YHN annual review 2013-14 by Your Homes Newcastle

Ten reasons to be proud YHN annual review 2013-14

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Contents Introduction

Reason 1 - We’ve looked after the money

Reason 2 - We’ve improved homes and neighbourhoods

Reason 3 - We’ve invested in what matters to tenants

Reason 4 - We’ve helped tenants into work

Reason 5 - We’ve provided valuable care and support

Reason 6 - We’ve listened to tenants

Reason 7 - We’ve taken big steps to recognise equality and diversity

Reason 8 - We’ve continued to make communities safer

Reason 9 - We’ve worked with our partners to help as many people as possible

Reason 10 - We’ve responded to the changing environment and needs of our customers

The Board

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Rent Repairs

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YCH

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Repairs Tenancy

Zvn‡j GB bv¤^v‡i †dvb Ki“b- 0191 278 8633 這是關於如何要求維修您住房的信息。如果您需要此信息的廣東話版本或其它語言版本，請致電 0191 这是有关您作为纽卡斯尔市政租客所需要承担的责任的信息。如果您需要此信息的普通话版本或其它语 GB nj索取。 BDi †nvgm YHN general/Homes + 言版本，请致电 278Z_¨ 8633 0191 wbDK¨vmj 278 8633mg‡Ü| 索取。Ges Avgiv wKfv‡e `vwqZ¡ cvjb KiwQ †m mg‡Ü| BDi †nvgm wbDK¨vmj, téléphoner 0191 278 8633 pour obtenir une traduction écrite. wbDK¨vmj wmwUauKvDwÝ‡ji c‡¶ KvDwÝ‡ji Ni evox e¨e¯’ vcbvi `vwqZ¡ cÖvß| GB Z_¨ hw` <evsjvq> A_ev Ab¨ †Kvb People Right to Buy 這是關於租客有權購買他們的市政房屋的信息。如果您需要此信息的廣東話版本或其它語言版本，請致 YCH 这是有关我们的出租服务的信息。如果您需要此信息的普通话版本或其它语言版本，请致电 0191 278 Bengali fvlvq cÖ‡qvRb nq Zvn‡j GB bv¤^v‡i †dvb Ki“b- 0191 278 8633 電 0191 278 8633 索取。 8633 索取。 Tenancy 這是關於您作為紐卡素市政府租客所需要承擔的責任的信息。如果您需要此信息的廣東話版本或其它語 YHN general / Homes + Newcastle Furniture Ces informations concernent le service « mobilier » de Your Homes Newcastle, quiHomes fournit Newcastle du mobilier 这是有关代表纽卡斯尔市政府（Newcastle City Council）负责管理市政房屋的 Your 普通话／国语 service aux locataires pour les278 aider à s’installer People 言版本，請致電 0191 8633 索取。 dans leur logement. Si vous avez besoin de ces （您的纽卡斯尔住房）组织的信息，内容解释了我们是如何运作。如果您需要此信息的普通话版本或其 Chinese informations en français ou dans une autre langue, téléphonez au : 0191 278 8633. YCH 這是關於我們的出租服務的信息。如果您需要此信息的廣東話版本或其它語言版本，請致電 0191 278 Simplified 它语言版本，请致电 0191 278 8633 索取。 Rent Ces informations concernent votre loyer. Si vous avez besoin de ces informations en français ou 8633 索取。 dans une autre langue, téléphonez au : 0191 278 8633. Repairs Ces informations concernent les demandes de travaux pour votre logement. Si vous avez besoin de YHN general / Homes + 廣東話／粵語這是關於 Your Homes Newcastle（您的紐卡素住房）機構的信息，內容解釋了我們代表紐卡素市政府 ces informations français ou dans une autre langue, téléphonez au : 0191 278 8633. People Chinese （Newcastle City en Council）負責管理市政房屋以及如何運作。如果您需要此信息的廣東話版本或其它 Right to Buy Ces informations concernent les droits des locataires relatifs à l’acquisition de leur logement social. Traditional 語言版本，請致電 0191 278 informations 8633 索取。 en français ou dans une autre langue, téléphonez au : Si vous avez besoin de ces Repairs

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0191 278 8633. Nç‹i@ñ‡äòí—q@0191 278 8633@ðäüÑïÝm@òŠbàˆ@ói@óîóè@óÙî†@ðÙ—äbàŒ@Šóè@bî@ñ†ŠíØ@ðäbàŒ general / Homes + Tenancy informations concernent vos.‫اﺳﺖ‬ responsabilités tant que‫در‬ locataire de la municipalité de‫اﻳﻦ اﻃﻼﻋﺎت‬ ، Ces ‫ﻧﻴﻮﻛﺎﺳﻞ‬ ‫ﺳﻮى ﺷﻬﺮدارى‬ ‫اﻳﻦ ﺳﺎزﻣﺎن از‬ ‫و ﻋﻤﻠﻜﺮد آن‬en «‫ﻧﯿﻮﮐﺎﺳﻞ‬ ‫ﻫﺎى ﺷﻤﺎ‬ ‫ﺧﺎﻧﻪ‬ » ‫درﺑﺎره ﺳﺎزﻣﺎن‬ e @ói@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷@m‹ Šòì@óÜ@çbmŒóyŠó ó÷ @NòŠb’@ñaŠü’@ðäbØòìíäb‚@î ‹Ø@üi@çbåï“å–‹Ø@Àbà@ói@pòŠbió@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷ Newcastle. Si vous avez besoin de ces informations en français ou dans une autre langue, ‫ در ﺻﻮرت ﻧﻴﺎز ﺑﻪ اﻳﻦ اﻃﻼﻋﺎت ﺑﻪ زﺑﺎن ﻓﺎرﺳﻰ ﻳﺎ زﺑﺎنﻫﺎى دﻳﮕﺮ ﺑﺎ ﺷﻤﺎره‬.‫ﻣﺴﺌﻮﻟﻴﺖ اداره ﺧﺎﻧﻪﻫﺎى دوﻟﺘﻰ را ﺑﻪ ﻋﻬﺪه دارد‬ Farsi Right to Buy ‫ﺗﻠﻔﻦ‬ téléphonez au : 0191 278 8633. Nç‹i@ñ‡äòí—q@0191 278 8633@ðäüÑïÝm@òŠbàˆ@ói@óîóè@óÙî†@ðÙ—äbàŒ@Šóè@bî@ñ†ŠíØ@ðäbàŒ .‫ﺑﮕﻴﺮﻳﺪ‬ ٠١٩١٢٧٨٨۶٣٣ YCH Ces informations concernent notre service location. vous avez besoin de‫ﺗﻤﺎس‬ ces informations en <português> ou noutra língua, queira ligar de para o 0191 Si 278 8633. @m‹ Šòì@óÜ@çbmŒóyŠó ó÷ @Nóîa‡Ý—bØüïä@óÜ@Šb’@ñaŠü’@ðÙ—åï“å–‹Ø@íØòì@òí—÷@ðäbØóïmóîb‹qŠói@ói@pòŠbió@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷ français ou dans une autre langue, téléphonez au : 0191 278 8633. Rent Esta informação refere-se à sua renda. Se precisar desta informação em <português> ou noutra Tenancy YHN general / Homes + Ces informations concernent Your Homes Newcastle : qui est chargé de gérer les logements sociaux Nç‹i@ñ‡äòí— q@0191 278 8633@ðäüÑïÝm@òŠbàˆ@ói@óîóè@óÙî†@ðÙ—äbàŒ@Šóè@bî@ñ†ŠíØ@ðäbàŒ@ói@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷ Français língua, queira ligar para o 0191 278 8633. People French au nom de la municipalité de Newcastle et comment em nous procédons. vous avez de ces Repairs Esta informação refere-se ao pedido de reparações casa. Se Si precisar destabesoin informação @Šóè@ bî@ ñ†ŠíØ@ ðäbàŒ@ ói@ óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ ãó÷@ m‹ Šòì@ óÜ@ çbmŒóyŠó ó÷ @ sua Nóîóá—÷@ ð–‹Ø@ ðäbØómóà‚@ ói@ pòŠbió@ óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ ãó÷ em informations en ou dans une autre langue, téléphonez au : 0191 278 8633. YCH <português> ou français noutra língua, queira ligar para o 0191 278 8633.

Right to Buy

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Esta informação refere-se ao direito que os inquilinos têm de comprar a sua habitação social. Se @òìóÝ—bØüïä@ñŠb’@ñaŠü’@çóîý@óÜ@óØ@óîóØóä†‹ØŠbØ@ðmóïäüš@ì@ Your Homes Newcastle @ói@pòŠbió@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷ precisar desta informação em <português> ou noutra língua, queira ligar para o 0191 278 8633. + informação refere-se às suas responsabilidades como inquilino social em Newcastle. Se Tenancy YHN general / Homes Esta @ðäbàŒ@ói@óäbîŠbïäaŒ@ãó÷@m‹ Šòì@óÜ@çbmŒóyŠó ó÷@NpbÙi@ðmóîaŠóiòí–Šói@Šb’@ñaŠü’@ðäbØòìíäb‚@óØ@òìaŠ‡—q@ñòìó÷@ðØŠó÷ People precisar desta informação em <português> ou noutra língua, queira ligar para o 0191 278 8633. Kurdish Nç‹i@ñ‡äòí—q@ 0191 278 8633@ðäüÑïÝm@òŠbàˆ@ói@óîóè@óÙî†@ðÙ—äbàŒ@Šóè@bî@ñ†ŠíØ YCH Esta informação refere-se ao serviço de arrendamento. Se precisar desta informação em idioma, llame 0191 língua, 278 8633. <português> oualnoutra queira ligar para o 0191 278 8633. Repairs Éstainformação es información sobre cómoHomes pedir que se realicen reparaciones en su casa. necesita YHN general / Homes + Esta refere-se à Your Newcastle, a organização responsável pela Si gestão da esta Português información en em español enMunicípio otro idioma, llame al 0191 278 8633. People habitação social nomeodo de Newcastle, e a nossa situação actual. Se precisar desta Portuguese informação em <português> língua, ligar para o 0191 278 Right to Buy Ésta es información sobre ou losnoutra derechos de queira los inquilinos a comprar su 8633. vivienda municipal. Si necesita esta información en español o en otro idioma, llame al 0191 278 8633. Tenancy Ésta es información sobre sus responsabilidades como inquilino municipal de Newcastle. Si necesita esta información en español o en otro idioma, llame al 0191 278 8633. Russian YCH Ésta es información sobre nuestro servicio de adjudicación. Si necesita esta información en español o en otro idioma, llame al 0191 278 8633. YHN general / Homes + Ésta es información sobre Your Homes de Newcastle, que es la responsable de gestionar las Español People viviendas municipales en nombre del Ayuntamiento de Newcastle, y sobre nuestra manera de Spanish hacerlo. Si necesita esta información en español o en otro idioma, llame al 0191 278 8633.

Ten years, ten reasons to be proud A word from our Chair, Olivia Grant. I joined YHN’s Board in January 2014. It has really been an eye-opener for me to see the innovation and commitment shown by the Board and staff at every level and to witness their impressive drive to improve and provide for tenants.

the welfare system, which put increased pressure on our tenants’ finances, and the self-financing of Council housing, which changed the way we manage the rents we collect for Newcastle City Council.

The organisation recently celebrated its tenth anniversary which provided me, my fellow Board members and staff with the perfect opportunity to reﬂect on a significant number of achievements. Ten years is a long time in any industry and, while there have naturally been challenges along the way, YHN has certainly had a successful decade.

It hasn’t been easy and there is still a lot to do but, thanks to good planning and preparation, some great strides have been made. As an incoming Chair I have spent time trying to understand the legacy of the achievements made over the last decade and the impact of the challenges experienced. My overriding feeling is one of immense pride at representing an organisation so devoted to delivering for its customers.

Under the two previous Chairs, Bill Midgley and Steve Murphy, YHN unlocked £600million of funding to deliver and improve upon the government’s Decent Homes Standard; created a range of support and care services that deliver on a promise to provide far more than just bricks and mortar; worked with partners to regenerate estates managed by the organisation and enabled the development of hundreds of new homes.

It was this pride that inspired the format of this annual report – ten years of progress led me to the difficult task of selecting the ten strongest reasons we have to be proud of our work this year. I was also keen to demonstrate the impact that our activity has had on the people behind the statistics – the tenants, staff, partners and others who have worked with us throughout 2013-14.

No mean feat and a testament to the hard work and determination of YHN’s staff, Board members, tenants and partners.

I hope you enjoy reading about our work and the people it has affected.

Of course it hasn’t all been plain sailing and, in recent years, we have experienced change on an unprecedented scale. In particular, connected to the government’s changes to

Here’s to another proud decade. Olivia Grant, YHN Chair.

Reason

We’ve looked after the money The impact of recession was experienced across the country and we were no exception.

Newcastle Furniture Service (NFS), our furniture rental scheme for tenants, had a very successful year, providing over 11,000 packs to YHN and other tenants and picking up new contracts across the region.

So it’s been more important than ever that we collect as much rent as possible, maximise whatever additional income we can generate, and make efficiency savings wherever we can. We know there will be more to come - but this year we’ve managed well. The biggest source of funding is the rent we collect from our tenants. It supports the high quality services we provide to customers and an increase in rent arrears would mean a lot of those services could be compromised. This year we collected 98.44% of rent due from Council tenants which totalled £109.6m. We brought in £1.1m in sponsorship and grants. A full list of our accounts for 2013-14 is available at www.yhn.org.uk

We consistently challenge ourselves to make sure that we get as much as we can for every penny we spend. In 2013-14 we made over £1.1m worth of efficiency savings, including: £168,000 from the sheltered housing review £430,000 from the concierge service moving to a combined cleaning and mobile response service.

Palatine Beds, our supported employment manufacturer of high quality beds and mattresses, had a surplus for the second year in a row and sales for 2013-14 totalled £1,384,247. New contracts were also won with a variety of customers, including a contract to provide 1,400 beds and mattresses to the Ministry of Defence.

Brian Guthrie, a tape edger at Palatine Beds, said:

Palatine’s financial success is, of course, only part of the story. The lives of the staff who are supported to work there have been just as transformed by earning a decent wage.

“It’s a nice, small working environment at Palatine Beds. It feels very personal, and we all work together as one team. “I’ve got my own car and my own house, and I’m gradually paying the mortgage with getting a regular wage. It makes me feel like part of the human race, instead of just being on the outskirts. For me it’s just great; I can live my life the way I want.”

Reason

We’ve improved homes and neighbourhoods ‘Creating homes and neighbourhoods we can all be proud of’ is one of our three strategic objectives. Our Modern Homes Programme saw us complete over 60,000 internal and external improvements to the Council’s housing stock and the legacy of this programme continued throughout 2013-14, during which we completed 3,241 lifecycle improvements to kitchens, bathrooms and central heating boilers.

As a manager of quality social housing, homes are what we do best, and we think that a decent and modern home is something everyone should have access to. But we know that the appeal of a particular home doesn’t start and end at the front door - the neighbourhood is equally important. Discussions with tenants have told us that they expect good local amenities and 21st century standards of appearance where they live.

Throughout the course of the year we completed 106,594 repairs. We try our best to renew fixtures and fittings before they reach the end of their lifecycle, and with almost 30,000 properties to manage we need to plan ahead. Teams within YHN have been working together on establishing new ‘spend to save’ principles which identify areas or elements of homes that may soon need to be repaired and then organise for a planned response. An example of this is to organise specific estatewide reroofing programmes to reduce ad hoc repairs.

Work is starting to transform sheltered accommodation following extensive consultation with tenants.

Successful regeneration doesn’t happen overnight and spending such large amounts of money requires careful planning, so we’ve spent a lot of time researching how we should be regenerating neighbourhoods. We’ll be looking to start work on several projects, including the Blakelaw 165 Estate, soon. We also want to create desirable homes for older people to live in. During 2013-14 we extensively planned and consulted on our vision with a view to implementing our ambitious plans from the autumn of 2014.

Jenny Cavanagh is part of the Newcastle Tenants’ and Residents’ Federation Investment Forum and she was one of the tenants we consulted about our new approach to sheltered accommodation.

Plans for the Blakelaw 165 Estate.

Although new properties are usually built by our charitable partner, Leazes Homes, this year we built some ourselves with our colleagues at Newcastle City Council. Fourteen two-bed homes were built in Middle Street, Walker, to help meet the specific needs of people in that area, mainly due to the impact of welfare reform. Jenny said: “We’d been discussing the sheltered schemes for a while and knew something needed to be done to improve them. We went on a tour of some that will be remodelled and learnt about why this needs to happen and the difference it will make to older people. “We also had a tour of a scheme in Derwentside that YHN thinks is a great example of what should be provided and it was absolutely fabulous! It was so pleasant and welcoming, it was like walking into a hotel, and it felt very safe and secure too. We’re really hopeful that the people of Newcastle will soon be able to live somewhere as modern, decent and spacious as this and we’re confident that everyone will like this type of accommodation. “It was great to be so involved in the planning process – I think that anything to do with tenants should include us and I enjoyed all elements of the development work. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished schemes as I think they’ll be fantastic!”

Newcastle Furniture Services (NFS) 7

Reason

We’ve invested in what matters to tenants For several years we’ve run a participatory budget scheme called You’ve Got the Power, where tenants are asked to nominate and vote on projects that can receive a share of a pot of money. Over 6,000 tenants voted for the ones that would be taken forward.

These events are very popular and have empowered tenants to make decisions that have had a big impact on where they live.

Examples of improvements funded by You’ve Got the Power include:

£2m was available to bid for environmental projects that would be delivered before the end of March 2015 and benefit whole neighbourhoods. We received an impressive number of suggestions; 450 to be exact.

• Improving parking facilities • Installing new fencing • Removing raised planters and replacing with grass

The suggested improvements all focused on helping to create sustainable communities by making them safer, more secure and attractive.

• Providing new seating • Improving lighting

The Retreat received many votes.

We’ve also promoted energy saving measures to tenants, and these have helped them make their homes more efficient, reducing their utility bills. In 2013-14 we visited 152 households through our Energy for the Future programme, which provides advice to help tenants save money on their energy bills and heat their homes more comfortably. We also held seven “Energy Best Deal” group sessions, which were attended by over 100 tenants. The average saving for each household is now over £17 a month.

We upgraded the communal boilers at two sheltered housing schemes, which will reduce energy consumption and our carbon footprint.

We worked with Newcastle City Council and British Gas to externally insulate 15 bungalows as part of a regional Green Deal pilot.

We also fitted over 2,000 double glazed window units as part of our programme to replace all single glazing units across the city.

Tenants from The Retreat received a large number of votes for their application to improve external lighting around their Newburn properties. This was the first project to be completed under the You’ve Got the Power scheme.

Tenants are thrilled with the results. Iris Walton, 76, a tenant at The Retreat, said: “There are many elderly people who live here and it was very difficult for us to get around in the dark. Getting in and out of our homes with little to no light could also prove quite dangerous, particularly in the winter, and this made living here fairly restrictive. The outside of our homes are now very well lit and we’re all really looking forward to spending more time outside” Her neighbour, Phyllis Chilton, 81 (pictured), said: “We’re thrilled to bits, it’s really made a big difference – you can see right along the path now which is much, much better. We’re all really pleased and I’ve been out to tell the workmen they’ve done a lovely job.”

Newcastle Furniture Services (NFS) 9

Reason

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve helped tenants into work Social housing tenants can struggle to find employment and a contracting North East jobs market has made things worse in recent years. Many people who have completed a YHYJ role have gone on to secure permanent employment. In 2013-14, 57 tenants completed the pre-employment courses that feed into the Your Homes, Your Jobs recruitment. Thirty were successful in getting YHYJ positions. All of those who started their YHYJ role completed it successfully.

Unemployment is falling nationally but we know things arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quite as promising up here just yet. We are continuing to do everything in our power to increase the employability of tenants - from offering free training courses and helping with CV writing to providing six month paid work placements and year-long apprenticeships.

80% of those who completed the six-month YHYJ role within this year went on to find employment.

Your Homes, Your Jobs Your Homes, Your Jobs (YHYJ) gives unemployed tenants the chance to work for YHN and gain new or updated skills and experience that helps them move forward in the job market.

Apprenticeships We increased the number of apprentices we employed from 10 to 20 this year. As well as having a full time job at YHN all apprentices completed a qualification in their area of work. Anthony Mburu completed a YHYJ role.

Training Over 60 tenants attended a training and jobs fair that we held in December 2013. We also ran a pilot catering and hospitality course in partnership with Food Nation and In-Training, which gave eight tenants the opportunity to gain qualifications and learn about food hygiene. We are developing this course with a view to feeding into specific catering and hospitality jobs.

Of those who completed apprenticeships in 2013-14, 90% went on to find work.

Palatine Beds

Debbie Fisher completed our United for Employment and Practical Skills courses, gaining qualifications and developing a range of different workplace skills. She even benefitted from a two week work placement with one of the Newcastle United Foundation’s main sponsors.

Palatine Beds is our supported employment business which means 70% of our workforce has some form of disability. This year Palatine Beds employed 35 staff and two apprentices, with 23 of these employed through the government-supported Work Choice programme, which helps those with disabilities and long-term health problems find and keep jobs.

Her completion of the Practical Skills course meant she was guaranteed an interview for our YHYJ programme and she was successful in being employed at YHN as a community environmental assistant for six months. Debbie said: “Me and my husband (also employed on YHYJ) got in from work the other night and decided we wanted to take the kids out for tea and then go bowling. We could never have done this before we started work and would have had to save up for months. There’s no way either of us are ever going back on the dole!”

Reason

We’ve provided valuable care and support Getting the basics right is the cornerstone of this organisation and none of the things we’ve achieved would have been possible without a relentless focus on ‘the day job’.

And we certainly haven’t lost our personal touch. From our housing officers providing help and assistance day in day out, to those who work in our sheltered schemes caring for older people with the same respect and compassion they’d show their own relatives, going the extra mile is what we do.

Following the introduction of the “under occupancy penalty” many tenants found themselves in food poverty. We have worked with our partners at FareShare to provide food parcels to those most in need – over 1,100 were distributed in 2013-14.

It’s imperative therefore that our Advice and Support and Young People’s Services, which were specifically set up to help customers get the most out of their tenancy, are performing well and helping as many people as possible.

Our Youth Voice service ran 284 sessions with 1,291 attendances. We delivered 19 homeless prevention sessions to over 700 young people in schools and youth clubs across the city and 33 Play it Safe (sexual health and parenting programme) sessions to 64 young people.

Young People’s Service

Advice and Support service The service helped customers to access almost £4m in benefits and grants. As part of our work to mitigate the impact of welfare reform, we also helped a number of tenants to make successful applications for Discretionary Housing Payments. 1,600 customers required some assistance relating to rent arrears in 2013-14. The service proactively contacted these customers to offer support and those who engaged with us reduced their arrears by an average of £94.

Youth Voice European exchange.

46 regular young volunteers gave us 1,820 hours of their time to support our activities - the largest individual contribution was 271 hours. The homeless prevention service worked with 352 under 18 year olds in 2013-14, 228 of whom were helped to remain with family rather than taking on their own tenancies. The ﬂoating support service worked with 533 young people, 479 of whom progressed into their own tenancies. The young people’s hostel supported 49 young people in 2013-14.

Supported accommodation for young people in North Kenton accommodates 16 young people aged 16-21 at any one time. In 2013-14 the service supported 23 young people. The Family Intervention Project (FIP) supported 49 families. The success of the service featured in a BBC documentary entitled “Britain’s Broken Families” which aired in September 2013.

Our Family Intervention Project (FIP) worked with Leanne and her two daughters, Katie and Latisha, when they were at a very imminent risk of being evicted and faced being homeless over Christmas.

Leanne suffers from agoraphobia following her experience of domestic violence and this had led the family to become socially isolated. After working with FIP, the family are in a new home, her children’s school attendance has increased and Leanne is beginning to take steps to overcome her agoraphobia – she is doing her own shopping, attending appointments and school and attending FIP activities. Leanne said: “I can now be a parent and do things with my girls”.

Reason

We’ve listened to tenants We put customers at the heart of everything we do. From deciding how to regenerate areas of the city to implementing housing policy, we seek the views of our customers in every major decision we make. Events

This year we were extremely proud to see customers have come along to a range of different events, helping them to inﬂuence a number of our services.

Our ‘shaping our future’ event was attended by over 70 customers. We used their feedback to inﬂuence our new approach to equality and diversity.

During 2013-14 the Customer Involvement Team held 180 consultation events on a range of subjects. Over 2,000 customers took part in these.

Our ‘working it out’ event was attended by over 270 customers. Their feedback prompted us to provide training courses in retail, catering and care, which we hope will lead to further employment opportunities for our customers.

Over the last year we have worked hard to make sure our volunteers represent our customer base. During 2013-14, our demographic breakdown for attendance was as follows: • Men

45%

• Women

55%

• 16 to 34 year olds

22%

• 35 – 54 year olds

35%

• 55+

43%

• LGBT

• BME

26%

Local offers In January 2014 we held our annual event with customers to prioritise and finalise our local offers. To understand their priorities for local offers, we used customer feedback from a wide range of other consultation events delivered during 2013-14, including the two mentioned above.

Customer promises

Estate inspections

Over 80 customers were involved in shaping and designing our new customer promises. These replaced our service standards and helped us focus on the areas of service that are most important to customers. They told us that our customer promises should include how we will provide:

Our tenant inspectors, who are trained by the Customer Involvement Team, carried out “Going for Gold” estate inspections on each of the estates that we manage, with support from our Environmental Services Team. For the 129 estates inspected, which included sheltered schemes and estates managed by the Byker Community Trust and Leazes Homes, the following results were achieved:

Support to find a home Neighbourhoods to be proud of

Standard No of estates achieving the standard

A decent home and reliable services Support during your tenancy

Gold 46

Good customer service and treat tenants fairly Clear information and a way to have your say.

Silver

Bronze 9 Improvement

Matvey Cherny lives in Cruddas Park and took part in a number of our customer involvement programmes during 2013-14, including our You’ve Got the Power tenants’ panel, complaints panel meeting, repairs satisfaction focus group, Shaping Your Future equality and diversity event, local offers focus group and customer inspection on employability agenda.

He said: “My experience of getting involved has been very positive. I like to be involved in all aspects of life and, as I originally moved here from another country, I take many steps to be an active part of my local community. I’ve met lots of new people through getting involved in focus groups and other activities and this is one of the best things about it. “To see that my opinion is valued and that I am trusted to provide my views as a tenant representative makes me very proud. I believe that YHN takes a real interest in improving services to make life better for tenants and involving tenants truly is one of the best ways to do this. “

Reason

We’ve taken big steps to recognise equality and diversity

We value and appreciate the rich variety of people who make up our 900 strong workforce and who are part of the community we serve.

This year we have taken a new approach to equality and diversity, with our work now being focused around seven key themes:

We are fully compliant with the Equality Act 2010 and work with our staff and tenants to ensure we’re respectful of all “protected characteristics” (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation).

• Involving

• Understanding • Learning • Improving policy • Investing in our services • Demonstrating our commitment • Checking how we’re doing and reviewing things

We were especially proud to be ranked 30th on the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, our highest position to date.

Other achievements throughout the year include: • Organising an equality and diversity event for customers which included information stalls and two welfare reform information sessions and led to many tenants enquiring about mutual exchange, and training and employment opportunities. The event was attended by Paralympic gold medallist, Josef Craig, who gave an inspirational talk.

• Sponsoring and attending a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Federation event, which focused on LGBT issues in social housing and was an opportunity for housing providers across the North East to discuss current issues that the LGBT community faces.

Working with staff

• Celebrating LGBT History Month with our staff, which involved a weekly quiz, screenings of a film about the Stonewall Uprising and profiles of historic figures.

Equality and diversity training has been delivered to all new staff as a mandatory session throughout the year. We have introduced awareness raising sessions on our e-learning system which allows all staff to refresh their knowledge regularly to help staff keep up to date with equality and diversity.

We have worked with staff to ensure that those who give feedback and suggestions about equality and diversity are listened to and that all staff consider equality and diversity issues when working with customers and colleagues.

• In October 2013 YHN took part in Newcastle Mental Health Day, which aimed to increase social contacts between those who have experienced mental distress and those who haven’t in order to dispel myths and tackle discrimination.

We have also enabled the creation of three staff network groups which provide support to people who identify with the LGBT, multicultural and disabled characteristics. Learning from these groups is helping us to become a better employer and service provider.

• Sponsoring Northern Pride 2013. • Sponsoring the Newcastle Mela, a free celebration event based around Pakistani, Bengali, Indian and other South Asian cultures.

Omar Yaseen, Chair of YHN’s multi-cultural staff network, said: “I think it is important that YHN has a range of staff network groups to celebrate equality and diversity but also the individuality of each person.”

“The network groups help to raise awareness of what is going on in society and how that affects us as a housing provider as well as helping to educate staff and raise awareness of sensitive issues within the work place. “I am very proud of my background and I wanted to share my experiences with the group, which is why I put myself forward as Chair. I am looking forward to working within YHN’s communities to break down barriers and promote the idea of working for YHN. We’d also like to work with community leaders to see if there any issues within estates that we can address and work together for the benefit of all YHN tenants and staff, no matter which communities they belong to.”

Reason

We’ve continued to make communities safer Making sure our homes are fit for modern living is obviously very important, but we’re also very concerned with what happens once you step outside the front door.

We want our communities to be desirable places to live so we work hard to make them as safe, secure and clean as possible.

The vast majority of cases were positively resolved, with only a small amount requiring formal legal action as follows:

Anti-social behaviour

• 58 notices of seeking possession

During 2013-14, our housing, anti-social behaviour and enforcement team (HASBET) dealt with 685 cases of anti-social behaviour.

• 9 injunctions secured • 5 evictions were carried out

• 10% were personal harm cases (threatening / abusive behaviour, harassment)

HASBET is also responsible for managing Newcastle’s anti-social behaviour escalation process, known as the ‘graded response’. This involves co-ordinating intelligence on behalf of partners such as Northumbria Police and public health organisations, and issuing formal warnings to offenders.

• 5% were criminal behaviour

During 2013-14, HASBET:

• 4% were pet noise

• Issued 1,135 1st warning letters

Of these: • 70% were noise cases

• Issued 206 2nd warning letters • Signed 66 anti-social behaviour agreements Most problems were dealt with by the first warning letter without needing to escalate to the second.

CCTV

Concierge

Aside from dealing with antisocial behaviour we have also put a number of measures in place to help make customers feel safer in their homes.

Our new Concierge Service was launched on 1 July 2013. New cleaning schedules were introduced and are displayed in blocks so that customers know what daily tasks will be carried out, and so that they can monitor our performance. Blocks are regularly inspected and customers are welcome to attend the quarterly inspections.

In 2013-14, 1,502 intercoms, which link to YHN’s enquiry centre, were fitted to the homes of those living in multi-storey accommodation. These allow tenants to see who is trying to get access to their property.

Response officers attend emergencies to deal with other issues as they arise.

As part of the programme the properties were also fitted with smoke and intruder alarms, which are monitored 24/7 by our enquiry centre staff. When an alarm is activated, staff call the tenant to check what’s happening and call relevant teams to respond if need be. This new system is unique across the country and proving very popular.

CCAS Our Community Care Alarm Service (CCAS) continued to provide a valuable and, at times, life-saving service to vulnerable people across the city. 5,000 customers generated approximately 110,000 calls during 2013-14. We attended over 4,000 emergency responses, with almost half of these involving customers who had fallen.

The Friday Night Project was a partnership between YHN, Newcastle City Council, Northumbria Police and the residents of the Elswick Ward, which was designed to reduce the amount of alcohol-related anti-social behaviour.

A number of “diversionary activities” were provided for young people, including football tournaments and music and dance lessons, to give them alternative ways to spend their Friday nights that didn’t involve drinking alcohol. Residents of all ages were also encouraged to take part in clean up events and attend training around alcohol awareness, healthy eating and employability. Over 200 people have engaged with the project, which has led to a decrease in anti-social behaviour on the estate of almost half and a reduction in emergency fire service callouts. The estate is now one of the cleanest in the city and some of the residents who got involved have gone into employment and are continuing to work with the police to tackle issues in the area.

Reason

We’ve worked with our partners to help as many people as possible make, as it offers more disabled residents access to services, training and employment, ultimately helping sustain the business.

We do as much as we can, as well as we can, to ensure our customers are taken care of and have access to many opportunities, working with relevant partners whenever possible to do this.

In May 2013, Palatine Beds joined forces with The Percy Hedley Foundation to provide a wood workshop for disabled people.

We provided housing management services to Byker Community Trust and Leazes Homes, supporting over 2,000 tenants.

Later that year, we donated space at our Westerhope factory to national support charity Changing Lives, to open a charity furniture store. The store sells good quality, donated furniture and household goods at affordable prices.

Working together to increase opportunities for disabled people Palatine Beds teamed up with two local charities during 2013-14.

Working together to increase employment opportunities for our tenants

Working in partnership with other complementary local charitable organisations helps to maximise the social returns they

During 2013-14 we worked with the Newcastle United Foundation to deliver two “United for Employment” courses. These were attended by 27 tenants who had a collective total of 158 years unemployment between them. Some of those who progressed through the course to secure full time employment had been unemployed for over 20 years.

Percy Hedley’s wood workshop at Palatine Beds.

Our United for Employment participants.

Tenants also had the opportunity of training at St James’ Park, and support with CV writing and job searching which can include health, exercise, nutrition and alcohol awareness and further volunteering and health opportunities offered beyond the initial placement.

The courses were delivered over ten weeks and over 150 qualifications were achieved. Part of the course involved a work placement with one of Newcastle United Foundation’s main partners or sponsors, including Barnados, Scalinis Restaurant, Tyne Tees Television and Wates Living Space.

Michael Shields, Senior Retail Manager with Changing Lives, oversees the charity furniture store at Palatine.

All of the tenants who completed the course have progressed to either employment or further training or volunteering.

He said: “We have a few Palatine Beds staff who aren’t necessarily here full time who actually come and do a bit of voluntary work for us, which is fantastic. We work closely with the management team here because there’s clearly a share of resources in terms of the site and there’s a van that we can sometimes use to do deliveries and pick up donations. “So it’s a really effective partnership and a development of the overall relationship between Changing Lives and Your Homes Newcastle.”

Reason

We’ve responded to the changing environment and needs of our customers However, we had anticipated and prepared for the effects of the changes and put in place a number of initiatives to help customers cope, including:

The impact of the economic downturn has been felt by public sector organisations and social housing tenants and the speed of change experienced across the board has of course been significant.

• Training around budgeting and computer use – helping tenants to manage their money, use the Internet to access better deals, and to use online systems and portals.

But, despite the challenges this has brought, we’re coping well. One of our core values is forward thinking and we push ourselves to keep reviewing, questioning, consulting over anticipated future needs and keeping up to date with changes to national policy and trends.

• Walker pilot – providing bespoke assistance to tenants in Walker, the area worst affected by the under occupancy penalty in Newcastle. The project engaged local people and employers and resulted in a number of tenants gaining work. We also continued to work with our partners the Northern Learning Trust at the Walker Hive.

Welfare reform The Welfare Reform Act 2012 brought with it the biggest set of changes to the benefits system for generations. The cumulative effect of a number of changes inevitably had an impact on our tenants’ income and reduced their capacity to pay their rent. 4,703 tenants of properties managed by YHN (including Byker Community Trust and Leazes Homes tenants) were affected by under occupation (prior to adjustments for 1996 cases).

Learning at the Walker Hive.

• Mutual exchange – assisting tenants to “swap” homes when it is beneficial for both parties to do so. 30 tenants managed to successfully swap their home this year.

Following consultation with our customers we increased the product range offered by the scheme, which already offered white goods such as fridge freezers and cookers on a rent to own basis, to include more household items such as TVs, tablets and bikes.

• Tenant event – holding a large scale event around equality and diversity which included two welfare reform information sessions and led to many tenants enquiring about mutual exchange and employment opportunities.

Own Your Own provides an ethical alternative to the extremely high APRs offered by rent to own stores. Its stringent credit checking process means that only those who can afford the repayments can make a purchase. Tenants have saved thousands of pounds by using Own Your Own rather than a high street lender.

• Welfare reform service review – this restructured our housing management teams into three specialist functions that are able to provide advice and guidance in a number of areas, namely housing options, income and tenancy and estate management.

133 customers applied to Own Your Own and received goods.

Own Your Own (OYO) In order to further respond to the financial pressures faced by our tenants we also extended our Own Your Own scheme in 2013-14.

Peter Williams was living in a two-bed bungalow following the death of his father, which had left him worse off.

Tenants saved a combined £183,000 by using OYO instead of high street rent to own stores.

Despite working two jobs, Peter struggled to make ends meet and, although he was keen to move to somewhere smaller, he wanted to stay in the same area because of his work commitments. He managed to successfully swap with someone living a in a smaller property a few streets away and was thrilled with the results. Peter said: “I was absolutely over the moon when I managed to swap homes – my new place is lovely, everyone has been really welcoming and I can still easily get to work, which was really important to me. I don’t know how I would have managed financially if I hadn’t exchanged, it’s a great scheme and I’d highly recommend it.”

The Board

Board Memb

The Board is made up of six tenant, six independent and six Council members and an independent Chair. During 2013-14 our Board members were:

Steve Murphy Judith Common Chair (Independent)

Judith Common Phil Dibbs Phil(Independent) Dibbs Lisa Doherty (Independent) (Independent) (Tenant)

Veronica Dunn (Council)

Paul Dutton (Tenant) Paul Dutton (Tenant)

Rob Higgins (Council) Rob Higgins (Council)

Doreen Huddart Ammar Mirza (Council) (Independent) Ammar Mirza Doreen Huddart (Independent) (Council)

Tony Moore (Tenant)

Sue Pearson (Council)

Julie Purvis (Tenant)

John James Reid (Tenant)

Olivia Grant Chair

Matthew Myers (Council)

Elaine Snaith (Independent)

Lynn Stephenson (Independent)

David Slesenger (Council)

Sue Pearson (Council)

John Stokel-Walker (Council)

Elaine Snaith (Independent) 24

Julie Purvis (Tenant)

Lisa Doherty David Down (Tenant) (Council)

V (

Nitin Shukla (Vice Chair) (Independent)

John Reid Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to (Tenant) thank Board Members Steve Murphy and Matthew Myers, who left us during the year.

Jane Yugire (Tenant)

Lynn Stephenson (Independent)

Jane Yugire (Tenant)

N (

Welcoming a new Chair of the Board Olivia Grant replaced long-standing Chair Steve Murphy, who was originally elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2011. She said: “My passion for over thirty years has been to support and promote the wellbeing of people in Newcastle and the region. It is an honour to be appointed as Chair of YHN as I cannot think of an organisation with stronger roots in the communities of Newcastle dedicated to supporting and enhancing opportunities for people to thrive. I am looking forward to working with staff and Board colleagues to further strengthen and grow YHN’s ability to be successful on behalf of its tenants and their communities.”

Steve has been a fantastic leader and a great asset to us over the years; we are very grateful to him and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours. In January we were thrilled to announce the appointment of Olivia Grant OBE, a Newcastleborn successful business leader and champion of the voluntary sector, as our new Chair. Ms Grant is well known in the region as the director of many companies and as a passionate promoter of education, employment, skills and training. She was awarded an OBE in 1994 in recognition of her services to training and has had many more honours bestowed on her, including honorary Doctor of Civil Law at Newcastle University and Deputy Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear.

Management Team The Executive Management Team is made up of:

John Lee

Sheila Breslin

Chief Executive

Assistant Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Services

David Langhorne Director of Property Services

Neil Scott Director of Tenancy Services

Painting a picture of Newcastle The walls of YHN’s head office on Benton Park Road now have an impressive art gallery feel thanks to a very generous donation from one of our tenants, Mr. George Reay. Mr. Reay, who lives in Gosforth, had a long career in design and advertising and continued to paint following his retirement, finding it a very pleasing hobby. He designed one of YHN’s Christmas cards a few years back and recently contacted us to see if we could use some of his wonderful paintings after having a bit of a clear out.

Another painting, showing the Quayside in all its glory, is displayed on the top ﬂoor of the building where staff, tenants, Board Members and external partners can view it on their way to meetings with the Chief Executive and other senior staff. We have already received many positive comments from Board Members, staff and visitors about the paintings and expect to hear many more. We are extremely grateful to George Reay for his very generous donation and we would like to extend our thanks to him for thinking of us.

We were very pleased to receive this lovely gift, knowing George’s work to be of a very high standard that would be appreciated by staff, tenants and visitors alike. Two individual paintings, one depicting the aerial view of the Castle Keep and St Nicholas’s Cathedral and the other the construction of Gateshead Millennium Bridge are now proudly displayed in prominent positions in our main reception area at YHN House.

You can view George’s paintings for yourself next time you’re at YHN House, but we’ve included some photos here to give you an idea – we’re sure you’ll agree they really are very good!

Celebrating our tenth year

Have your say

Your Homes Newcastle Limited. Registered in England and Wales. Registration number 5076256. Registered office: Newcastle Civic Centre, Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8PR. A company controlled by Newcastle City Council.