You Talked We Listened 2010-11

www.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk

You Talked, We Listened

2010-11

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WelcomeWelcome to You Talked, We Listened – our second publication for tenants and leaseholders that summarises the difference that your involvement has made. It’s never been more important for customers to get involved in telling us what you think, as we try to improve services for you.

Thank you to the 500 tenants who have got involved over the past year – a record number! We also had many more tenants in their 20s, 30s and 40s getting involved to help improve our service to you.

The people pictured in this report are just a few of the people who have made a fantastic contribution and got more involved this year.

The thing that they know is that we’re not looking for people to get involved just for the sake of it but because it improves how we do things for everyone.

I hope you enjoy reading through some of the great examples of where you’ve made a difference and that it inspires you to get involved next year.

Sue Roberts MBEChair Wolverhampton Homes

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We know that your time is precious and you will have many other commitments in your life. That’s why there are a range of different ways that you can get involved at different times and locations. If you want to share your opinion but can’t make promises about attending events – you could take part in phone or paper surveys about services that interest you. You could also post a comment or question on our Facebook page or Twitter account.

If you want to make a bigger difference, you might want to consider standing to be a tenant board member or applying to join our review panel. Even if you just have one idea a year, it’s really useful for us to hear from you.

You can get involved with us in a range of ways at the level you choose:

You can: be elected to our Board.

You can: join the Review Panel to scrutinise our performance.

You can: take part in focus/consultation groups or be a member of your local Tenants and Residents Association.

You can: attend a Get Together with us held every 3 months in your area to tell us what’s important to you locally.

You can: take part in phone/paper surveys about services or topics that interest you or join us on estate inspections.

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How can you get involved?

We are able to offer a wide range of ways to get involved so that regardless of your needs you can still contribute.

To get involved with our services call 01902 556789 or email [email protected].

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Resolving car parking issues on our estates continues to be a challenge and is one of our long term priorities. With an ever increasing number of cars and estates that were built when hardly anyone had cars, there are no easy solutions.

You said:

• You want to park your cars on a hard standing with a dropped kerb on your own properties.

• Payments for a tenant buy in scheme were difficult to manage.

• We should use minor works funding to help solve parking issues.

What we are doing:

• We are launching a ‘local offer’ to subsidise hard standings by 50% (up to a maximum of £1,500 per scheme). We have set aside £50,000 to kickstart the scheme.

• We have started developing and reconfiguring 11 parking sites on the high rise estate at Heath Town. This will improve parking for about 200 people. Work is starting during 2012.

• We have successfully trialled a permit system at Red Oak House, so that only residents can get into the car park. We will consult tenants about extending the scheme to other areas in Heath Town.

• We have improved the following garage sites across the city: - Foster Road, Low Hill, - Wolverhampton Street in Jenkins Close, Bilston - Swancote Drive, Merry Hill

• The following sites will be improved over the next year: - Swann Road, Hurst Hill, Coseley, Bilston - Arnhem Road, Portobello - Green Lanes, Bilston - Westacre Crescent Site B, Finchfield - Elmdon Road, Rakegate - Ashenden Rise, Castlecroft - Hollington Road, East Park

• Tenants put in minor works bids for extra parking bays at Aldersley Road and for road widening to Warstones Gardens. As these cost more than the £15,000 allocated per scheme for minor works, they were funded by the parking improvement budget.

• Next year minor works bids for communal parking schemes (e.g. parking bays) will be funded up to £30,000, allowing local people to decide on how to solve local issues.

Parking

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This is another area that we know is a priority to a lot of our tenants and following consultation with you we have made some changes.

You said:

• You want us to visit perpetrators of antisocial behaviour rather than send them letters

• You wanted us to use both carrot and stick approach, many of you recognise that some low level ASB is caused by boredom

• You suggested that we visit primary school as well as secondary schools.

• You asked us to do more to raise awareness of hate crime.

What we are doing:

• We now interview perpetrators within three working days of the interview with the complainant.

• We have provided more ‘diversionary activities’ by funding youth groups and clubs to prevent youth ASB.

- This year we ran the Goalz project in Bilston in conjunction with Wolves Football Club. Over 50 10-18 year olds have been helped through the programme and ASB has been reduced. We have increased the budget to £25,000 per year and will continue to support diversionary activities.

• We have visited over 20 primary schools across the city and had very positive response from younger kids.

• In 2012 we launched a year-long campaign called Stop Hate in Wolverhampton, asking people to join us and pledge to stop hate.

Antisocial behaviour

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You said:

• You were concerned about the number of boilers that stopped working during last year’s extremely cold weather.

What we are doing:

• All affected central heating systems have been visited and we have rerouted the condensing pipework, internally wherever possible.

• We have made changes to our phone system so that we can deal with more calls. We have also trained extra staff to take the calls.

• We have changed our phone messages to give better information, if you ring about your heating system repair.

• We have reviewed the priorities given to heating system repairs so that that those in most need are attended to as soon as possible.

• We have made changes so that we have more engineers available.

Repairs

You said:

• During the freezing weather in 2010, you told us how important it is to make your homes energy efficient so that you are warm and your bills are low.

What we are doing:

• We have provided loft insulation and helped to reduce the loss of heat to nearly seven thousand homes since 2008 and 1,793 in 2010/11.

• We have upgraded over 1,200 electric storage heaters

• We held two training sessions for tenants on how to “plug in” to save water and reduce bills.

• We produced a booklet with tips on energy saving and ways to save money, this is available at our one stop shops and information is regularly in Tenants Update.

Help to make your homes warmer and saving you money

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Providing more accommodation is a top priority for Wolverhampton Homes and will be a challenge for years to come.

You said:

• You are concerned about the shortage of properties and the long time it can take to get suitably housed.

• You suggested that we match people who want to move and help them exchange with each other.

What we are doing:

• We have had several successes and so have set up a “tenant matching” service with a full time member of staff working on it for a trial period. We will report back to you through Tenants Update.

• We have introduced chain lettings and we are giving greater preference for bungalows, flats and maisonettes to tenants looking to downsize. We hope that this will encourage more people to move to smaller properties and free up family homes to reduce overcrowding.

• We have provided information on savings on gas, electricity and council tax so that tenants fully understand the advantages of moving to smaller properties.

• We have also brought around 65 properties, that were being used fraudulently, back into the housing stock. These have now been let to people on the waiting list. We will continue to make sure that our properties are being used to house people who need them the most.

Increase the number of properties available and reduce housing shortage

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Kurdish مو هه به وهزدووباره ره سه آانی مانه

و ئه رێزت به ر گه بهزئه ترزانياريانه فۆرماتێكی يان تر به،مانێكی بكه پێوه نديمان يوه په پێويسته01902556789

Polish Jeżeli potrzebujesz tych informacji w innym języku czy formacie, prosimy o kontakt pod numerem telefonu 01902556789.

Punjabi

URDU سے ہم تو چاہۓ ميں فورميٹ يا زبان اور کسی معلومات يہ کو آپ پر55678901902اگر

کريں رابطہ

• For out of hours emergencies call 01902 552999

• Email us at [email protected]

• Tweet us at www.twitter.com/WolvesHomes

• Join us at www.facebook.com/WolvesHomes

• Text us on 60066 and start your text WHomes followed by a space

• For face-to-face enquiries visit one of our One Stop Shops: City Centre, Bilston, Low Hill, Merry Hill, Wednesfield, Heath Town.

01902 556789 www.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk

• For written enquiries, write to: Wolverhampton Homes, Chillington Fields Industrial Estate, Off Hickman Avenue, Wolverhampton WV1 2BY

• For general enquiries call Homes Direct on 01902 556789

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

Contact us

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You Talked We Listened 2010-11

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