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JULY 2017
Welcome to Paul Dolan Our new chief executive… On 2nd May 2017, Paul Dolan officially joined us as our new chief executive, when Gordon Perry retired. In our main feature for this issue, Paul introduces himself and talks about some of his plans for Accent, and how he sees us delivering your services in the future. In the 10 years Gordon Perry was chief executive, he made it his mission to make sure Accent was in great financial shape and running as efficiently as possible, so it could deliver great services to you, our residents. I want to build on that financial strength and security, and make the most of the new opportunities available to us, so Accent can provide more homes and even better services for residents in the future. Continued on page 2…
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A bit about me I have worked in housing for a number of years. I am passionate about the positive difference housing associations can make to people’s lives and the communities we work in, and I’ve always been committed to providing the best service to customers.
Some of my other roles have been as ‘nonexecutive’ director for Liverpool Housing Trust and Berneslai Homes in Barnsley. I have also spent some time outside housing, including working for chef Raymond Blanc at his 2 Michelin Star restaurant in Oxfordshire.
Before joining Accent, I was chief executive of Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust, a housing association working in the greater Manchester area delivering quality homes with expertise in independent living. I have also been chief executive of Sadeh Lok Housing. Sadeh Lok is a Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) housing association based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Although I officially started in May, I have spent a number of days in and around Accent over the last few months meeting staff and residents. I am really impressed by the energy and ambition of our staff, and their commitment to our residents. My aim is to build on this commitment to deliver great homes and services for current and future residents.
Tackling the ‘Housing Crisis’ Sadly, our country is in a housing crisis with not enough quality, affordable homes to go around so many people are affected by it. We have younger generations who can’t access good quality affordable homes to rent or buy, and an ageing population who have little or no choice in the homes and services that help them to age well. In between, we have people who are also struggling to find a good, safe affordable place to call home. As a housing association, our purpose is to improve people’s lives. We are responding to the housing crisis, and doing our very best to help people by providing good quality, affordable homes along with services that promote better living. I know Accent does that, but my ambition is for us to be the best housing association in the country – and I believe we can be. As our residents, you can help us reach that goal by working with us on our committees and focus groups, or simply just by responding to our surveys and giving us your feedback. It doesn’t matter if you get involved with us a little, or a lot, your contribution can really help us to improve services for all residents, everywhere. Continued on page 4… 2
ACCENT NEWS NORTH WEST
Some of the new homes we’ve recently developed…
“My ambition is for Accent to be the best housing association in the country – and I believe we can be” Paul Dolan
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STAR (Survey of Tenants and Residents) – coming soon… @ CONTACT US SEE PAGE 8
In the next couple of months, we will be sending out a survey to a random selection of residents and homeowners. I hope I have assured you that your views really do count and, if you receive a survey, you will respond.
You can see the changes your comments influenced last year and how you are helping to improve services for all residents on the ‘You Said We Did’ page on the Accent Hub, visit: www.accentgroup.org/residents
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Future Plans We currently provide homes and services to almost 22,000 households. We will add to those numbers by building or acquiring more new homes to rent and to buy. We will also invest in our existing homes to make sure you stay proud and happy to live in one – and you have somewhere to call home.
To help our 55/60+ residents access the homes and services they need, we will develop our independent living service. We will help them to live well, whether independently in their own homes, or as a resident of one of our independent living schemes. Through the expertise, professionalism and compassion I’ve seen already from our staff, we will further develop our successful tenancy sustainability service, which many residents have already benefitted from. This means we can continue to support residents who need extra help with managing their homes, their tenancies or their finances. It can make all the difference to their lives. Later this year, we will launch our new repairs and maintenance procurement service. This has been a major piece of work for Accent and we have engaged with residents to make sure they have had the opportunity to influence how these services will be delivered in the future. Our contractors will provide an improved repairs and planned programme service, which delivers efficiency, value for money and consistency across Accent. We have now announced who the contractors will be for each region. You can find details on our website www.accentgroup.org in our ‘New Contracts for Accent’ news story. In wanting to improve services for all customers, including our applicants, we will introduce a simpler lettings process. As new technology becomes ever more available, we will also add to the range
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ACCENT NEWS NORTH WEST
of services available through our website and customer portal and we will use ‘Accent Connect’ to manage customer contact in a more efficient and cost effective way. (More about Accent Connect soon). We will also take advantage of new technology to provide an even wider range of facilities and services to further improve customer service. The next few months at Accent are going to be very busy! Whilst it is a privilege to lead any housing association, it is a particular privilege for me to be leading Accent at a time when we are working on such exciting new improvements which will, ultimately, deliver better services to you. In the meantime, I hope to be out and about meeting as many of you as possible to hear what you have to say about how we can make Accent continually better at what we do for you.
Paul Dolan Accent Group Chief Executive
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INDEPENDENT LIVING
A safe and welcoming place to call home
“ Netherton House
I have always enjoyed my independence but, as I got older, it was nice to have the reassurance of knowing that help is on hand in an emergency.
Milnshaw Gardens
ur independent living schemes O provide a welcoming and safe place to live. You have your own home in a secure environment. Each flat is ‘self-contained’ with its own living and kitchen area, bathroom and bedroom. On top of great living accommodation there are a wide range of benefits on offer including on-site scheme managers, communal facilities and social gatherings.
@ CONTACT US SEE PAGE 8
St Andrews Court
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The Orchard
If you think the time is right for you to move to something smaller, and you like the idea of this extra reassurance, or if you have relatives or friends who might benefit, why not contact us? We’re happy to discuss an application or answer any questions you might have. We can also arrange for you to have a look round one of our schemes.
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Health & Wellbeing Quilt on Tour By Dawn Astin
On 12 May, residents from Richmond House, Chorley, enjoyed a launch event to celebrate the opening of a month long exhibition of their beautiful handcrafted quilt at Chorley Library. The quilt, which was also made by residents of Kirk House in Accrington, is designed to show what health and wellbeing means to the residents who live in our independent living schemes.
Pictured: Richmond House residents Jack, Yvette, Mandy and Mavis, with Scheme Manager Pat Fowler
The main aim was to get residents to come together, enjoy each other’s company and conversation and reduce isolation. Residents took part in 10 weekly sessions to create their own quilt patch. The exhibition celebrated the life of Thomas Farnworth (1925 – 2017). Tom had taken part in the project and contributed to the quilt. His daughter, Hilary, attended the launch event and enjoyed seeing her father’s work exhibited as a lasting legacy.
Pictured: Staff and residents visiting the exhibition at Chorley Library
Introducing Abode: a new type of shared housing for people aged between 21 and 35 years of age. Because of welfare cuts, single people under the age of 35 are only entitled to the shared room rate when they claim housing benefit (or the housing part of Universal Credit).
Each property is fully furnished and the rent and service charges are inclusive of bills and council tax – ranging from £90 to £99 per week (depending on the local shared room rate).
We have developed these homes so young people can find a high quality shared home which is affordable for them.
We currently have rooms available in Barrow in Furness, Clayton Le Moors, Burnley and Colne. Please contact us if you know someone who might be interested.
Roots, Shoots and Fruits by Jillian Klee Roots, Shoots and Fruits is an exciting project I have been involved with in Moss Side, Lancashire. Over the last 12 months, it has helped us to make lots of improvements in the area, particularly to our schemes at Robin Hey, Barncroft and Cheetham Meadow in Leyland. I have been working with Proffitts, a local community venture. Proffitts’ aim is to connect local people with local investment and give them the chance to improve their own communities. My aim was to add some colour to the very green space in the area and to give residents and children who live in our estates a chance to get involved with making that happen. We now have new colourful bird boxes and artwork on display, and everyone has been busy planting new bulbs. The last part of the project has been to add colourful plants and fruit trees in some of the bare planting beds to create a fruit and nature trail leading from Robin Hey estate to nearby Paradise Park.
Two large stone boulders at the entrance to the estate feature the winning competition artwork from Moss Side School pupils. The final planting sessions were open to everyone and there were a lot of volunteers! The improvements look great. We couldn’t have made any of them without the help of local people, especially the children from Moss Side School. I’m particularly fond of their artwork on the entrance boulders, and how they painted the bird boxes. The improvements will be long lasting and will get better every year as the plants grow. Thanks so much to everyone who got involved. You can be really proud of your efforts.” If anyone would like to find out more about the project, please get in touch with me or Rachael Gildert at Proffitts. You can also find out more on the Proffitts website, the URL is below.
www.proffittscic.com/community-projects/community-roots-shoots-and-fruits-project-moss-side-leyland
Right to Buy
UPDATE
Some of you may be wondering what has happened to the Government’s plans to work with housing associations to introduce a voluntary right to buy scheme for their residents. The Government commissioned some national ‘pilot’ projects (which didn’t involve Accent) last year. They have now finished but a new extended pilot is planned for this summer. However, there is no news on when it will happen and if the opportunity to buy will be extended more widely.
This means that details of how the scheme might work, what eligibility criteria residents might need and how it will be funded, are not yet determined. We have information available on our website and some handy ‘frequently asked questions’. When we have more news, we will publish an update.
Fire Risks and Safety Like everyone, we were shocked and saddened to hear of the tragedy at Grenfell Tower in London. We have two blocks of high rise apartments managed by Accent South. We know that the fire risk assessments and associated safety checks are all up to date. Fire safety at Accent is taken very seriously and we work closely with local fire services and fire risk assessors to make sure our procedures are effective and up-to-date. Please familiarise yourself with the fire safety advice on display in your homes. If you have any concerns or worries, please contact us. In the meantime, we hope you take comfort in the knowledge that our fire safety procedures are designed to keep you safe, but that if we need to do anything to improve them, we will.
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