Incommunities @Home Spring Summer 2020 Newsletter
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Issue 59 Spring/Summer 2020 The newsletter for Incommunities customers Building great homes and better lives plus! fantastic prizes to also be won in this Looking watch out Thumbs up issue... for work for cyber to Skipton - Contact scammers homes page 7 page 15 our Hub page 17 WelcomeMessage from Geraldine Howley A warm welcome to your Spring/Summer edition of @home. We are all facing difficult times as coronavirus affects all of us. Unfortunately, it means many of our services are affected, however you can be assured we are focused on providing you with the best service possible in the circumstances. We include a reminder of the Government’s advice to help protect you and your family on page 10 of your newsletter. Several sites in Bradford are being Your @home also includes more on the new regenerated with new housing fit for European-funded Bradford Employment the future. They include at Bolton Hub to help local jobseekers find the right Woods where work nears completion routes into work. on the last of 64 homes for rent built To read more about how we are over two phases. working to improve lives take a In honour of our long standing Board break with your new @home. member and former Council leader, Ian Greenwood, one of the roads at the development will carry his name Geraldine Howley - a wonderful tribute to an inspiring individual. Incommunities Group Chief Executive It’s exciting to see the handover of more homes in Sheffield to Sadeh Lok and the letting of our first rented homes to Incommunities in Skipton. These are going to local people under arrangements with the local Councils in these areas and show our ambitions to spread our wings! “Our Employment We are committed to helping local families and people who might be Hub aims to help job struggling to pay their bills, find seekers find the right work or access the benefits they are entitled to. Teams from Incommunities route into work” and Sadeh Lok continue to develop local partnerships in West Yorkshire to Contacting us help you. There are lots of ways of getting in touch with our teams. As well as phoning us, you can email or text us or go to our website www.incommunities.co.uk Our main email enquiries address is: [email protected] Please recycle your @home newsletter Incommunities Limited is a registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Our main customer telephone Society Act 2014. Registered in England with the Financial Conduct Authority No. 30178R. number is: 01274 257777 2 Registered address: The Quays, Victoria Street, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD17 7BN. We have started 2020 with a renewed determination to deliver on our ambitions set out in our strategic plan, Improving Lives to 2040 and having the right skills and people in place is key to our progress. The Board welcome exciting developments taking shape in Bradford, South Yorkshire and now North Yorkshire but we also remain focused on delivering modern high quality services to you. I am delighted that we are seeing major improvement in our repairs operation where we with Jan are embracing new technologies to provide more convenient services that better suit your needs. As an ambitious and responsive housing provider this is the way forward. Everyone is rightly worried about the Increasing customer engagement and listening to you remains a top priority for us and whether you Coronavirus outbreak and its impact on are a tenant, leaseholder or shared ownership our lives. We want to reassure you that we customer we want to hear from you. There are are committed to keeping our vital services lots of ways you can do this and to find out more running for you and protecting your wellbeing turn to page 10 or ring us on 01274 257905. and that of our most vulnerable residents. These are challenging times but as a group we will continue to move forward with purpose. Jan Ormondroyd 2019 finished on a real high with news that Common Board Chair we had again retained our top rating from our regulator. Road to be named in honour of former Board member To round off the completion of our new homes at Bolton Woods one of the new roads onto the development will be named ‘Ian Greenwood Way’. Ian Greenwood Ian was a former board member with us and Bradford Council leader. He was elected as a Councillor for Bolton and Undercliffe in 2018 and sadly died later that year. Geraldine Howley, Incommunities’ Group Chief Executive said: “I am delighted that the Council agreed to our road naming on this development in tribute to Ian. “Ian was passionate about providing good quality housing for everyone and served Incommunities and the city with distinction.” Homes at Bolton Woods taking shape The naming ceremony is due to take place later this year. IMPROVING LIVES INCOMMUNITIES 3 Key to new homes In February we celebrated the completion of the first of a number of affordable homes developments we’re delivering in 2020. In Thornbury all eleven family-sized homes for rent were quickly snapped up by local homehunters. The homes come with individual driveways and attractive fitted kitchens and bathrooms. Across the city 14 more three and four bedroom homes are nearing completion at Green Lane. Sixty-five houses have been completed at the Rupert Pometsey, Incommunities’ Director of Manningham site in two earlier phases. Development said: “We are committed to giving local people greater choice and continuing to reuse At Bolton Woods 40 family-sized homes for rent old housing sites to offer affordable and attractive are taking shape as part of our second phase of 21st century homes. works to breathing new life into the area. Our new homes will add to the exciting plans by developers “Over the past decade we have built over to create an ‘urban village’ with links via the Canal 800 new homes across the district and Road corridor to the city centre. in Kirklees and working with Homes In the coming weeks, diggers will move onto the site England we are on track to deliver of our former sheltered scheme in Undercliffe as another 1000 affordable work starts on building 25 three and four bedroom homes by 2025.” homes for affordable rent. Hard to let blocks to make way for new homes The last of the three blocks, Peel House, comes down The skyline at Crosley Wood in Bingley has changed with the demolition of three empty high-rise blocks. Over 20,000 tonnes of debris has been removed as the site is being prepared for a new lease of life. All of the material is being recycled to create hardcore for road surfacing and new UPVC windows. Exciting plans have been submitted to build 93 two and three bedroom homes with half available for rent and the rest for shared ownership and sale. 4 Caring workers made 2019 a bumper fundraising year as they Clocking up the walked, swum, rowed and baked to raise over £9,000 for miles for charity some great causes. Over £1,600 was raised for Women’s Aid in a swim challenge led by Group Chief Executive Geraldine Howley. The four-strong team took to the icy waters of Lake Windermere for the Great North Swim. Another fearless team took on a zip wire challenge to raise £1,450 for the Sue Ryder Manorlands hospice. Residents at some of the housing group’s retirement living schemes joined staff to collect and donate £700 for Macmillan Cancer Support by organising At the end of 2019 we raised our biggest coffee mornings. sum (£2,061) in a staff raffle in aid of the local homelessness charity, Bradford Nightstop. A big thank you to residents at Goodwin House who joined our housing teams in Shipley, Bradford and Further charities supported included Simon on the Huddersfield in donating food, toiletries, toys and Street, MIND, the Royal British Legion, Alzheimer’s clothes to three local foodbanks as well as Bradford Society, Save the Children and Bradford Burns Unit. Women’s Aid, the Pennine Domestic Violence Incommunities’ Group Chief Executive Geraldine Group and Bradford Nightstop. Howley, said: “It’s been another fantastic fundraising year with charities – big and small – benefiting from the selfless support of staff and residents who’ve all been determined to make a difference to others lives.” Staff and residents in ‘red day’ for heart fund Scores of staff turned up for work in red last month to raise money towards the vital work of the Leeds- based Children’s Heart Surgery Fund. Bucket collections at our different bases raised £200 and kind hearted residents at Farish House in Keighley donated a further £100 following a bun sale and raffle. ff wear red Sta at T he Q u a y s ! IMPROVING LIVES INCOMMUNITIES 5 Managing your money Spring is a good time to get on top of your finances. Managing your household budget can sometimes be a juggling act so here are some top tips from our Income Team to help stay in control of your Make things easier finances. and set up a Making a Budget is the first step to keep direct debit! track of what’s coming in and going out Setting up a monthly direct debit Try to save every month and this can help you to pay your rent is a great way of budget for any emergencies. Even regularly managing your budget and your tenancy. It’s saving a small amount soon adds up the safest and easiest way to ensure your rent and other bills are paid on time.