Community Voice

Community Voice

& Resident volunteers

NEWS MAGAZINE

SUMMER EDITION 2017

SUPPORTED BY ongo HOMES

Welcome Hello again folks trust you're enjoying the warmth, as the weeks go by, at the end of the day why don't you write down all the good things that have happened and soon you will have a record to cheer you up during the bad times. Meanwhile don't forget your sun cream.

Thought for the Day Epictetus the Greek philosopher wrote 2,000 years ago "Happiness and personal fulfilment, are the natural consequences of doing the right thing". Amazing Facts Flowers first appeared 140 million years ago. Before that it was just ferns and cone bearing trees. In the 1600's tulip bulbs were more valuable than gold in Holland. The tip of an elephant’s trunk is so is so sensitive and flexible it can pick up a pin. Father's Day I hope all you Dads had a great day waited on hand and foot. I'm still waiting for my Rolls Royce however it takes you back and I remember as a young lad wondering how my Dad could watch television with his eyes closed. Pet Alert Government Legislation has ensured that all pet dogs are micro chipped if you haven't had yours done yet call your vet. This has led to a 29% reduction in strays according to the RSPCA.

Police Alert Humberside Police are currently investigating approximately 60 cases of sextortion. This is when a offender demands moneyor other favours after luring their victim into taking off their clothes and/ or performing sexual acts in front of a webcam. It is how countless people have found themselves on the receiving end of blackmailers who threaten to post the pictures or videos to their friends and families unless they pay up. In some cases they are demanding thousands of pounds. Young men, boys and females are all being targeted. The warning is do not expose yourself in this way on social media and parents should keep an eye on their children. Humberside Police have started wearing body cameras in a pilot scheme, they are principally on a trial period essentially to tackle domestic violence which is considered there number one priority. It is a challenging crime to investigate as often the offences are behind closed doors with limited evidence available. The officers selected, routinely respond to emergency calls from victims or witnesses of such violence. Scam Watch 1)Debit Card Fraud Warning - You will receive a call purporting to be from the Visa fraud department. You will be told they'd registered a number of large transactions on your debit card at a named retail outlet. You will be asked to telephone 161 to report that you have been the victim of identity fraud. Don't dial that number it is a scam, after about ten minutes you receive a further call purporting to come from the police who said they had received the call via triangulation. He will ask if you want a patrol car sent round and if there is anything you need to report. Just put the phone down it's all part of the scam. It is amazing the sophistication used to commit this scam just imagine if it's used on the elderly or vulnerable members of our society. Your card company or the police will never ask for your financial details over the phone. 2) Holiday Villa Scam- Be careful when you book your holiday villa on-line as there are scams to the tune of £11.5 million in 2016 being perpetrated. A couple booked a holiday villa for their family after searching the web for the ideal accommodation and facilities, they paid by bank transfer and arranged to meet their host at the airport. When the host didn't arrive and the family couldn't reach him on the phone number provided, they decided to continue to the villa, only to find when they arrived there was already a family there. The police were informed and apparently they were told that they had handled a number of cases and there was nothing they could do but file a report and shut down the website where the villa was posted. Fortunately half the villa was available so the family achieved accommodation, however, they had to pay twice.

News from the World of Housing

Grenfell Tower Block Disaster We are all no doubt aware of the consequences of this tragic event, however aspects regarding the current Fire regulations have come under scrutiny. The government has come under pressure over a long awaited review of Part B of the Building Regulations 2010 which relates to fire safety. There was a commitment to conduct the review in October 2016 but there was criticism by the All - Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group in March this year, that it had not been done. Since 2013 three successive ministers have been asked to conduct a review of building regulations relating to fire safety. It is now of extreme importance to get the review started. It has been suggested that the installation of fire sprinklers should be a priority in tower blocks.

Actions to be taken:

Landlords- to take immediate action to check all cladding and external panels on tower blocks and take appropriate action to remedy any problems. Update risk assessments using an appropriate, qualified expert. Commit to renewing assessments annually and after major repairs or cladding work has been carried out. Review and update evacuation policies and "stay put "advice in light of risk assessment, communicate clearly to residents. Government–to provide urgent advice on the installation and upkeep of external insulation. Update and clarify building regulations immediately, with a commitment to update if additional learning emerges at a later date, based on data from the Grenfell enquiry. Fund the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tower blocks across the UK

(except when there are specific structural reasons not to do so).

Ongo Homes Response -there are currently four tower blocks under their control three on Market Hill and one on Trent View of Bridges Road. Ongo Homes reacted in a proactive manner with a letter of reassurance to all affected tenants within two days, followed by a residents meeting held on the 22nd June. Also the Fire service has carried out a survey of the cladding. Further reassurance was provided with the following comments:

1)The type of thermal insulation used on the buildings has gone through the formal certification process to test their performance in respect of fire.

2)None of the external wall insulation systems are of the rain screen type, and they all have a render type of finish, making them fully encapsulated.

3)All the Blocks are fitted with modern fire detection, emergency lighting and alarm systems, all of which are tested weekly.

4)There is a fire evacuation plan for each building, residents have been reminded of the plan. Residents have been asked to make sure the communal areas are clear from any of their belongings to ensure there is no fire hazard and also not to tamper with smoke and heat detectors or sounders in their flats.

5)Ongo Homes have also decided to install sprinklers in the blocks, it is their aim to have them installed within six to eight months, to provide further reassurance to the residents. I'm sure our hearts go out to the families and residents who suffered loss and injury in this catastrophic event. We can only hope that the subsequent independent enquiries provide them with some comforting information.

Facts from 2016 £1.7 billion was paid for High Court judgments with regard to housing. 21% of people living in the UK are currently in debt. There were 300 evictions per day during 2016. One in five adults have experienced issues including long term stress, anxiety and depression due to a housing problem over the last five years.

What is Supported Housing? It is a solution for vulnerable people to maintain their dignity and be part of a community. The target groups are people with mental health issues, learning or physical disabilities, addiction issues, victims and women at risk of domestic abuse, teenage parents, ex offenders, or older people. The support includes, access to treatment services, help with getting benefits, developing independent living skills such as how to cope in a crisis, developing budget skills, encouragement to reconnect with family and friends, or develop new social networks and assistance with taking up education, training and employmentopportunities. The aims are to support and enable service users to live asindependently aspossible in the community, they are empowered to be socially included.

Developers Land Banking Whilst developers have been accused of land banking which is delaying building new homes on purchased land in order to increase their profits when they eventually sell them off, however the builders have hit back by saying there is no benefit in delaying building as prices can go down as well as up. Several companies have explained that the delay is being caused by Council Planning Officers and have said the planning process is outdated and has far more red tape than before, also they are being charged exorbitant fees for a dedicated planning officer. Failure to use the services of the planning officer would leave them languishing. Unless planners have firm guidance to follow disruption and delays will continue. Funds need to be increased to employ more and higher quality planning officers. One instance given was a small development for 18 affordable flats taking two years to achieve planning, if you add six months to complete working drawings and a 12 month building period, this means a total of 3 and a half years to complete the project.

Homes and Community Agency (HCA) Future Plans The HCA is to be rebranded to Homes England. The new chief executive in his assessment of the current organisation did not mince his words when he said. "The HCA needs to rediscover its purpose. For me it's an opportunity to look back and think about the reason for its foundation". He also encouraged landlords to make the case for social rented homes to government. If ever there was a time for the sector to assert the economic and social value of social rent, it is now the chairman also said "That the HCA should take a much more aggressive stance towards buying land, and beat off competition from Housing Associations if necessary”. Let's just hope that there's enough land for social rented homes once the HCA has taken its pick.

Homes & Community Agency (HCA) Plans for Regulation of Value for Money (VFM) The HCA will launch a consultation into their proposed VFM standard in July/ August . It will propose using a limited suite of metrics drawn from the15 which a working group of Housing Associations has drawn up. Currently Housing Associations assess their own efficiency as a process of self assessment, this would be scrapped under the HCA plans. The 15 metrics include operating margin, number of units developed, investment in new housing and customer value for money satisfaction. The chair of the HCA commented as follows "More than 200 associations are piloting the scorecard and the working group has achieved a great result in coming up with their own metrics." Housing Associations Stress Testing- The Homes and Community Agency (HCA) has warned of "unacceptably weak" risk planning as it signals as tougher approach to compliance going forward. The shakeup to regulatory standards was introduced two years ago. The HCA are now planning a more robust approach, driven in some part where there has been “gross failures". Stress testing should now be an integral part of business planning, performance monitoring and risk management and that the excuse that a housing association is working toward compliance will no longer be acceptable. There have been recent examples of down grading of governance because of this issue.

Rent freedom call for Housing Associations The Government in their election manifesto has promised rent flexibility for our sector. The aim is to increase their housing stock, allowing them to build on their track record in recent years. Senior housing figures have called for flexibility to the way social rents are set. Rent freedom would give housing associations more control of their business plans and long term revenue streams, create confidence among lenders and ultimately allow the increase in development programmes to build more homes. A chief executive commented "we would like to see more flexibility to set rents, the UK rent policy is a mess and people living in similar properties pay very different rents”.

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) Effects on North Lincolnshire LHA is a process where the country has been split into regions and an average rent has been provided for each region to which housing benefit will be applied. Savills research has calculated that at least 88% of social rented homes could have their rents increased without exceeding the LHA cap. The property consultancy released the research ahead of a government decision on how rents will be governed once the annual 1% rent cut ends in 2020. In Scunthorpe the research has shown that two - thirds of new housing associations general need lettings in 2019/2020 would already exceed the LHA cap, meaning that benefit payments would not pay their rent. The town's market rents are very similar to social rents, raising the risk that rent freedom could see tenants switching tenure, leaving associations with empty homes.

Homeless Reduction Act The act has received royal assent therefore the bill has become law, placing a new duty on Councils to intervene at an earlier stage to prevent homelessness.

Green Belt Rules Sector bodies have criticised the government for failing to use the Housing White Paper as a chance to step up the release of green belt land. The National Housing Federation (NHF), The Home Building Federation (HBF), The British Property Federation (BPF)and Shelter have all expressed concerns that the new criteria for green belt development could undermine housing targets. The white paper proposed a series of hoops stated as: 1) Consideration of Brownfield sites

2)Estate regeneration underused and public sector land

3) Whether their development needs can be met by neighbouring local planning. authorities before they could allocate green belt for housing, requiring that they have "fully examined all other options" for satisfying local need.

Universal Credit Failures The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) have called for a pause in the roll out of the credit because the system is failing people. A new report has shown that 57% of claimants are having to borrow money whilst waiting for their first payment, also 39% are waiting for longer than six weeks before their first payment. Claimants are also struggling with the application process with 30% having to call the help line more than 10 times and some waiting more than 30 minutes to get through.

News from North Lincolnshire Council Ovo EnergyCycle Race Tour of Britain The council have worked with Ovo Energy to arrange to bring a full stage of Britain's biggest professional cycle race to the county. Stage 3 on Tuesday 5th September will start at Normanby Hall Country Park and finish in Scunthorpe. This race is the UK's highest ranked professional stage race.

Lincs LottoLaunched On 7th June the North Lincolnshire Council Lottery was launchedat the Baths Hall. Community groups and youth organisations were asked to attend as they will mainly be the beneficiaries from the Lotto. It is expected the first draw will take place in September.Prizes will be up to £25,000 and tickets are a £1.00 each. You will be able to choose your charity and 50p will go to them, a further 10p will go to the Councils Community Grant Fund which supports community projects across North Lincolnshire. The remaining 40p is split between the Lotto jackpot, running costs and VAT. You will be able to buy tickets online on the Lincs Lotto website in September.

Online Council Tax Service The council has opened up the service to enable residents to check their council tax payments online.To view your account visit on my account and follow the instructions. You will need your council tax account number and email address to access your account. Your account number can be found on you council tax bill. The information provided will be:

1)Your account transactions, such as direct debit payments

2)Your current payment instalment dates

3)Any arrears or costs on your account.

Winter Warmth People with cold related illnesses could get monetary help to make their houses warmer in the winter. Funding is available through the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme to help homeowners with a diagnosed cold relatedcondition, such as chronicrespiratory, cardiovascular or musculoskeletal illnesses make their homes warmer through insulation and heating measures.Go to Northlincs.gov.uk search for affordable warmth or tel. 01724 297000 for an enquiry form.