Aksa News - Winter 2013 by Jigsaw Group

Winter 2013 Your NEW LOOK magazine from Aksa Homes

Be w Advice on your with yiosue beneďŹ t changes options

Booklet inside

New grass cutting service

Families move into new Uppermill homes

4 Improving the way we let our homes

More on page 3 Also inside

International Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day event page 4

Welcome to the second issue of our new magazine We hope 2013 has been a good year for you all so far. It’s already been a busy year for us and we have lots of important information for you in this magazine. From April, many of you will be affected by the Government’s changes to benefits and inside this issue you’ll find a handy leaflet to keep you updated on what’s happening, how it will affect you and where to get advice. We're holding an event for International Women's Day again this year on 8th March. The event is open to all ladies in the area and we hope you'll be able to join us (more on page 4).

We’re also making some changes later in the year to the way we let our homes which you can read about inside. Georgina Nolan We have some exciting news for you too as families move into our first homes in Uppermill. We hope you enjoy this second issue of your new magazine. If you have any ideas on how we can make it better or you'd like to suggest a new name for the magazine, please get in touch with us.

Georgina Nolan

Project team leader, Aksa Homes

Changes to your beneﬁts - advice booklet inside es to Changenefits your b Be wise with your options

Inside this newsletter is an advice leaflet to help you understand the Government’s benefit changes which start from April 2013. If you claim Housing Benefit to help pay your rent, or other welfare benefits, these changes may affect you. If you live in a home with one or more ‘spare bedrooms’ then you may also be affected. Please read the booklet for more information on the changes and who to contact if you need help.

You can also contact us through your TV

Looking Local is our interactive digital TV service for customers. You can view available properties, find out about upcoming events and much more. Sky: Channel 539 Virgin: Channel 233 Online: www.lookinglocal.gov.uk/newcharterhousingtrust Once you've found our page, click on Aksa Homes. You can also access our pages through our Quick code 246.

Aksa News

Helping you to save money and energy

. 01)-0(!1 #

Last month, we sent you a handy booklet to help you cut back on your energy bills.

0(0.+$ +" )-0

'*& !* ,)% 0 ,)+'! 0. )( $*". '* /0

This leaflet gives you some easy tips and advice on how you can save on the amount of gas, electricity and water you use around the home. Following these simple steps could even help you save up to 25% off of your energy bills. If you haven’t received a copy of the booklet and would like one, please contact us on 0161 620 2992. Look for this icon: If you have a smartphone you can also find more information on our website by scanning this barcode with a QR code reader app.

www.aksahomes.co.uk

New homes for local people Families move into new Uppermill homes Families have moved into new homes at our first development in Uppermill, Oldham. Six families got the keys to their new affordable homes at Buckley Street in December and we visited them with festive hampers to help them settle in. The six stone terraces are the first of 65 new family homes to be built in Oldham as part

of a £6.5m investment programme to provide more quality homes in the area at affordable rent prices.

Staff with new tenants an d their hampers

The Clarks have moved into one of the homes with their four children, including new twins. Dad Martin has homes The new Buckley Street just left the Army after seven years’ service to spend more time with his family. He also has a new job as a local bus driver. The homes have been carefully designed to fit in with the local area and are energy efficient to help tenants with lower fuel bills.

Dad Martin Clark with his twins Olivia and Poppy

In other parts of Oldham we are building 12 family homes at Owl Mill in Lees and 11 at Whiteley Street in Chadderton which are expected to be finished soon.

Don’t forget, you can also follow us on Facebook facebook.com/aksahomes

Turning empty houses into homes

We are also starting to turn empty properties across Oldham and Rochdale back into family homes on behalf of local councils.

We have recently completed a £14,000 refurbishment of a former empty house on Busk Road in Oldham. The house was empty for around 14 years but we have now helped the owner find a new family to live in the house. We will manage the property through our social lettings agency, Aksa Homes’ Kar en Hyland Homes for All. with company director Mushtaq Khan at the property.

Winter 2013

New service to look after grass and shrub cutting From April, grass and shrub cutting in your neighbourhoods will now be looked after by a new service called Green Charter.

Only tenants who currently receive a grass cutting service from us will see a change with new teams and vans out and about in your areas.

Your feedback told us that we needed to provide a better grass cutting service. We've listened to you and are pleased to be launching this new service.

Green Charter will help us to run a better service which is better value for money for tenants and Aksa Homes.

Green Charter is part of the New Charter Housing Trust Group and it is expanding to Aksa Homes to replace the ‘Greenfingers’ service.

The service will also be more flexible and customer focused to meet the needs of tenants and our communities. Over the next five years, Green Charter will save us around £40,000 and this money will be put back into services for you. The new team is trained to carry out a number of jobs and they will all have new uniforms with the Aksa Homes logo on it.

Get involved We really want tenants to help us to check the work that Green Charter is doing in your neighbourhoods by telling us about any issues or letting us know when a job has been done well. It is important that we use your feedback to help improve the service even further. Getting involved in the monitoring group is also a good way for you to meet new people and help improve your local area. If you would like to join the group, please contact us on 0161 620 2992 or email info@aksahomes.co.uk

ich The new Green Charter van wh soon you'll see in your neighbourhoods

Join us to celebrate female achievements and inspire others When: Friday 8th March 2013 What time: 10am prompt Where: The Honeywell Centre, Hadfield Street, Oldham, OL8 3BP Career and training advice Children’s corner with activities Mini movie

Aksa News

The event is open to all women in the area and offers a friendly and comfortable environment for you to meet other women, have fun and a relaxed time.

Free refreshments/ buffet lunch Fashion Show Prayer room with Alima to lead Friday prayer

To confirm your attendance, please contact us: 0161 620 2992 info@aksahomes.co.uk

facebook.com/aksahomes

Inspirational women speakers Entertainment Pampering sessions

We’re improving the way we let our homes From April, we’re making changes to improve the way we let homes across Oldham. Why?

There are many people on our current waiting list but we only have a limited number of properties available each year to move people to. Last year, only 10 of our properties became available to let in Oldham. This means that we have to do things differently to make sure that those people who are most in need of housing have a better chance of finding a home.

The changes:

● We will no longer have a separate waiting list just for Aksa Homes properties. ● There will be one ‘common’ waiting list for social housing across Oldham which will include all of our available homes as well as those from other housing associations. ● People will only need to complete one application to find a home. ● Homes will be let based on the housing needs of an individual or family as well as their contribution to the community.

These changes will:

● Make it easier for people to apply for a new home. ● Give people a better chance of finding a suitable home by allowing them to bid on a greater number of available housing association homes each week.

Getting involved in the community could help you ﬁnd a home

As well as an individual’s housing needs, the new process will look at people’s contributions to the community. For example, people who are carers or volunteers in the area could have a better chance of getting a home because they are giving something back to the community where they want to live. This is an important part of the new application process because it: ● Recognises the positive work people do in communities. ● Encourages people to get involved in their local areas. ● Helps people to meet new people and feel better about themselves. ● Benefits the wider Oldham community and makes it a better place to live, work and play.

● Those people looking for their first home with us must go through the new application process to get onto the ‘common’ waiting list. ● If you are currently on the Aksa Homes waiting list you should contact us if you have not registered for the new process yet. ● Anyone can apply for a home but unfortunately, there a lot more people waiting than we have available homes for. For more information or advice, please contact us on 0161 620 2992 or email info@aksahomes.co.uk

Applying for a home

● Aksa Homes’ tenants can still apply for a transfer to another one of our homes and bid for properties with other landlords.

Winter 2013

Helping older people to live in our homes As we grow old we can find ourselves facing new challenges in our lives. For many people it’s where we live that will determine how well we cope and we are keen to understand how we can work with partners to help support our ageing communities.

If you would like to take part in the project and can give us an hour or so of your time, please contact Tanuja on 0161 620 2992 or email info@aksahomes.co.uk and we will be in touch.

We are working with Project Development Workshop (PDW), a North West-based housing company, to gather the views of residents in Central Oldham and Cheetham Hill, Manchester. This will help to highlight any problems and develop a longterm plan for providing housing and support for older people in these areas. We want to find out more about the things that older people struggle with and understand more about what worries people have as they grow older. We want to carry out face-to-face interviews with as many people as we can before the end of March. So, if you are already over retirement age, or are concerned about what housing and support will be available when you get older, then we would like to hear from you.

Money for local groups and projects

We need a new name!

e from Aksa Homes

As we've changed the design of your magazine to make it much brighter and friendlier, we'd also like to give it a new name. We're looking for something friendly, snappy and original. Do you have any ideas for us? We’d love to hear from you.

If so, our Community Investment Fund might be able to help you to achieve your goals. If you are a community group that helps others, you could apply for funding from us. For more information or to apply, contact the team on 0161 620 2992 or email info@aksahomes.co.uk

Aksa News

Advice Be beneﬁt on your withwise changes op you tions

Book let inside New gras s cutting

Families Upperm move into new ill homes