Residents News - Issue 55

Dear Resident

I hope you are all keeping well in these very challenging times. The last time I wrote to you we were anticipating a new Prime Minister to be in place by the time the summer issue landed. How could we have known that we would in fact have had two within the space of two months! We’re now hoping for more stability in government so we can work with them to deliver on our commitment to providing quality, affordable homes for those in housing need and focussed support for our existing residents.

I know that many of you will be impacted by the cost of living crisis, it seems that almost every day there is bad news about rising prices and everything becoming more expensive. To try and help, our Welfare Team have been pulling together lots of practical resources that you can tap into. You will soon receive a postal copy of our new Cost-of-Living Toolkit which is full of ideas and contacts to help cope with rising energy costs and general price increases. Small changes over time can have a significant financial impact and getting the whole family involved in money saving ideas is a great way of bringing everyone together. You can also find more support on this topical subject on our website in the Welfare and Advice section.

In the next few weeks we will be welcoming our new Fairhive residents as they transfer to us from Buckinghamshire Housing Association (BHA) on January 9th. Some of you may have read about the proposed transfer earlier this year and I’m pleased to confirm that we now have approval of both our Board, the BHA Board and their shareholders. This is a positive collaboration and one that I’m sure you will have questions about – we’ve included a useful article on page 6 with more information about what this will mean for residents going forward.

As we look forward to Christmas we’ve alreadywelcomed residents to a number of seasonal craft sessions that we have been running at our Independent Living Schemes in partnership with Buckinghamshire Adult Learning. As well as enjoying some festive activities and the odd mince pie, they also provide the opportunity to meet our teams, unplug from day-to-day activities and reconnect with each other.

We are also very proud to have teamed up with Greatest Hits Radio (Bucks, Beds and Herts) as the regional headline sponsor of ‘Mission Christmas’ - the country’s biggest gift-giving campaign of the year! ‘Mission Christmas’ works with local charities and volunteer groups to bring Christmas gifts to disadvantaged under18s who may not have a present waiting for them under the tree. All money raised locally stays local, and as an organisation that is at the heart of the community, Mission Christmas is perfectly aligned with our aims and goals of improving local people’s lives.

I hope that you all have an enjoyable festive holiday and a Happy New year.

Matthew Applegate Chief Executive

Resident Activities –

What’s coming up?

Take a look to see what’s coming up over the next couple of months, these are open to all residents

Stay scam-smart and attend our Scam Awareness session in Haddenham on 23rd January 2023 from 1pm-2.30pm

Thinking about joining our Resident Forum?

Come along on 18th January 2023 from 10.30am-1pm and meet our other resident volunteers!

To book your place or find our more visit IMPACT or email us at hello@fairhive.co.uk

Scan to visit IMPACT

We’ve got lots more planned so make sure you are registered to IMPACT on our website or email us to get notified when activities are happening. If you want to attend but can’t get to the venue, just let us know and we can help with transport.

Join us for refreshments, raffle and a chat at our Emhurst Resident Drop-in to speak to your Community Engagement Officer and Neighbourhood Manager.

During 2021/2022, we provided additional We know there is more to do and we’d like to support to prevent residents from feeling hear from you if you have any ideas on how we socially isolated, we supported residents who can continue to positively impact have been victims of anti-social behaviour to our communities. feel safe in their homes, had opportunities for residents to share their voice in our volunteer Please get in touch by emailing groups, provided community youth activities us at hello@fairhive.co.uk and resolved issues with green spaces.

Have you visited the Community Hub?

Our weekly Community Hub is a friendly and supportive space where we offer a one stop drop-in for residents.

We are here to support you and shape our community. Our team and the wonderful agencies that join us can offer advice ranging from funding, debt management, housing, welfare benefits, employment opportunities, training, CV writing and family matters. Take a look at our list of community agencies and how they can benefit you.

Come along and say hello

We open every Tuesday morning from 9.45am until 12pm

The Aylesbury Vineyard, Gatehouse Close, Aylesbury, HP19 8DN.

Insure your home this Winter

No matter how careful you are, there’s a risk that your belongings could be broken, damaged, or lost so, although home contents insurance is not compulsory for residents, we believe it can help provide peace of mind. Contents insurance is designed to help protect your possessions just in case.

During colder months, there is a heightened risk of burst pipes when the heating is not turned on. Winter also brings more adverse weather and unfortunately a higher risk of crime around the Christmas period.

Whilst we carry out repairs and can support you with your housing needs, as your landlord, we do not cover your contents as part of your tenancy agreement.

It’s a good idea to consider what a home contents insurance policy would cover, in order to help you make an informed decision on which one is right for you.

Policies can offer insurance for the contents of your home including cover for items such as furniture, carpets, curtains, clothes,

bedding, electrical items, jewellery, pictures and ornaments. There is a discounted scheme available for social housing.

Thistle Tenant Risks and Ageas Insurance Limited provide ‘My Home Contents Insurance Scheme’, a specialist Tenants Contents Insurance policy. Whilst this could be a good option for social housing residents, there are plenty of insurance policies on the market.

For more information, ask our Welfare team for an application pack by calling 01296 732600 or emailing welfare@fairhive.co.uk

You can also call Thistle Tenant Risks on 0345 450 7288 or visit www.thistlemyhome.co.uk to request a call back or view information online.

A new future for Fairhive and Buckinghamshire Housing Association

We have recently made the decision to join with Buckinghamshire Housing Association Limited (BHA) to become a single combined housing association delivering homes and services for those in housing need across Buckinghamshire and the surrounding areas.

The union will create the opportunity to enhance combined services, create value for money benefits and build more affordable homes in areas where they are desperately needed.

As a housing provider, we own and manage 8,500 homes and deliver services to over 20,000 residents in Buckinghamshire and beyond. Stokenchurch-based BHA has a housing stock of 500 homes and provides services to 1,000 residents in a similar geographical area to us.

In May, our Boards agreed in principle for BHA to merge with us through a process known as a Transfer of Engagements. Through months of review and assessment, to make sure this is the right move for tenants, residents, leaseholders and other stakeholders, the final BHA shareholder meeting took place in November. We’re excited to announce that the decision was in favour of the transfer and we will continue to work together towards a formal transfer date of 9th January 2023.

More information will be available on our website but very few changes will occur for Fairhive residents. You may notice a couple of pages on the website for our new residents who will move across from BHA in January 2023. Other than this, our services will continue as normal.

Matthew Applegate said: “Our two “Our organisations operate in the same geographical area and we have similar values, culture and strategic objectives so we are excited to be able to combine our services for the benefit of all our residents.”

Phil Green, Chief Executive of BHA added: “We are both recognised locally as successful housing associations in terms of our overall performance and financial strength; coming together will deliver greater operational resilience, as well as generating significant cost savings which will be used to enhance homes and services for our current tenants, as well as supporting the development of more new homes.”

Complaints Complimentsand

You can also log complaints via My HomeHub!

Our process and what we actually do with your feedback

Total number of complaints received 111 Apr-Sept (22-23)

167 Apr-Sept (21-22)

10

Percentage of complaints responded to within 10 calendar days*

96% Apr-Sept (22-23)

We welcome all your feedback, and endeavour to use that feedback to make your experiences better with us.

We know that every interaction will not always be perfect and when things go wrong, we will look at what happened, why it happened and if there is anything we need to change to improve our customer service. Some of these changes

You said:

Some of the quality of completed works are poor

We’re doing:

• We’ve completed over 10,000 repairs so far this year, and we are randomly selecting repairs to quality check when they are completed

• All of the big packages such as kitchen and bathroom replacements are quality checked on completion

You said:

51% Apr-Sept (21-22)

Total number of compliments received 275 Apr-Sept (22-23)

161 Apr-Sept (21-22)

will be minor, meaning that we can quickly make those changes and others will take a bit longer for you to see the benefit.

Keep an eye out for our complaints and compliments column in coming issues of Residents News. We will include the feedback from customer satisfaction surveys and how we use it.

Concerns with repairs; eg. long wait for repairs, repeat calls and visits for the same issue

We’re doing:

• End of day checks so that we can pick up on any repairs that require a follow up

• Running regular reports which show us which jobs are outstanding. This will help us to keep you updated and improve our communication with you

• We’re developing reporting which will help us identify when similar repairs are raised repeatedly so that we can address the root cause of the problem. This will help to keep repeat visits to a minimum

You said: Our communication with you is poor

We’re doing:

• Making use of the various methods of contact, eg. email and texts to get hold of you – when contacting us, please make sure you check your details are up to date

• We will endeavour to give you as much information as possible when you first call us so you know what to expect next

To raise a complaint or leave feedback please visit our website (www.fairhive.co.uk/making-a-complaint) or give us a call.

Help us to keep you safe; gas and electric checks

It’s important that all residents allow access for our operatives when they visit the property to check your gas and electrics. Although the electrical testing is not yet mandatory it will be in the near future. We are striving to test all properties on a regular basis to ensure we can reduce the risk of accidents and protect your home..

It is crucial that our gas engineers are able to access the property so they can check that the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working correctly as well as recording the expiry dates of this equipment. Not only is it a legal requirement that we check these but if they are faulty or expired, this could put you and your household at risk. To minimise disturbance, we aim to do gas checks at the same time as electrical testing.

Unfortunately, we have had a lot of missed appointments and operatives have been refused

access to carry out the necessary checks which has resulted in a lot of time wasted. For this reason tenants may be liable for call-back charges.

We are all aware of the rising utility bills and one benefit of having your boiler serviced is that we can make sure it is working efficiently. Having a boiler that isn’t working properly or has leaks will result in higher fuel costs. We can only make sure your boiler is in good condition if we can arrange an appointment with you to visit the property. If you need to rearrange an appointment you can now do this on My HomeHub or using the Live Chat feature on our website.

What exactly is Shared Ownership?

For Shared Ownership week in October, we shared some great posts on social media covering all aspects of what’s involved in buying a home through the scheme, eligibility, and what ‘stair casing’ is.

We know that when house prices are high, it can be difficult getting your foot on the property ladder. Shared Ownership could be the answer if you’re not quite ready to purchase a property outright.

Rather than purchasing 100% of a property at once, buyers can purchase a share of 25% to 75%. Making a property purchase is probably the largest financial investment someone will ever make, so make sure you have all the information you require before you proceed with a purchase.

Shared Ownership, also known as a part-buy part-rent scheme, assists buyers who are

not in the market to purchase a property outright. Instead, buyers will purchase a percentage share of the property and then pay an affordable rent on the remaining percentage. This means the buyer only needs a mortgage for the share they are purchasing, so the amount of money required for a deposit is usually a lot lower when compared to the amount that would be required when purchasing outright.

You can find eligibility requirements for Shared Ownership on our website: www.fairhive.co.uk/buy-a-home

Prevent damp and mould

As the days and nights continue to get colder over the coming months, our homes are most at risk of damp and mould creeping in.

What is this issue?

Mould is a type of fungus that grows in damp and humid spaces. All it needs to survive and grow are: things to eat like plants, soil, clothes, furniture, somewhere to grow, and water, such as condensation.

Not only is mould unsightly and can stain paint or wallpaper, it can cause a risk to our health if not dealt with.

How can condensation form?

When water droplets come into contact with cooler air, or a cold surface, condensation forms.

Day to day activities like cooking, washing and showering can all produce excess water (steam) and if left will form water droplets (condensation) this encourages mould to grow, which can quickly spread within the home.

How can I reduce condensation forming? Here are some handy tips:

Bathrooms

• Air the room by opening a window (only a little if it’s cold outside).

• If you have an extractor fan, turn it on and leave it to run.

• When running baths, use cold water first then hot water, this reduces the amount of steam.

Kitchens

• Don’t block extractor fans or air bricks.

• Air the room by opening a window (not too much if it’s chilly outside).

• Close doors to stop moisture spreading through the house.

Other rooms such as living rooms, hallways

• Avoid drying clothes in rooms that are not properly ventilated.

• Ventilate and heat rooms to avoid excess moisture.

• Don’t place furniture too close to walls, leave a small gap.

You can also try

• Don’t put your heating on for short bursts (e.g. in the morning and in the evening) not only is this expensive, it is the perfect opportunity for condensation to appear. Maintain an average temperature of 18-22 degrees to keep condensation at bay and keep costs down.

• Don’t cover radiators with long curtains, this reduces the effectiveness of your heating.

• If you have a tumble dryer, vent it outside. Speak to us to find out the best way to do this.

• Wipe excess moisture away, keep surfaces dry e.g. from your windows when you get up in the morning, toilet cisterns or window sills.

• Ensure there is good ventilation in your home, especially if you keep pets or fish tanks.

• Clear the clutter – hoarding items can make damp and mould problems worse as air is not able to circulate as it should.

Don’t forget to report any damp to us as soon as possible to prevent the problem from getting worse.

Let us know if:

• Your extractor fans are not working, or if there are no fans in the kitchen or bathroom.

• There are issues with radiators not working properly.

• You have ill-fitting internal doors or no internal doors at all. This is especially important in the kitchen or bathroom as this is where a large amount of condensation comes from.

You can get in touch with us by emailing our contact centre on contact@fairhive.co.uk or calling us on 01296 732600 or raise a repair on My HomeHub or via our Live Chat on the website.

Our Community Heroes!

The four categories were:

Community Hero

Someone who brings the neighbourhood together and makes a difference to the community.

Improving the green space around them, whether it’s their garden or a communal area.

Our ‘Green Hero’ award for 2022 went to Rob for his keen gardening and amazing work to improve the communal spaces where he lives and encouraging other residents to get involved. He has arranged an impressive flower bed using one of our recycled bathtubs and made a little haven in the courtyard area of his block. In addition, Rob has supported our work with green spaces at Bearbrook Orchard and Hampden Gardens as well as Platinum Cycle Way. Mark Frayne-Johnson, Housing Services Manager, and Kevin Price, Caretaker Manager (pictured) hand delivered Rob’s certificate at the end of October to congratulate him. Iva Abbey, Community Engagement Officer added, “Working with Rob is an excellent example of how both residents and Fairhive succeed together to maintain and enhance our green spaces and communal areas for everyone’s enjoyment.”

Our ‘Young Heroes’ awards this year went to Olivia and Oscar who are part of local organisation, Aylesbury Wombles, who help to make the town a greener and cleaner place by litter picking. Pictured here are our two winners with their certificates while they were out with the Wombles.

This year we’ve been impressed by local community groups and residents who show great desire for improving their local area and beyond. Our Community Heroes initiative was an opportunity to shine a light on those people making a real difference and to show how much they mean to our community.

Young Hero

For anyone aged 18 and under who is making a positive impact in the community.

Resident Volunteer of the Year

Someone who goes above and beyond in their volunteering role.

Pauline, another avid Womble, was awarded ‘Community Hero’. As well as going out litter picking and leading the picks, she paints wonderful rocks and pebbles for Bucks Rocks. Pauline places them in local parks and beyond, bringing a smile even of grey days!

Our ‘Resident Volunteer of the Year’ winner went to Elaine. Elaine always participates in our group meetings, asks challenging questions and looks to see how she can support others through her resident volunteering and involvement in national groups. Thank you to everyone who got involved and nominated this year. A huge well done to all the winners.

Green Hero

Making our homes warmer and greener

Making our homes more energy efficient is important to us to reduce carbon emissions, cut energy bills, and help to reduce fuel poverty.

We are making improvements to the energy efficiency of our existing homes with our £2m annual budget. In addition, we are applying for further funding to add to this through the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation fund. This Retrofit programme will use innovative solutions to reduce property emissions, heat loss and running costs for residents. It is a cost-effective carbon-reducing model to improve energy efficiency to our existing homes and will cut energy consumption.

Energy efficiency measures will initially be retrofitted to approximately 150 of our lowest performing homes which will help reduce carbon emissions because the amount of energy required to heat and run these homes will be significantly reduced. We’re committed to making our homes greener and warmer with works in the pipeline such as fitting external wall insulation, solar panels, and heat pumps.

The first phase of these improvement works will start from April 2023. We will be in touch in the New Year to share what this will mean for those residents due to have this work carried out on their homes.

Together with our employees and our partners, we hope this scheme will be the first step in wider plans to fit retrofit improvements on many more homes that have a low EPC rating.

Decommission Solar chimney panels

Hot water tank Loft insulation

Insulation

Double to external glazing walls

Ground floor Air source heating and insulation temperature controls

We’re improving our website and we want to hear from you!

We are currently working on a project to optimise our website content and making it easier for you to find what you need when you are searching online. As part of this project we will be looking to add more features, updating menu navigation, and improving the search functionality.

You may have already seen our Live Chat feature on the website or registered with My HomeHub and IMPACT through the main site. These will continue to be accessed through our website but we want to know what you want to see on our pages. This website development project has been planned to develop on the work we did during our rebrand and to make sure we are listening to what residents need from the fairhive.co.uk site.

Maybe you find the search bar tricky to use or that you can never get to the information you need in the Residents Area! Please let us know - we want to make these digital changes based on your feedback.

We will be running online surveys and polls through social media and the website over December and January and we will have in-person or virtual focus group meetings that you can attend to tell us exactly what you want us to take on board.

If you’d like to get involved and have a say about what the new website will look and feel like please email us at hello@fairhive.co.uk and register your interest for the January focus group meetings.

Your right to Buy and Acquire

If you have been a Fairhive tenant continuously since the stock transfer from Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) in 2006 then you probably qualify for the Right to Buy. If you are eligible you will be given a discount on the purchase price of up to £84,600 depending on how long you have been our tenant. You are not entitled to the Right to Buy if you live in a bungalow and if you were over 60 when you started the tenancy.

If you became our tenant since the stock transfer from Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) in 2006 and if you have three or more years as a tenant in social housing (anywhere, not just with us) then you probably qualify for the Right to Acquire. The Right to Acquire discount is a fixed £13,500. Some rural areas are excluded from the Right to Acquire scheme.

To check your eligibility or to request an application or check please contact our Home Ownership team on homeowners@fairhive.co.uk.

Legionella and Legionnaires’ disease –what are the risks and how can you prevent it

Legionella – it’s a relevant topic to talk about as a lot of us won’t be using our outdoor taps or may be away visiting family throughout winter.

Legionnaires’ disease is a form of pneumonia that is contracted by breathing in small droplets of water contaminated with legionella bacteria. It is not due to drinking contaminated water but is caused by stagnant water entering your lungs.

To reduce the risk of legionnaire’s bacteria build-up in your home or garden you can:

• Regularly descale the shower head and shower hose, as well as any others taps and faucets within the property.

• Flush outlets that aren’t used regularly every 7 days for several minutes, especially when returning from a holiday of more than 7 days. This ensures water cannot stagnate. If an outlet

has not been used for a long time then you may need to run the water for longer to flush the outlet. Please take care when flushing these outlets to avoid splashing or creating a spray that could be breathed in.

• • •

Remove garden hoses from outside taps after use and ensure the hose is empty of water.

Ensure shower heads are not left inside the bath or reach the plughole of the bath. They should be fixed back to the wall bracket.

If you have a water tank in the loft, ensure the lid is secured tightly and is the right size for the tank. This avoids debris entering the water supply.

If you’re thinking about downsizing, whatever your circumstances, we are here to help

We understand downsizing can be stressful that’s why we can help you get the ball rolling.

• We’re able to support you through the housing application process.

• We can offer assistance with packing and moving.

• You will be able to benefit from our experience of helping other tenants and families move to suitable accommodation.

• We can offer a generous financial incentive.

• You will receive individual support from our Housing Options Officer who will ensure the whole process is as seamless as possible.

If you would like further information please contact 01296 732600 or email contact@fairhive.co.uk and ask to speak to our Housing Options Officer.

Taking steps forward for the Housing Sector

In October, our team members from across the organisation attended the Housing Diversity Network Autumn Conference in Birmingham. This year we were very proud to be headline sponsors for the event. John Wallbank, Head of People Engagement, added, “We have diverse customers, diverse employees and work in diverse communities, therefore it is so important that Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is at the heart of everything we do, both as a service provider and as an employer. Our people care about EDI at every level and it was fantastic that we had the recent opportunity to support one of the main Housing EDI conferences this year.”

What will we do next?

As a team, we are driven to support individuals with disabilities, as a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer, and to open the pathways for hard conversations around EDI through our Inclusion Networks. This month we are talking about Menopause in the Workplace with employee discussion groups and workshops. We’ll also be looking at what we can do more for our residents and employees to support inclusivity and raise cultural awareness about systemic discrimination. These are some actions we’ve taken forward since getting involved with HDN and putting EDI on our organisation’s list of objectives.

We’ve been talking about the menopause, have you?

Back in June, we signed the Menopause Workplace Pledge to demonstrate our commitment to recognising that menopause can be an issue in the workplace and that we want to have open conversations with our employees that positively and respectfully discuss the menopause.

Many people who experience the menopause feel forced to reduce their hours at work, pass up promotions and even quit their jobs due to lack of relevant support which is something we want to avoid at Fairhive.

We’ve already run two Inclusion Network discussions for employees to talk more about menopause and raise awareness of potential symptoms and support. The feedback from these sessions was overwhelmingly positive and we look forward to holding more informative and engaging activities in the coming months.

If this is a topic you would like to learn more about then you can access some reliable resources relating to the menopause on the Menopause Charity website at www.themenopausecharity.org. We’ve found it is a great tool for women all ages as well as family members, partners, or colleagues.

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

We

was Hamida Mohammed. We hope you enjoy your prize.

The whole family can get involved again... Can you spot the five differences between these images of our operatives? Return it with your name and address to Spot the Difference, c/o The Communications Team, Fairfax House, 69 Buckingham Street, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP20 2NJ. The closing date for the entry draw is 31st January 2023 and the winner will receive another fantastic craft bundle and have their name published in our next edition.

Time for our festive puzzle! Can you find the list of words hidden in the grid? Return it with your name and address to Puzzle Time, c/o The Communications Team, Fairfax House, 69 Buckingham Street, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP20 2NJ. The closing date for the entry draw is 31st January 2023 and the winner will receive £100 in shopping vouchers and have their name published in the next edition of Residents News!

Grants month

October was Grants Month at Fairhive and we’ve had so many applications meaning we can help even more local groups or individuals. Our Grants Officer, Helen, reported that she received five enquiries for Community Grants in one day alone!

The Thriving Communities Fund aims to provide financial support for our residents and also voluntary and community organisations that operate within the areas where our residents live.

We made a big push for applications for our Micro-Grants and Project Grants in October - so if you are connected to a locally based charity or community group, please spread the word that grants of £3,000 and £10,000 are available.

We have three types of grant available:

Springboard Grants of up to £300 to support Fairhive residents with opportunities for wellbeing, education, training or employment.

Micro Grants for community or voluntary groups of up to £3,000 for small projects such as the purchase of equipment or venue hire.

Project Grants for community or voluntary groups of up to £10,000 for larger initiatives such as the purchase of more substantial equipment or on-going running costs.

“As a mature student, I doubted my chance to study and build a career in what I enjoyed (Forensics & Criminology); but the Springboard grant generously helped make it a reality.

I achieved Distinction in my 1st year, and plenty of confidence in myself to achieve even more at University.” Alicia. M

Our Springboard Grants are assessed every 2 months and the closing dates for applications are as follows:

30th November 2022 31st January 2023 31st March 2023

If you or someone you know would be interested in finding out more about our Grants, please contact our Grants Officer by emailing tcfgrant@Fairhive.co.uk.