2112 going places summer

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Tr a n s f o rm i n g L i ve s /StockportHomes @StockportHomes

www.stockporthomes.org

Issue 19: Summer 2013

Homechoice, Housing Options, Temporary Accommodation and Resettlement newsletter

Welcome...…to the summer 2013 issue of the Going Places newsletter. This newsletter is for all customers and partners of the Homechoice, Housing Options, Resettlement and Temporary Accommodation teams. We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter. If you have any comments or suggestions for articles, please contact us via the details on the back page.

Doing something funny for moneyOur temporary accommodation schemes ‘Give something back’ for Comic Relief. See page 9

Rehousing services news

On-line housing optionsMany of the calls Homechoice receives are where you want to talk about the different housing options available to you.

We are always happy to talk, but we know that many people prefer to get information on-line. Therefore, we have introduced ‘on-line’ rehousing plans. Simply go to https://stockporthomes.ehodirect.org.uk and enter some basic details.

The website will then create an action plan for you, outlining your choices, tips on finding a new home and how long you may have to wait. You can either print off your plan or it will be emailed to you so it is on hand when you need it.

If so, then make sure you register with House Exchange, the new on-line matching service. It’s free to use, all you need to do is register at www.houseexchange.org.uk and start looking for someone to swap with.

Are you looking to swap homes?

If you are overcrowded or under-occupying your home, we could also help you find a match through the Homechoice Team. Please call Ffion Morgan on 0161 474 3719 for more information.

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Rehousing services news

Apartment living in Stockport!

Successful H3 Homefinder scheme will help more people

Very few Council houses become available in Stockport and we know that makes it hard for many of you with children to find a settled, affordable home.

To help find a home quicker, more families are applying for flats as we have a lot more of them. They offer the same secure tenancies as our houses, lower rents than the private sector and excellent repair and management services. The flats at Lancashire Hill also include a play area for children.

Also, we have recently removed lots of age restrictions on our flats. This means that families with children can now apply for most of our properties. If you have been applying for a house for some time then this may be an option you could consider.

Please contact the Homechoice Team on 0161 474 2975 if you want to discuss your rehousing prospects.

The national charity ‘Crisis’ have agreed to fund a scheme to help homeless single people in Stockport for a further year.

The ‘H3 Homefinder’ scheme started last April, and has so far helped 28 people find homes in the private rented sector. Run locally by homeless charity H3 with support from Stockport Homes, Homefinder has increased the options available to people struggling to find a home, and provides support to make sure their tenancies are a success.

Mary Moody a Trustee of H3 said, “It’s really great to get this extra funding as single homeless people often have very limited housing options. It’s important to remember that this scheme is really making a difference to people’s lives by providing accommodation and linking into support. We’re hoping to build on last year’s work and help as many people as we can over the next 12 months.”

Our flats offer the same secure tenancies as our houses, lower rents than the private sector and excellent repair and management services.

Helping the Homeless into Housing

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Going Places - Issue 19 Summer 2013www.stockporthomes.org 3www.stockporthomes.org


Homechoice prospects homechoiceProviding rented homes throughout Stockport

searchforahome.stockporthomes.org

0161 474 4567

Bid online.Visit:

Bid over the phone:

How busy is Homechoice?Homechoice advertises vacant properties every week, and once customers are registered they put themselves forward for suitable properties – this is called bidding. The size and type of property you are eligible for is determined by who is moving with you.

Here are some facts about properties advertised in the last six months (October 2012 – March 2013) and the number of customers, to help when you are considering what to bid for:

Size of property needed

Number of applicants registered

Number of properties advertised (includes flats, multi-storeys and houses)

Number in housing stock

% of stock becoming available

% of applicants rehoused from register in last six months

1 bedroomed 4,195 205 3,777 5.4% 4.9%

2 bedroomed 2,197 199 3,782 5.3% 9%

3 bedroomed 609 135 3,393 4% 22%

4 bedroomed 93 7 127 5.5% 7.5%

5 bedroomed 7 0 1 0 0

Size of property required

1 bedroom short (15 points)

2 bedrooms short (30 points)

3 bedrooms short (45 points)

2 bedroomed 501 193 -

3 bedroomed 209 21 5

4 bedroomed 61 10 1

For example, the above table shows that 1 in 10 of those registered for a two bedroomed property were rehoused in the last six months, but for those needing a one bedroom property

it was 1 in 20. Housing need, and therefore points, varies between applicants. One issue faced by just over 1,000 households is overcrowding, as the following table shows:

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Homechoice prospects homechoiceProviding rented homes throughout Stockport

One way to improve your rehousing prospects is to be flexible in the type of property you bid on, considering flats as well as houses or studios as well as one bedroom homes. The table below shows the average number of bids for each property type:

• As you can see we do not get a lot of vacancies for some types of property, for example, two bedroom bungalows or four bedroomed houses.

• Sometypesorpropertyareverypopular,for example, two bedroom houses.

• Bungalowsandsomeonebedroomflatsare age restricted to accommodate older residents in need of this type of accommodation.

• Itisimportantthatcustomersconsiderall housing options available to help their chances of getting a move.

Type Number of properties advertised

Number of applicantswho bid

Average bids

Studio 26 1,447 521 bedroomed flat 104 5,928 561 bedroomed multi-storey flat

80 4,395 51

1 bedroomed bungalow

21 679 32

2 bedroomed house 69 8,126 1142 bedroomed flat 56 2,057

2 bedroomed maisonette (often a larger flat with two floors)

13 879 63

2 bedroomed bungalow

2 146 73

2 bedroomed multi-storey flat

59 1,109 18

3 bedroomed house 113 4,265 363 bedroomed maisonette

5 121 24

3 bedroomed multi-storey flat

17 117 7

4 bedroomed house 7 137 20Total 572 Total 29,406

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How happy are you with the Homechoice Service?

Homechoice news homechoiceProviding rented homes throughout Stockport

Every year we ask our customers what they think about Homechoice and ways we can improve.

Overall satisfaction for 2012/13 was 85 per cent, a slight decrease from 2011/12 with some customers dissatisfied because of:

• lack of available properties; and• the number of points they have been awarded.

Unfortunately the availability of properties depends on vacancies, so it is important to regularly check our advert so you don’t miss out.

Points are based on your circumstances when you apply. If anything changes you need to let us know, as the number of points you are awarded could change.

The differing levels of points were reviewed last year under the Council’s new Allocations Policy; if you have any questions please contact the Homechoice Team on 0161 474 2975.

The survey also showed a big jump in the number of customers using our website,

from 44% to...

We are reviewing our website to make it easier to understand, to encourage even more customers to get online and be able to help themselves.


73%

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Volunteering, training and employment news

Interested in volunteering?

One of the successful attendees was Daniel, a Stockport resident who wanted to get back into training and employment despite facing some challenging times, including becoming homeless.

Daniel’s Course Tutor, Lee, commented, “Daniel has made excellent progress and is well on the way to completing his OCN (Introduction to Building and Construction). He is always on time and works hard to improve his work. Daniel is always eager

to learn new skills and has shown a real interest in the course. I am sure that if he decided to pursue a career in the construction industry he would be very successful.”

Daniel was recently supported through one of our temporary accommodation schemes into a new home and has been successful in securing a job too – so congratulations are due!

If you want help getting back into training, employment or volunteering, call

Buildinga future

Since April 2012 over

3,325 voluntary hours have been completed across Stockport Homes.

People volunteer for different

reasons. For some it provides

the chance to put something

back into their neighbourhoods.

Others use it to develop their

skills and knowledge or explore

something new!

We can help you find a volunteering opportunity

within our services or in your local area. Our

Employment and Volunteer Officer, Pippa

McNeeney is ready to help you to access

relevant volunteering opportunities.

For more information, please contact

Pippa on 07875 990 370 or email

pippa.mcneeney @stockporthomes.org

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@


We have recently delivered a free construction skills course in partnership with the Youth Construction Trust.

Pippa McNeeney, Employment and Volunteer Support Officer on 0161 474 2836.

Housing Support Officers provide helping hand

Resettlement news

The Resettlement Service has appointed two Housing Support Officers to be based in the blocks at Lancashire Hill and Brinnington.

The Housing Support Officers provide help and advice on benefits, debts, anti-social behaviour, neighbour issues, understanding tenancy agreements, accessing local activities, form filling, and signposting to other services as required. They visit all new tenants in the blocks and help with setting up utilities and accessing furniture.

The officers are friendly and approachable and tenants are encouraged to give their views on living in the blocks and suggestions for improvements.

Having officers based in the blocks, and working outside office hours helps to ensure this service is as accessible as possible to tenants.

Elizabeth Reston (Brinnington) 0161 474 3772


The Resettlement Service arefriendly and approachable.

Beverley Smith (Lancashire Hill) 0161 474 3772


Temporary accommodation news

As we receive such overwhelming

support at the schemes, it’s only

fair that we give something back

as well.

Residents and staff at Strathclyde House donned their

best attire for “Onesie Day Only”

in Aid of Comic Relief. Human

bingo, a cupcake sale and buffet

lunch were the order of the day

as people wore their onesie or

pyjamas.

Not to be beaten, on 13 March

2013, the Buxton Road Centre

hosted a bake off in aid of Comic

Relief 2013.

More than £50 was raised through these activities, a great achievement by all. Thank you to everyone who gave so generously.

Doing something funny for money

We would like to thank…Stockport Homes’ West Area Housing OfficeFor their Christmas fund collection. With your help we were able to distribute selection boxes to our residents to brighten up the festive season.

Repairs 1stFor providing us with a mountain of Easter eggs, helping to make our annual party a resounding success!

Authentic FoodsFor providing free frozen meals to help reduce food costs for vulnerable families in our schemes.

Altrincham Ice Dome / Manchester PhoenixFor kindly donating ice hockey tickets to our customer charity, H3. Residents of Buxton Road attended a match to support the local team, the Manchester Phoenix, for the last game of the season against the Telford Tigers. Residents who attended had never seen the sport live and really enjoyed the new experience, with plenty of vocal support for the team! Here are a few comments from the residents:

Perhaps this might be a new era for Buxton Road to become a regular recruiterof Phoenix fans…


“Very well organised, great fun and awesome atmosphere.”

The Resettlement Service arefriendly and approachable.

Beverley Smith (Lancashire Hill) 0161 474 3772

“A great night, cool!”

Temporary accommodation news


Watch, cook, eat…

Brindale House has been joined

by an enthusiastic new volunteer.

After attending Stockport Homes’

Skills for Life courses, John

demonstrated his newly acquired

cooking talents to our residents.

John cooked plentiful amounts of

food so not only did participants

learn valuable skills, we were able to distribute the food to

other residents who were able to enjoy spaghetti bolognese

piping hot that evening.

The cooking sessions are enjoyed by all, not least by John

himself who, despite his initial nerves, said it gave him a

much needed boost of confidence. The attending residents

suggested that we could incorporate events such as Chinese

New Year and Shrove Tuesday into our cooking calendar – so

we did!

We are now rolling out more cooking sessions including

‘Brindale bake-offs’, and can’t wait to move into our new

kitchens following redevelopments at the scheme.

A pamper session with RebeccaResidents at Strathclyde House recently enjoyed a pamper session with Rebecca at their weekly brunch club.

Everyone had the opportunity to get their make-up and hair done, and create their own nail designs, with the chance of winning a microwave, making our activities practical and stylish!

Vernon Jubilee Fund

Thanks to funding from the Vernon Building Society, H3, Temporary Accommodation staff and volunteers now deliver weekly arts and crafts workshops in each of the schemes. Some of the activities include: jewellery making; cake / card making; and plate decorating. If you are interested in joining in with these fun filled workshops please contact your Project Worker for details.

H3 presented Mike Hanson, Chief Executive of the Vernon Building Society with a hand crafted plate and Easter card as a thank you for the funding which was awarded to the charity.

by

H3 - Helping the Homeless into HousingText HTHH01 £1 / £2 / £5 to 70070 to donate now eg HTHH01 £5

www.stockporthomes.org Going Places - Issue 19 Summer 2013 11

Helping the Homeless into Housing

www.h-3.org.uk Charity number - 1147113


H3 says ‘You’re hired’

H3 has achieved one of its key objectives by hiring its first ever employee. Jackie has been hired as a Facilities Cleaner.

H3 hopes that this opportunity can be used as a springboard into other work, so it is able to offer the same employment opportunity to other people who are homeless within Stockport.

H3 joins TwitterYou can now follow H3 on Twitter @Helping H3 to see what we’re getting up to, so far we have posted 38 ‘Tweets’ and counting…

Lights, camera, action!

H3 has for the last six months been busy filming all the exciting work it is involved in and have now produced two short videos which can be viewed on its website www.h-3.org.uk Two long standing members (Ian and Sue) talk about their personal experiences of becoming homeless, how they became involved with H3 and their future aspirations for the group.

Three more videos have also been filmed and will be placed on the website in the coming months, so keep logging onto the site for regular updates.

H3 needs your helpH3 is looking for new members and volunteers to join the charity. If you are interested in joining the team or learning more, please get in touch. Vijay Chauhan, H3 Support and Development Officer on 07800 618 628 or email [email protected]

H3 news


You said, we didFollowing your suggestions, we have made the following improvements:

We have increased the number of appointment slots available for housing options advice.

Two new modular buildings are currently being installedatBrindaleHouse offering additional cooking / IT facilities as well as open meeting spaces.

The Temporary Accommodation Schemes now undertake weekly trips to the gym, and we have also delivered mental health awareness courses. A staff member has also donated wii which we’ve installed at the

men’s scheme.

Customer Involvement news

We have reduced the number of pages on the Homechoice section of our website, so it is clearer and easier to understand.

Support

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Facts and figures

Housing Options (October 2012 – March 2013)The facts and figures below show you how we have performed against standards agreed with you, our customers.

Decisions about homelessness:

Main reasons for ‘Full Duty’ / priority homelessness:

0

50

100

150

200 Full rehousing duty owed

Non Priority - no rehousing duty owed

Not homeless

Ineligible for assistance (for example, due to immigration status)

Intentionally homeless

0

5

10

15

20 Relatives/friends unwilling to accomodate

Loss of privaterented accomm.

Relationshipbreakdown

Asked to leaveby parents

Domestic abuse

Average wait for an interview in the Housing Information Centre: 5 minutes

Average number of working days to answer letters: 7 days

Homeless decisions made within 33 working days 82%


Facts and figuresRehousing Services – Local StandardsThe Housing Options and Homechoice Teams are very busy services; despite this the teams aim to provide customers with good quality support. The following Local Standards have been produced in consultation with our customers along with national requirements. These are available on our website, and in a leaflet format on request – just contact the relevant team via the details in this newsletter.

From October 2012 - March 2013, all our Local Standards were on target.

Temporary accommodation

Number of households accommodated

0

40

20

60

80

100 Families

Single men

Single women

We work hard to ensure people are provided with advice to prevent them from becoming homeless. Where this cannot be stopped we aim to make sure that they are supported to move

How long people stay in temporary accommodation varies depending on their household size, availability of accommodation

on to and sustain their own accommodation in the future. During this time they may be accommodated in temporary accommodation, which is in high demand:

(including what people choose to bid on via Homechoice – see page 5 for more information on this) and individual support needs.


Facts and figures


Repairs at Temporary Accommodation Schemes

Repairs completed within target at Temporary Accommodation Schemes

Resettlement Service

Making the Temporary Accommodation Schemes pleasant and safe places to live depends upon making sure repairs are done to a high standard and on time. To help with this, residents are involved in health and

safety checks and encouraged to report faults whenever they see them and are involved in monitoring performance and making suggestions for improvements to the repairs process.

0

40

20

60

80

100 Families andoffsite accomm

Single men

Single women/mums and babies

Overall

The Resettlement Team provide support to new and existing tenants in setting up and maintaining their homes. This support can be for up to two years, depending on the tenant’s needs and whether they wish to continue being involved with the service.

86 closed cases

Planned (successful) = 77

Disengaged = 6

To long term care/hospital = 2

No further contact = 1

New referrals accepted = 94Hours of support = 5,313.75 (2989.25 Resettlement and 2328.5 Tenancy Support)

97% 94% 90% 94%

Get in touch

Accessing our servicesIf you would like a copy of this newsletter in large print, Braille, on audio tape or CD, please contact the Social Inclusion Team on 0161 474 2860 or email [email protected]

A free interpreting service is available if you need help with this newsletter. Please telephone Stockport Interpreting Unit on0161 477 9000. Email [email protected]

Opening hours for the Housing Information Centre:

Monday: 8.30am – 4.30pmTuesday: 9.30am – 4.30pmWednesday: 8.30am – 4.30pmThursday: 8.30am – 4.30pmFriday: 9.30am – 4.00pm

Useful numbers:

Housing Options Team 0161 474 4237

Housing Options (out-of-hours) 0161 477 2626

Homechoice bidding line 0161 474 4567

Homechoice enquiries line 0161 474 2975

Resettlement Team 0161 474 3772

Housing Benefit 0161 217 6015

Citizens Advice Bureau 0870 120 4040

Stockport Advice 0161 217 6009

Greater Manchester Domestic Abuse helpline 0161 636 7525

St Peter’s Square

St Petersgate

Mersey Square

Housing Information

Centre

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