One Voice

Welcome to our latest news round up for residents.

Listening to our residents and ensuring your voice is at the heart of decision-making is very important to us. 

We’re delighted to announce the launch of our new Resident Engagement Strategy which was co-created with residents to signify the start of a stronger partnership to improve our services.

The Strategy sets out new and enhanced ways of partnership working to meet the diverse needs of our residents and involve everyone more effectively in scrutiny, service planning, decision-making and service delivery. It aims to strengthen community participation and engagement across all areas where we build our homes.

The Government launches a consultation on the social housing rents for 2023

We know many of our residents are concerned about the increasing cost of living and maintaining their rent payments.

On Wednesday 31 August 2022, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities issued a consultation to invite views from social housing tenants and landlords on a proposed rent cap to understand how best to support households with the cost of living.

Under the proposals, a cap on social housing rent increases would be put in place for the coming financial year from April 2023, with options at 3%, 5% and 7% being considered. There will be no changes to your rent at this time. Any changes will take effect from 1 April next year, 2023.   

Every April we review our social housing rents in line with the rules set by the Government. Currently this is set at up to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 1%.

As a not-for profit organisation, we use the money to improve our homes, support our planned investment in critical fire safety works and invest in local communities.

The Government’s consultation closes on 12 October 2022. When a final decision is made, we will work with our Board to review our priorities and confirm the position for 2023/24.

We know too that shared owners are also concerned about rent increases next year.  The position for shared ownership rents is slightly different due to the clauses in the Capital Funding Guide, the terms of the lease which in many cases are fixed to RPI and the long length of leases which potentially compound any reduction in rent charged over a significant time period.  However, we do understand that this is an exceptional time with inflation figures not having been seen at these levels for some years.  

We are therefore working with the National Housing Federation and other Registered Providers looking at what options are available to the housing sector and shared owners at this difficult time. Discussions are underway looking at options but also being mindful of the costs of delivering essential services to customers in line with both tenancy and lease agreements.  Once we receive the Government decision on social rents, we will consider our overall rent review and will then be able to confirm the position for shared owners too.

We will provide all residents with an update later on this year and nearer the time provide you with a booklet detailing your individual charges.

We know the rent increase may present another financial challenge for many of you, but we have a friendly and dedicated team of Welfare Benefits Advisors who can provide support and advise whether you might be eligible for various benefits. We have also put together tips and resources to help you if you’re struggling to meet the rising costs of running your home.

If you have difficulties paying your rent or service charge, please call us on 0300 123 9966 or email us as soon as you can so we can work with you to find a solution. We can also signpost you to other experts and sources of advice.

Join our Governance structure as a Resident Customer Services Committee Member

During our Resident Engagement Strategy consultation residents told us they would like to get involved in shaping, scrutinising, and improving our services.

During our Resident Engagement Strategy consultation residents told us they would like to get involved in shaping, scrutinising, and improving our services.

We now have a unique and exciting opportunity for two of our tenants to join the One Housing Customer Services Committee. Putting your skills, passion and experience into practice, this governance role will allow you to make a valuable contribution to the delivery of our strategic objectives. You’ll receive a renumeration of £3,250 per year.

As a Resident Committee Member, you’ll make an important contribution to the Committee with wide-ranging responsibilities for scrutinising and reviewing customer-facing policies, performance and service delivery. This will include oversight of the delivery of our 2021-24 Customer Experience Strategy as well as overseeing our performance on customer services.  You will work closely with other Independent Committee Members, Board members and the senior leadership team to make sure we achieve our objectives, while managing risk and delivering great services.

To learn more and to apply, please follow the link below. The closing date for applications is 6pm Monday 17 October 2022.

On the job to get you into work

Our Employment and Training Team is available to support all residents so you can take the next steps in finding the right job or career path for you.

If you’re concerned about job security or if you’re struggling to find work, our dedicated team of experts can provide you with personal one-to-one advice and guidance on everything from writing winning CVs and attention-grabbing covering letters, to building confidence when you land an interview and filling in skills gaps for jobs where you might not fit the job description 100%.

If you’re interested in the service, please get in touch via employmentandtrainingteam@onehousing.co.uk.

Contacting our Customer Service Centre

We’re working hard on improving our services following the launch of our Customer Experience Strategy last year. We’ve been using feedback from our customer surveys to help us change what we do so we can answer your calls more quickly and respond to more queries right first time.

Our busiest days are Mondays and Tuesdays between 9am and 12pm so unless it’s an emergency you may find it easier to call a bit later in the day.

You can now report heating repairs via MyOneHousing

We’ve been working hard to improve MyOneHousing, our safe and secure self-service portal, to enhance your experience and offer more services.

As things can sometimes go wrong and need repairing, if you’re a tenant, you can now use your online account to report issues related to heating such as problems with electric, gas or heat interface units, hot water, radiators, or thermostat.  

Please note that between October-March, any heating and hot water related issues will be treated as an emergency, and you’ll be advised to call our Customer Service Centre.

Between April-September, you’ll be able to raise non-urgent heating, radiator and thermostat-related issues via the portal and book an appointment.

We also have self-help information videos available to help you resolve smaller issues.

To register for MyOneHousing, you'll need to be the named person on your lease or tenancy agreement. If you’re a joint tenant or homeowner, you can each register separately with your own email address for full access to your account online. 

You’ll also need the following details: your agreement reference which you can find on any correspondence we've sent you, first name, surname, date of birth and email address. 

Consultation – Customer Service principles

What should the new merged Riverside Group Customer Service principles look like?

That’s the question being asked by a group of 12 customers who are playing a key role in our new partnership with the Riverside Group.

The Task and Finish Group – your representatives in the merger process – have devised some key Customer Service principles which they are asking the Riverside Group to adopt.

And they want your views on them.

Please read the background information by following the link below and complete our survey. The closing date for responses is Monday 31 October 2022.

We want to help you beat the energy crisis and overcome those challenges so please read our tips below on how to manage your home this winter.

Love your home – 5 top tips

Using your thermostat programmer

You can set your heating and hot water to come on only when required rather than all the time. We recommend you set your thermostat to 21 degrees in the living room and 18 for everywhere else to ensure your home is sufficiently heated. The boiler will maintain these temperatures to ensure correct energy usage. Smart meters mean accurate energy bills and they allow you to see your usage and reduce energy consumption by displaying how much money you have spent. You also won’t need someone to enter your home to read your meter.

Reduce draughts

Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows and check for draughts around windows and doors.

Switch off unused appliances

Don’t leave appliances on standby and remember not to leave laptops and mobile phones on charge when you don’t need to. Most phones and small devices are fully charged within just two hours.

Don’t waste water

Only boil as much water as you need (but remember to cover the elements if you’re using an electric kettle). A dripping hot water tap wastes more energy and can waste enough water to fill half a bath in less than a week.

Smart meters

Smart meters mean accurate energy bills and they allow you to see your usage and reduce energy consumption by displaying how much money you have spent.

How to get help – Let’s Talk Energy

If you find yourself affected by an energy crisis and struggling to pay your bills, we are here to help.

Through our new £500k Helping Hand Fund from the Riverside Foundation as part of our partnership with the Riverside Group, we can provide small grants and other practical short-term support for households. Please call us on 0300 123 9966 or complete a self-referral form via your MyOneHousing account.

We’re also recruiting our new Affordable Warmth Officers who will be able to help if you have received an incorrect energy bill, have fuel debt or have no supply and need help to reconnect. We will publish more details on how to access this new service shortly.

Winter fuel payments

If you were born on or before 25 September 1956, you could get between £250 and £600 to help you pay your heating bills. This is known as a ‘Winter Fuel Payment’.

The amount you’ll get will include your ‘pensioner cost of living payment’, ranging between £150 and £300. You’ll only get this extra amount in winter 2022 to 2023.

Please note this is in addition to any ‘Cost of Living Payment’ you’re entitled to. Claims will be accepted until 31 March 2023.

Working with you to improve our services

Getting our services right is our top priority. Here are the improvements we have implemented as a result of the serious complaints we investigated and other concerns raised by you.

You can find out more about our complaints policy, including information about the Housing Ombudsman complaint handling code and how to access the Housing Ombudsman by following the link below.

Improve sales and marketing process (delays and communication)

• We’ve undertaken a full review of all sales and marketing policies, procedures, and guidance notes. This will improve the quality of information available and ensure our process is more transparent.
• We’ve recruited additional Sales Consultants to meet the demand of the service. We’ve also reviewed the roles and responsibilities to improve ownership and accountability.
• Using the feedback from residents, we’re working with our internal communications team to improve the Home Purchase pages on the website. This will include updating our instruction forms, guides, and the step-by-step process map to improve the speed and access to required information.

Provide more training to Customer Service Centre staff to improve their skillset

• We’ve recruited a Quality Officer to our Customer Service Centre who will regularly review the case work of our call handlers to identify knowledge and skills gaps and assign targeted training as required.
• All staff working in the Customer Service Centre are currently undertaking training on managing difficult conversations to emphasise the importance of thinking ‘Customer First’ and improve the way they communicate with residents.

Improve the quality of communication in relation to cladding issues and remedial work

• We have initiated a project to ensure all applicable residents are provided with a written update on the EWS1/Intrusive Survey status for their buildings.
• We send out Building Safety Residents Meeting minutes to all residents to ensure improved and consistent communication. This email correspondence includes an invitation to the upcoming meetings and contact details for the Cladding Team.
•  We have improved our internal communication channel to speed up our responsiveness to enquiries and reduce the average waiting time.

Your safety at home

It’s important when charging e-bikes and e-scooters, you do so safely to avoid a risk of a fire starting and putting your families and homes at risk. The London Fire Brigade has recently warned that they have seen a huge spike in fires as a result of electric bikes and e-scooters.

When charging your e-bike or e-scooter, it’s important to:

• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions and always unplug your charger when its finished charging.
• Ensure you have a working smoke alarm where you charge your e-bike or e-scooter.
• Charge batteries whilst you are awake and alert. Do not charge batteries overnight while you are asleep or away from home.
• Always use the approved manufacturers charger for the e-bike or e-scooter. Buy an official replacement charger from a reputable seller.
• Do not cover chargers or battery packs when charging as this could lead to overheating.
• Do not charge batteries or store your e-bike or e-scooter near combustible or flammable materials.
• Do not over charge the battery.
• Do not overload socket outlets or use inappropriate extension leads.

Please note residents aren’t permitted to store or charge e-bike and e-scooters in communal areas as any items left there can block emergency exit routes and create a fire risk.

For more information on how to safely charge your e-bike or e-scooter, please visit https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety/the-home/e-scooters-and-e-bikes/.

Your safety in the community

Being a good neighbour

Our Community Safety Team continues to work hard to keep our neighbourhoods safe and enjoyable for all.

The most common complaint has been around noise disturbance and the impact this can cause. We encourage everyone to be understanding of those around us.

Please keep music and TV at a reasonable level, and always be mindful of the time and noise levels when doing any DIY.

If your neighbours are noisy, we advise you first try speaking to them if you feel able to. We realise, of course, that some people may feel uncomfortable or perhaps slightly anxious about doing that. If that's the case, why not try writing to them? You can use our 'Dear Neighbour' letter or write your own version if the wording here doesn't quite fit.

Sometimes individuals don’t realise that they’re causing a disturbance so we advise you approach things initially in as calm and non-judgemental way as you can.

If neighbouring households are regularly making unreasonable noise, whether that’s loud music, parties, shouting or banging, contact your local council’s environmental health department. Your council's environmental health team has designated powers to deal with noise nuisance such as serving noise abatement notices. We can then act upon their reports and enforce tenancy action.

Case study: Dealing with noise issues

A resident called our Customer Service Centre to report noise issues caused by their neighbour who was hoovering during the day. The noise was disturbing their sleep whilst they were resting before the night shifts.

The Customer Service Centre advised the resident of our ‘Dear Neighbour’ card as we wouldn’t investigate hoovering noise as ASB. The resident called us back to advise that they had spoken to their neighbour after using the ‘Dear Neighbour’ card and explained the situation.

The neighbour apologised and agreed to hoover at certain times to adjust to the resident’s sleeping pattern. This is a great example of neighbours talking to one another to resolve issues. 

Our community

Are you a One Housing resident aged 18-25 living in Hackney? If so, then join our East Resident Panel as a Member

At One Housing we value our residents’ insights and local expertise, and we understand that nobody knows more about what’s best for a community than the people who form it.

As a Resident Panel Member, you will have the opportunity to influence how we improve our services by giving a voice to your community, ensuring we are aware of residents’ concerns and overseeing local improvements.

You will also hold us to account, provide welcome scrutiny and help us to develop new policies.

If you are selected as a Panel Member, you will be fully supported in getting used to the systems we use and how our Resident Panels work. You will get to spend time with fellow Panel Members and the One Housing officers supporting their work, forming important community relationships and working together to achieve good outcomes. 

To apply, please submit your CV as well as a cover letter to residentengagements@onehousing.co.uk. In your letter, please tell us a little bit about your motivation for applying and any skills or experience you think would come in useful in the role.

New digital platform for residents

Residents told us they would like to see a wider range of online opportunities to talk to and engage with us about services and issues that concern them.

Following your feedback, we developed a digital platform – One Community – which will be available to all residents via your MyOneHousing account. You'll be able to use the site to find out what’s happening in your local community, take part in discussions with fellow residents, and share your ideas on how we can improve our services. This will make it easier for you to get involved as you can spend as much time as you like to have your say and make a difference.

We’re currently rolling out access to One Community across our estates. If you have received your invitation to join, please log in and tell us what you think.

If you haven’t received your invitation yet, please don’t worry. We’ll contact you directly to notify you when you can start using the new space.