News

Winston the British bulldog sprinkled a little stardust when he visited tenants at our Harriet Court care scheme in Lakenham, Norwich, today [15 March 2018].

The aspiring doggy actor will shortly take up the role of Rufus in Legally Blonde: The Musical at Norwich Theatre Royal.

After the auditions held at Castle Mall last month, Winston won the chance to star alongside the show’s human cast – Rita Simons (Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders), Lucie Jones (the UK’s 2017 Eurovision Song Contest entrant) and Bill Ward (Coronation Street and Emmerdale). He will join the musical’s resident canine actor, Bruiser the Chihuahua, on stage when the show arrives in Norwich later this month.

Winston’s owner Rhonda Dunthorne (pictured right with her partner James Madden) is deputy manager at Harriet Court. The housing with care scheme home has 40 flats, which tenants rent from us while NorseCare provides on-site care to them. Rhonda said:

“I work at Harriet Court so some days Winston comes to work with me. There are tenants here who have had dogs all their lives but can’t have dogs now so they love to see him. It brightens their day and makes them smile. They make a fuss of him. He probably comes in once a month. He would come more if he could, but I obviously have to get my work done!”

Rhonda thinks Winston will be fine on stage:

“He’s good on the lead, good off the lead, so hopefully fingers crossed all will be well.”

Winston’s joint owner James added:

“It’s going to be a massive experience. We’ve never done anything like this before. Winston will just want to go and meet everybody. He’s very calm, obedient and well-socialised and just loves people.”

Winston has been preparing to tread the boards with lots of socialising – and the tenants appreciated his efforts.

Betty Griffin, aged 88 (pictured), has lived at Harriet Court for two years but sometimes feels lonely having lost her husband just before Christmas. She said:

“Winston comes into my room and jumps on my bed. He likes having his back tickled. I used to have little black poodles and bred them with my husband, so it’s nice when Winston comes in.”

Molly Gunton, 89, has been at Harriet Court for eight years. She said:

“I just love it and living here is the best thing that has happened to me. My dad was a gamekeeper and I grew up with black labradors, so it’s nice to see dogs here.”

Peter Cawdron, 77, who has been at Harriet Court eight months, said:

“Winston’s gorgeous, so friendly. I love all animals but I like them more when they are friendly!”

Pauline Scott, 86, has been at Harriett Court for a year.

“I think Winston is lovely. I’ve seen the Legally Blonde film and I think it’s wonderful he is going to be in the theatre show.”

Some of the tenants are looking forward to seeing Rufus in action at the show, which runs at Norwich Theatre Royal from 26-31 March 2018.

Photo of Betty Griffin by Anthony Kelly

 

 

Last week [28 February 2018], social housing tenants from across the UK* travelled to the House of Commons to meet their MPs for the launch of Benefit to Society.

A new survey** shows that more than 90% of tenants feel the media portrays them in a negative way.

High-profile ministers from the main political parties pledged their support for the tenant-led campaign to challenge media stereotypes and public perceptions, and urged others to do the same.

The Housing Minister Dominic Raab (right) said that stigma was the number one issue raised at the tenant consultation roadshows last year.

He said that “the stigma is very ugly indeed and we have to do something about it. It’s time for positive stories to dispel those myths.” 

Shadow Housing Minister Melanie Onn commended the work of housing associations on the Benefit to Society campaign, and in ensuring that tenants’ voices are heard.

She said: “We’ve seen serious issues arise in the last few years; we see poor doors being used in new developments to segregate social tenants and mean they enter by the bins, we’ve seen the children of social renters having less rights to communal areas than other tenants’ pets and we’ve seen tenants complain about having Grenfell survivors being rehoused in their housing block.

“This segregation and mistrust prevents cohesive neighbourhoods from developing. Stable, cohesive and happy neighbourhoods are vital to stopping this stigma, but understanding neighbourhoods is complex. Tenants’ voices are vital in this, they are the people who understand the complex relationships that form and know how to improve cohesion. 

“I am pleased that tenants will lead this campaign, and pleased to pledge my support for this campaign.”

Professor Anne Power from the London School of Economics presented her team’s research (pictured) on overcoming stigma in social housing. It seems Britons on average estimate that around 1 in 4 (24%) of people living in social housing are unemployed, when in fact the true figure is only 1 in 14 (7%). Now tenants say they want to “set the record straight”.  

There was lots of coverage of the event in the media, including an interview with Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio London, and news items on BBC local radio in Jersey, Wales, Cornwall, Oxford and Nottingham.

The principles underpinning the Benefit to Society campaign will inform the Social Housing Green Paper.

Broadland sponsors the campaign and is shaping the debate nearer home too (see panel), with a series of events highlighting the rich variety of people who live in our homes.

*due to poor weather, our tenants Richard and Mo, who contributed to Fair Press for Tenants, were unable to travel down to London from Norfolk for the event.

**YouGov survey commissioned by Soha Housing, February 2018.

 

 

 

Broadland is proud to be the first housing association in Norfolk to achieve an ‘In Good Company Quality Mark Plus’ award.

Norfolk County Council’s top quality mark was awarded for Better Together – our campaign to combat loneliness in local communities.

Better Together is a programme of neighbourhood events and activities that bring together Broadland tenants and staff. People who are lonely are more likely to suffer ill health, rely on public services and lose their independence. Recent research by the Campaign To End Loneliness and London School of Economics also suggests that loneliness is a particular challenge in Norfolk.

“We are absolutely thrilled to receive this award,” says Kevin Gee, Tenancy Support Manager (pictured receiving the award on behalf of the team). “It’s been a real team effort and reflects the hard work that everyone has put in. The idea for Better Together came out of a team discussion 12 months ago about mental health and the impact of loneliness. We were inspired by Norfolk County Council’s In Good Company initiative and the work of the Jo Cox Foundation. What started as a week of activities snowballed – we soon realised it was a much bigger thing, not just among the elderly but young people, new mums and other groups too. We’ve had such an overwhelming positive response from tenants and staff that we decided to expand it into a rolling programme.”

Alison Thomas, Deputy Leader of Norfolk County Council, said:

“Loneliness has become an epidemic across the whole country and here in Norfolk. We know that the problem can only be solved by the support of others and is not a job that just the County Council can do. That’s why organisations applying for our quality mark is so important to us, and why we are so thrilled to give our seal of approval to the amazing work that organisations like Broadland Housing are doing at grass roots level. It’s only by working together that we can truly make a difference to the people of Norfolk.”

Scope of campaign

Broadland’s Better Together campaign started in November 2017. The launch week included talks from experts about the impact of loneliness, personal pledges from staff to take action in their neighbourhoods, pop-up digital learning events (to help tenants stay in touch with friends and family online), and ‘out and about’ visits targeting Broadland’s more remote housing schemes and one-off properties across the county. 

In 2018, Broadland staff will again be reaching out and visiting tenants in isolated communities. There will also be opportunities to get involved in community walks, beach clean-ups and sociable intergenerational events. This follows a popular Christmas craft-making session in King’s Lynn, when local Brownies joined residents at one of Broadland’s sheltered housing schemes. Broadland is encouraging staff to get actively involved in planning future events to tackle loneliness.

Norfolk loneliness summit 2018

The In Good Company Quality Mark award ceremony took place at the Theatre Royal on Friday 23 February 2018. (Watch video) It was part of Norfolk’s first ever summit dedicated to tackling loneliness in the county, attended by over 80 ‘action-takers’ from across the county, including representatives from Broadland Housing. The summit concluded with promises to initiate 15 additional schemes in local communities across the county to help reduce loneliness.

Norfolk County Council’s In Good Company campaign is being run with more than 20 partners from the public and private sector. It is designed to combat loneliness by galvanising individuals and organisations to do as much as they can in local communities to ensure no one spends a lonely day in Norfolk if they don’t want to.

 

Broadland has gone up 19 places in The Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For 2018 list.

This year, Broadland was placed at 78; in 2017 it was at 97.

The Sunday Times list celebrates and showcases the best workplace engagement in charities, public-sector bodies and housing associations.

The ranking is based on the results from anonymous surveys, asking employees to respond to 70 statements covering:

• Leadership
• Wellbeing
• My managers
• My team
• Fair deal
• Giving something back
• My company
• Personal growth

The research is carried out by Best Companies, specialists in workplace engagement & employee engagement.

“I’m so pleased that Broadland has once again been recognised as one of the best places to work in the country,” said Michael Newey, Chief Executive. “This year we’ve climbed nearly 20 places in the rankings and it reflects the amazing work our staff do everyday, making Broadland such a fantastic place to work.”

Find out more about working for Broadland. ((Pictured: team from 2017 staff Challenge & Change Day)

Broadland Housing has taken over the day-to-day management of Stonewater Housing Association’s 45 properties in Heacham. Stonewater residents will benefit from a more efficient, local service.

Broadland Housing in King’s Lynn is now providing high-quality and customer-focused housing management, estate services and repairs to residents of Stonewater’s High Houses scheme. The transfer took place on Monday 29 January 2018. Stonewater retain ownership of the scheme.

Speaking at the handover official handover event today, Nick Harris, Stonewater’s Chief Executive Officer, said:

“Providing our rental customers with an excellent service is at the heart of every choice we make. With our closest office in Leicester, which is almost 100 miles away from our High Houses development, we have not always been able to provide the responsive, efficient and cost-effective service we pride ourselves on, so we knew we had to do something to change this. Broadland Housing Association shares our commitment to customer care and is locally based to provide our High Houses’ customers with first-rate housing service which can respond quickly to their needs.”

Michael Newey, Chief Executive of Broadland Housing Association, commented:

“This new arrangement is an ideal fit for us. We already manage Stonewater’s Norwich properties, so it builds on our existing successful partnership. With several of our own housing schemes in the King’s Lynn area, our local maintenance team will be delivering the same timely service and high standards to Stonewater’s Heacham residents.”

High Houses is a mixed development of rental, leasehold and freehold homes, ranging from one- and two-bedroom apartments to three-bedroom houses.

Stonewater is a social housing provider, managing around 31,500 homes in England for over 65,000 customers. This includes affordable properties for general rent, shared ownership and sale, alongside specialist accommodation such as retirement and supported living schemes for older and vulnerable people, Foyers and women’s refuges.