a home GIVE NATURE WIN CINEMA TICKETS! (see page 3 for details) THE LATEST NEWS FROM CHP Garden competition winners Looking for work experience?

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1 YOURhome Summer 2016 THE LATEST NEWS FROM CHP GIVE NATURE a home Garden competition winners TARGETING TENANCY FRAUD Looking for work experience? STAYING GAS SAFE Wefare reforms atest WIN CINEMA TICKETS! (see page 3 for detais)

2 CONTACT US Phone: (a cas charged at oca rate) Press option one for heating breakdown / gas servicing; Press option two for repairs; Press option three to make a rent or easehod payment using our automated Apay system; Press option four for customer services team. Emai: enquiries@chp.org.uk Text reay: Write to: Myriad House, 33 Springfied Lyons Approach, Chemsford, CM2 5LB We can visit you in your own home if you need us to. Simpy ca our customer services team and make an appointment. 2 SUMMER 2016 In this issue... GIVE NATURE 10 A HOME 8 TARGETING TENANCY FRAUD 12 WELFARE REFORMS LATEST 18 LOOKING FOR WORK EXPERIENCE?...is where we provide exampes of how we ve changed our services after istening to you and the Resident Scrutiny Pane. You find them throughout the magazine. Pease contact us if you woud ike a copy of this document in arge print, on CD or in another anguage. Proszę się z nami skontaktować, żeby otrzymać ten dokument w wersji dużym drukiem, na płycie CD ub w innym języku. (Poish) 倘若您需要本擋以大字體 音頻格式 (CD) 或另外一種語言提供 請聯絡我們 (Cantonese) Bu begeyi büyük boyutu baskı oarak, CD ortamında veya başka bir dide edinmek istiyorsanız ütfen bizime irtibata geçin. (Turkish) Kreipkitės į mus, jei norėtumėte gauti šio dokumento kopiją stambiu šriftu, jo garso įrašą kompaktiniame diske arba jei norėtumėte jį gauti kita kaba. (Lithuanian) (Bengai) Stuart presented Joan with champagne and fowers QUEEN COMPETITION for the day time! Find the six archery icons One of our residents ceebrated their 90th birthday on the same day as the Queen. Marking the miestone moment, Joan Gray, of Brendon Pace, Chemsford, enjoyed her day with friends and famiy and was presented with fowers by Chief Executive, Stuart Stackhouse, to ceebrate the occasion. Born in Writte on the 21st Apri 1926, Joan worked with her father at a bakery in the viage before becoming a cerica worker at the Marconi Company. She met her husband, Maurice Gray, at a dance in Writte Viage Ha and, after the coupe married in 1945, their daughter Sandra was born in Joan said: I m being boastfu now but a ot of peope say, You don t ook 90. I used to work out on the and a bit before I got married so I ve aways had an outdoor ife. hidden throughout the magazine and you coud win cinema tickets for a famiy of four. Simpy emai communications@chp.org.uk or post your answers to our Myriad House address (see 'contact us' section) by Thursday 1st September 2016 to be in with a chance to win! Terms & conditions: To be eigibe to enter you must not owe us any money or have any antisocia behaviour compaints against your tenancy. SUMMER

3 Best front garden: Mr and Mrs Hubbard, Brook Hi, Litte Watham Best environmenta/widife garden: Ms White, Rectory Cose, Litte Watham MEET OUR GREEN-FINGERED winners Not ony woud we ike to say congratuations to a our greenfingered gardening winners but we d aso ike to say thank you for making your gardens ook booming beautifu. A of our winners who each received a 50 gardening voucher and certificate demonstrated their commitment to coourfu community gardens, bountifu booms and perfect awns. We re now incuding pre-paid enveopes with appointment etters and satisfaction surveys. Resident Scrutiny Pane idea Whie this is the second year I ve been judging the competition I m sti surprised at the high standards of the entries, said Charotte Wech, Grounds Maintenance team eader. Some of our residents gardens are absoutey ovey but I d ike to congratuate our winners as their gardens reay were something specia. 4 SUMMER 2016 Best back garden: Mr Gi, Tyne Way, Chemsford Best communa garden: Purbeck Court, Chemsford SUMMER

4 GET GOING...in the garden Whie the sun is (hopefuy) shining in your area and you re enjoying your garden, there s sti penty to do with the onset of autumn. Here, Charotte Wech, Grounds Maintenance team eader, gives you some tips on how to prepare for the coming months. Hydration August is a about hydration as it s one of the driest months of the year. Make sure you thoroughy water pants and shrubs and that you reguary water your tubs and baskets. Keeping eary spring fowering shrubs such as Cameias and Rhododendrons we-watered means you get a good set of fower buds next year. Pruning and deadheading Once they have finished fowering, prune your summer fowering shrubs. Hebes and Lavenders can be given a ight prune after fowering. Leave the fower heads on grasses for some winter interest. Deadheading your pants means that your dispay wi continue for much onger. Hanging basket pants as we as pants such as Dahias, Roses and Penstemons wi a benefit from this. Dividing and repanting As summer turns to autumn think about dividing your herbaceous perennias (these are pants whose growth dies down over winter but the roots survive) and don t forget to incude your grasses. Most perennias benefit from being divided every two or three years, as this keeps them heathy in coming years. If you ve any shrubs that need to be moved its best to do it in autumn so they have time to sette and estabish roots before winter. Get sowing for next year Whie I know we re ony haf way through this year it s time to start thinking about next year. Start to coect and sow seeds from perennias (pants and fowers that come back every year) and hardy annuas. Hardy annuas such as Caendua (marigods etc.), Nigea (ove-in-amist), Aquiegia (granny s bonnet or coumbine) and Papaver (poppy) can be sown straight into your borders. And you can pant spring fowering bubs now too. Preparing for winter The months of September and October are your ast chance to renovate your awn before the winter sets in. Loosen the soi and poke hoes to aow air in. Then top dress it with a mixture of soi, sand and compost too. If you need to reseed areas of your awn do it now (make sure you rake up any faen eaves as they bock out ight). Give any evergreen hedges you have a fina trim in autumn. And once your perennias have died down, cut them back and move any tender pants into a greenhouse or somewhere undercover. It s a good time to cean your patio or any hard surfaces of any moss and agae which has buit up so that it s not sippery over winter. And whie it s sti dry it s a good time to get sheds and fences painted with a good preservative which can be purchased at a garden centres and DIY stores. 6 SUMMER 2016 SUMMER

5 Give nature A HOME Not ony do bird baths, bug hotes and bird feeders encourage widife into your garden but they re aso great for getting chidren interested in nature. It doesn t matter if it s arge or sma or even if you ony have a bacony window there are many ways to get birds and bugs into your patch. Make a bug hote... Insects are incrediby important for your garden which is why buiding a bug or widife hote is a great idea. A you need is a coupe of hours and: Od wooden paets or strips of wood; Twigs, straw, moss, or dry eaves; Od roof ties or terracotta ties/pots; Bricks (with air hoes in ideay); Hoow bamboo canes; Bark, sand, soi and any other natura materias you can find (i.e. pine cones). To buid your widife hote start by: 1Choosing a suitabe site - it must be firm, fat ground. The basic structure needs to be strong and stabe and no more than a metre high; 2Lay some bricks on the ground, they act as sturdy corners, and eave some space between them (try to create an H-shape); 3If you have them, add a coupe of ayers of wooden paets on top of your bricks (the more space you eave underneath the more ikey you attract hedgehogs); Make a bird bath... It s cheap and extremey easy. A you need is a shaow, watertight bow. 1Take your watertight bow, add some stones and grave to the bottom; 2Stand it on some bricks or something to raise it off the ground; 3Add some water and hey presto! You have a bird bath. Now you can sit back and watch our fapping friends froic. 4Fi in the gaps. The more nooks and crannies of different sizes you add the more diverse the widife. For insects add dead wood and oose bark, dry eaves and sticks for adybirds and arge hoes, ties and stones for frogs and toads. You can even add a hedgehog box at the base of the hote ; 5Finay, add a roof when you think it s high enough - pace some od roof ties or wooden panks on top and cover with earth. A that s eft to do is name your widife hote! If you make either one of these then take a picture and emai it to us: communications@chp.org.uk we d ove to see your efforts and we' post the best ones on our Facebook and Twitter pages Recenty a Litte Watham resident caed us asking us to thank the buiders, currenty constructing homes for peope in the viage, for giving them pastic tubing so they coud buid homes for hedgehogs! 8 SUMMER 2016 SUMMER

6 Hep us to stamp out housing fraud by reporting iegay occupied homes. So far this year we've recaimed 10 houses from peope who weren't entited to ive there which means we've made 10 househods in need of a suitabe home very happy! Suspect housing fraud in your community? Report it anonymousy by caing or emaiing enquiries@chp.org.uk. Hep us target HOUSING FRAUD HOW When a person obtains a property by giving fase information or subets it, not ony are they committing fraud they re potentiay depriving a famiy of a home. Housing fraud can come in many forms but the most common are: Letting someone ive in the property whie you ive esewhere; You ve sod your keys and moved out; You ve moved out but have eft your adut chidren in the property; You ve moved in with a new partner but have kept your house/fat just in case the reationship breaks down; Not informing us that you aready own a home or are renting from another housing association; Teing us that you ve ived in the property before the ega tenant passed away and caiming that you have a right to their tenancy. YOU CAN HELP... If you suspect tenancy fraud, pease et us know. When contacting us a information is usefu, but try to give as much detai as possibe, such as: An aternative address/ addresses for residents iving esewhere; The names (if possibe) and descriptions of suspected sub-tenants; The detais of any vehices that come and go to the property. 10 SUMMER 2016 SUMMER

7 Benefit cap COMING SOON What s changing? From autumn 2016 the tota amount in benefits a working age househod in Essex can receive wi be reduced from 26,000 to 20,000. For more detais of which benefits are capped pease visit our benefits advice page on the website ( benefits-and-debts). What does this mean? It means that the tota weeky amount a singe person can receive in benefits wi go down from 350 to 258 and from 500 to 385 for famiies. Any househod receiving more than the capped amount wi have their housing benefit reduced to bring them within the imit. It be your responsibiity to ensure a your weeky rent is paid. Who is exempt? If you ve been empoyed continuousy for 12 months and you ose your job through no faut of your own, the benefit cap won t appy to you for the first 39 weeks of your caim. You are aso exempt if you or your famiy receives: Disabiity iving aowance or persona independence payment; Attendance aowance; Support component of empoyment and support aowance; Current weeky benefit cap 442 London 385 Rest of UK New weeky benefit cap 442 London 385 Rest of UK 296 London 258 Rest of UK Industria injuries benefits. The cap doesn t appy if you are of pension age or you receive either a war widows or widowers pension. If you caim universa credit, you won t be affected if you have an inwork exemption. What do I need to do if I m affected? The benefits cap cacuation is done automaticay you don t need to provide any documents. The Department of Work and Pensions wi write to you if you wi be affected. If you receive a etter pease contact our Income Management team. You can find out if you re affected by using the benefit cap cacuator on the government website HOUSING BENEFIT RULES What s changing? As of Apri 2016, housing benefit caims wi ony be backdated for one month and not six months. What you need to do Don t deay in making a caim for housing benefit even if you re waiting to receive documents or you re not sure you re aowed housing benefit. What you shoud do if your caim has been suspended or canceed Act prompty by responding to any etters you receive requesting information and/or supporting documents. Aso speak to your oca housing benefit department to make sure your housing caim wi be re-assessed. Not sure what to do? Contact our friendy Income Management team. The team can offer free advice and guidance on wefare benefits and debts. They can check you re caiming a the benefits you re entited to, hep fi out forms and how to budget your payments. They can hep you over the phone; visit you in your home or at the Parkside Community Hub. If you d ike to tak to them ca or emai imt@chp.org.uk. 12 SUMMER 2016 SUMMER

8 TRADES tips... OUR experts Pan for an EMERGENCY Whie we a hope for the best sometimes we need to pan for the worst. That s why we re urging you to ensure you know where to find your stopcock (this is a tap normay found under the kitchen sink) in case of a severe water eak and that you know how to turn off the gas safety contro vave (this is usuay next to the meter in the box outside your front door). TOP TIPS: Make sure you ve got home contents insurance; Report any repairs to us before they become an emergency; Test your smoke aarm; Ensure you ve a bucket and torch in your home. Do you want to carry out a sma DIY repair but don t know where to start? Then emai your question(s) to our trades experts. If you ve a stiff (or squeaky) door or window ock squirt a sma amount of WD40 on it to ubricate it. If you're ooking to redecorate your home then make sure that your was and ceiings are cean, dust free, smooth and competey dry before you start painting. These are just some exampes but if you'd ike to earn about something specific then emai enquiries@chp.org.uk and we incude them in the next edition of. Our in-house trade s team wi give you more in-depth information about how ong any repair work(s) is ikey to take. Changed because of a compaint BE AWARE... Our empoyees wi aways show their identification badges when they visit you in your home and we never ask you for any payment on your doorstep before carrying out a repair. Recenty we ve had reports from you that a bogus contractor has been asking for payment for unauthorised work. If you re approached and you re unsure then ca us immediatey on IF YOU SMELL GAS......turn your gas safety contro vave to the off position. Ring the Nationa Grid immediatey on or (for deaf or hearing impaired). Don t smoke or use ighters and matches and don t turn any eectrica switches on or off. Open any windows or doors and then eave your home. Neighbouring properties which are ikey to be affected by repairs works i.e. water eaks wi now be informed. Changed because of a compaint IN THE EVENT OF A SEVERE WATER LEAK......turn off your stopcock. If the eak is from the ceiing then use a bucket to catch any water and ay a pastic sheet over any possessions that are cose to it (if it s possibe move them out of the way). If the water comes into contact with any eectrica outets turn the eectric off from the mains. But, if the water comes into contact with the mains don t touch it or use any eectrica equipment in the house. IF YOU EXPERIENCE A POWER CUT......speak to your neighbours first (as it may affect your whoe area) and if possibe visit In case of bad weather and heavy storms some of our day-to-day non-urgent works may be deayed or even canceed. If the weather is extreme, such as heavy winds, works wi be deayed as we don t want to put our empoyees in danger. If you have an emergency, ca us immediatey on SUMMER 2016 SUMMER

9 HOW TO CONTROL condensation What many peope don t reaise is that condensation is caused by the way we ive. To hep you manage condensation and (potentiay) moud here s some top tips. If you ve tricke vents above your windows, keep them open a the time and DON T bock air vents; Pace furniture or other items away from the was this heps air circuate and stops moud growing (if you spot moud cean it away with a speciaist moud ceaner); Open the window sighty for haf an hour after bathing or cooking to get rid of the moist air and/or use an extractor fan in the bathroom and kitchen (extractor fans are cheap to run and use ess energy than a standard ight bub). Aso keep kitchen and bathroom doors shut to stop moisture moving to other areas of your home; Cover cooking pans with ids it hep you save on your gas or eectricity bi and wi reduce moisture; Try not to dry cothes inside. If you have to, open the window and shut the door of the room where the cothes are drying (if you use a tumbe dryer make sure it has a vent to the outside). As of September we be stopping the repacement of any misted gazing you may have. If this affects you, give us a ca. Staying GAS SAFE We want you to be safe and warm in your home, so it s important that you aow access so that our gas servicing contractor, Aaron Services, can check and service your heating and energy appiances. A poory maintained appiance can be extremey dangerous and wastefu not ony can it resut in higher energy bis it can put you and your famiy at risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Gas safety appointment etters now offer you morning and afternoon appointments. Resident Scrutiny Pane idea Top tips to stay Gas Safe: Aow our contractors access so they can check your appiances; Know the six signs of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning 1 headaches; 2 dizziness; 3 breathessness; 4 nausea; 5 coapse; 6 oss of consciousness. Unsafe gas appiances not ony put you at risk of CO poisoning but fires and exposions as we; Check gas appiances for warning signs that they re not working propery e.g. azy yeow fames instead of crisp bue ones, back marks or stains on or around the appiance and too much condensation in the room; Fit a carbon monoxide aarm as it aert you if there s a gas eak in your home. 16 SUMMER 2016 SUMMER

10 ANNUAL REPORT coming Keep an eye out for this year s annua report onine! The report has been put together with the hep of our Annua Report Residents Group so you can read about what we ve been doing, where we re buiding new homes, how we offer you vaue for money, our promises to you and much more. This year to save money the Annua Report Residents Group agreed to ony pubish it onine but don t despair we can send you a hard copy if you d ike one. Work experience is a great way for you to buid up your C.V. and can hep you regain your skis and confidence if you ve been out of work for a whie. Looking for work experience? THEN GIVE US A CALL. Our Parkside Community Hub work experience programme which found work pacements for 18 peope ast year can offer you an eight week pacement where you receive training, advice, C.V. writing and interview techniques. Emiy Garoghan said: Before my work experience at the Hub I was ost in my career. I didn t know where to start so I appied for a pacement which was taiored to make sure it was reevant to my career as I decided I wanted to be a teacher. This was to such a degree that I had the confidence to appy for jobs that I woud never have thought about. I was even successfu with one job appication that I originay woud have never appied for due to ack of confidence and experience. If you re ooking for work experience ike Emiy then ca or drop us a ine after a we re here to hep you. Ca the Parkside Community Hub on or emai parksidecommunity@chp.org.uk WIN 100! Send us back the feedback postcard and we' enter you into a prize draw and you coud win 100 in high-street shopping vouchers. Join the editoria pane Do you enjoy creative work, reading or want to improve your C.V.? Then join the onine editoria pane. You review our eafets and pubications ike Your Home and the annua report to make sure that they re eye-catching and easy to understand. To get invoved and infuence ca our service centre and ask to speak to a member of the Communications team or emai Communications@chp.org.uk. Letters about unauthorised aterations wi be made ess forma. Changed because of a compaint 18 SUMMER 2016 SUMMER

11 Aaron Services wi provide further staff training on ordering parts and updating job notes. Changed because of a compaint Keep it SHUT! Pease do not remove door cosers they save ives! Door cosers stop fire spreading. They must be fitted to communa doors by aw. We reguary check communa bocks but if you know of one that's been removed or isn't working propery then et us know, we' fix or adjust it to make it easier to use. WANT TO BECOME a mae mentor? A new charitabe project to mentor boys aged years od has been aunched in Tendring. Lads Need Dads is seeking men who can pass on their vocationa training be it DIY, meta work, gardening, bicyce repairs or bush craft to boys who have absent fathers or a ack of a mae roe mode. After passing on your skis in a two hour workshop the boys wi put their new found skis to practise by vounteering in the Cacton-on- Sea community. You' need to be abe to commit to one evening every fortnight as we as the occasiona Saturday. A successfu appicants wi be required to go through a Discose and Barring Service check and wi receive fu training. INTERESTED?Then ca or emai adsneeddads@gmai.com. An information eafet and a tenancy termination form has been produced which is more specific for next of kin and/or executors. Changed because of a compaint Sign-up to SOCIAL MEDIA Like our Facebook and Twitter pages and you can keep up-to-date with our atest news, events and housing reated tips. See the Contact Us section for more information. 20 SUMMER 2016