Evolve Newsletter: 2020 December

FREE ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS

TIDY TIPS

GARDEN COMP WINNERS

DECEMBER 2020

Community Roadshow

Our Community Engagement Officers Rob and Heidi have already connected with many residents in Evolve Housing blocks with their Community Roadshow, and now they’re on a mission to visit more.

The Community Roadshow involves Rob and Heidi visiting blocks and holding small COVID-safe events including free food, fun activities, prizes, and a chance to get to know your neighbours better. Rob and Heidi are also keen to chat with residents and learn more about how Evolve Housing can help them. If you want the Community Roadshow to come to your block, please email community@evolvehousing.com.au or SMS Heidi on 0424 961 143.

Wishing you HAPPY HOLIDAYS Evolve Housing wishes you a very Happy Holiday for 2020. Please be aware that we will be closed from Thursday 24th December 2020 and will reopen on Tuesday 5th January 2021. During this time, the office will be closed and online forms and emails will not be monitored. For any urgent maintenance issues only please call 1800myevolve (1800 693 865). We will endeavor to respond to all non-urgent matters within the first week of the office re-opening. Evolve Housing wishes you a very happy and safe holiday period.

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

Tenant

SATISFACTION SURVEY RESULTS

Thank you to everyone who submitted responses to our Tenant Satisfaction Survey. We had an incredible response rate of 33% from our residents (including the residents in our profit-forpurpose real estate agency, EchoRealty).

We appreciate how hard this year has been for some of our residents, but it is amazing to see that 86% of Evolve Housing residents, and 90% of our EchoRealty residents, were satisfied with our overall services.

We truly appreciate the time and effort spent by those who gave us feedback.

Everything we do as a business is centred around improving the lives of our residents and these responses help us enhance the services we

Kid

activities for

deliver to our clients. We look forward to improving and growing our relationship with our residents in the years to come.

All participants were automatically entered into a draw to win one of 50 Westfield Gift Vouchers and we are pleased to say that 50 winners have been selected at random and have now received their prizes in the mail. Congratulations to all the winners!

Winners of Gardening Competition Congratulations to Joel, the winner of Evolve Housing’s first-ever Springtime garden competition!

Joel won the pot plant category for residents with a garden that uses pots or planter boxes.

Joel has won a Bunnings voucher and an educational tour of the Royal Botanic Gardens so that he can continue to nourish his love of gardening.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

TIDY TIPS To help Evolve Housing residents, both old and new, to learn tips on how to keep their home communities clean and tidy, Ben the Bin is being launched this month!

We worked with a cartoonist to create this booklet of tidy tips in a fun, language neutral design. We have inserted a copy of the booklet in this newsletter so you can check it out.

We hope you enjoy the booklet and keep an eye out for more Ben the Bin in your block. A big thanks to Cumberland Council for supporting the project.

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ds the holidays

FREE & low cost fun

HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES FOR THE KIDS

The Summer school holidays are almost here so to combat boredom, we’ve put together a list of low-cost, fun activities aimed at kids (although adults may enjoy them too!).

• Visit a park! — There are plenty of parks in Sydney you can visit, whether you want to stay local or make a day of it. Western Sydney Parklands is a great option for people out west (www.westernsydneyparklands.com.au), or if you’re keen for a trip to the city, why not try the Royal Botanic Gardens.

See: rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au

• Go to the library — borrow books and entertainment free at your local library or take a day trip to the beautiful State Library in Sydney. For more information on the State Library of NSW and a list of public libraries in Sydney.

Visit: sl.nsw.gov.au/public-library-services

• Learn about science for free from the science education experts at Fizzics Education. Their website has plenty of free resources aimed at primary school aged children, including instructions for 150 free science experiments, free science podcasts, articles and trivia.

Visit: fizzicseducation.com.au/free-resources

• Get artsy or sporty for free with the NSW Government’s Creative Kids and Active Kids vouchers! Get more information and apply at: service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-creative-kids-voucher and service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-active-kids-voucher

• Watch educational kids TV shows, play games and get fun ideas on cooking and crafting at the ABC Kids website Visit: abc.net.au/abckids

• Learn to code and program your own stories, games and animations with Scratch, a free service created by the MIT Media Lab. Visit: scratch.mit.edu

Copy r u o Y t Ge

ANNUAL REPORT Evolve Housing Annual Report 2019–2020 is available for download from our website or a free print copy can be obtained from the head office in Parramatta.

Each year we take-the-pulse on our management of over 4,000 social and affordable housing properties that provide homes to over 8,400 Australians. To get your digital copy of the annual report visit here: issuu.com/evolvehousing/docs/2019-2020-evolve-annual-report-lores

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RAG Report

Resident Advisory Group As 2020 comes to a close, the Resident Advisory Group (RAG) would like to wish all residents a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. This has been a busy year and we have been honoured to work with residents to improve the tenant experience. Some of our achievements for 2020 include: • We created a new structure for the RAG and welcomed new members starting in February 2020 • We quickly adapted to using Zoom to hold video meetings to stay safe from COVID-19. We held meetings on Zoom for 7 months, and an average of 10 members attended each month.

• We invited a variety of staff from different areas of Evolve Housing (for example, Contact Centre, Property Services and Housing Services) to come give updates on their work • We gave feedback into a variety of Evolve Housing projects and processes including maintenance, communication methods and resident engagement.

We also reviewed documents and policies to ensure they

were easy to understand.

• 8 RAG members made follow up calls to residents to see if they had received and responded to the 2020 Tenant Satisfaction Survey. These members made 608 calls all up.

• 5 RAG members visited the Evolve Housing head office in Parramatta over two days to sit with the Contact Centre staff, see their processes, and provide feedback on ways Evolve Housing can improve on what is already a great service • The RAG came up with ways Evolve Housing could engage with residents during the COVID-19 pandemic including an online competition for kids in the July school holidays.

Rent calculation changes

Mental health support

Please be aware that the NSW Community Housing Social Rent policy, introduced by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, will commence next year.

The policy has been available for community housing providers to implement since 1 July 2020, but Evolve Housing chose to delay its application to our tenancies to support our residents during the peak of COVID-19. It will be applied to existing tenants at the same time as the first rental subsidy of 2021, which is expected to be April 2021.

We recently sent out a letter to all residents explaining the policy. If you did not receive the letter, please feel free to call 1800myevolve (1800 693 865) to ask for a copy.

During challenging times like these, many people feel worried, anxious or overwhelmed. You can visit www.lifeline.org.au to get some mental health and wellbeing tips and strategies.

If you need someone to talk to, you can get in touch with Lifeline by calling 13 11 14 (available 24/7), texting 0477 131 114 (operating 6pm-midnight 7 days a week), or accessing web chat via www.lifeline.org.au Kids who need support can call Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800.

Beyond Blue is also available on 1300 224 636 or at www.beyondblue.org.au.

Food and resources

If you are in financial stress, there are organisations that may be able to help you to pay bills and purchase essential items such as food.

Anglicare – call 1300 111 278 or visit www.anglicare.org.au Vinnies – call 1800 606 724 or visit www.vinnies.org.au Salvation Army – call 1300 371 288 or visit www.salvationarmy.org.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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