project Co-ordinator Dom Pembridge - Dads Can Project Co-ordinator

WRU supporting Dads Can

Cardiff City goal keeper, David Marshall, supporting Dads Can

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Safe Hands Support Service Safe Hands supports people to stay independent in their own homes and can support people with a wide range of different needs.

If you are aged 55 or over, Safe Hands can offer you a range of support solutions to suit your lifestyle

MHA’s Older Tenants Group – ‘Senior Voice’ asked for: Tea Dances These now regularly take place at Brookside (Caldicot) and Plas Mawr (Usk). These are held every fortnight in both schemes.

Exercise Classes Working in partnership with Monmouthshire County Council Sports Development, these are held weekly at The Reddings (Chepstow) and Plas Mawr (Usk).

Craft Classes Rotating around the sheltered schemes.

Recent Improvements to • Poor access and worries about the main door at Plas Mawr – the door has been replaced with a much more secure and accessible entrance door.

• Poor decoration and furniture in communal areas in sheltered schemes – the décor and interior design is being addressed at the schemes.

• No internet access in Cae Pen-y-Dre Close – we installed WIFI and provided computer classes.

Support Service Satisfaction Survey In a recent support service satisfaction survey: • 96% of those interviewed said they would recommend the service to a friend or relative.

• The survey also showed that 88% of those supported were happy with their support worker.

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Recently refurbished Life Begins communal area

Trevor Bowen House – Life Begins Demand has led to the development of 20 new modern apartments (built on the old Trevor Bowen Court Sheltered Scheme in Monmouth). These fantastic new apartments will provide independent living for over 60s and is expected to be completed in June 2015. The scheme boasts a mix of one and two bedroom spacious apartments with a comfortable and modern communal lounge, outdoor seating and close proximity to the town.

For more information about apartments for rent on this development please call 01495 767199 or visit www. monmouthshirehomesearch.co.uk

Website 33

Workshop During the past year MHA have held two workshops with a group of tenants to gather some feedback about the website.

Some changes have already been made as a result of the workshops, here are some of the comments made and what we have done so far:

Work & Skills Wise to be more prominent A Money, Help Advice tab has been introduced which lists all of the services MHA offers to help and support our tenants. A full review has been carried out on this section and all of the content has been rewritten to include the most up to date information.

More information about boiler servicing Information has been added to the repairs section of the website about gas and boiler safety and the importance of servicing boilers.

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Reporting repairs could be put into better context All of the content in the ‘Report a Repair’ section has been reviewed to make sure that the different ways of reporting a repair are clear.

Information about charges for no access Information about charges for ‘No Access’ have been added to the useful information box in the “what will I be charged for” section on the report a repair page.

ASB section needs to be updated more often with changes to ASB law A new section has been added to the antisocial behaviour section called new ASB law.

This section will be updated when there is any change.

Neighbourhood Officer contact details to be included A new neighbourhood contacts section has been created on the website. The new page lists all of the areas and anyone viewing the page can find out the name of their Neighbourhood Officer and their contact information.

Look out for more changes in the next year as we will be looking to make even more changes to the website as a result of the feedback that we have received!

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Scrutiny Panel and Service User Inspection Team (SUIT) MHA have been working with and supporting the Scrutiny Panel and Service User Inspection Team’s activity for a number of years.

They both have very different roles to play, SUITs are the ‘mystery shoppers’ carrying out spot checks on behalf of service managers using a variety of different methods to carry out investigations. The Scrutiny Panel review service as a whole, considers MHA’s performance, the impact on customers and then providing recommendations for service improvements.

Scrutiny Panel The Scrutiny Panel have recently completed their review of the Moneywise Service and also reviewed their approach and have trialled a new way of working. The panel don’t just look from their point of view but take into consideration other tenants feelings by looking at comments and surveys that you provide and have held during workshops in other groups.

Scrutiny Panel

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Throughout the year the panel have undertaken a training programme to help them develop their skills to undertake their work.

Some of the recommendations made by the Scrutiny Panel were: • To introduce formal service standards • To include more information on the website, which includes a budget planner generator, customer journeys and a FAQ section • To introduce a performance indicator to monitor the length of time from first contact to first appointment • To have consistent contact details listed for MHA staff in all publications

Service User Inspection Team (SUIT) The SUIT has carried out numerous inspections that have resulted in positive changes to improve services for our customers. Some of the changes that have been made as a result of the checks are: • More photos have been added to property adverts and decoration vouchers to be

• Grass Maintenance – after visiting sites across the county, the SUIT’s gave positive feedback, partly as a result of this, the Grass Maintenance Contract between Monmouthshire County Council and MHA - New tenants satisfied with the decorative has been renewed for another 12 months. state of the property from 70% to 73% For more information about getting - Satisfaction of new tenants in their home involved, contact Katie Needham on has increased from 92.06% to 96% 01495 761096 or email katie.needham@ - New tenants satisfied with the cleanliness monmouthshirehousing.co.uk of their new home increased from 74.61% to 77.5% promoted in the adverts/on viewing of a new property. This has resulted in an increase in satisfaction in the following areas:

• New training has been introduced to improve the procedure of anonymous complainants reporting an anti-social behaviour complaint.

• Financial Inclusion - MHA has redesigned the financial inclusion section of the website and ‘Tenant Matters’ to include larger text, more pictures, brighter colours etc. Most significantly the search feature on the website has been expanded.

SUITs in St Mary’s Place, Portskewett 37

Complaints Review During the last year the Corporate Services Team carried out a review our complaints service.

During the review of the service the team looked at all of the feedback received by anyone who has used the service over the last year to see how we could improve the service offered.

Following the review it was decided that we would adopt a new Concerns and Complaints procedure which was launched in September last year.

20 working days.

If you would like more information about the new service please contact the Corporate Services Team on 01495 767191 or email corporateservices@ monmouthshirehousing.co.uk

The new service has two stages Stage 1 – Informal Resolution – The emphasis with the new service is that any concerns or complaints we receive are dealt with on an informal basis. If you contact us with a concern we will try to deal with this straight away. We believe that this offers better customer service to anyone accessing the service and improves satisfaction.

OUR SERVICE:

TELL US YOUR VIEWS

Stage 2 – Formal Resolution – If we are unable to resolve your complaint informally or you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the informal stage you can then request a formal investigation. An investigating officer will then be appointed to investigate your complaint and will provide a response within MHA0111 Complaints Booklet.indd 1

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MHA recognised at awards for promoting safer communities 39

Community Safety At MHA we take Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) very seriously.

Our Neighbourhood Teams and Community Safety Team work towards preventing ASB and domestic abuse by informing tenants and residents of what they can do to avoid causing ASB and what to do if they encounter ASB or domestic abuse.

We also support victims of domestic abuse and ASB and work with perpetrators to help them change their behaviour.

The Noise App Noise is the biggest issue for tenants around anti-social behaviour. So we purchased The Noise App. This is an App which can be downloaded to a mobile phone and used by the complainant to record noise nuisance as it happens. There is no limit to the number of people who can use it. The App also allows the user to capture details of the noise such as time, date and location, exactly what the noise is and where it is coming from. This can then be sent through the device electronically for us to act upon.

We have also improved ASB information which is available to view or download on the MHA website at www.monmouthshirehousing. co.uk

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The Community Safety Team: Aileen Wallen, Alan Webber, Terry MacColl & Bill FitzPatrick 41

How to Get Involved Tenant Engagement

Bite-Sized Involvement

Brunch-Sized Involvement

Tenant engagement gives you the opportunity to get involved in the decision making that shapes the services and standards that MHA provide to all its residents.

These methods of participation require little commitments for those of you with busy schedules, identifying your views and issues affecting your lives.

These methods require a little more of your time and target those people who want to share their views and make a difference in their wider community. You will be getting together with other local tenants and residents on a regular basis to discuss issues and ideas affecting your local community.

Getting involved and sharing your views can give you the following benefits: • It gives you more control over decisions made regarding your home.

• You can meet other tenants and become involved in new, interesting activities.

• You can learn new skills.

• It can give you a sense of achievement and can also be FUN! We offer a ‘menu of opportunities’ where you can pick any number of things from the list depending on how ‘hungry’ for involvement you are.

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Examples of some of the commitments this level requires are: • Tenant Forum Membership

Examples of some of the commitments this level requires are:

• Reading the Newsletter

• Editorial Team for Newsletters

• Coffee Mornings

• Tenants Steering Committee Membership • Service User Inspection Team (SUITs)

Become a Sharemember Main Course Involvement These methods require generous amounts of your time allowing you to become directly involved in the running of the organisation, making high level decisions. Examples of some of the commitments this level requires are: • Tenant Board Member • Better Build Group Steering Committee Member • Tenant Delegate at Management Conferences • Scrutiny Panel Member If you would like to find out more then contact Rob Carey, Tenant & Resident Involvement Co-ordinator, on 01495 761115 or email rob. carey@monmouthshirehousing.co.uk

Do you want to be able to make key decisions that will direct MHA’s services?

Do you want to have a decision in the appointment of independent and tenant board members? Do you want to ensure that our actions are legitimate? Do you want to ensure that we are living our values of being Open Fair Flexible and Achieving in the services that we provide you? Do you want to be involved in MHA but don’t have a lot of time to commit to attending lots of meetings? It could not be easier...

• You will be kept updated with MHA News • You will be sent our annual report and accounts • You will be invited to attend our Annual General Meeting once a year.

Contact Louise Davies on 01495 761104 or email louise.davies@ monmouthshirehousing.co.uk

All Monmouthshire Housing Association leaflets are available in pdf, large-print & braille formats and on audio tape. We can also arrange translation into a number of other languages.

Contact our Corporate Services Team at corporateservices@ monmouthshirehousing. co.uk or call 01495 761104 if you would like a copy of this leaflet in one of these alternative formats.

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01495 761100 communityservices@monmouthshirehousing.co.uk www.monmouthshirehousing.co.uk Monmouthshire Housing Association Nant-Y-Pia House, Mamhilad Technology Park Mamhilad, Monmouthshire, NP4 0JJ facebook.com/Monmouthshire.Housing twitter.com/mon_housing

MHA0081

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