Tenants Update March 2012

Page 1

Tenants

March 2012

News and information for tenants and leaseholders of Wolverhampton Homes

Stop

Hate

in Wolverhampton Show your support to stop Hate Crime

Page 8

Get on Board

Garden Competition

Join us to shape services

Show off your green fingers

Page 3

Page 10


Welcome

to the spring issue of Tenants Update!

We launched our Stop Hate in Wolverhampton campaign in January and you can read all about it on pages 8 and 9. I hope you’ll join us and pledge to Stop Hate to show everyone that Wolverhampton is a great place to live. On page 3 you can find out how you can stand as a Board Member and join me to help make decisions about how Wolverhampton Homes is run.

Don’t forget it will soon be garden competition time and you can read all about it on page 10. Even if you don’t have a garden you could join in with the hanging basket or container category, or perhaps set up a community garden. I hope you enjoy this issue. We’d love to hear what you think or if you have any stories we can use next time, so please fill in the feedback form. Ann Ramsbottom, Editor, Tenants Update

Board Meetings

Contact Us

All tenants and leaseholders are welcome to come along to our board meetings. Our next meetings are: Monday 19 March 2012, Monday 14 May 2012 and Monday 17 September 2012 (AGM). All meetings are held in our Head Office at Hickman Avenue and start at 9.30am. To find out what decisions were made at previous meetings, search ‘board’ on www.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk

• Check out www.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk • Email us at homes.direct@wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk • Tweet us at www.twitter.com/WolvesHomes • Join us at www.facebook.com/WolvesHomes • Call us on 01902 556789 • Text 60066 and start your text WHomes followed by a space • Call us out of hours for emergencies on 01902 552999 • Call us to report antisocial behaviour out of hours on 01902 558901 Thanks to the following for their help with this issue's front cover, top left to right: David Higgins, Tanita Lewis, Julie Kendrick, Sandra Fern, Gloria Blair-Riley, Judith Morton and Mohammed Motawalla.

Prefer Email? If you’d prefer an electronic copy of this newsletter, let us know by emailing communications@wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk. Please note, if you choose to receive an emailed Tenants Update, you will no longer receive a printed copy in the post. Don’t worry though, you can still send us your feedback and competition entries to the same email address.

If you require this information in another language or format, contact us on 01902 556789.

2

Tenants Update March 2012


2012 Board Elections Would you like to be part of our Board and make big decisions about how we are run? If so, put yourself forward in our June 2012 election. Gary Taylor from Penn, is a Board members are not tenant board member and paid but they do receive says: “It's really rewarding expenses to cover the cost to be a tenant board of attending meetings. member. I help to shape For more information and to and evolve Wolverhampton apply please search ‘Board Homes into continuing to Elections’ on provide excellent services mes.org.uk www.wolverhamptonho for all our customers. or call Ruth Fletcher on “It is also a good forum to 01902 556789. meet people from all walks of life where in normal everyday situations you might not necessarily do so. Hopefully by our efforts, we can make positive impacts on people's lives and standards of living, creating a better community for all."

Deadline for applications is Friday 26 March 2012.

Board members agree budgets and how money will be spent, approve policys such as parking, fencing and anti-social behaviour. They also monitor performance.

STOPPING METAL THEFT: PC Nick Clarke, PCSO Jude Chetwood and Darren Sayers from Wolverhampton Homes

Fight Back! We’re working in partnership with West Midlands Police to tackle metal theft from the homes we manage. Theft of copper, metal boilers and other metal across the country is growing and Wolverhampton is no exception. Over the last few months, we have seen a number of boilers and copper piping stolen from properties. There is a great risk of injury or death to the thief, the tenant and neighbours. The cost and time it takes to replace the stolen boilers and copper causes huge disruption to families who are waiting to move into one of our properties.

Our message to criminals is simple… 'Don't even think about it'. Now the Police will mark all metals in the homes we manage with a special forensic ink to track criminals. The Police will prosecute anyone found to be removing, selling or offering to remove boilers and copper piping from our properties. If a tenant is found to be responsible, we will begin possession proceedings to evict them from the property immediately.

If you have any information that could help the Police, please call CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111. March 2012 Tenants Update 3


Money Smart! IMPORTANT News on

Benefit Changes The Welfare Reform Bill is currently going through Parliament. When it is given Royal Assent, it will mean big changes for tenants of working age (under 61 for women, under 65 for men): • Universal Credit brings together a range of benefits, including Housing Benefit into a single monthly payment, paid in arrears. • You will be directly responsible for paying your rent to us • From April 2013, tenants of working age who underoccupy their home will have their housing benefit reduced, by around 14 per cent for underoccupying by 1 bedroom and 25 per cent for 2 or more bedrooms. Bedroom needs are expected to be A bedroom for each person or couple except: • Two children, of the same gender, aged 15 or under are expected to share a room. • Two children aged 9 or under are expected to share a room regardless of gender. For example A couple with a 15 year-old son and a 13 year-old son in a three-bedroom house would, under Government proposals, be considered to have too many bedrooms and see their housing benefit reduced. We will be contacting tenants who are most likely to be affected. In the meantime visit the money smart pages of www.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk for details of steps you can take to protect your financial future.

Benefit changes from April 2012 Housing Benefit: You will have your Housing Benefit reduced if you have anyone aged over 18 living with you, other than a partner, joint tenant or dependant child. Your benefit could be reduced depending on the age and income of the person living with you. If you are affected, we will write to you nearer to the time with more details. Tax Credits: There will be a lower income limit for Child Tax Credit and there are new working hours rules for Working Tax Credit for couples with at least one child. If you have concerns about any of these changes contact the Money Smart Team on 01902 556789. 4 Tenants Update March 2012

nt on u o c s i D

Electrical Goods

We’ve teamed up with Wolf Savings and Loans and Co-op Electrical to offer fantastic deals on electrical items. This includes fridges, fridge-freezers, cookers, washing machines and tumble dryers. You can pay in full, directly from your Credit Union account or take out a low interest loan to pay for the purchase. It even includes free delivery and removal of your old goods. This fantastic scheme starts on 1 April so contact Wolf Savings and Loans www.wolfsavingsandloans.co.uk or 01902 572340.

New Direct Debit choices From April we are extending our Direct Debit service to give you more choice. You can pay weekly, fortnightly, four weekly or monthly. To change your payment date or set up a Direct Debit phone 0800 408 0440, call into one your One Stop Shop or download a form from our website.


Homes Direct

Phone service changes We want to answer your phone calls as quickly as possible, so we have improved our phone system. When you call us, you can now be transferred directly to Housing Benefits or to make a card payment. This will cut down waiting times for everyone. For example in January we received 21,691 calls to Homes Direct. Over 2,000 calls were directed straight to the Benefits and Payments Line. Our staff would normally have to answer these calls and put them through or take the payment. We have also introduced a new service which tells you your position in the queue and you soon we be able to request a call back. The call back feature allows you to input your telephone number using the keypad on your telephone, plus a short message. Homes Direct will then call you back with 30 minutes.

We hope that these changes will provide you with a quick and easy to access service. If you have any feedback please email homes.direct@wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk or phone 01902 556789. You can also use the form on the back page.

Direct Debit The following tenants were the lucky winners of our Direct Debit Prize Draw. They each won a choice of £150 paid into their credit union accounts or £75 vouchers.

Mrs Roberts of Bushbury Miss Myles-Kelly of Warstones Mr Head of Bushbury

Energy Advice

Surgeries Over 140 tenants attended Energy Advice Surgeries to get free and impartial, energy saving advice from our trained energy advisors. Customers were given free TV energy saver plugs, energy saving light bulbs and other free gifts to demonstrate how simple changes to their day to day behaviour can help save energy and money. Baljeet Kaur came to one of our surgeries and said:

This means that, during busy periods, you can choose to queue or receive a call back, whichever is most convenient.

It pays to pay by

r Winte

ADVICE ON TAP: Climate Change Officer, Alvina Ali shows Sheryl Needham how to use her central heating controls

Credit Union at Bilston Wolf Savings and Loans now have a service point at our Bilston One Stop Shop on Tuesdays between 10am and 12pm.

“I was worried that I was using a lot of gas and electric. The advisors gave me a lot of advice and they put my mind at ease. They were very helpful. I felt that they really wanted to make a difference.” Tenants who missed the Energy Advice Surgeries can still get free advice by contacting the Climate Change Team on 01902 556789 or search ‘energy efficiency’ on www.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk.

Winner

Competition

Mrs Turner from Bilston was our lucky winner to guess the number of sharks in the jar. We held this competition as part of Tackling Illegal Money Lending Week. She won £50 in a Credit Union account - as well as the sweets, which she kindly donated to children at The Haven.

Call in for advice on opening an account. March 2012 Tenants Update 5


A chat with

Shaun Director of Property Services

In this issue, tenant Gloria Blair-Riley, from Heath Town, speaks to Shaun Aldis about repairs Gloria:

Gloria:

When a tenant reports a repair it is logged onto the computer, do you think it reaches the right person all of the time?

Is there a system in place to check if repairs are completed and completed properly?

Shaun:

We have a system of inspections to check the quality of repairs. We carry out 60,000 repairs a year so we can’t check them all. We inspect a sample of repairs from certain types of issues. This could be if we have received a complaint, or if the cost of the repair is more than we expected, or if there has been a big variation in the job, such as a report of a door handle but a toilet has been repaired as well. Gas and electrical repairs get extra checks as part of the quality control measure required by our contractor registration with Gas Safe and the NIC EIC (the regulator for electrical contractors). However if anyone ever has concerns about a repair they should always ring us Homes Direct Team will be happy to help.

The majority of repairs either go to a specialist (Gas or Electrical) or multiskilled Response Repairs Officer. As tenants and our Homes Direct Team aren’t technical we use a diagnostic tool to try to work out what the exact problem is. If someone reports “no heating” it could be any of a multitude of faults so occasionally we do get it wrong.

Shaun:

You said: “There is a bit lacking in the repairing system and also nothing is done to people who have dogs fouling everywhere.”

We said: “We’re sorry to hear that you’ve had problems with your repairs, we’ll get someone to call you and have a chat about it. Dog fouling can be a problem, dog owners have a duty to clean up after their dogs. If it happens on our land, and the owner hasn’t cleaned up after their dog, we will arrange for it to be cleaned up. 6 Tenants Update March 2012


KICK START: The Goalz project helped 50 youngsters stay on the right track

ON THE PATCH: Carol Brettell chats to resident Bako Faraj

Youth projects Youth projects that teach youngsters character building and reward good behaviour have been given funding to help reduce anti-social behaviour. These include “Goalz” football project in Bilston, a Thai Muay Kickboxing project in Ettingshall and a community project in All Saints which provides community learning classes. We are keen to help more groups. Youth groups that would like to apply for funding can contact us on 01902 556789.

Look after your home If you or a visitor damages your home or leaves a mess, we will charge you for the repair or clean up. But it doesn’t stop there. You won’t be able to transfer or rent another home from us until you pay the bill and if you still don’t pay, we will take you to court. If you continue to cause damage or not look after your home, we will evict you. Please take care of your homes.

Estate Managers at Your Service Did you know that you can speak to your Estate Manager about anything from reporting antisocial behaviour to discussing your tenancy? Carol Brettell, Estate Manager, says: "I've been an Estate Manager since 2005 and I manage the Whitmore Reans area. "I love being an Estate Manager, every day is so varied. Whitmore Reans has a very strong community feel and I enjoy being out and about meeting different people." If you have any queries or problems, Estate Managers want to hear from you. Carol says: "You can speak to us about anything. Whether it's discussing your tenancy, rent or you just need some advice, we're here to help." Do you know who your Estate Manager is? Visit our website, www.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk and search "Estate Manager" or visit your local One Stop Shop.

You said: “The Repairs Service is excellent. I had a problem with my heating and they were here within 20 minutes.” Mrs McDougall, Bilston

We said: “It’s good to hear that your problem was sorted so quickly.” March 2012 Tenants Update 7


Join us to pledge to

stop hate in Wolverhampton

Have you heard about our campaign to stop hate in Wolverhampton? Tenants at Get Togethers last year said that we needed to do more to raise awareness of hate crime. So for 2012, we’re asking people to sign up to our online pledge to stop hate in Wolverhampton. We want all of our tenants and leaseholders to sign up and show that Wolverhampton is a great place to live. Hate crime is when somebody abuses another person based on a prejudice they have. It could be linked to disability, race, age, gender or ethnicity. Recent high profile cases of hate crime in the news demonstrate the importance of reporting it and raising awareness of it. Our three MPs, Wolverhampton City Council, Wolverhampton Police,

What is hate crime? Hate crime is when somebody abuses another person based on a prejudice they have. It could be linked to disability, race, age, gender or ethnicity.

Sign up and stop hate! • Sign up to our online pledge • Like our Facebook page • Tell your friends and family about this campaign 8 Tenants Update March 2012

Stop Hate UK, All Cultures One Voice and Wolverhampton Federation of Tenants Associations have all shown their support for it so far. Go to

homes.org.uk www.wolverhampton and click on the button ‘stop hate in Wolverhampton’ at the top of the page, then complete your details. Please ask all of your friends and family to sign up too so we can get as much support as possible.

To report a Hate Crime contact: • The police on 999 or 101 • Stop Hate UK on 0800 138 1625 • Your local One Stop Shop • Homes Direct on 01902 556789 You can also complete our Online Hate Crime Reporting Form on our website, search “Hate”.


Real Life

Hate Crime Facts

In Bristol, last year, a 49-year-old man with mental health issues was sent by his mother, who is his primary carer, to have his hair cut at a hairdressers. The victim later attended church and was told that he had the word 'fool' shaved into the back of his head.

• For every hate crime that is reported, eight go unreported.

The matter was reported to police and the hairdresser, Michael Campbell, was arrested and charged. He was convicted of common assault and was sentenced to complete 200 hours of unpaid work, pay compensation and court costs. This was categorised as a hate crime because of the victim's disability and taken extremely seriously by Avon and Somerset Police.

Community Fun Days A series of community fun days are being arranged to break down barriers in Wolverhampton communities, with hate crime as one of the themes of the day. Blakenhall residents can go along to Blakenhall Community and Healthy Living Centre in Bromley Street between 11am to 5pm on Saturday 10 March. There will be another event on Saturday 10th June and we will give you more details as soon as they are finalised.

• The majority of hate crimes happen near to the victim's home while they are going about their daily business. • An offence is most likely to be committed between 3pm and midnight. • Most hate crime perpetrators live in the same neighborhood as their victims. • Charity Scope surveyed a group of disabled people and found that more than half had experienced hostility, aggression or violence from a stranger because of their condition or impairment. • 16 per cent of almost 2,000 people with learning disabilities who responded to a Community Care survey in 2007 said they had been bullied on the street in the previous year. • Around one in eight of lesbians and gay men and one in 20 bisexuals have experienced a hate crime or incident. • Disabled people are four times more likely to be the victim of a crime than other people and twice as likely to be the victim of a violent attack.

March 2012 Tenants Update 9


Fly tipping DON’T DO IT WINNER: Noni Bennet Williams was the winner of last year's children's category.

Have you got

green fingers?

If rubbish is dumped on our estates, we will always try to identify fly tippers and take legal action against them. If the offender is found guilty, they could be fined or sent to prison.

If you’re a tenant or leaseholder with Wolverhampton Homes and are proud of your garden, why not enter the 2012 Garden Competition?

If you see any fly tipping, try to note down as much detail as possible including the details of the car or van involved.

There are categories to suit you, whatever type of gardener you are:

Then report it to homes.direct@wolverhampton homes.org.uk or 01902 556789.

• Garden (front or back) • Hanging basket or container • Communal scheme (former sheltered scheme)

• Community garden • Children

Last year's winner of the children's category, Noni Bennet Williams said: "It was great winning the competition. I liked planting my pots and learning all the Latin names of the plants." Last year’s winner, Paulette Gardener said: "I love working in my garden, planning what to plant and where so that it's colourful all year round. The fact that I won the garden competition was a bonus." The closing date for entries is Friday 13 July, 2012 and judging will take place in August. So grab an entry form from one of our One Stop Shops or download it from our website, search for ‘garden competition’. To get you ready for the competition you can join in with The Royal Horticultural Society’s National Gardening Week - 16 to 22 April 2012. They will be offering gardening advice and 20,000 starter packs with seeds. For more information visit: www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/National-gardening-week

10 Tenants Update March 2012

If you need to dispose of any rubbish, please use Wolverhampton City Council’s dedicated Waste Centres. These are based at: • Shaw Road, Bushbury WV10 9NE • Anchor Lane, Coseley, WV14 9LG If you have any bulky items you wish to dispose of, Wolverhampton City Council will take up to five items for a charge of £17.79, or free if you receive Housing or Council Tax benefit. Call City Direct on 01902 551199. For further information please visit: www.keepbritaintidy.org/ KeyIssues/Fly-tipping/


Easy living Do you need an adaptation for you home?

If you are an elderly or disabled tenant struggling to live in your home, you may be able to make your home easier to live in by fitting an adaptation or equipment. Adaptations range from stair lifts, grab rails, ramps, steps or showering facilities, equipment could be bed rails or helping hands. Brian Doyle suffered a stroke 24 years ago and found it really difficult to climb in and out of the bath. Brian said: “I’d struggled for so long and now the shower has changed my life. It’s fantastic.” To apply for an adaptation or equipment, contact Wolverhampton City Council’s Independent Living Services on 01902 553666 and they will assess what kind of help you need. If they recommend an adaptation, our Adaptations Team will arrange for the work to be carried out.

GAS SAFE: Hazel Thomas keeps her appointment with gas engineer Anna

Gas servicing Keep your appointment and stay safe

To keep you and your families safe we need to carry out an annual gas service and safety check on all appliances we own in your homes. Gas boilers, fires and cookers need to be serviced each year to make sure they are working safely and efficiently. If they are not serviced, they could become dangerous and give off poisonous gases like Carbon Monoxide, which can be fatal to you and your neighbours. (Remember Heather Trotter on EastEnders was left fighting for her life after a Carbon Monoxide leak.)

It is essential that we carry out the gas service and we will always try to arrange this at a time that is convenient to you. We could also take legal action to evict tenants who don’t give us access to carry out the service. This is what Knowsley Housing Trust, in Merseyside, did. They called at a flat eight times to carry out a service with no response and following the court process the tenant was evicted. Our gas partner, Dodd Group, offer appointments Monday to Friday 7am 7pm (daylight hours in winter) and Saturday 8am noon. The service normally only takes half an hour.

SHOWERING SAFELY: Brian Doyle is safe in his new shower

Remember try to be in for our first visit and if you can’t keep your appointment please ring 0800 085 4837 to rearrange. March 2012 Tenants Update 11


Heath Town resident Sekhali Ximba said, "I really enjoyed the event, consequently I joined the Tenants and Residents Association. I have realised that I don't have to complain about my estate because I have the opportunity to be involved in what is going on in my Estate and give my opinion.

Fire Safety

Heath Town shows off its dancing skills

We’d like to say a big thank you for your help in making sure communal areas of flats are kept clear.

Heath Town Tenants and Residents Association held a Strictly Children’s Fun Day on 21 January 2012.

If anything is stored in communal areas, it can be a danger to everyone living in the block, it can be a trip hazards or could catch fire.

During the day Sadie Flower, winner of BBC Strictly Dance Fever in 2005, held dance workshops so the children could learn how to street dance. After the workshops, the children got a chance to perform to an audience and show off their new dancing skills.

Your safety is our priority and keeping communal areas clear has reduced the risk of falls and fires.

Excellence

Check out the fire safety information displayed on the ground floor communal entrance areas of all blocks of flats.

Treating all our customers as individuals is at the heart of what we do. In November 2011, we were inspected for an award called the Social Housing Equalities Framework (SHEF), which looked at equality and diversity. We are happy to have achieved the ‘excellent’ accreditation.

We encourage all our tenants who have not already done so to contact West Midlands Fire Service on free phone 0800 3895525 and have a free Home Fire Safety Check. 12 Tenants Update March 2012

Thank you to all the tenants and community groups who took part in focus groups, interviews, provided information and who demonstrated our commitment to diversity every day. We couldn’t have achieved this without you! For further information about Equalities visit: www.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk

in Equalities!

EXCELLENT WORK: The SHEF working group were committed to diversity.


Q&A

with

Wolverhampton Homes et in touch.

please g d re e sw n a e lik ’d u yo If you have a question es.org.uk, m o h n to p m a rh e lv o w s@ Email communication ebook page. c a F r u o n o it st o p r o call 0192 550455

Marie Tolley from Ashmore Park asked us on our Facebook page: “Can you remind me when our next rent free week will be?”

omes: Wolverhampton H

The rent free weeks are the last week in March and December. The next one will be the week beginning 26th March 2012.

Here are some other questions that we often get asked. Q - “I live in a scheme that used to be sheltered with a warden. Is there anyone that can give me extra support?” Wolverhampton Homes: If you are aged over 60 or have a disability and need some extra support, the City Councils Neighbourhood Support Service can help. You might need advice about everyday tasks like shopping, bathing, hospital visits, chiropody, eating well and taking gentle exercise. Perhaps you’d like help to get out and about and join social or community groups. You may need some support to help you through a crisis or a bereavement. The service is free and you can opt in and out of it whenever you need to. For more details contact the Neighbourhood Support Service on 01902 554701.

Q m with my le b ro p a t o g e v I’ “ I do?” tree, what should mes: o H n o t p m Wolverha s

ea es in communal ar We look after all tre a tree pton Homes, but if am rh ve ol W by ed manag y. We is your responsibilit it en rd ga n ow ur is in yo en if to trees in your gard k or w t ou rry ca ly will on causing erous, diseased or ng da , ad de e ar they me. damage to your ho , we t back or removed cu be to e tre a t If you wan otes from approved qu t ge u yo at th d recommen e ed to check with th ne ill w u yo d an s contractor ere is a 551155) in case th City Council (01902 are rder. From April we Tree Preservation O of ce service as part an en nt ai m e tre a launching ide e where we will prov m he Sc ns de ar G our Tidy if you easy payment plan an d an e ot qu a you with ork. wish us to do the w vice email If you need any ad es.org.uk verhamptonhom ol w @ ct ire .d es m ho 89. or call 01902 5567

e ion, se t a m r o re inf ancy For mo 7 of your Ten r 3 t fo section nt or look ou e Agreem mation and for the “In ce on Guidan flets. lea Trees” March 2012 Tenants Update 13


How are we doing? Here’s a round-up of how we have done between October and December 2011.

Antisocial Behaviour Cases of Anti-Social Behaviour are always taken seriously by Wolverhampton Homes. 83% of tenants were very or fairly satisfied with how we handled their ASB complaint. This is above our target of 80%. 75.5% of tenants were very or fairly satisfied with the outcome of their ASB complaint. This is just above our target of 75%.

Rents Rent collection has improved a lot following our Rent First...Please Campaign in November and December. We are now 0.02% below our profile target, which is slightly better than this time last year. The percentage of tenants owing over seven weeks rent is steady at 1.77%. Although this is very slightly over our 1.75% target, this performance keeps us as one of the top performing ALMO’s in the country. We now have 27% of tenants paying by Direct Debit. We met our original end of year target early and are already close to meeting our new target of 27.5%. Direct Debit is our preferred payment option as it is less expensive for us and is the easiest way for you to pay your rent.

Empty properties and lettings Decent Homes The number of decent homes completed between October and December is 1547. This is well above our target of 1457. 88% of homes have been improved within the 28 day timescale which is below our target of 96%. 11% of employees on the Decent Homes project are trainees, which is above our 10% target. 33% live within the city boundaries, which is well above our 30% target.

Repairs 98.87% of response repairs have been completed within their timescales. This is above our target of 98.5%. We are continuing to improve steadily on keeping repairs appointments, we are now just a small way from our 98% target. We achieved 89.37% for this period which is a 0.3% increase on the previous figure. We have plans in place to improve this further in the coming months. 99.97% of homes have a valid gas certificate which is comfortably above our 99.5% target. 14 Tenants Update March 2012

The average time to relet our empty properties has risen just over our 18 day target to 19 days for October to December. However, the year average is still within target. Rent lost through empty properties is 1.71%. This is still above our 1.3% target but does show a minor improvement from last quarter. Over 84% of tenancies offered were accepted first time. This is comfortably above our 80% target.

Customer Care Between October and December Homes Direct answered 50% of calls in 20 seconds. Our target is 80%. This is disappointing, but is an improvement since the last period. We have recruited more staff and performance is improving every month to 66% in December. The number of calls abandoned has now reduced to 5.8% which is just above our 5% target, but a big improvement on 15.6% for the previous three months. Over the last three months 99% of complaints were dealt with inside of our target of 95%.


Our improvement plans

We will:

• Look at ways of making better use of housing stock to meet local housing needs • Develop training and employment opportunities for tenants and leaseholders. • Raise awareness of hate crime and encourage victims to report hate crime.

• Continue to improve your homes through the Decent Homes Programme • Provide advice and support about welfare benefit changes

We will be working with you to decide how to work on these issues. If you would like to get involved contact 01902 556789 or homes.direct@wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk.

We have recently agreed our equality priorities for 2012-13. These are the major issues that we need to solve to improve your quality of life and living conditions. These were agreed after consultation with tenants and leaseholders.

March 2012

Colouring competition and winners In December, Maddison Lee scooped the prize for the under fives and Kyanne Jones for the 5 - 10 year olds.

Name:

Age:

Address: Postcode: Telephone: How satisfied are you with the information in this newsletter?

Very satisfied

Satisfied

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

Very Dissatisfied

Return to: Communications, Wolverhampton Homes, Chillington Fields Industrial Estate, Off Hickman Avenue, Wolverhampton, WV1 2BY. March 2012 Tenants Update 15


Have you liked our

Facebook page? Like our Facebook page and you can be one of the first to find out all the news about your homes and our services. You can also hear news from other tenants, take a look at photos of events and join in the chat.

“I like the Facebook Page because I get news as and when it happens and don't have to wait for the tenants update. I also get tips and advice on how to save money, find new services.”

Tenant James Clarke from Wednesfield said:

Why not join in and like us at www.facebook.com/WolvesHomes

March 2012

Quiz Time! The lucky winner of December’s competition was Mr Price from Upper Ettingshall. 1 When is the deadline for applications to join the Board? 2 What is the name of the credit union we work with? 3 When is a hate crime most likely to be committed? 4 What is the name of our gas servicing partner company? 5 When is the next rent free week?

Your Feedback Tell us what you think about any of our services and you could be included in the next Tenants Update. We welcome all feedback – good or bad.

Your name (or you can give feedback anonymously if you wish): Your address: Your postcode:

Your telephone number:

How satisfied are you with the information in this newsletter?

Very satisfied

Satisfied

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

Very Dissatisfied

Return to: Communications, Wolverhampton Homes, Chillington Fields Industrial Estate, Off Hickman Avenue, Wolverhampton, WV1 2BY. 16 Tenants Update March 2012


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