One Voice

Welcome to our latest news round up for residents.

Thank you for taking part in the consultation on the proposed “Transfer of Engagements” to Riverside

One Housing joined The Riverside Group as a subsidiary in December 2021. As part of our integration to become one single housing association, we recently held a seven-week consultation with residents. We sought your views and feedback on the proposal that we complete the “Transfer of Engagements” process – the formal name for the integration of the two organisations – on or before 31 March 2023.

This consultation period closed on Wednesday 1 February 2023. Thank you to all those who took the time to share with us your views.

Our Board is currently reviewing the findings. We will write to all residents again soon with the results of the consultation.

If the process continues as proposed, from April 2023 your landlord will be The Riverside Group Limited. As stated previously, we believe that this transfer is the best option for our residents and our local communities. Local services will continue to be provided by the teams you know, and your tenancy or lease will be unaffected.

Get involved to help us shape and improve our services

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

Whether you’re looking for more ways to be involved in your local community or want to help us shape our services, there are many ways in which we can work together.

Do you live in the East region of London? 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’ll 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’ll also hold us to account, provide welcome scrutiny and help us to develop new and revised  policies.

If you’re selected as a Panel Member, you’ll be fully supported in getting used to the systems we use and how our Resident Panels work. You’ll 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.

Scrutiny Panel needs your help

Following your feedback during our Resident Engagement Strategy consultation, we were pleased to be supporting residents to create a new Scrutiny Panel which will review customer-facing services and recommend improvements.

The resident Panel Members have chosen to review the services provided by the Customer Contact Centre for their first inspection.  They need your help to learn more about how residents experience our services. If you're interested in mystery shopping or feeding back about services, please contact us via residentengagements@onehousing.co.uk. 

Changes to your Rent and Service Charges from April 2023

Every year we review our rents in line with the rules set by the Government.

This year our general needs rents will be increasing by 7% in line with the cap on social housing rent increases announced by Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of Exchequer in November 2022. 

This will mean a lower than expected rent increase which under the Regulator of Social Housing’s Rent Standard were set to rise by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 1% - a total of 11.1%.

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

We know many shared owners have also been concerned about the impact of inflation on their rents. We are therefore pleased to confirm that we have agreed a voluntary settlement for shared owners which means we will also cap shared owners rent at 7%. This is lower than the expected increase which under the terms of most leases is linked to the November Retail Price Index (RPI), which was 14%.     

Intermediate rents and housing for older people rents will also be capped at a 7% increase.

Rents for supported housing haven’t been capped by the Government in recognition of the extra costs incurred by landlords who deliver this type of specialist housing. They will therefore increase by last September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 1% - a total of 11.1%.

We know this may be disappointing news for our supported residents, but we’re committed to delivering good quality extra services that our supported housing schemes receive.  Please do talk to us if you have any questions or concerns.  

Our market rents will increase by Consumer Price Index plus 1% - 11.1%

The rent and service charge booklets detailing your individual charges will be sent out to you at the end of February 2023 with the new charges due from April 2023.     

In addition, we’ve reviewed service charges for the coming year and have worked hard to ensure value for money for all the services that we offer. Unfortunately, inflation is considerably higher than it has been in previous years and our costs, including utility costs, have increased in line with the position nationally. 

If you have difficulties paying your rent or service charge, please call us on 0300 123 966 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.

In addition, through our partnership with Riverside, we’ve made additional funds available to support you. This includes: 

• a new £500k Helping Hand Fund to support residents in need. To apply, please call us on 0300 123 9966 or complete a self-referral form via your MyOneHousing account. 
• a new £250k Community Fund for groups to bid for to fund projects which will support residents. To apply, please visit our website here.

Helping you find a job

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.

We work with a number of employers who can offer vacancies to our residents – the current list includes opportunities in catering and hospitality, care, operational and environmental services.

There are opportunities both for those with and without qualifications and experience, so please follow the link below and take a look at the current offer.

If you’re interested in any of the roles, please contact our Employment and Training team via employmentandtrainingteam@onehousing.co.uk. One of our advisors will be in touch with more details.

Looking after your home and neighbourhood

We take the issue of damp and mould in our homes extremely seriously

We are committed to giving you and your family a safe, warm and comfortable place to live in and  want to reassure all residents that we take the issue of damp and mould extremely seriously and investigate every report of damp and mould thoroughly.

Following our partnership with Riverside, one of our key pledges was to invest an additional £2.5m in tackling issues like damp and mould. To support our work, we’ve created a new policy which outlines how we deal with this.  You can download the copy here.

We’re also training all our teams – not just repairs people – to spot signs of damp, mould and condensation so, if they visit your home and spot a warning sign, they can report it. This helps us ensure we put in place a plan to tackle any issues at an early stage to prevent the situation getting worse.

Please report damp and mould issues

We ask that you contact us as soon as you notice any signs of damp and mould so we can visit your property. Please send us photos and videos with your report so we can assess the extent of the issue. We’ll then attend within 10 days to carry out immediate treatment known as a mould wash. We’ll also provide practical advice for dealing with damp and mould.

If we need to investigate further, a surveyor will visit your home. They will identify what remedial works are needed and will put together a treatment plan to make sure the damp and mould problem has been fixed.

To report damp and mould, please use your MyOneHousing account or email ask@onehousing.co.uk. Alternatively, you can call us on 0300 123 9966.

If you need information in another language or if you require an interpreter to be present when we visit your home, please let us know. 

Maintaining trees in your neighbourhood

As a landlord and/or landowner, we have a legal obligation to ensure that trees don’t cause harm to members of the public and our residents and don’t damage any properties. 

We must be able to access our properties/land to inspect trees periodically and make management decisions on these trees.

This means that:

1. Where residents or resident management groups have previously managed trees belonging to One Housing, they will no longer do so.
2. We will ensure that the tree inspector can access gardens or other external areas to identify tree problems. We will contact you if we need to request access to your property.
3. We will undertake tree work that is identified to mitigate any significant risks. We will contact you if we need to request access to your property.

We all agree that trees are precious, and for that reason we will always engage with our residents over necessary tree works. We will also avoid unnecessary tree works or removals.

However, where we identify trees requiring work, we must be able to undertake these works in a timely manner. Where trees are removed, we will seek to replace them where it is practical to do so.

If you have any questions regarding these arrangements, or concerns surrounding the safety of any tree in your property, please contact us at ask@onehousing.co.uk.

Working with you to improve our services

Getting our services right is our top priority. Here are the improvements we’ve 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 Service by following the link below.

Improve the repairs process for buildings where a Managing Agent is involved

• We’ve improved our internal processes and strengthened communication with Managing Agents while reminding them of their obligations such as repairs and estate management.
• We’ve reviewed and changed the escalation process when Managing Agents have not fulfilled their obligations to ensure we hold them to account.

Address complaints about estate management

• We’ve invested in new equipment to make cleaning more efficient. This includes cordless hoovers to improve access to difficult to reach areas and to reduce/mitigate trip hazards in our communal areas. We’ve also invested in new window cleaning equipment to improve the scope and quality of this service as well as new external vacuums to remove leaves during the autumn months.
• We’ve updated our attendance sheets to make it easier for residents to see what has been done and when while checking the noticeboards in each stairwell.
• We’ve improved our new estate inspection App so that we can raise repairs for communal areas in real time whilst on site. This includes Direct Delivery, Fire Safety systems, Compliance Contracts systems and Housing Solutions repairs in Berkshire. This will reduce delays and remove the need for our operatives to call the Customer Service Centre to raise these repairs, freeing the agents up to take calls from our residents.

Your safety at home

The Gas Safe Register issues an alert about gas range cookers with a gas grill

Please note that the Gas Safe Register released Safety Alert 030 relating to Belling, Stoves and New World gas range cookers with gas grill (110, 100 and 90 models) manufactured by Glen Dimplex Home Appliances Ltd.

It has been identified in the above models, that if the gas grill is used with the door closed, there is a risk that this may result in extremely dangerous levels of carbon monoxide (CO) being produced which could pose a significant risk to your health. ​

To ensure that the appliance works in a safe manner, the manufacturers advice is to always use the grill with door fully open.  

Please note that the use of the gas oven and hob are not affected by this safety alert.

If you’re one of our tenants, your home should have at least one carbon monoxide detector, and it will activate with an alarm, if there is too much carbon monoxide in the air in your property.   If the alarm activates at any time, please call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 immediately.

If you’re a leaseholder or shared owner, it’s your responsibility to make sure that a carbon monoxide detector is fitted in each room where a gas appliance is used.  We recommend you get a gas safety check once a year, too. If you want to arrange a gas safety check in your home, you can check the official list of gas registered engineers on the Gas Safe Register https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk.

Our community

Helping your child get to the top of the class

We know that our younger residents can face a range of pressures. This is why we’re delighted to work with Tutors United to provide free weekly lessons in Maths and English to school children aged between 8-11 years old to support their learning.

Tutors United deliver confidence-boosting, attainment raising tutorials. There is a mixture of online and face-to-face sessions available so please do apply regardless of where you live.

Please note that spaces are limited – if your child doesn’t receive a space straight away, they will be put on the waiting list and you will be contacted as soon as it becomes available.

Money matters

Cost of Living Payments during 2023/24

As part of his Autumn Statement in November 2022, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that, following the 2022/2023 cost of living payments, further payments would be made across the UK in 2023/2024.

Extra support will be provided for over eight million eligible means-tested benefits claimants, including those on Universal Credit, Pension Credit and tax credits.

Starting in the spring, these sums will be paid directly to bank accounts in three payments over the course of the financial year. There will also be a separate £150 for over six million people with a disability and £300 for over eight million pensioners on top of their Winter Fuel Payments.

Exact payment windows will be announced closer to the time and will be spread across a longer period to ensure a consistent support offering throughout the year.