Evolve Newsletter: 2020 September

WORKING FOR YOU

JOIN OUR PANEL

THINKING OF BEIRUT

SEPTEMBER 2020

IMAGINATE

competition winners!

Above: Winners John and Zac, Imaginate Robotics competition during COVID-19 lockdown. Photo by Robert Costa.

Congrats to our Imaginate competition winners!

Congratulations to John and Zac, the lucky winners of our Imaginate July school holiday competition who both won robot flip toys valued at $165. Thanks to everyone who entered.

EVOLVE HOUSING PO BOX W124 PARRAMATTA WESTFIELD, PARRAMATTA NSW 2150 T 1800 myevolve (1800 693 865) · W evolvehousing.com.au · Social media: @evolvehousing evolvehousing EVOLVE 1 NEWS

Working for you Resident Advisory Group Update

Our Resident Advisory Group (RAG) are still working hard for our residents, and recently visited the Evolve Housing Parramatta office to make phone calls to follow up with residents who had not submitted their Tenant Satisfaction Surveys yet.

“Thank you RAG for helping us to better understand resident needs.”

We thank the RAG for their assistance with this important job, which helps us learn how we can better serve you.

To apply to be a member, please email with your name and a brief description of why you’d like to join to: community@evolvehousing.com.au or call Rob on: 8862 1510.

If you’re interested in joining the RAG, we currently have a vacancy and are accepting applications for new members. All that is required is that you

can be available to meet once a month (meetings are being held digitally over Zoom at the moment), and that you have an interest in improving Evolve Housing and helping your fellow residents. RAG members contribute ideas and feedback about our policies and activities.

Our sympathies to everyone affected by the Beirut explosion Evolve Housing extends our sympathy to everyone affected by the explosion that occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, in August. One of our Resident Advisory Group (RAG) members has written a message on behalf of the group: “We know how lucky we are for having the chance to migrate and live in Australia, however this does not stop us from thinking and feeling with our families or relatives, or even friends whom we left behind in our origin country.

Therefore, we, the RAG committee at Evolve Housing, would like to express our deepest sympathy to the tenants from Lebanese backgrounds due to the disaster that took place in Beirut and affected many people. God bless you all, bless Australia and the whole world.”

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Communications Panel call out We’re looking for a few residents who enjoy reading and writing to join our Communications Panel.

The panel gets to review pieces of communication that Evolve Housing sends out to our residents such as policies, fact sheets, program promotions and letters. We rely on the panel to give us feedback from a resident point of view, and let us know if our documents make sense or need adjustments.

Panel members make contributions by email, and we typically send out content to review a few times a year. If you’re interested in joining, please send your name and a brief description of why you’re interested to: community@evolvehousing.com.au.

Annual Resident Meeting and Christmas Party postponed

We regret to announce that to keep our residents safe and comply with COVID-safe practices, we have postponed our Annual Resident Meeting and cancelled our Christmas Party for 2020. While we would love to hold these events this year, we have researched venues and believe that we will not be able to safely accommodate enough of our residents to be able to properly run them. We hope to be able to hold the Annual Resident Meeting in 2021, and will keep you updated about this.

Tenant Satisfaction Survey Thank you to everyone who submitted responses to our Tenant Satisfaction Survey, which officially closed on Wednesday 2 September. We had an incredible response rate of 35% for our Evolve Housing residents, and 36% for the residents in our profit-for-purpose real estate EchoRealty. The survey responses will help us improve our services, and we truly appreciate the time and effort spent by those who gave us feedback EVOLVE 3 NEWS

Improving

our customer service We’ve been making some changes at Evolve Housing that will make it easier for you to talk to us when you need to.

In late July, we upgraded our contact centre’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system — this is the message that you hear when you phone us up that gives you options to direct your call. We have designed the new system with a focus on accessibility and ease of use, so that we can provide faster, better service to you.

We have also added a new Webchat service to our website, perfect for those of you who prefer typing to talking.

The new feature allows our residents to live chat with

our contact centre in real time. It is available during our business hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Finally, we also have a new and improved report a repair form on our website. The new form allows you to lodge repair enquiries online with ease and attach photos if you like. There are three language options available: English, Vietnamese and Arabic. You can check out the new form by visiting our website: evolvehousing.com.au/im-a-resident-2/all-about-repairs/

Springtime garden competition Spring time is here, and to celebrate, we’re holding the first ever Evolve Housing garden competition!

We know that many of our residents are green thumbs and we want to see all the amazing things you’ve grown and planted. There are two categories you can enter — a ‘general’ category, for residents who have an in-ground garden in their yard outdoors, and a ‘pot plant’ category, for residents who have a garden that uses pots or planters boxes. The winner of each category will receive a Bunnings voucher and an educational tour of the Royal Botanic Gardens (winners can choose from a range of tour categories including a guided walk, Aboriginal bush food tour and behind the scenes tour). The winner’s garden will also be featured in our next newsletter.

To enter, all you have to do is send a photo (or two!) to community@evolvehousing.com.au of your pride and joy to let us know which category you’re entering.

Entries close on 30th October.

Digital Basics Workshops Do you want to improve your skills using technology and the internet? We offer free Digital Basics training to all of our residents. We can help you learn to use computers, smartphones and tablets and also teach you about online banking, social media, Zoom video calling and more.

We can provide training over the phone or in person, and can tailor our training to suit your needs. If you’re interested, please call Rob on 8862 1510 or email community@evolvehousing.com.au.

Acknowledgement of Country Evolve Housing acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land where we deliver our housing and services. We acknowledge and pay our respects to all Elders past, present and future. We welcome all First Nations People to our services, as we walk together towards reconciliation.

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