Taff TalkAbout - Spring 2014

THE NEWSLETTER FOR TAFF’S CUSTOMERS | SPRING 2014

Talk About #notjusthousing

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TY Enfys Update Getting Stuck in!

Shine Trip to Cefn Mably Farm Park Keeping Your Home Warm

And much more…

CONTENTS

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Words from the Editors Thank You, from Taff Become a Shareholder of Taff Planning Taff’s Future Taff Supports Cardiff City of Sanctuary Ty^ Seren Ty Enfys ^

Shine Getting Stuck in Get Wise to the Web

BME Housing Contact Group

Volunteer Update

Development Canton Library

Maintenance Team

Keeping Your Homes Warm

Keeping You Safe

You Said, We Did

Tenant Report

Words from the editors Welcome to the Spring edition of Talkabout.

It’s very important to us that you to get to know the Taff people that you deal with on a daily basis, so we’ve included a number of articles about the different Teams.

You can also read some tips and advice on how to keep safe in your homes.

In this edition, we have some important information from our Chief Executive, Elaine Ballard, about the way Taff will be moving forward as a business over the next year.

We have reports updating you about what’s happening with our young people projects including Taff Shine, Ty^ Enfys and Ty^ Seren. You can also read updates about volunteering and those who have volunteered with Taff as well.

If you’d like to get involved in future editions, or submit articles, please contact Gwion ap Rhisiart on 029 2025 9168 or Josh Dowdall on 0800 121 6064.

Meet a Member of Staff

(From top left to bottom right): This issue’s Editorial Team Mary Hayes; Xena Brunel; Josh Dowdall; Sam Shaw; David Moule; Neil O’Farrell; Fanwell Tandi; John Redmond; Sue Carleton; James Witcombe; Alan Green; Elio Assuncao; Gwion ap Rhisiart; Keith Abdi.

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Cover photo: . Cwrt Wessex development Created by Carrick - www.carrickcreative.co.uk

www.facebook.com/ TaffHousing TAFF TALKABOUT |

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twitter.com/ TaffHousing

Photograph: Taff’s Staff

Thank you, from Taff!

Over the past few years many people have seen their incomes hit by falling wages, reducing benefits and an increase in the cost of living. Taff understands that many people have found this difficult to cope with and it has been a very difficult time for many of our Tenants on lower incomes.

We also understand that the rent our Tenants pay to us is a significant portion of their weekly income and we would like to thank people for ensuring they make these regular payments.

It is this money that enables us to do the following: • maintain our current housing stock to an excellent standard • fight and reduce anti-social behaviour in the communities in which we operate • build new housing for those on low income • run regular community events If you are having difficulty paying your rent, please contact our rents team on 0800 121 6064 who will be able to assist you.

Become a Shareholder of Taff!

Would you like to have a say in the way Taff operates?

Recent rule changes have meant that only Taff Shareholders can directly elect our Board of Management. At Taff we like to include our Tenants in all aspects of our business and therefore we’ll be asking all of our Tenants to nominate prospective Board members before our Annual General Meeting in September. At that meeting the Shareholders will then be asked to vote on a list of nominees for the vacant positions.

Becoming a Shareholder of Taff involves a one off payment of £1 and it enables you to have to a direct influence on who sits on our Board, which runs the Association. We would like more of our Tenants to become Shareholders in Taff over the course of the next few years.

If you’re interested in finding out more about becoming a Shareholder in Taff please contact us on 0800 121 6064 to discuss.

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PLANNING TAFF’S FUTURE Our Chief Executive, Elaine Ballard, has been working hard to set out our plans and priorities for the coming year.

Did you know that Taff has been around for almost 40 years? We’ll be celebrating this milestone in 2015, so if you have any ideas, let us know!

Even though times are tough for people and for organisations like ours, we like to think that by working together with our Tenants, we can still thrive and make a difference in our community.

We’re two years into our ‘big plan’, where we set out to: • Make sure we give you good quality services, that are efficient and good value • Help you to get jobs, training, and increase your self-confidence, and also help with money, debt and energy bills • Build 150 more new homes • Set up new businesses that will eventually donate profits back for community activities

We’ve already achieved quite a bit since 2012.

• We’ve installed over 800 carbon monoxide and smoke alarms this year, and carried out over 5,385 repairs, 98% of which we got right the first time we visited • We’ve helped over 800 people deal with housing, money and relationship issues this year through our support services • By June 2014 we will have completed 111 new homes • We’ve set up a private lettings agency – Adore – which is already getting rave reviews from both landlords and tenants* In 2014, we’ll be doing one of our big three year surveys.

This will ask you what your priorities are, so that we can include them in our future plans. The last big survey said you wanted help to reduce energy bills. We have done lots of things to help with this, and our homes are now the second most energy efficient in Wales. This means

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Cwrt Wessex are almost finished and we will be building behind Tesco and on the old Canton Police Station site soon. It’s a big challenge to find the money to build – we receive a partial funding grant, we borrow on mortgages, but we also have to put in a lot of money ourselves. However, every time we do a building project, we help support the local economy. It is estimated that our building work over the five years will give a £50 million (yes, you read that right!) boost to the Cardiff and Welsh economy. Not bad for a small locally-based company!

Photographs: (Above) Cwrt y Bragdy development (Right) Last year’s Family Fun Day lower bills for you and we will continue working on this – including insulating internal walls in older properties that are harder to heat.

All the benefit changes have already caused difficulties for some of you, we know, and affording your rent is not easy on a low income. So we appreciate all your efforts to keep up your rent payments – this is the money we use to provide all the maintenance, housing and community services, so it’s really important to us.

The Welsh Government is changing the way we can set rents, and we will be consulting with you about what we should charge for different kinds of properties, within an overall total amount we are allowed to charge.

Our Community Investment Team will be doing lots to help people get back to work and learn new skills, including the very successful volunteering project. Around 45% of people who attended the project have gone on to get jobs, so it’s certainly worth a try! We’ll also be running more sessions to help people get online or access more services this way.

The focus for Support staff will be to continue helping people get homes and keep them, which will include helping with money problems.

Our building programme has been going so well that our Board has asked us to increase our target to 200 homes over the five year period. Cwrt y Bragdy and TAFF TALKABOUT |

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Adore Lettings Agency is still in its early days but in 2 years’ time we think it will be making enough profit to fund some of our community activities, like the Family Fun Day. As it grows, the money available for this sort of thing will increase – a win-win!

If you want to find out more about our plans, contact us by emailing plans@taffhousing.co.uk, or get in touch via Twitter or Facebook. *If you know a landlord who may be interested in letting through Adore, you can earn £50 if the referral is successful.

Pick up one of our referral cards at the Adore office and get full details of the scheme at www.adorecardiff.co.uk

TAFF SUPPORTS CARDIFF CITY OF SANCTUARY We were visited by members of an organisation called City of Sanctuary at Alexandra House in March.

City of Sanctuary is a national organisation which encourages local people and communities work together to make their cities a welcoming and safe place for people seeking sanctuary from war and persecution.

The first Welsh city to gain Sanctuary status was Swansea in 2010 and Cardiff is now on the verge of reaching this goal.

The Cardiff City of Sanctuary steering group has been working towards achieving official status for the past couple of years and a number of Taff staff have been part of this drive from the beginning.

This Steering Group has been working hard, building support and partnerships across the city to ensure that people’s culture, skills and differences are seen as a positive complement to the city of Cardiff.

Practical work has been done to ensure that newcomers are included, integrated and provided with opportunities to thrive.

In order for Cardiff City of Sanctuary to be a meaningful and effective, movement it needs to demonstrate the support of individuals and organisations in Cardiff. To meet this aim, City of Sanctuary Cardiff is actively seeking pledges of support for its aims.

DID YOU KNOW?

As an Association, we have signed a corporate pledge of support, as have numerous individuals within the organisation.

In recognition of Taff’s ongoing support and commitment to Cardiff City of Sanctuary, we were presented with a Certificate of Appreciation by the Steering Group when they visited us.

Anyone interested in finding out more about supporting the City of Sanctuary movement can go to www.cityofsanctuary. org/cardiff

New Tenants and lettings • Over the past 2 years Taff has let 158 properties, housing 525 people from the Cardiff-wide Common Waiting List.

• 99% of our new Tenants have said they are either satisfied or very satisfied with their new home.

• 96% of our new Tenants tell us that moving has made a positive difference to their lives.

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TY SEREN Cyberbullying workshop Social Media may represent new and exciting possibilities in technology, but as the residents at Ty^ Seren learnt this month, it is also a tool to be used carefully and with consideration.

BulliesOut, a Cardiffbased awareness charity, ran an interactive workshop for residents on cyberbullying and how to keep protected online. Open and frank discussions centred on how to define bullying and how the experience of bullying makes people feel.

Different forms of bullying were discussed, such as physical, verbal and indirect and where the newer type of cyberbullying fits in.

BulliesOut member, Sophie Lacey, gave advice on internet safety and what to do if they or a friend were to experience

bullying online.

Residents found it a very productive session and came away with a renewed sense of online confidence.

The advice from BulliesOut about staying safe on social networking sites is: Never share any personal details with anyone you meet on line.

Never use your personal details on gaming sites If you don’t know them in the real world, don’t add them to your MSN list.

Never send your photo to anyone or use a webcam with someone you have met online.

Never arrange to meet someone you have met online.

Make sure you know how to block someone on your MSN or in a chat/gaming site.

Always tell someone you trust if something’s not right!

Keep a record of each account of bullying. Save any nasty texts/emails you are sent.

For more information visit: www.bulliesout.com

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Ty^ Seren is Taff’s supported housing project for single women aged 16-25

English practice Residents are being given the chance to build their confidence and English language skills with Conversational English Practice sessions run by staff at Ty^ Seren.

The workshops aim to improve self-confidence, increase employability and assist learning for college courses.

A fun way for residents to improve their English is to watch English language films; this gets people chatting and debating in a less formal and more relaxed environment, encourages interaction and also helps prevent feelings of isolation.

Future sessions will hopefully include first language English volunteers from within the hostel getting involved; this will encourage communication and support within Ty^ Seren.

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TY ENFYS UPDATE

Ty^ Enfys is Taff’s supported housing project for single mothers

The weather outside was appalling at the start of the year but we didn’t let it dampen our high spirits here at Ty Enfys - as you can see from our photos. We brought the fun indoors and had a lovely time painting pebbles, our hands, and anything else that came our way! We enjoyed some lovely roast dinners together and then worked off the calories with dance workouts.

With Rainbows Playgroup every Wednesday, Soft play every Tuesday or Thursday and the Puddle Ducks getting back in the swimming pool again, we’re making sure that there’s plenty to do.

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Photographs: Children having fun at Ty^ Enfys.

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SHINE TRIP TO CEFN MABLY FARM PARK

Photograph: The young children from Shine’s ‘Stay & Play’ sessions enjoying a day at the farm.

February half term saw the Shine team and families from our ‘Stay & Play’ sessions in Cardiff and the Vale spend a day at the farm. Everyone had a good time, especially the children who enjoyed the pony rides and feeding the animals.

One parent, Danielle, said “It was lovely seeing Olivia play and have fun, getting to know other children” and another parent commented, “We enjoyed the chance to get out of the house and meet new people”.

Shine ‘Stay & Play’ sessions offer young parents the opportunity to get together with other families, share some play time with their children and meet new friends.

The Shine project offers young parents in Cardiff and the Vale one to one practical parenting support, community ‘Stay & Play’ sessions and the opportunity to complete the Parent Nurturing Programme. These are

DID YOU KNOW?

very interactive and fun sessions, offering individual parenting support as well as signposting parents to other services to help with family life beyond the sessions.

If you would like to find out more about the project, give us a call on 029 2025 9114 or take a look at the website www.taffhousing.co.uk/shine.

Community Investment • Over 1,000 local people came to our Family Fun day last July • Over 900 Timebank credits were issued this year alone – many of which are being used to access fruit and veg from the Food Co-op, and in turn, tackle and alleviate poverty in our community.

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GETTING STUCK IN!

BY CLARE PARRY, COMMUNITY INVESTMENT OFFICER

We had over 50 Tenants, staff, volunteers, contractors and members of the local community to help out at Taff’s annual Community Allotment Action Day. The Community Allotment Group was formed in 2010 by our residents and Tenants at Leckwith Allotment. Its purpose was to give the local community the chance to grow fruit and vegetables and improve their

gardening skills, make friends and build their confidence.

Everyone involved had a great day helping out in various activities - transforming community plots with new plants, flowers and seeds, installing solar lights, planting up raised beds, shovelling manure (not so glam!), concreting the water pipe, painting and sprucing up the site ready for the spring/ summer growing period. It was a hive of activity throughout the day.

We’d like to take the opportunity to thank the local businesses for all the fantastic donations of time and materials. These include B&Q, Leckwith Concrete and Building Supplies, Morrison’s, Willis Construction, Clarence Hardwear and Cosgrove.

Thank you to everyone who helped!

Photographs: A group photo of some of the hard working group of staff, Tenants, volunteers and contractors who got stuck in on the day.

(Left to Right) Simplice Kouadio, Volunteer; Clare Parry, Community Investment Officer; Richard Winter, Taff Tenant.

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GET WISE TO THE WEB In March Taff held a ‘Get Wise to the Web’ digital inclusion day in the Boardroom.

Sam Shaw said: “Great event, lovely buffet. Great to meet other Tenants and the stalls were staffed by informative people.”

Mazhar Iqbal said: “The event is very helpful.

We got very good advice on different things. Thank you.”

During the event, participants found out more about how to access benefits online, how to use price comparison websites and how to download and use useful Apps on their phones or tablets.

Cardiff Credit Union and our Money Saviour benefits expert Sorcha Kennedy, were on hand to help Tenants to maximise their income through getting access to all the benefits they were entitled to, as well as being able to save and borrow.

In addition to this, Ben from Computer Recyclers

UK, came along to demonstrate how cheap modern computers and laptops can be and very generously donated a PC to our prize draw.

Some of our very own volunteers and Taff Tenants were also presented with their certificates for completing the Community Development and Volunteering accredited training - Olivia Hamlett, Simplice Kouadio, David Moule, Sam Shaw and Jaspreet Singh.

We had some excellent feedback following the event.

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A huge barrier for getting online is having access to a computer.

Computer Recyclers UK sell refurbished computers at affordable prices (from £99) with everything you need to get started.

If you are an adult learner or in receipt of benefits you may be eligible for the scheme.

Please contact them on 01443 434675 or www. computerrecyclersuk.com for more information.

BME Housing Contact Group host jobs and training roadshows Taff’s BME Housing Contact group has held roadshows for Cardiff.

They were held in St. Mellons at the Beacon Centre and at the STAR Centre in Splott.

Group members wanted to give an opportunity for all BME people across Cardiff to attend.

The roadshows were aimed at BME people who often encounter extra barriers when trying to access jobs, training and volunteering opportunities.

Organisations invited to the event brought with them opportunities that participants could sign up for; • volunteering with a wide range of organisations these include • training to enhance or build skills necessary for certain jobs.

There were also presentations during the first part of the morning, which included a session on how to fill in an application form for employment. Form filling can be particularly daunting for anyone, let alone those who do not have English as their first language, but participants

Photograph: (Left to Right) Representatives from Careers Wales; (Centre) Vaughan Gething AM; Annette Kerr, Taff Community Investment Officer; Charles Namurach, Housing Officer

were given excellent advice on how to get this right.

Vaughan Gething, AM for Cardiff South and Penarth, kindly took time out of his busy schedule to attend the event at the STAR Leisure Centre in Splott and was on hand to answer some of the questions raised at the Q & A session, following a presentation from Tony Ogunsulire of Peksig.

One participant, Mr Nduwimana, commented “This event has increased my confidence to go out there and look on-line for jobs”.

For information about volunteering, please contact Annette Kerr on annette.kerr@taffhousing. co.uk TAFF TALKABOUT |

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“This event has increased my confidence to go out there and look on-line for jobs.”

Mr Nduwimana

VOLUNTEER UPDATE

Taff continues to develop the skills of Tenants and the wider community Supported Volunteer Programme with a 12 week voluntary placement alongside accredited training.

GARETH’S STORY Gareth, our Estate Assistant Volunteer, recently attended a manual handling training course at the Best Centre, Butetown, organised through Taff’s Supported Volunteer Project: “Manual handling is not something most people ever really think about. If you lift, carry, push or pull an item you just do it naturally and without thought. Manual handling is one of the most common causes of injury at work and causes over a third of all workplace injuries!

I’ve even shared correct lifting techniques with my children in a game with spare boxes! Going on Taff training shows employers that I am committed to keeping my skills up to date. I would recommend getting involved in the project and Taff training to anyone interested in increasing their knowledge, making new friends and very importantly helping to stand apart from others competing for a job in this tough job market.”

Launched in September 2013, so far over 30 volunteers have been involved with placements ranging from social care, IT and administration to placements with local food banks and community organisations.

Volunteers get employment skills training, one to one support and networking opportunities to meet with other volunteers. All volunteers receive a full placement induction, support action plan and expenses.

With the impact of the bedroom tax and other welfare reform changes, Taff’s Community Investment Team has increased the level of support it offers its Tenants and members of the wider community who wish to improve their skills and employment prospects. There is a strong focus on equipping Tenants with the skills to help them get job-ready through quality, worthwhile training and work Collette, our Housing Officer Volunteer, placements. struggled for several years to secure full time Responding to the interests and ambitions housing support work. She describes the of existing volunteers, Tenants and members benefits of the placement and the impact on of the community, Taff has increased the variety and availability of free training. her employment prospects: Through partnering with local community “Before I started on Taff’s Supported Volunteer centres, the Princes Trust and Cardiff Programme I was finding it very hard to get Metropolitan University, Taff is able to the experience I needed to meet the criteria of offer courses that complement volunteer jobs I was interested in applying for. Coming to placements including Manual Handing, Taff has really helped to boost my confidence Food Hygiene Level 2 and Retail Skills and my placement has been tailored to suit my training. learning needs and interests. I was given one to Building on the success of Taff’s one job skills advice, including support with my CV, first ever in-house accredited training application form and interview techniques. When I course Volunteering in the Community, applied for a permanent position, I was excited to a number of Agored accredited courses get shortlisted - I got the job as the Night Project are planned for the spring, including Jobs Assistant at Taff’s Ty Seren hostel! It really suits me Skills training, Planning an Event and as it fits around my family life and has given me the Budgeting. We look forward to meeting security and stability I was looking for.” our next intake of volunteers!

For information about volunteering, please contact Clare Parry on Funded by clare.parry@taffhousing.co.uk

COLLETTE’S STORY

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DEVELOPMENT UPDATE Cwrt Wessex (Old Canton Health Centre)

Cwrt Wessex

We’ve worked really hard over the last year to build on the site of the old Canton Health Centre.

Construction work is now almost finished and we are really looking forward to being able to welcome new Tenants at the end of April.

The development is a mixture of one and two bedroom flats and 2 x three bedroom houses. Some of the people who will be moving in are already Taff Tenants who have asked to move because they are affected by the bedroom tax.

We’re also looking forward to Carl Sargeant, Assembly Member, and Minister for Housing and Regeneration, to officially open the development in July. There will be more

about that in the Summer edition of Talkabout.

For more information about our current developments please visit: www.taffhousing.co.uk/ developments

Have you been over to Canton Library recently?

If you have, you may have seen Taff’s plans for the proposed redevelopment of the site of the old Canton Police Station.

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We gave you some information in the last edition of Talkabout, but there’s a more detailed plan on the exhibition boards.

They’re only going to be there for a few more weeks, so please pop over to read the plans.

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YOUR MAINTENANCE TEAM Working hard to provide you with a good service We have listened to our Customers and improved the services that we provide to you. You wanted our staff to carry out repairs as you thought they would do a better job. You also wanted people that you knew carrying our repairs in your home. To make this happen, we now have a Gas and Plumbing Team, Electrical Team and a Kitchen/Insulation Team.

Between them they carry out 70% of our Maintenance work.

We’ve made other improvements too: • We now text you to remind you of repair appointments • We are able to offer you an appointment when you report the repair if it is work that we can do ourselves • We are now servicing 100% of gas boilers every 12 months • All flats have an electrical check every 5 years and houses every 10 years • We have installed carbon monoxide detectors in most of our properties.

• 98% of repairs that we carry out are right first time and need no follow up work • 100% of emergency repairs are carried out on time • 99% of urgent repairs are completed on time • 98% of non-urgent repairs are completed on time.

As a result of these improvements, 98% of Tenants who have had a repair carried out are satisfied with the service. Here are some of the lovely comments we’ve received: ‘10 out of 10! Clean and very polite - well done Taff Housing!’

‘The carpenter was very polite and did an excellent job’ TAFF TALKABOUT |

‘A big thank you for arranging the appointment promptly. As usual the work was completed by the team in a professional manner with a big smile on their faces. Well done!’

Here is your Maintenance Team: • Pam, Jess, Nicole and Lisa are Customer Service Assistants. They answer phone calls, order repairs, arrange servicing, send out satisfaction questionnaires, and liaise with contractors.

• John is a Surveyor. He visits your property, carries out an inspection then makes sure that the repair you need is completed. He is also responsible for repairs involving damp, condensation and asbestos.

• Huw is also a Surveyor. He ensures that our empty properties are brought up to a high standard before we let them and is also responsible for the Kitchen Team.

• Jonny is another Surveyor. He manages the painting, landscaping and door replacement contracts.

• Phil Street is a Surveyor and also our Health and Safety Officer. He also looks after our Managing Partner properties and manages the Electrical Team.

• Karen is Customer Service Manager. She manages the CSA’s and the Gas Team.

She is also responsible for our bathroom replacement contract and is the main link with our repairs contractor, GKR. • Phil Dunn is our Head of Property and he manages the team and ensures that our properties are kept in a good condition.

This involves managing current repairs and also planning for future works.

• Our in-house repair team is made up of Dave, Neil, Rhys, Sion, Richard, Kevin, Phil, Declan and Ryan.

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Photograph: (Left): Ryan Steggles (Apprentice) and Declan Petryna (Apprentice) (Right): David Squires (Kitchen Installation Assistant) and Neil Richards (Kitchen Installation Supervisor)

Keeping your homes warm In 2011 we asked what was important to you and you told us that what you wanted most was help with reducing energy bills.

To help you with this we have: • Installed 434 new energy efficient boilers • Improved insulation in most of your homes – they’re now the 2nd most energy efficient of any Housing Association in Wales • Installed equipment that reduces electricity consumption in our hostels • Installed PV panels on 116 properties.

These panels reduce your electricity bills • Installed solar panels on 91 properties.

These use the sun to provide Tenants with hot water

DID YOU KNOW?

• Installed cavity wall insulation.

• Made sure that our new properties are as energy efficient as possible To make sure that we can keep up the good work with energy efficiency, we have recently taken on two apprentices, Declan and Ryan. They will work with our carpenters, Dave and Neil, to install more internal wall insulation in our most difficult to heat properties. This is the most cost-effective way of reducing energy consumption.

‘It has reduced my bills by 30%’ Samantha Shaw, Taff Tenant

ASB • Taff Housing Association has dealt with 149 cases of antisocial behaviour since April 2013.

• Over 87% of victims of anti-social behaviour are either satisfied or very satisfied with the outcome of their complaint • Over 82% of complainants report that our intervention has reduced or eliminated the anti-social behaviour they were suffering from.

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KEEPING YOU SAFE

There are some simple checks that you can carry out yourself.

For instance, check your electric sockets. Here are some things you should look out for:

Our Gas DLO team need to service your boiler every year to make sure that it is working efficiently and safely.

To do this we need your help in making and keeping appointments. We are really pleased that we are now regularly meeting our target of 100% of boilers serviced every 12 months.

Smoke detectors only have a limited life, so over the last 12 months our Electrical team have been replacing all the detectors in our properties that are over 10 years old. At the same time we also installed carbon monoxide detectors that will alert you if there is a carbon monoxide leak anywhere.

Photograph: (Left to Right): Rhys Carey (Gas Operative), Kevin Hart (Electrician), Philip Bowen (Electrician), Richard Barnes (Gas Operative), Ryan Steggles (Apprentice), Neil Richards (Kitchen Installation Supervisor), David Squires (Kitchen Installation Assistant), Huw Haydon-Jones (Building Surveyor), Declan Petryna (Apprentice), Sion Jenkins (Gas Operative)

DID YOU KNOW?

Signs of burning or wear/ deterioration

Loose sockets or switches or missing screws

if any of your sockets look like this, please contact us on 029 20259 100 Extension: 602

Welfare Reform • Taff has helped more people move and avoid the bedroom tax than any other Housing Association in Cardiff

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YOU SAID

WE DID

You asked if you could receive text messages when contractors are on their way to carry out work in your home

We now send out text messages when possible to advise Tenants of appointments.

You asked for more flexible maintenance appointments

We now give options to have early morning or later appointments to fit around school, work etc.

You asked if we could simplify our ASB (Anti Social Behaviour) procedures

Regarding one off or small scale incidents of ASB, we now have a more informal approach to tackling it, always in agreement with the complainant.

You asked for a simple explanation of your rent statements

We provided straightforward explanation of rent statements in the Winter edition of TalkAbout and are always happy to explain it over the phone if you need it.

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You asked us to hold another family fun day this year

This year’s family fun day is arranged for Thursday 24 July at Fitzalan High School.

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You asked us to provide more training opportunities for our tenants and customers

The main focus of our Community Investment Team in the forthcoming year is provide more free training to our Tenants and Customers than ever before.

You asked if we could look at issuing incentives for people to downsize their accommodation due to upcoming HB changes

We have provided incentives for some people to move when appropriate and continue to offer properties to those who are affected by welfare reform and wish to move.

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THE BEDROOM

TAX BEGINS TO BITE WHAT WE’RE DOING ABOUT IT

TAFF TALKABOUT |

As the bedroom tax has begun to hit, some of our Tenants have downsized to smaller properties. This means that some of our largest properties are now empty, so we have looked at how we can make the best use of them.

So far we have converted an 8 bedroom house into 2 four bedroom houses and are in the process of converting a 7 bedroom house into 3 one bedroom flats, which means that we have created more housing for our Tenants.

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TENANT REPORT As part of a global initiative to get people involved and active in their communities, Cardiff’s Women Making A Difference (WMAD) has travelled to social action projects around the globe.

The British Council’s ‘Active Citizens’ training aims to increase awareness of social justice issues and create community action projects both locally and globally.

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n January we, in turn, hosted representatives of social action projects as far afield as Poland, Bangladesh and Sudan. The highlight of their trip was an appearance on Radio Cardiff’s The Shawty Show where they were interviewed about their projects - messages flooded in from around the world!

During their time in Cardiff, our international guests visited a number of projects including: Cardiff Muslim Primary school, the Workers’ Educational Association and the Senedd

where Dame Rosemary Butler delivered a talk on ‘Getting Active in Public and Political life’.

However, the most memorable bit of the visit for me was Izzat Taha speaking of the many people that are affected or die from poor quality water in Sudan.

The Rotary Club donated ‘LifeStraws’: 12 inch pipeshaped devices that filter dirty water and provide each household with 3 years of clean water!

Sam Shaw is a volunteer community journalist at Radio Cardiff, Taff Tenant and a member of the TalkAbout editorial panel.

Photograph (right): Izzat Mergani Taha from Sudan Environmentalists Society with Samantha Shaw at Aberdare Hall in Cardiff University TAFF TALKABOUT |

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Photograph (above): British Council active citizens international study visitors and Women Making a Difference making a visit to Radio Cardiff

MEET A MEMBER OF STAFF Tina Humphrey

How long have you been with Taff?

What’s your position?

I’ve been working at Taff for 5 months.

I am a receptionist.

What did you do before you worked for Taff?

What does the role involve?

I am one of two receptionists at Taff. We are the first point of contact for Customers calling into reception and we answer all the phone calls made to the main office number. Customers come into reception for a whole range of reasons. They may have questions about their rent account or want to pay their rent. We are often asked how people get a property with Taff and help people apply by completing an application for the Common Housing Register, which is run by Cardiff Council. Often Customers call in to report a repair that needs doing on their property and we are able to take the information and tell them when it’s likely to be completed.

areas of the business. My aim is that all Customers are satisfied with the service that I have provided. It’s also part of my job to ensure that the reception area is welcoming and all the information is up to date.

As well as providing a reception service, I’m responsible for carrying out admin tasks such as dealing with the post and assisting the rents team with housing benefit and council tax notifications.

It is very hard to plan my day as I never know who will walk through the door. This makes my job challenging and I can be very busy. I love the variety that I get in this role.

Wherever possible, I try to answer all Customer queries by myself, which means that I need to know about all

DID YOU KNOW?

I worked for another Housing Association for 3 years and then took a short break to work for the Ministry of Justice in their HR department. I realised then how much I missed working in housing and wanted to return to a more challenging and rewarding role and so applied for the job here.

What are your interests?

I am a mum with an 8 year old son who keeps me very busy.

I enjoy socialising and getting involved in the area where I live. I arranged a street party to celebrate the jubilee, which fortunately turned out to be a huge success! I am also training to run the 5K run for Race For Life.

What do you dislike?

I am frightened of spiders!

Volunteering • Taff has helped train and develop 20 volunteers over the past six months • 45% of our volunteers go on to gain employment directly from their placements with us.

• Radio Cardiff is staffed by over 100 volunteers and our website www.radiocardiff.org and 98.7fm .

TAFF TALKABOUT |

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| SPRING 2014