www.leazeshomes.org.uk
October 2015
LeazesHomes & People
Get involved see page 5
Universal Credit see page 8
Going digital see page 9
YHN Housing Services Housing management services to Leazes Homes are provided by Your Homes Newcastle. YHN Housing Services @ Byker
YHN Housing Services @ East End
0191 278 1555
0191 278 1566
YHN Housing Services @ Kenton
0191 277 4360
YHN Housing Services @ Outer West
0191 277 7940
YHN Housing Services @ Walker
0191 278 8455
YHN Housing Services @ West End
0191 277 1484
Other numbers Leasehold
0191 278 7725
Newcastle Furniture Service (NFS)
0191 278 1888
HASBET (Housing Anti-Social Behaviour Enforcement Team) 0191 278 8740
Repairs Centre and Gas Servicing
0191 277 8888
Housing Advice Centre
Young People’s Service
0191 277 1190
Adaptations
0800 091 1255
Community Care Alarm Service 0191 278 8699 Envirocall
0191 278 7878
0191 277 1711
If you would like this information in your own language we will arrange for an interpreter to help you. Please call us on 0191 278 8600 to arrange. This information is also available in easy read, large print, Braille and audio tape. We can also arrange for you to see a British Sign Language interpreter.
Appy days! It’s now even more convenient to access some of Your Homes Newcastle’s (YHN’s) services. The free YHN app makes it easy to view and use their web-based services on your mobile or tablet. The app has existed for a while but some improvements have been made recently that should make it even easier to access services such as bidding for properties, paying rent and reporting and requesting things. It’s still a bit of a work in progress and they’re responding to feedback, so you can use the “tell us what you think” feature in the app if you want to make any suggestions. To download the app, simply go to the app store in your device and search for YHN, or scan the QR code, here:
Leazes Homes, YHN House, Benton Park Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7LX - Designed by: barkingdog design and layout. Printed by: Mosaic Print Management plc.
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ndation on solid fou Buildingreview of 2014-15
Building on solid foundations The Leazes Homes annual review for 2014-15 A reminder about our complaints process
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al Our annu
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Get involved with YHN The Leazes Homes Tenants’ Panel Job opportunities through YHN
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Trevelyan Court - a room with a view for older people in Newbiggin Hall Breathing new life into Elswick
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Summerhill Apartments – beautiful buildings restored to their former glory Park life – a beautifully converted lodge in Elswick Park
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Universal Credit checklist Direct Debit: the convenient way to pay your rent
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Leazes Homes – going digital!
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Jubilee Court tenants turn medics Celebrating Charlotte’s community spirit!
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Leazes Homes apprentices: plugging the skills gap Primary school children turn Picasso for building hoardings
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Own Your Own
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Welcome to the latest edition of Leazes Homes & People We haven’t written to all of our tenants in a little while and a lot has changed since we were last in touch. You’ll find a review of the last financial year, 2014-15, included with this newsletter and I’d encourage you to read this so you can find out more about what we have achieved and, perhaps more importantly, what we intend to do in the coming months. The annual review mentions that we’re hoping to increase the number of tenants who engage with us directly– you can read more about these fantastic opportunities on the next couple of pages, in particular our search for a Tenant Trustee.
I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who is considering applying for this post and look forward to working with someone who can truly represent our customers. I hope you will find the newsletter and annual review interesting, and please do take the time to visit our brand new website as we post lots more information there. You can find it at www.leazeshomes.org.uk
Bill Midgley Chair of Leazes Homes
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Building on solid foundations
The Leazes Homes annual review for 2014-15 Along with this issue of Leazes Homes & People, you will have received a copy of our annual review for the last financial year. This is the first time we’ve created an annual review for our tenants but we thought the time was right – Leazes Homes has grown significantly in the last few years and we think we have much to be proud of. We hope you’ll enjoy reading about our progress between April 2014 and March 2015 and that you’ll agree with our proposed improvements for this financial year.
If you have any questions or comments you’d like to share with us about the annual review please contact us on 0191 278 8784 or email info@leazeshomes.org.uk
www.leazesh
omes.org.uk
October 2015
LeazesHomes & People
There are a couple of things we have committed to doing that you can read a little more about in this newsletter, in particular, the many ways you can get involved with Leazes Homes and Your Homes Newcastle – see the next page for details. One of the most significant ways you can have an impact on Leazes Homes and the services it provides to tenants is by becoming a Tenant Trustee. Our Chair, Bill Midgley, will be writing to all of our customers soon to explain more about this and the benefits of working with us in this way.
Building on solid foundations – Our annual review of 2014-15
Get involved see page 5
Universal Cre dit see page 8
Going digital see page 9
A reminder about our complaints process While we work hard to make our homes and neighbourhoods nice places to live, we know that things can still go wrong. That is why we have a complaints policy and take complaints very seriously. You can complain to us about things such as: • A service we have not delivered on time • Being given the wrong information • Poor quality of service • An issue with our staff • The services YHN provides to you on our behalf. If you would like to make a complaint, please call us on 0191 278 8784 or email info@leazeshomes.org.uk Full details of our complaints procedure can be read on our website at www.leazeshomes.org.uk
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Get involved with YHN Do you want to help shape what YHN does for Leazes Homes’ customers? Can you spare a few hours each month? Would you like to meet other people keen to make a difference? If you have answered yes to any of these questions then why not come along and meet the YHN Customer Involvement team for an hour at Newcastle City Library on Wednesday 4 November at 10am, 1pm or 6pm?
Join them for a cuppa and a slice of cake as they talk you through some of the opportunities and support available. You just need to be over 16, living in a YHN-managed property (all Leazes Homes are) and committed to working with them. If you’re interested in meeting the team please call them on 0191 278 8600, email getinvolved@yhn.org.uk, or text your name, address and preferred time to 07815 784 037.
The Leazes Homes Tenants’ Panel Leazes Homes has its own Tenants’ Panel, if you’d like to join or for more information about getting involved please contact us on 0191 278 8784 or email info@leazeshomes.org.uk
Job opportunities through YHN Your Homes Newcastle has a number of programmes to help customers get into work and these are all available to Leazes Homes’ tenants. Currently, this includes:
Your Homes, Your Jobs
These are six month, paid placements within YHN in a range of business areas from housing offices to the Newcastle Furniture Service.
Apprenticeships
These twelve-month paid placements are available to young customers (generally aged 16-25 but this can vary slightly) in a range of areas from gardening to warehousing and customer service.
Customers working as apprentices or Your Homes, Your Jobs trainees receive lots of support to help them move on to their next job, including help with CVs, application forms and interview preparation.
Make Your Own Money This is a project run by YHN in partnership with Sustainable Enterprise Strategies and provides support to those wishing to set up their own business. Small grants are also available to help you get started.
YHN apprentices attend a “Grub Club” cooking class.
Claire from Paws to Play received support from Make Your Own Money.
All of YHN’s employability programmes and many other job and training opportunities are featured in their regular e-newsletter, On Track, which is sent out every month. If you’d like to receive On Track, please contact the Employability Team on 0191 277 3667, email employabilityteam@yhn.org.uk or text your name and email address to 07814 753 088. 5
Trevelyan Court - a room with a view in Newbiggin Hall Our fabulous new accommodation for people looking for a home with additional care and support options was officially opened earlier this year by the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, local MP Catherine McKinnell and our Chair, Bill Midgley. Trevelyan Court, which is on Trevelyan Drive in Newbiggin Hall, was built on the site of the former Teasdale House sheltered housing scheme, which was no longer meeting the needs of residents. Trevelyan Court includes 36 apartments spread over four floors, with many benefitting from panoramic views to the Cheviot Hills and beyond. It also has four self-contained bungalows, two of which have direct access to a communal garden. Local residents and organisations were consulted when we were developing Trevelyan Court and they fed into the process of designing and building it. This has led to some lovely touches – from a licensed restaurant open to the public to hireable community spaces and a small library.
enjoy a fulfilled, active and healthy retirement. The tailored support and facilities available at Trevelyan Court should help to do just that.” Leazes Homes acquired the site from Newcastle City Council in 2013 and Wates Living Space were appointed to build the £3.8m development. Trevelyan Court is the first of three extra care schemes that will be developed by Leazes Homes in partnership with Newcastle City Council and Your Homes Newcastle. Extra care focuses on providing modern, specially designed accommodation for people who need extra support. It will soon be followed by the opening of Kilbourn House near Kenton, and then a development on the Fossway in the east end of the city.
We hope this will encourage the wider community to engage with residents and vice versa – so next time you’re in the area, why not stop by for a cup of tea?! Newcastle North MP, Catherine McKinnell, said: “We’re all living longer and we all know this is going to present us with a number of challenges. However, I firmly believe that older people are a true asset to society who should be supported to
Breathing new life into Elswick Earlier this year, we were pleased to work with Newcastle City Council and YHN to regenerate an area of Elswick where two prominent streets had been demolished some time ago. The £2m development, built by Barratt Homes, was the first time Leazes Homes and YHN, who manage homes on behalf of Newcastle City Council as well as us, had come together to develop a site. Working in partnership in this way meant better value for money for all of the organisations and 6
the creation of 24 high quality, new homes for local people. The properties were built to meet the increased demand for smaller homes, which have become more desirable as a result of the socalled “bedroom tax”. The new homes, situated on Bristol Terrace and Elswick Road, were officially launched by Leader of Newcastle City Council, Cllr Nick Forbes, and the Chair of Leazes Homes, Bill Midgley, at an event attended by other local councillors, including Joanne Kingsland.
Summerhill Apartments – beautiful buildings restored to their former glory! We’ve recently regenerated numbers 269 and 271 on Westgate Road. Now known as Summerhill Apartments, these beautiful 19th Century buildings have been restored to provide four one bedroom and seven two bedroom properties.
As part of the redevelopment, Newcastle City Council gave the Friends of Summerhill Bowling Club, which backs onto the properties, a section of one of their gardens. This is being made into a community orchard and accessible garden.
They contain numerous original features, including stained glass windows, coving, ceiling roses, fire places and decorative pillars – all of which have been thoroughly respected in the renovations. The apartments were regenerated in partnership with Newcastle City Council and were officially opened by Councillor Nick Forbes, the Leader of the council, and the Chair of Leazes Homes, Bill Midgley, in August. Chair of Leazes Homes, Bill Midgley, with Cllr Nick Forbes.
Park life – a beautifully converted lodge in Elswick Park Tucked in a quiet corner of Elswick Park and surrounded by leafy trees and free-roaming squirrels, is the old gate keeper’s lodge - which is now home to Kenneth and Christine Burton and a host of their furry friends. Leazes Homes converted South Lodge, which had stood empty for some time and fallen into disrepair, as part of its commitment to bring empty properties back into use. The Lodge has been an important building within the park since its creation in the 19th century, providing a beautiful welcome to anyone entering the park from Westmorland Road. Now it has been lovingly restored to provide spacious living space for the Burtons,
with Elswick Park acting as an extended back garden. Kenneth and Christine had previously lived in a three bedroomed home nearby, which was bigger than they needed after their children had left home. They were finding their previous home difficult to live in because they were struggling with the stairs, but were keen to continue living in an area they loved. The couple, their three dogs and two parrots, are now very happy to call South Lodge home, with Mr Burton saying: “We’re far happier in our new property and our health has definitely improved with everything being on one level. We have lots of outside space of our own but the park is like an extra back garden and it’s great for our grandkids – they’ve already made bird boxes to help feed the wildlife outside. “The lodge is like a chocolate box image and it’s lovely having somewhere so peaceful to walk immediately outside of our home. At the same time, us moving here has freed up a three bed property elsewhere in the city – so it really is win, win.”
Christine Burton outside of South Lodge.
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Universal Credit checklist Universal Credit is the government’s attempt to simplify the welfare system. It will be rolled out across Britain within the next year or so, but is already operating in some areas. It is now being gradually introduced in Newcastle. As of April 27 this year, anyone living in Newcastle who is single and making a new claim for Jobseeker’s Allowance will be asked to claim Universal Credit, with other people set to follow.
Universal credit claimants need: £
1 A bank account
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Because Universal Credit is not paid in cash, claimants will need to have a bank account for the money to be paid into. There are lots of basic bank accounts around that won’t let people spend more than they have, but will allow them to set up Direct Debits to make paying bills easier. Call your Housing Services Office and speak to an Advice and Support Worker for more information.
2 The ability to get online and access to a PC or other device
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Universal Credit has to be claimed online. A website has been set up especially for this, which is a little like online banking. Claimants will be expected to apply for Universal Credit and manage future claims through this website. Newcastle City Council is running lots of “how to get online” courses to show people the basics of the internet. Call 0191 278 7878 to find out more.
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3 Financial budgeting skills
As Universal Credit will be paid monthly, in arrears instead of every two weeks (as most benefits are now) claimants may not be used to making their money last that long. YHN’s Advice and Support team can help with budgeting advice and lots of useful tools such as budget sheets. Call your local Housing Services Office to speak to an Advice and Support Worker for more advice and guidance. For any general questions or queries relating to Universal Credit please email universal.credit@yhn.org.uk
Direct Debit: the convenient way to pay your rent Leazes Homes offers many ways for customers to pay their rent, including online, over the phone and via the YHN app, but the easiest and most convenient way to pay now is by Direct Debit. Direct Debit is safe and secure and you can choose what date and how often your payments are made – so you could arrange for the payment to leave your account just after you receive your wages or benefits. Setting up a Direct Debit now could help with your transition to Universal Credit too, as it 8
means your rent can be paid without you even having to think about it. You can set up a Direct Debit quickly and easily over the phone by calling YHN on 0191 278 7749 but you’ll need to have a bank account in order to do this. If you are worried about money please don’t suffer in silence – we are always happy to help.
Leazes Homes – going digital! Despite the fact that many of us still like to do things in traditional ways, more and more things are available online these days and this is making many things easier to do. Here at Leazes Homes, we’ve embraced all things digital recently with a new website, a new Twitter account and free Wi-Fi for all of our communal rooms. We were advised to review our website by an independent development company, Arch, who identified some areas where we could do much better. One of these was around how we share information. We hope you’ll agree that the result is a site that’s much easier to use and far nicer to look at! You can now read all of the latest news from Leazes Homes, find out more about our current and existing developments, and learn about the people behind the organisation. We’re also adding information around our performance to the site – so you can read about our progress against targets around repairs, anti-social behaviour and rent loss – as well as finding out about our Board meetings. The website is still quite new and we’re very much open to suggestions for how we can
YHN’s Digital Champions can help you to get online.
make it better, so if you have any ideas please do fill in the online contact form to let us know. You can discover everything our new website has to offer at www.leazeshomes.org.uk and there you will also find a link to our new Twitter account – the handle is @LeazesHomes if you’d like to follow us. Accessing our new website and Twitter profiles is now even easier for those living in one of our supported accommodation schemes too – we have been installing free Wi-Fi in our community rooms, with all residents being able to access it very soon. If you’d like to understand more about the online world but don’t have much experience of it, then we might be able to help. Leazes Homes tenants can use YHN’s Digital Champions service – YHN has trained up a number of tenants to provide digital advice and support to other tenants free of charge. If you’d like to know more about this, please contact YHN on 0191 278 8600.
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Jubilee Court tenants turn medics Following a very upsetting situation experienced by one of the young parents living at Jubilee Court, a session with St. John’s Ambulance was arranged to teach parents about providing first aid. Tenants and staff both felt it would be beneficial if all tenants could have this training available so they would know how to respond if any future incidents occurred, either with their own or their neighbours’ children. Three of the young mums who live at Jubilee Court, our supported accommodation for young families, took part in the session, which provided information on topics such as choking, passing out, allergic reactions and other basic first aid. One of the parents is even thinking of signing up to St John’s Ambulance as a volunteer as she found it so interesting!
A young mum learns first aid.
Celebrating Charlotte’s community spirit! Jubilee Court resident Charlotte Morrison proved she’s a valuable neighbour to have when she won a YHN Community Spirit award earlier this year, and now she’s been shortlisted for another one! A selfless young mother who constantly puts others first, Charlotte has used her previous jobs in finance to help advise other young parents about budgeting and managing their income and expenditure. She also advises those she lives near about setting boundaries with their children and other effective parenting methods. Charlotte is very modest and, although proud of her own achievements, says she feels proud of others when she sees them putting her advice to good use. She received her YHN Community Spirit Award at a glittering ceremony at St. James’ Park, presented by Justin Lockwood from 10
Charlotte Morrison, with Heather Miller from Keepmoat.
Heart Radio, after being nominated by Jane McAndrew who works in YHN’s Young People’s Service. And now she has been shortlisted for a Northern Housing Consortium Silver Screen Award – she’ll find out if she’s won in November, so please wish her luck! Charlotte has also recently become a “Digital Champion” for YHN, volunteering to help community groups and individuals to increase their online skills, and gives up her time to share her knowledge for free. If you think you could benefit from the advice of a Digital Champion please contact YHN on 0191 278 8600.
Leazes Homes apprentices: plugging the skills gap You may have read about the much-reported “skills gap” in several UK industries in the national media. This refers to the lack of younger people coming through the ranks who have the relevant skills to work in certain areas, which makes it hard for companies to recruit the best employees. The construction sector is currently one of the worst affected by the skills gap and Leazes Homes is trying to help with this by making sure those we contract to develop our sites employ apprentices who are given lots of training and support. There’s a particular lack of young women working in the industry and we’re trying to help with that too – we now have Emma Cook, who is 22, working for us as a technical surveyor.
Emma has had a keen interest in all things building-related since she first followed her granddad, a site Emma Cook. manager, around one of his sites clutching a roll of plans. Now Emma is several months into her two year placement and has become a familiar face on many of our sites across Newcastle, including Trevelyan Court. She said: “There weren’t many opportunities for this kind of role in the North East when I was looking and the practical elements of this apprenticeship really stood out for me. I’d never have been able to get a job like this without relevant experience if it wasn’t an apprenticeship, so this was a dream come true.”
Primary school children turn Picasso for building hoardings Children from Mountfield Primary School in Kenton helped us to brighten up the outside of our Kilbourn House construction site by donating works of art to decorate the hoardings. The children were invited to create their pretty pictures by Galliford Try Partnerships North, the construction company responsible for developing the extra care site on Newlyn Road in Kenton, on behalf of Leazes Homes. The drawings were based on topics the children were studying, and included references to a range of subjects from ancient Egypt to sea creatures! Galliford Try regularly works with schools near its sites to help children learn more about the building industry and to get involved with projects being developed in their communities. This is something Leazes Homes very much encourages.
The children were invited to visit the site where, dressed in hard hats and high-visibility wear, they were able to see their pictures framed and displayed on the hoardings. They also learnt about the machines used to build properties, had the opportunity to sit in a digger (with supervision of course!), build their own mini brick walls and were treated - from a safe distance - to the sight of a tall crane operating on the site. Kilbourn House will provide 38 apartments. Anyone interested in finding out more should call the Housing with Care Team on 0191 278 8585. 11
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