Author: Vince Gregory

Please come along to one of these events to chat to us about the rent consultation and our plans to invest in your homes:

• Tuesday 10 January – Netherthird Community Centre – 6-7pm
• Wednesday 11 January – The Hut Bellsbank – 11am – 12 noon
• Thursday 12 January – Newmilns Food Larder – 2-3pm

If you can’t manage along to one of the events, please read the consultation pack, available here, and let us know your views using one of the following ways:

• Complete the free online survey at:  https://forms.office.com/e/iEtKT8W57w
• Post the survey included in the pack to: Shire Housing Association Limited, FREEPOST RTJA-LEEA-KXRX, Netherthird House, Cumnock, KA18 3DB
• E-mail us at: info@shirehousing.com
• Phone us on: 01290 421130

All tenant responses, where contact details are provided, will be entered into a Prize Draw to win a £50 shopping voucher.

 

The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) is recruiting Tenant Advisors. This is an exciting opportunity for tenants of social landlords to inform the Regulator’s work and bring a tenant perspective to its scrutiny of landlords’ services.

The SHR is the independent regulator of registered socials landlords (RSLs) and local authority housing services in Scotland, working to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants, people who are homeless, and others who use social housing services.

The SHR will appoint 12 independent volunteer Tenant Advisors. It is inviting applications from tenants of RSLs and local authorities across Scotland.

Individuals from all walks of life are encouraged to apply for this voluntary position and be instrumental in informing the future of social housing services in Scotland.

Tenant Advisors are tenants of either RSLs or local authorities who volunteer to participate in regulation work and support the Regulator by:

• Testing landlord services by acting as mystery shoppers, assessing information and materials produced by landlords for their tenants.
• Reviewing SHR draft publications and website facilities, and helping the SHR to make sure material is both accessible and user friendly for tenants.
• Asking other service users for their views when the SHR assess the quality of service provided by social landlords to give the SHR a direct, user perspective to add to other regulatory evidence.

Experts in housing, community development, and engagement practice, the Tenants Information Service (TIS), will work in partnership and support the Regulator in our recruitment of Tenant Advisors.

Applicants do not need any formal qualifications, training, or experience to become a Tenant Advisor, and will receive ongoing support to ensure their role will be fulfilled confidently.

If this voluntary position interests you and you would like to be considered for selection as a Tenant Advisor, please visit: www.housingregulator.gov.scot or http://tis.org.uk/shr-volunteer-tenant-advisors/  to download an information pack and application form. For further information, email info@tis.org.uk or call 0141 248 1242.

Reasonable expenses will be covered to make participation in your role as Tenant Advisor as convenient as possible.

The closing date for applications is 10:00am on Monday 14th February 2022, and appointments will commence on Friday 1st April 2022 for a term of 3-years.

Shire Housing Association are pleased to introduce our new gas servicing repairs and maintenance contractor Kingdom Gas Services.

The contract will commence on Monday 1st November 2021.

You should continue to report repairs and book service appointments by calling Shire Housing Association on 01290 421130 or 0800 3287446.

In the unlikely event of a problem with our telephone numbers then out of hours fault reports can be made direct to Kingdom on 0800 389 9463 or 01334 650 452.

Kingdom Gas Services will continue to provide the high-quality service you currently receive and will adhere to all Health and Safety regulations including current COVID 19 government guidelines and procedures.

Please join us in welcoming them as part of the Shire team.

Having already supported over 20 groups throughout the pandemic, Shire H.A are now working in partnership with 10 East Ayrshire community groups to further mitigate the impact of the Covid-19. Shire Housing Association has secured a further grant of £63,000 from the Scottish Government’s Community Recovery Fund. The funding up to March 2022 will support projects promoting health and wellbeing, digital inclusion, and community food hubs and larders.

Lorne Campbell, the Association’s Chair commented: “With this Recovery Fund Grant we will be able to continue supporting local groups enhancing youth services, youth clubs, play schemes, family fun days, gym sessions and digital drop-in centres. The money will also support work with food hubs, supporting more than 3000 vulnerable residents as we recover from the pandemic.

Heather McEwan from Create a Smile Scotland (CASS) one of the organisation’s benefitting from the new grant commented: “This new round of funding will allow us to work on getting our groups back together again! We’re going to be running a small social enterprise with some of our groups, which will allow them to get together at CASS Corner and give them something to look forward to each week. We will also be working with other community partners to host tea dances for individuals in our communities facing social isolation. The funding will also help fund wellbeing packs at Christmas for those who attend the CASS Christmas Day Dinner. This funding will help us to create smiles throughout our local communities!”

In its role as a community anchor the Association has previously secured £105,000 of Scottish Government grant funding working with community groups to mitigate the impact of pandemic in East Ayrshire.

Shire’s recent participation in the Energy Redress Scheme has helped 73 of our tenants get a share of over £2,000 of fuel support funding from the Scotland Social Housing Fuel Support funding. 

Diane Balfour and Leanne Morrison of Shire’s Financial Inclusion Team are delighted to have been able to help tenants with some much needed financial support with their fuel costs, especially with so many of us being at home more often due to Covid restrictions. 

The Scottish Social Housing Fuel Support fund is part of the Energy Redress Scheme that was launched in 2018.  The Energy Saving Trust has awarded over £26 million to fund over 150 charities across England, Scotland and Wales. These grants have enabled charities to deliver projects that help energy consumers in vulnerable situations to save energy and money in their homes and to live warmer, more comfortable lives.   

This scheme is now closed but Shire continues to seek opportunities like this to support our communities.  We are here to help, so do get in touch if you need any financial help and support. 

 

 

RENT CONSULTATION

Our rent consultation for 2021/22 is now live.  This is an opportunity for tenants to influence both their rent for the year ahead and the services we offer.

Packs have been posted to all tenants to read at home but you can also read the pack here.

You can give us your views by phoning the office on 01290 421130, emailing info@shirehousing.com or by completing the survey at https://tinyurl.com/y3vjtjwj

All tenants who include their contact details will be entered into a draw to win a £50 shopping voucher.

Rent Consultation Booklet 2021

New Repair & Maintenance Contractor – Turner Property Services
From 1 July 2020

Unfortunately, as a result of the COVID pandemic our repair & maintenance contractor, MPS Housing Ltd, is unable to continue with our contract from 30 June 2020. We are very sad to see a good reliable contractor no longer being able to trade.

The Shire Team have worked tirelessly over the last 2 months to secure short-term
arrangements with local multi- trade contractors to protect reactive repair services. We are delighted to announce Turner Property Services will take over as primary contractor from 1 July 2020. They will be supported by A-Catch Environmental & Property Services and DM Homeshield to ensure reactive repair services are responsive when COVID restrictions begin to ease.

The appointments ensure that you continue to receive a reliable and responsive repair service until we can tender for a new long-term Repair & Maintenance partner. They also offer an opportunity of employment for the local tradesmen that were at risk of losing their jobs when MPS Housing Ltd cease to trade.

There will be no change to the standard of service you have come to expect. An emergency only, out-of-hours service, is still available by calling the office on 01290 421130 and following the instructions. Please remember, this emergency service is in place to respond to situations that pose a threat to life, security or your ability to remain in your home.

As you may be aware Shire Housing were awarded a grant from the Scottish Government which will allow us to provide essential financial aid to the various groups who are working in our communities and are delivering much-needed support to the people of East Ayrshire.

 

It is fantastic that we find ourselves in this position where we can enable these groups, often of volunteers, to continue to do the amazing work that they have been doing tirelessly thus far. The grant underlines our work as a community anchor organisation, helping support our Business Vison of Great Homes, Great People, Vibrant Communities.

 

The first round of donations were made yesterday to 8 different groups across East Ayrshire who are working tirelessly to get support to those who are needing it most, and we may be able to assist more. So if you are working for, or volunteering with, a resilience group providing essential support, or if you know of a group who are supporting your local community in any of these locations: Auchinleck, Catrine, Cumnock, Craigens, Dalmellington, Galston, Hurlford, Kilmaurs, Logan, Mauchline, Netherthird, New Cumnock, Newmilns, Patna or Rankiston then we may be able to offer support. Get in touch and we shall see if we can help. Contact Alan Thomas on 01290 428015 or email him, athomas@shirehousing.com

 

Shire Housing Association has been awarded £50,000 of funding from the Scottish Government’s ‘Supporting Communities” fund. We shall be allocating this money across local groups and organisations who are providing COVID-19 resilience services, so that they can keep supporting their communities throughout these difficult times.

The funds shall be used for:

The provision of food

Equipment and expenses

Emergency fuel top ups

We are extremely grateful to the Scottish Government for this funding which will allow us to provide essential financial aid to the various groups who are working in our communities and are delivering much needed support to the people of East Ayrshire.

Many local groups have been working non-stop to provide an essential lifeline to people throughout this crisis and we cannot express enough how thankful we are to these people. It is fantastic that we find ourselves in this position where we can enable these groups, often of volunteers, to continue to do the amazing work that they have been doing tirelessly thus far. The grant underlines our work as a community anchor organisation, helping support our Business Vison of Great Homes, Great People, Vibrant Communities.

For up to date information regarding Coronavirus please check the NHSInform website – www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus