(Hippy Ally) in one of my costumes worn to celebrate 60 years of Housing 21.

Hello, I’m Ally, Head of Extra Care, and I look after the North Region for Housing 21 (H21).

I would like to start with saying a huge thank you to all the courts for the fantastic events that have taken place over the month. Dancing, singing, cakes, and fancy dress – what’s not to love, and yes, I overindulged in all of it. To the extent that I spent a week having to use a pair of crutches to get round the last few parties - cue lots of questions from residents and team members.  

My favourites include:

·       From my own team: “Are they part of your costume? (the crutches)” Me: “Nope.”

·       From a resident: “Too much dancing and cake?”   Me: “No such thing.” 

·       From a resident: “Use my scooter to get him out of the way faster” Me: “Cheeky.”

No sooner were my dancing shoes retired, a microphone was thrust into my hand, and I was told to read the words on the screen – yes, you guessed it……karaoke time. And yes, true to form, another activity where I have been shown to have zero talent. With gusto I gave it my all – team members covered their ears, residents laughed (thinking it was an act), wolves and stray dogs came running, mistaking my howling as an injured animal’s cry for help.

So, what did I learn? Despite getting around a bit slower and discovering I can summon wolves by song alone. I have loved how people have been keen to tell me how much they like Housing 21, they love where they live and the difference team members make. You were also honest and shared where we are not getting it right, and where there is room for improvement. I was asked (a lot) “why doesn’t Housing 21 celebrate our gardens and green fingered residents in some way?”  “Why don’t we have our own H21 recognition/competition?” To be honest, I don’t know why we didn’t, but now it’s raised I can try and do something.

So, because of this feedback I have decided to act (look out Alan Titchmarsh). I am looking to organise our very own ‘In Bloom’ competition for interested courts (in the North).  Our very own ‘North-in-Bloom’. We will need to give people enough time to plan, so dates, competition categories etc. are still to be agreed and all thoughts are welcomed. Never has the saying ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ been so true.

This leads me nicely to the importance of feedback and the National Residents' Survey. I won’t duplicate the detail below but, if you could grant me one wish this year, please take the time to complete the survey. Even if everything is perfect and you love it, let us know, and we’ll keep doing it. Or, if you think we can improve, please let us know and we can act upon it.

Again, please excuse my lack of photography skills for this month’s picture. I’ll get advice in future from our talented photography winners from Bowland View and Linskill Park (2^nd  and 3^rd Place) congratulations and well done. Full details further below.

Right, that’s enough from me for this month. I don’t want to keep you from filling out your surveys to let me know if you agree with ‘Hippy Ally’s’ sign in the picture above.

In the interim, if you would like to keep in touch or, if you have any questions for myself or my wider leadership team within the North, please get in touch via email: alastair.dewar@housing21.org.uk

A note from Caroline Kaiser 

As we come to the tail end of our beautiful summer holidays, I hope that we have managed to spend some precious time with our loved young ones during their school break. 

We cannot truly complain about the “British” weather because we had a good balance of hot sunny periods and cooler days. Someone somewhere celebrates the weather whatever it is, and we are grateful! 

As September glides in, we prepare for our annual National Residents' Survey, which is open from 2 to 21 September, and it is being conducted differently this year. We listened to the feedback from our residents and responded with making changes where we could legally do so. The key differences from previous years are: 

1. It is a joint survey – the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) and Care surveys as required by both Housing and Care regulators will be conducted at the same time. This is to minimise the frequency of survey completions and avoid confusion about what service the feedback relates to. Please complete the sections that are relevant to the services you receive. All Residents will complete the TSM and for those receiving care from Housing 21, complete the care section as well. 
2. The survey packs will be sent directly from Acuity (independent organisation) to the scheme manager, who will then distribute them to each resident, each individually addressed. Where there are new residents within a scheme, who moved in after records had been taken, there are blank packs which will be allocated and recorded accordingly. 
3. Each scheme will hold a survey event where residents will be supported to complete the survey. Please note that this will be simply for clarification and not to influence the feedback given. There will be independent teams from neighbouring schemes who will be available to assist with this. You are also welcome to have a relative or advocate support with this activity. All responses are confidential.
4. On completion of providing the survey feedback, each resident will place their response booklet in a sealed envelope and hand this back to the scheme manager, who will return all responses in one batch to Acuity.
5. Every resident that completes a survey will be entered into a draw with a potential to win one of 10x£50 Love2Shop vouchers.
6. We want to hear from you. Please do complete your National Residents' Survey 😊 

The closing of the Resident Survey, 21 September 2024, also happens to be the International Day of Peace. Let us all intentionally pursue to live in peace with our neighbours during this month of September.