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SPRING 2019
NEWSLETTER FOR SANCTUARY HOUSING RESIDENTS
Building safety consultation P3 Everybody needs good neighbours P6 Get involved in Rochford P7
Competition: Win a £20 Love2Shop voucher in our spring prize draw
SPRING 2019
Welcome to your includes the installation of new heating systems, new
latest edition of Voice doors and windows, internal and external decorations and
magazine. This year a revamp of communal areas. We have also upgraded the
has already been a fire alarms, added new storage space for scooters, and
very busy time for us in installed stairlifts.
Sanctuary Housing and
has brought us many Following a consultation with our National Residents’
new opportunities and Scrutiny Panel (NRSP) I am pleased to announce that we
some challenges, which will be phasing out fixed term tenancies, from 1 April 2019.
you will read about in We have nearly 9,000 tenants currently on fixed term
this edition. arrangements who will be offered a lifetime tenancy when
their existing agreement comes up for renewal. This change
Last month we held a will provide our residents with long-term security for the
consultation event with our residents from Plymouth on future and remove any unnecessary worries.
a proposed multi-million pound investment in their Barne
Barton estate. We asked them whether they would like I cannot sign off this introduction without mentioning the
us to purchase the estate from the current owners and recent coverage of Sanctuary Housing properties on the
regenerate it with new homes or refurbish the existing Dispatches programme broadcast on Channel 4. You can
properties to a modern standard. I would like to thank read our full response to the programme on the next page.
all residents who have provided their feedback and I would just like to re-iterate that our priority continues to
attended the consultation. We had some really engaging be delivering excellent services to our residents and to
conversations about the investment and how we can work support our staff who work really hard across the country
closely with them through this process. to deliver those services.
A great example of how we are investing in our properties Best Wishes
was celebrated with an event for local residents, councillors
and staff in Rochford last month. We have invested around Daren Nowlan
£6 million to significantly upgrade 12 of our housing for Operations Director - Housing
older people schemes across the Rochford district. This
Together with tenants
We have welcomed the National Housing Federation’s (NHF) Together with Tenants draft plan which was launched in
February.
The plan proposes a range of measures to help ensure tenants and residents are listened to and have greater
opportunities to influence decisions made about their homes and the services they receive.
We are working with our National Residents’ Scrutiny Panel (NRSP) to provide feedback on the proposals contained in the
plan and consider how tenant and resident involvement should be strengthened.
Craig Moule, Sanctuary Group Chief Executive, said: “We are proud of our existing resident involvement mechanisms
but we recognise that we can and should go further to listen to tenants’ views, and to design our services and investment
plans around their wishes and expectations. I look forward to hearing residents’ views on this plan and working with them
to enhance involvement.”
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Our response to
Channel 4 Dispatches
You may have seen the recent Channel 4 Dispatches programme in which we featured, which asked whether
housing associations are the ‘new landlords from hell’.
If you saw the programme, you’ll have seen that it featured various cases where the programme makers claimed
we had let residents down. We have looked into all the cases in great detail and are confident that we took the right
steps throughout and that how our actions have been presented – that we refused to fix issues for example – is
simply untrue.
We do recognise however that this programme is indicative of a growing conversation among tenants about the
standard of homes and whether they are fit for purpose. We want you to know – we hear what you are saying.
We have started a conversation with our National Residents’ Scrutiny Panel about how we should go forward,
whether we need to review our standards and how we can get more residents involved in scrutinising our services.
If you would like to get involved, or give us your views about any of this, please contact us via the contact details
which can be found on the back page of this newsletter.
Building Safety Review
Following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017, the government commissioned a report to make
recommendations for future building regulations and fire safety. The report, ‘Building a Safer Future - Independent
Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety’, was published in May
2018, and focuses on high rise residential buildings of 10 storeys or more.
As part of our fire safety work and in response to the report’s
recommendations, we are working with the National Residents’ Scrutiny
Panel (NRSP) to develop a new ‘Fire Safety Community of Interest’ led by
resident Peter Hedges (pictured right). The new community of interest
will be made up of residents from a range of our high rise residential
blocks across the country, piloting an approach to resident engagement
strategies that can be used nationally.
The new community of interest will be supported by staff from across
Sanctuary Group with related expertise including health and safety,
fire safety, housing management, maintenance and reinvestment,
communications and regulation.
This pilot will be completed by the end of 2019, and we hope to roll-out Peter Hedges will be leading
the national engagement programme with residents in all our high rise our Fire Safety work on behalf
residential buildings in 2020. of the NRSP
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COVER STORY
Getting to know our
Chief Executive
Craig Moule was appointed as Sanctuary’s new
Group Chief Executive in January this year. He
has been with Sanctuary for 30 years, having
joined the organisation in 1989.
Craig recently met with our National
Residents’ Scrutiny Panel (NRSP) to introduce
himself and get to know the residents who
volunteer their time and skills to shape and
scrutinise our services on behalf of all our
residents. It was also an opportunity for them
to ask him some burning questions.
Q: How do you see the role of the NRSP? Craig chatting with NRSP Chair Wendy Burridge
A: “I think our most effective eyes, ears, and influencers are
our residents, and that’s not just yourselves.The NRSP is
clearly central to that process of listening to residents and
ensuring we get it right first time. I still expect us to make
mistakes, but it’s how we put those right and it’s about being
aware of what they are. What I do know is just how committed
our teams are around the country, and they are on the
frontline doing some very difficult jobs and want to do them
right.
“I think, the other thing for me is to make sure the NRSP has
the opportunity to interact with a broader range of people in
Sanctuary, so that you feel that you have proper insight and
accountability in other projects that you will find relevant.
“I would ask that you are honest with us; that you don’t shy
away from telling me when you think I am out of order on
things - I promise I’ll give you my straightforward opinion.”
Resident Graham Jones (left) poses a question
to Craig
Q: What do you think the key challenges
are for Sanctuary and what changes are
you planning to make?
A: “The expectations of our customer base, appear to me, to be moving at an ever-increasing pace. I think we’ve got
to do a lot more behind the scenes to make ourselves slicker, less bureaucratic and less process-orientated. These
are easy things to say, but pretty difficult to do, in any organisation.
“And why do I think we need to do that? We need to spend less on process to spend more on properties. It’s as
simple as that.
“If you’ve got older properties and increased consumer expectations, then you’ve got to marry those two things
up. And unlike most organisations, in most of our functions we don’t re-price our services to do that because the
majority of our income is set by regulation.
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“Despite the environment we are in, despite the rent cuts that we’ve endured, we continued to spend on
maintenance and reinvestment. We need to spend even more money on maintenance and reinvestment. Maybe
I’m using my honeymoon period to achieve that, but so be it. Going forward, I expect us to continue to increase
investment in our homes and services.”
Q: Does that potentially imply less money for other things, particularly I’m
thinking of the customer-facing Housing Officers?
A: “No, I don’t think so, I think it’s about enabling them to be more customer-facing. I think they spend far too much
of their time doing things ‘on the system’.
“I’m hoping you’ve seen that your Housing Officers are out and about equipped with portable computers. That’s one
step in enabling them to be out more during their work on site. We are also introducing a range of new apps for them.
Our surveyors have similar equipment now, so they can do their surveying on their handheld, rather than having to
write it down and go back to the office and type it all in. We’ve been rolling this out for about 18 months, it’s no small
task as you can imagine.”
Q: What is your vision for Housing for
Older People?
A: “We have a classic spectrum of Housing for Older People.
We have everything from home owners, through to bedsit type
accommodation, through to the loveliest new build retirement
living accommodation that I have ever come across. It’s an
interesting mix, but therein lies a whole range of challenges we
face and hopefully play our part to resolve. Housing for Older
People is, and will remain, one of our core services.”
To ensure we continue to improve our services in a positive
way for our residents and neighbourhoods, we invite you to get
involved and have your say. For more information, visit
www.sanctuary-housing.co.uk/how-to-get-involved or
email scrutiny@sanctuary-housing.co.uk
Peter Hedges and Terry Gill catch up with Daren
Nowlan, Operations Director – Housing
Residents Terry Gill, Peter Hedges, Jean McDonnell, Bob Werritt and Zoe Turner discussing the role of the NRSP with Craig
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Your stories
Everybody needs good neighbours
Two neighbours who came to the aid of another in her time
of need have been given special thanks for their efforts.
Sheffield residents Nicola Williams and Maureen (Mo)
Bishop, who live either side of Freda France in the same road
in Shiregreen, often visited for coffee and a chat, but became
concerned when they noticed her curtains were still closed
one morning.
When they investigated, they found that Freda had fallen
and become trapped in the toilet overnight. They called the
emergency services who took the internal door off its hinges
and rescued her. Freda was then taken to hospital where she
spent a week recovering from her ordeal and firmly believes Close neighbours Nicola Williams and
Maureen Bishop who came to Freda’s aid
that she might not have survived if they hadn’t found her following a fall at home
when they did.
In a letter to the Neighbourhoods team, Freda wrote; “Two fire engines, one ambulance – I remember nothing –
but thank God for these two (as) I owe them my life”.
Nicola, Mo and Freda were invited along as special guests to the recent Shiregreen Community Awards where
they celebrated with a delicious afternoon tea and were each presented with flowers as a token of everyone’s
appreciation.
A proud day of All shook up at
Remembrance in London Shaftesbury Court
A Compton Leigh resident was
The King came to Bordon
invited to take part in London’s
in Hampshire recently,
Armistice Day parade in November.
in the form of an Elvis
Hilary Smiles, who lives at the
tribute act. The residents
Plymouth scheme, joined 10,000
at Shaftesbury Court were
people marching past the Cenotaph
treated to a medley of hits
to mark the centenary of the end of
by impersonator Scott who
the First World War.
entertained everyone over
coffee and cake with friends
Hilary was proud to wear her late
and family joining them for the
father Major Francis Duffy’s medals
afternoon.
which were awarded for service in
the Medical Army Corp in India and
Kim Valler, scheme manager,
Cyprus during World War II. Hilary Residents Margaret
Hilary proudly displaying said: “The residents raised
was joined by her brother Gavin her late father’s medals Quinnell and Edith
money in their Christmas Coombes with Elvis
who also wore their grandfather’s
raffle, so we decided to invite impersonator, Scott
World War I and Boer War medals.
an Elvis impersonator to come
and entertain them. We had a
Hilary said: “We were both so proud that
great turn out and the residents
day – it was very emotional indeed.”
enjoyed a fantastic afternoon.”
6
Providing Would you like to make a
Sanctuary for difference in Rochford?
endangered Become a resident volunteer and have your say about
improving the services we provide.
birds in Cherwell We’re looking to recruit more volunteers in Rochford to
help us work in the best interests of our residents, reducing
Swifts are familiar summer visitors to our complaints and ensuring your views are really heard.
towns and villages, where groups can be seen
wheeling around buildings at high speed, There are a number of ways you can get involved and no
uttering their distinctive cries. Swifts return experience or qualifications are necessary. You just need to
to the UK from Africa in early May and depart be enthusiastic and able to commit to regular involvement in
around mid-August. whichever area you volunteer in.
There are Swift conservation groups all around Ways you can get involved:
the UK, including one in Cherwell, Oxfordshire,
- Sanctuary in Rochford Committee
which includes resident Chris Mason. The
group noticed that many homes dating from - Resident inspectors
the 1950s and 1960s, often of the type owned - Walkabouts
and maintained by Sanctuary, are popular with - Repairs sub-committee
Swifts.
- Resident consultation
After years of observation, Chris’ group now
know many of their local Swift nest sites and For more information about becoming a Rochford
pass on the information to the Sanctuary resident volunteer, email getinvolved@sanctuary-
maintenance team. In turn, Sanctuary avoids housing.co.uk or call 0800 131 3348 (landline) or 0300
non-essential maintenance work on those 123 3511 (mobile) and ask to speak to the Rochford
buildings during the short Swift nesting season Resident Involvement team.
and, where possible, leave the nest holes as
they are.
Chris said: “There are many nest sites that
Meet Trish...
haven’t been spotted yet, so if you spot any Sanctuary resident Trish O’Shea
nest sites or Swift activity at your house or (pictured right) lives in Rochford and
nearby, your local group would appreciate has been Chair of the Sanctuary in
hearing from you.” Rochford Committee for four years.
Her role within the committee is
For more information about these amazing about working with other residents
birds and to find your nearest source of to help monitor, shape and improve
advice, visit the Swift Conservation website Sanctuary’s services to its residents.
www.swift-conservation.org and search Trish said:
‘local help and assistance’, or if you live near
Oxford, you can also visit the Museum of
Natural History in the breeding season. “Being a part of the Rochford committee
gives me a real opportunity to contribute
within my community.
“The committee puts tenants and
leaseholders at the heart of the decision
SHARE YOUR STORY making process and our contribution is
If you have a story you’d like to share in greatly valued by Sanctuary Housing staff.
the next edition of Voice, please email “Sanctuary is always looking for more
voice@sanctuary-housing.co.uk or volunteers and your skills and experience
call 0800 131 3348 / 0300 123 3511 by could be just what we’re looking for on a
Friday 31 May 2019. walkabout, as a resident inspector or on one
of our committees so please think about
getting involved in some way.”
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SPRING COMPETITION
Here’s your chance to win a £20 Love2Shop voucher in our spring
competition.
To enter, all you need to do is complete the entry form below and
return it to Spring Voice Competition, Housing Communications Team, WIN
Sanctuary House, Chamber Court, Castle Street, Worcester WR1 3ZQ.
£20
Love2sh
You can also enter by emailing your details to voice@sanctuary- o
housing.co.uk with ‘Spring Voice Competition’ in the subject line or
voucher p
enter on Facebook, just like our Sanctuary Housing page and send us a
private message.
The closing date for entries is 31 May 2019.
Spring Voice Competition entry form
Spring Voice Competition entry form
Name
Address
Postcode
Phone number
Spring Voice Competition Terms and Conditions
This competition is open to current Sanctuary Housing residents only. Only one entry per household. The winner will be randomly
selected from all the correct entries received. The draw will be made following the closing date and the winner contacted by
phone or email if provided. The winner’s name will be published with their permission in the next issue of Voice magazine.
Winter Voice competition winner
The correct answer to the question in the winter issue of Voice was -26.1°c.
Kim Todd from Torquay answered correctly and her name was drawn at random from all the correct
entries to receive a £50 Love2Shop voucher. Congratulations Kim!
Direct Debit prize draw winner
The spring 2019 Direct Debit draw winner is Mr T Jeffery from Ipswich who
received £100 in Love2Shop vouchers by paying his rent by Direct Debit. DE BIT
CA RD
CALL
Sanctuary Housing
Sanctuary Housing
Email us: contactus@sanctuary-housing.co.uk
@HelloSanctuary
Call us: 0800 131 3348 (landline) or 0300 123 3511 (mobile)
Write to us: Marybone House, 2 Marybone, Liverpool, L3 2BY
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