People Services

Looking after our customers is at the heart of everything we do. Here is just a flavour of what we have been up to this year…

Frontline Futures Programme We want to bring our Frontline colleagues to the fore of everything we do. They know our tenants. They know what they need and have great ideas on how we can provide an even better service to them. Several colleagues attended the Chartered Institute of Housing Frontline Futures programme this year and this will help us shape the way we work in the future. Cadair Sgwrs Cadair Sgwrs is an intergenerational project which was launched in Llanrwst to help combat loneliness for our older tenants and funded through Arts and Business. Working with the Llanrwst Men’s Shed, pupils from Ysgol Bro Gwydir and elderly tenants from the local area, we partnered with local artist Catrin Williams to create artwork which represented friendship, happiness and in celebration of their much-loved town. The artwork was then placed on a bespoke fibreglass chair which was unveiled by Arch Druid Myrddin ap Dafydd at the Eisteddfod in Llanrwst. The chair will be used at community events to encourage everyone to ‘take 5’ for a chat and a cuppa. Housing First We signed up to the Housing First charter in July 2019 and let our first home in September 2019. The project provides homes for homeless clients who receive intensive support from us and the Housing First team.

Supporting tenants in financial difficulty Our Money Support Team supported 477 tenants to gain £546,487 in additional income this year. The team provides benefit advice and calculations as well as supporting applications. They also offer tips/ support with budgeting and managing debt.

Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) We implemented ASB software (ReAct) this year in order to access information quickly and easily and to

manage cases digitally. Our Scrutiny Panel reviews our fire safety procedures Following the Grenfell tragedy, we wanted to work with our tenants to see if there’s anything else we need to do to keep them safe from fire. The scrutiny panel gave us a definitive ‘thumbs up’ when it comes to our fire safety procedures and provided 18 recommendations for us to work through and further improve what we do. A massive thank you to the panel for taking part in this hugely important piece of work.

85% of our tenants are satisfied their rent provides value for money Total arrears of current tenants: 3.21%

A Dementia Friendly organisation We continue to train all our colleagues to be ‘Dementia Friends’ and our Older Persons Engagement Coordinator is busy training our tenants. In June 2019 residents of Maes Cwstennin hosted a ‘Cup Cakes for Dementia’ afternoon to raise awareness of Dementia and raised £420 for the Alzheimer's Society. • Appoint a senior domestic abuse champion

Customer Service Excellence We were delighted to retain our Customer Service Excellence Accreditation this year and marked the event during Customer Service Week.

We have decided to continue to support tenant groups through our Community Chest funding and this year we gave nearly ‘Making a Stand’ against Domestic Abuse We have signed up to the CIH Make a Stand pledge this year and have committed to: • Put in place and embed a policy to support residents who are affected by domestic abuse • Make information about national and local domestic abuse support services available on our website • Put in place a domestic abuse policy to support colleagues who may be experiencing domestic abuse

£13,500 to 16 different community projects.

And here’s what our Community Involvement Team have been up to…

Beach Club @ Porth Eirias Our Community Chest Funding enabled some of our young tenants to try water sports on their ‘doorstep’ from wind surfing to paddle boarding. “I wanted to come and have a try at the different water sports. I’m glad I did it’s much better than watching TV.” “It’s been amazing. I really enjoyed the paddle boards and the sailing. It’s a great idea and stopped me from playing computer games all day. Instead I’ve had a lot of fun.”

Peulwys Community Café Our tenants meet every Tuesday at the local Community Centre for a ‘cuppa’ and play board games. We also invite guests in to provide information on anything from money support to employment advice.