One Voice

Welcome to our latest news round up for residents.

Get involved and help us shape our services

Following the feedback we received from residents during our Resident Engagement Strategy Consultation and through working with our Resident Panels and Tenants and Resident Associations, we’re beginning to develop an engagement offer to meet the needs of all our residents. There are many ways in which we can work together, depending on how much time you have to spare or what you want to contribute.

The more you get involved in opportunities including community activities, upcoming scrutiny panel and policy reviews – the more you can make sure we’re representing everyone. Please fill in our short survey to select your preferences and have your say. We will then contact you with more information on how to get involved.

The closing date is Friday 8 April 2022. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact us via residentengagements@onehousing.co.uk

Update your Universal Credit journal account with your new rent and service charges

If you receive Universal Credit to help you pay your rent, please don’t forget to update your Universal Credit journal account on Friday 1 April if you pay monthly or Monday 4 April 2022 if you pay weekly, with your new charges.

You will receive a ‘to-do’ action notification through your Universal Credit account (called the ‘journal’) that will be titled ‘Confirm Your Housing Costs’. Please log in and confirm your housing costs.

If you pay service charges, please ensure you let the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) know which charges are eligible for housing costs support and which charges are not eligible. You can find the details in the Service Charge and Rent Review booklet sent to you last month.

Please don’t make the updates before April 2022 and don’t submit the verification more than once as this will cause issues with your claim. If you have any questions, please contact Universal Credit through your online journal account, or through the Universal Credit Helpline on 0800 328 5644.

New opportunities to join our governance structure

We have a unique and exciting opportunity for three of our residents 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.

As a Resident Committee Member, you’ll make an important contribution to a Committee with wide-ranging responsibilities for scrutinising and reviewing customer-facing policies, performance and service delivery.

In addition, we’re looking for a Resident Board Member to help oversee the delivery of our corporate objectives and plans for the integration of One Housing Group with The Riverside Group Limited following the first stage of the merging of the two organisations on 1 December 2021. You’ll work closely with other board members, independent committee members and the Executive to make sure we achieve our objectives, while managing risk and delivering great services.

For more information about the roles and to apply, please visit our website. The closing date for applications is 6pm Monday 18 April 2022.

Impact of changes to the Private Parking Code of Practice

We’re working with UK Car Park Management Ltd (CPM), who manage our car parking schemes, to ensure our sites are compliant with the Government's changes to the Private Parking Code of Practice by the end of 2023.

Please note there are no changes to parking schemes at the present time. We’ll keep you updated when we receive further information.

Looking after your home

Working with you to maintain your home

Keeping our residents’ homes warm, safe and well maintained is important to us. Things can, however, go wrong or need repairing.

We're responsible for looking after the structure of buildings and communal areas. Who is responsible for repairs inside your home depends on whether you're a tenant or a leaseholder/shared owner.

If you're a leaseholder or shared owner, under the terms of your lease, you're responsible for servicing, maintaining and repairing things that are inside your property, for example fixtures and fittings, your Heat Interface Unit, etc. We, or the managing agent, are responsible for maintaining and looking after the areas outside your home, including internal and external communal areas, fixtures and fittings. 

If you’re a tenant, your responsibilities will depend on whether you rent privately, live in an intermediate rent property or in one of our social housing properties.

How to report a repair

If you notice that a repair is needed in your home, please report it to us as soon as possible to help us make sure the fault is fixed in good time.

If you need to report an emergency repair, please call us on 0300 123 9966. You can report emergency repairs at any time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We’ll attend and complete or make safe emergency repairs within 24 hours.

The most efficient way to report routine repairs is by emailing us at ask@onehousing.co.uk or via MyOneHousing. We’ll attend within seven working days and complete the repair within 28 working days.  If you raise a repair via MyOneHousing, you will also be able to track its status.

We are also about to launch a new feature on MyOneHousing to allow you to book an appointment for routine repairs. The first area where this will be available is for plumbing repairs. 

If you live in Berkshire, please report any repairs to our contractor, Housing Solutions on 0800 587 9941 or email contact@housingsolutions.co.uk.

Protect your personal belongings with contents insurance

As your landlord and the freeholder of your building, we are responsible for insuring its structure against damage. However, we don’t insure your furniture, electrical appliances or personal belongings such as jewellery or clothes – this is your responsibility.

Many people hope for the best or think that insurance is something they can’t afford, but sometimes things can go wrong that can result in the loss or damage to the items you own inside your home.

This is why we recommend that all residents think about taking out home contents insurance to protect your possessions against fire, flooding, theft and other risks, such as accidental damage. You can source your insurance through a scheme such as MyHome* or via an independent insurance provider.

Before you take out a policy you need to work out how much cover you need, based on the cost of replacing all your possessions so it is worth doing that before calling insurers.

It is also a good idea to get several quotes before choosing a policy.

*Please note we’re not affiliated to the My Home scheme and we provide their details for information only. We’re not involved in the provision of any cover.

Keeping you safe in your home

Request a free home fire safety visit

Did you know the most common causes of fires in the home are started accidentally and caused by smoking, cooking, candles and overloading electrical sockets?

To help prevent accidents and keep you safe, your local fire service will provide a free home fire safety visit. They can also install a free smoke alarm in any room where a fire might start.

London residents can book an appointment here. Berkshire residents can get further information at www.rbfrs.co.uk.

It’s important to know what to do if there’s a fire in your home or building. If the fire is not in your flat, we advise you stay in your home until you’re advised by the fire brigade it’s safe to leave.

Please also call 999 and ask for ‘fire’ if you hear a smoke alarm ringing or see signs of smoke. By acting quickly, you can save someone’s life.

Looking after your neighbourhood

Help us combat fly-tipping

We know that when you step out of your front door, you want to see that the building you live in, and the surrounding estate, are well looked after.

When bulky rubbish gets dumped down your street, it’s ugly, can be dangerous and is expensive to clear.

Since 4 January 2022, we have shifted 675 tonne of bulk and fly tipped rubbish. Every call-out to remove old mattresses, fridges and furniture costs us in excess of £50 – and that’s money we could be spending on better services for you.

Unfortunately, it’s not our responsibility to remove fly tipping as a service. Therefore, we charge this to you and your service charge increases for that year. We provide adequate waste and recycling bins across our schemes, so fly tipping is avoidable.

If you see that your bin area has black bags on the floor or fly tipping occurring, please don’t do so yourself. Just because someone else is doing it, it doesn’t make it okay. The more fly tipping, the greater the cost to remove it and the bigger the increase in service charge.

Maintenance project on the Hillview Estate

After holding drop-in sessions with the Hillview Residents Association, we successfully completed a thorough maintenance project on the Hillview Estate in Kings Cross, covering eight blocks of flats and four courtyards.

Residents highlighted four areas of concern and we have taken the following action: 

• Removing litter and fire safety hazards from all courtyards
• Jet washing courtyards to remove grease and mould
• Installing clear, up-to-date signs, plates, information and notice boards
• Clearing litter and combustible items from cupboards and hallways

Money matters

Helping you with energy bills

We know that the rising costs of living can create real challenges if you’re already experiencing financial difficulties.

The Government has announced an Energy Bill Rebate scheme to provide households with an upfront discount on their bills worth £200. Energy suppliers will apply the discount to domestic electricity customers from October 2022, with the Government meeting the costs. The discount will then be automatically recovered from your bill in equal £40 instalments over the next five years. This will begin from 2023, when global wholesale gas prices are expected to come down.

In addition, if you live in a property in Council Tax bands A to D, you’re likely to receive a one-off payment of £150 from the Government this April to help you with the cost of living. This payment is called the Government Council Tax Rebate. You won’t have to repay it.

For more information about the Council Tax Rebate, please visit your local authority’s website.

If you are in debt to your energy supplier, speak to them to see if they offer grants or can offer you a payment plan to help pay it off. To find out which suppliers offer grants, please visit the Citizens Advice website.

You may also be eligible for a local energy grant. Visit the Simple Energy Advice website to learn more.

If you’re worried about rent payments and rising costs of living, we’re here to help. Our team of Welfare Benefits Advisors can provide advice on various benefits you may be eligible for. Please call us on 0300 123 9966 to speak to a member of the team.

Employment and training

We're here for you

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, come along to one of our Employment and Training drop-in sessions or get in touch via employmentandtrainingteam@onehousing.co.uk.

Train to become a barista

Do you live in Kings Cross, Camden or Islington? Are you interested in working as a Barista in a customer facing role?

We’ve partnered with Change Please Foundation to train our residents for barista positions in London. The training will take place fortnightly at Arlington Conference Centre Kitchen and will be followed by paid employment.

To register for this unique opportunity, please contact Nadine Luben via nluben@onehousing.co.uk.

Meet the team

I spend a lot of the time inspecting my sites, checking fire safety actions, recording my findings and actioning anything urgent whilst on site. I usually meet residents who raise their concerns directly with me. If these queries are not related to Property Management, I offer advice or help them to direct their query to the right place. 

Many residents know my face now and I enjoy seeing them and assisting wherever I can.  As soon as I’m back in front of my laptop, I continue the actions from my inspections and deal with queries that have come in whilst I’ve been out. Every day is busy, every day is different!

What I enjoy the most about my job is problem solving. Sometimes an issue hits you which is really daunting at the start and a lot of time and work is required to progress and resolve the problem. But when the solution is achieved, that’s a part of my role I really value.

Our community

Transform your area with our environmental improvement bid

Would you like to get involved and make small scale improvements to your local area? Perhaps you would like to create a communal garden or have other ideas on how to improve your neighbourhood.

If so, please submit your application for the Environmental Improvement Bid. The successful projects will receive funding up to £3000 to transform local areas. 

For more information and to apply, please contact our Resident Engagement Team via residentengagements@onehousing.co.uk.

Emergency first aid training for young people

We partnered up with StreetDoctors and the Dockland Youth Organisation on the Isle of Dogs to deliver a workshop for our young residents so they could learn what to do in a medical emergency.

The session was well received by all participants. One of our residents commented: “Thank you for this training session. I really enjoyed it and learnt a lot. Now I feel confident enough to help someone if I ever need to.”

We will deliver further three workshops across Tower Hamlets in near future. Look out for information on our website and newsletter and follow us on Twitter at @AskOneHousing.

The residents who attended found the session helpful. One of the attendees commented: “Thank you for taking the time to meet with residents. We would like to see more of these sessions.”

For more information on future events, please contact the Resident Engagement Team via residentengagements@onehousing.co.uk.