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    July 23 E-Newsletter

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    ALEXANDRA

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    July 23 E-Newsletter

    Uploaded by

    ALEXANDRA
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    July 23 E-newsletter

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    13 views14 pages

    July 23 E-Newsletter

    Uploaded by

    ALEXANDRA

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 14

    Housing Services e-newsletter

    July 2023
    Welcome to the Housing Services e-newsletter

    Welcome to the Housing July E-Newsletter

    Find out the latest news on the cost of living crisis help and free events for
    children over the summer holidays. Why not pop along to one of our summer
    pop up hubs taking place across the district.

    Looking for your estate to be improved? Find out how to register for an estate
    improvement.
    .

    Cost of Living
    Winner of the Tesco prize draw hamper

    In the May newsletter, we ran a prize draw to win a Tesco Hamper.

    Mrs Bunney lives in Bishops Waltham with her husband, and was thrilled to
    win the hamper donated by Tesco for the prize draw in our May housing
    newsletter. Cllr Westwood (Cabinet Member for housing) presented the
    hamper to Mrs Bunney. She said ‘I never win anything and am so pleased I
    entered the prize draw’. Mr and Mrs Bunney have lived very happily in
    Bishops Waltham for 4 years, and have 4 children and 8 grandchildren.
    Summer Pop up Hub

    Wellbeing and Inclusion Officer, Charlotte Bailey has arranged summer pop up
    hub.
    Thursday 17 August - Unit 12 Community Pantry, Winnall.
    10am -1pm

    The hubs offer informal advice, information and sign-posting for anyone looking
    for support around the cost of living. Winchester City Council Officers will be
    joined by Citizens Advice, Winchester and a work coach from the Department of
    Work and Pensions to answer questions on income maximisation, benefit
    entitlement, debt relief, sustaining your private or council tenancy and much
    more.
    Further information email the Tenancy Sustainment team
    Summer Munchies

    Free freshly made packed lunches for school-aged children for low-income
    families living in Winchester City and District, who would normally receive free
    school meals, or families who are worried about affording nutritious food for
    their children throughout the summer.

    Packed lunches consisting of a freshly made sandwich, fresh fruit and a healthy
    snack will be available daily for collection. No prior booking is required. Limited
    to one packed lunch per child, per day. Lunches are available Monday to Friday
    at no charge. Available from Monday 24th July until Friday 1st September 2023.
    Just ask staff for the ‘Summer Munchies Deal’ and let them know how many
    children you have.
    Available at:

     Projects Store & Kitchen - 6 Middle Brook St, Winchester SO23 8BQ
     Sparsholt Village Shop - The Well House, Woodman Lane, Sparsholt,
    Winchester SO21 2NR
    Pride in Place

    Hoarding Conference May 2023


    On the 18th May 2023, Winchester City Council ran its first hoarding
    conference, to coincide with Hoarding Awareness week 2023.

    The conference was organised off the back of the work we have successfully
    achieved through our hoarding support pilot scheme which we ran in 2022.
    The conference was supported by Winchester City Council, Jo Cooke, Director
    at Hoarding Disorders UK and Jack Moore from Respect My Stuff, one of the
    specialist organisations Winchester City Council use to support tenants with
    hoarding. We were also joined by one of our tenants with lived experience who
    also spoke and supported the Q&A session.

    The conference was extremely well attended and we got some great feedback:
    ‘"Brilliant work and provided the recognition from partners that Davina and the
    team deserve. Excellent speakers that brought together the bigger picture
    nationally and how this learning has been embedded at a local level. Well
    done!"

    ‘"WCC should be immensely proud of this pilot and their achievements"


    "Really good to hear from real life stories and people who have benefitted from
    the council and respect my stuff"
    As a housing service we encourage anyone who struggles with their
    possessions to make contact with the tenancy sustainment team, so we can
    see how we can best support you.

    If you or you know some one that is affected by hoarding contact the tenancy
    sustainment team
    Chesil Lodge Tenant Turns 100!

    A very Happy 100th Birthday to our extra care resident Mrs Alice Larden, who is
    celebrated her century on 9th May.

    Mrs Larden is a resident at Chesil Lodge, where the Radis Community Care
    team and our extra care officer, Claire Carroll arranged flowers and a special
    party to mark the occasion including cake and a birthday tea.
    Chesil Lodge is one of our extra care facilities where residents have their own
    flat, plus support on hand if needed 24 hours a day. Residents are part of the
    schemes community with lots of opportunities to meet their neighbours and join
    in with social activities.

    When asked about her birthday, Mrs Larden was positive about the experience:
    “I don’t mind about being old; I feel fine.”

    If you or a a friend/family have an assessed care need, are over 55 and


    struggling with daily activities in your current home but wish to remain living
    independently, you can find out more about our extra care schemes on
    our website:

    Listening Better
    Estate Improvements

    The estate improvement programme looks at ways to improve our estates


    and blocks of flats.
    The programme delivers low level improvements and larger scale projects to
    address community issues and improve the communal areas (inside and
    outside). It is focussed on, but not limited to, addressing the following:

     Community safety issues - increasing security through door entry


    systems, improved communal lighting, fencing and other measures to
    prevent anti-social behaviour, reduce fear of crime and promote
    feelings of safety
     Enhancing biodiversity - through focused projects in shared gardens
    and housing open spaces, by planting trees, shrubs and flowers or
    installing habitat boxes
     Environmental issues - such as improved storage of waste bins and
    bicycles, improved parking provision and installation of Electric
    Vehicle Charging Points (EVCPs)
     Small scale regeneration projects – such as communal gardens,
    external drying areas and lobbies

    If you have any ideas for an estate improvement, please contact


    the Neighbourhood Services Team by email or telephone on (01962) 848
    400 or complete the estate improvements proposal form available on
    this link.

    Alternatively, you can download a printable form from here EI Proposal Form
    2023 and send to Natalie Cain, Estate Improvements Officer.

    Further guidance on the estate improvements scheme can be found here:

    2022/23 Complaints performance

    For the latest performance for the compliments, complaints and learning from
    complaints for 2022.23 click here

    How to raise a complaint or compliment:

    To raise a formal complaint fill in the online complaints form

    If you remain dissatisfied with the response to your complaint or if you are not
    happy in the way we handled your complaint, you can contact the Housing
    Ombudsman Service. The contact details for the Housing Ombudsman are:

     Online complaint form:


     Phone: 0300 111 3000
     Email:
     Postal address: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 152, Liverpool
    L33 7WQ
    Tenant Satisfaction Survey 2023 Thank you!

    Thank you to all those tenants included in the sample who took the time to
    complete the satisfaction survey. Over 900 tenants completed the survey.

    The survey has now closed and ARP Research, the independent organisation
    commissioned to carry out the survey on the council’s behalf, are now preparing
    the results.

    The results will be published in our annual report and on the tenant satisfaction
    survey webpage in the autumn.
    The council will use the results to target service improvements and tenants will
    be able to see how Winchester City Council performs in comparison to other
    housing providers.

    The prize winners will be selected at the end of July.

    Greener Faster
    The council is committed to becoming a carbon neutral local authority by 2024,
    and is aiming for the wider district to be carbon neutral by 2030.

    5 New Electric Vans for the Community Safety


    Team
    Neighbourhood Services and Community Safety Team are looking forward to
    receiving 5 new electric vans, increasing the number of electric vans we have in
    our fleet. This is a big step in us supporting the council’s carbon neutrality
    targets.

    Other News from Housing

    Update on the new


    cleaning contract

    The council has recently appointed


    a new cleaning contractor, BlueFrog
    Cleaning Services, to clean the
    communal areas of all Winchester
    City Council Housing blocks of flats,
    including general needs flats,
    sheltered and extra care flats and
    temporary
    accommodation. BlueFrog took over
    this service from YBC Cleaning
    Services from Monday 3rd July
    2023.
    The tasks included remain
    unchanged, so you will receive a
    scheduled clean either weekly or
    fortnightly, depending on where you
    live, as well as a deep clean every 3
    months and cleaning to communal
    area windows. Residents in a
    sheltered flat will also have the
    windows of their flat cleaned every
    BlueFrog Cleaning Services will be
    six months.
    identifiable on our sites with their
    sign-written vans and staff will wear
    a BlueFrog uniform and carry ID.

    We would like to encourage you to


    provide feedback on the service from
    BlueFrog. Shortly a QR code will be
    placed in the cleaning notice boards
    in your block of flats, which you will
    be able to scan to provide your
    feedback.
    Please contact the Neighbourhood
    Services & Community Safety Team
    if you require any further information
    regarding this contract. Contact
    the Neighbourhood services
    team telephone 01962 848 400.
    Tenant Handbook

    The tenant handbook has been


    updated. To view the latest
    handbook click here
    The Ochid, Winnall - Shared Ownership new
    housing
    We will shortly be releasing three 2 bed houses for shared ownership in
    Winnall. For further information please view our website is now ready to view
    using this link

    Please register your interest on the website to receive further information on


    these new homes.

    And finally Why not follow us on Facebook go


    to www.facebook.com/winchesterTenants

    If you have any feedback on this E-newsletter please email us

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