Hull City Council is the first council inthe country to have signed up to theSee the Person campaign. It aims to tackle the negative stereotypes oftenants by sharing positive stories of socialhousing tenants and highlighting the benefitsmany tenants bring to their communities.

A national survey has shown that around 90 percent of social housing tenants feel that the mediaportrays a negative stereotype of them.

The campaign is organised, and widelysupported, by tenants and staff from registeredsocial housing across the country.

At the Tenants Forum’s Thank You Event inDecember, Nev Allison Chair of the Tenant’sForum welcomed Matt Jukes, Chief Executive ofthe council and tenant reps in signing the pledge.They were joined by Jenna Thompson, DeputyEditor at the Hull Daily Mail and Lord Mayor,Councillor Pete Allen. Councillor John Black,Porfolio Holder for Housing had already signedhis support ahead of the event.

Matt Jukes told the audience that he wasextremely proud to be signing the pledge onbehalf of the council, highlighting the importanceof social housing tenants to the city. He alsoexplained how social housing had played asignificant and positive part in his childhood andthanked attendees and housing staff for theimportant contribution they make.

Jenna Thompson from the Hull Daily Mail said“Neil Hodgkinson, the Editor-in-Chief was alsobought up in social housing, and is really keenfor the Hull Daily Mail to support the See thePerson campaign”, Jenna also said she was“proud to be signing the pledge and working onthe initiative and with the tenants over the nextyear”.

Further information on the campaign can befound here: www.benefittosociety.co.uk

You can hear more of what was said in our onlineedition.

Hull City Council Housing is on Facebook ‘Like’ our page and discover more information

3774 Corporate Marketing

This document can be made available in other formats (large print, audio, digital copy,or Braille) and different languages. Call (01482) 300 300 or textphone (01482) 300 349.

Have you checked out the Hull Housing’s Facebook pagewww.facebook.com/hulltp/ Keep in touch with all the news andlet us have your thoughts about housing in Hull

Spring 2018

Chat with the Chair

Warm HomeDiscount

A day in the life ofSally Smith....

Tenants’ Forummeeting dates

In this issueWinter

Tenant participation inHull’s Housing Serviceisn’t just a nice littleextra - it’s a legalrequirement. However, Sally and her teamoffer far, far more than thebare minimum as this briefsnapshot of her typicalworking day shows.

“You don’t need an alarmclock in the morning in ourhouse,” says Sally, “not whenyou have two cats pawing theduvet to tell you they wanttheir breakfast!” So beforesetting off for work Sally’s firsttask is to feed her cats, thenthe fish in her pond and makesure the wild bird feeders arefull. She likes to be in theoffice no later than 7.30amwhen she can go through her

emails and calendar for theday in peace and quiet withher ever present over-sizedmug of tea.

Sally has worked in tenantparticipation since 2002,despite the job being originallybeing a six week secondment.In fact, she has worked inHousing for 35 years in a widerange of roles which haveincluded booking repairs byphone to being estate basedas a neighbourhood housingofficer, which, she saysequipped her with theknowledge and experience forher current role.

Sally credits the incrediblecommitment and energy of hersix-strong team and an“amazingly dedicated” coregroup of tenants as beingbedrock for tenantparticipation in the city.

Appropriately, the first meetingof the day is with her team. Onthe agenda is a check list forthe next Tenants’ Forummeeting. The Forum is the hubfrom which all tenantinvolvement activities develop.Usually there is a speaker atthe forum and this time it’s theCity Street Scene Manager.Sally gets an update on the11 Tenant and ResidentsAssociations (TARAs) acrossthe city, all of which aresupported by the TP team. Toread more about Sally’s daygo online.

You can read Sally’s blog,which was recently publishedby TPAS on how she sees theway forward for tenantparticipation in Hull here:https://www.tpas.org.uk/blog/future-proofing-our-involvement-hull-city-council

HOUSING NEWSHULL

COMPACT VERSION - EXTENDED ARTICLES ONLINE

Developed for tenants, by tenants, workingin partnership with Hull City Council

Date Time Agenda/Guest Speaker

Tues 15 Jan 10am-12noon Landlord Service Manager, Housing Tenancy Manager and Cllr John Black, Portfolio Holderfor Housing

Mon 18 Feb 1-3pm To be confirmed

Tues 12 Mar 6:30-8:30pm To be confirmed

Tenants’ Forum meeting dates 2019

All meetings take place in The Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, Kingston upon Hull, HU1 2AA . Anyone interested in any of the above meetings or to gain further information should call 01482 300 300and ask to speak to the Tenant Participation Team.

Voice of Tenants Read the full articles www.hull.gov.uk/housingnews

Plenty ofSupportPledged

A day in the life ofSally Smith....TenantParticipation Manager forHull’s Housing Service

4PP Housing news Win 2018_Layout 1 20/12/2018 11:11 Page 1

Read the full articles www.hull.gov.uk/housingnewsRead the full articles www.hull.gov.uk/housingnews

Read the full articles www.hull.gov.uk/housingnews

BloomingMarvellous! In depths of winter we thoughtyou might like to see a cheerypicture of one of the winninggardens in our first ever gardencompetition for tenants. It’s hard

to imagine that they werephotographed in the middle oflast summer’s heat wave!

Building on the competition’ssuccess, we will be holdinganother competition this year.Look out for full details of the2019 competition in the springnewsletter.

Universal CreditLast month, Universal Creditwas rolled out across the city,

following the partial roll out inareas of west Hull in July. Theintroduction of Universal Credit

is part of the government’sreform of welfare benefits. Sixbenefits - Housing Benefit,Employment and SupportAllowance, Job SeekersAllowance, Working Tax Credit.Child Tax Credit and IncomeSupport - have been rolled intoUniversal Credit, which will bepaid to you as a single paymentonce a month. If you are belowpension age and receive any ofthese six benefits, are you readyfor Universal Credit? Why not goonline and watch our short videoabout what you need to do. Ifyou’ve moved over to UniversalCredit already and find you arestruggling to pay your rent,please contact the councilstraight away on 01482 300 300to see how we can help you.

Digital ChampionsSince they swung into actionover the summer to help people

get online, our tenant volunteerchampions have helped almostthan 200 people. The team hasbeen especially successfulworking alongside colleagues atthe Department of Work andPensions at Britannia House. Aswell as advising on what theyneed to do to be ready for theintroduction of Universal Credit,our tenant volunteers havehelped people to update theirCVs, search and apply for jobsonline. Read how volunteer PaulReynolds has supported the

DWP team in their officialtraining programmes in ouronline version.

Have you seen uson Facebook?Many of you follow ourFacebook pagewww.facebook.com/hulltp/ andnow you can talk to us in realtime at our Facebook Livesessions. We held our first onein October with questions toNeighbourhoods and HousingCity Manager Dave Richmondwhich is still available online.

Commenting on his experienceDave said “It was brilliant. I wasamazed at the number ofquestions we received and evenmore amazed when I went backto the page recently and sawthat we had almost 1,200 views -not bad for a first attempt.Facebook Live will become aregular feature of ourengagement work because itenables you to reach peoplewho can’t or don’t want to comealong to meetings. It’s ourintention to hold more FacebookLive sessions in the future.”

Keep an eye on Housing’sFacebook page for informationand dates.

Chat with the Chair

Our national voiceFirst, I wish you all a veryhappy and healthy 2019.

While reflecting over whatto write in this issue, itstruck me what a long waywe have come from beingjust a small group oftenants trying (andsucceeding) in having a sayabout how Housing is run inHull, and being representedat the highest level. Ourvoice is heard loud andclear nationally, not onlywhen the TenantParticipation AdvisoryService (TPAS) quote Hull’sgood practice and useexamples from our casestudies, but also face-to-face with ministers and topcivil servants in Whitehall.

From the very start, ourtenants participated inregional consultations as towhat might be included inthe recent Green Paper onSocial Housing. Since itspublication, two of ourtenants have been invitedto the Department forHousing, Communities andLocal government inLondon as part of a selectnational delegation todiscuss how itsrecommendations could beimplemented for legislation.

We are founder membersof See the Personcampaign (formerly Benefitto Society) and are the onlycouncil (not housing

association or ALMO)tenants with a seat on thecampaign’s nationalsteering group. Thecampaign is lobbying hardto destigmatise the socialhousing sector and changethe way people in generaland the media in particularcover social housingstories. Even though it wasonly set up last year, thecampaign is getting resultswith respect for peopleregardless of their tenureand promoting tenantparticipation being some ofthe main themes in theSocial Housing GreenPaper. Here in Hull wehave had considerable airtime on local radio and boththe council and the HullDaily Mail have signed upto the See the Personpledge. Also last month, wewere delighted to host Seethe Person’s nationalsteering group in Hull andshow them our wonderfulcity.

As the voice of tenants inthe city, we’ve madesignificant progress sincewe were set up 14 yearsago. We never stand stilland will continue to ensurewe are heard and thatHull’s tenants remain at theheart of the HousingService.

Until next time

Nev AllisonChair of the Tenants’ Forum

Hull Housing News News In Brief

Warm HomeDiscountThe Warm Home Discount is agovernment scheme set up tohelp people who qualify get £140credit towards their electricitycosts. The Warm Home DiscountScheme is not the same as coldweather payments and winter fuelpayments.

You may qualify if you are gettingthe guarantee credit part ofPension Credit, or are on a lowincome.

Check with your supplier to see ifthey offer the Warm HomeDiscount as not all suppliers arepart of the scheme.

If you’ve applied for the WarmHome Discount but you switchsupplier before you get thepayment, you have to apply againwith your new supplier. Your newsupplier might have different rulesabout who gets the discount. Thisdoesn’t affect you if you get thediscount automatically, withouthaving to apply.

Unfotunately the

production of this new

digital version has been

delayed and will be

available online

soon.

Annual

Report

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