50 - It's a magic number

50 – it’s a magic number

Give people an opportunity and they’ll make the most of it – it’s just a shame that more people don’t do just that.

Deborah and I all kitted-up!

I was delighted to meet up with Deborah Porter earlier this week. Chances are you haven’t heard of Deborah. But for me – Deborah is a symbol. She’s a symbol of what someone can do when they’re given a chance to succeed. Deborah is the 50^th apprentice who we’ve taken on through our double-award winning LEAP programme.

She’s the latest in what is becoming a long line of tenants who we’ve been able to help by giving training, work experience - and in some cases, full time work.

Deb makes it 50 apprentices

Deborah joined us a few months ago – after being out of work for ten years. She’s worked in different factories over the years but never really had the chance to excel. What I really like about Deborah is her determination to be better. Off her own back, she enrolled at college and became a qualified carpenter; a profession that too few women have taken up. But she could never put those skills into practice because there was no-one who was willing to take a chance on her. She enrolled in our LEAP programme and I’m delighted that she’s our 50^th apprentice! She’s thriving in her new role on our handyperson scheme.

She seems to be really enjoying herself as well. And that’s what makes apprenticeships so rewarding for a company like ours. Seeing people who no-one else would take a chance on, really enjoying their work and really making the most of the opportunity which has come their way.

Ignore those who continually knock our city or who seem to take a perverse enjoyment in demonising those who live in council houses, Wolverhampton has a wealth of people who are desperate to do a good job – they just need to be given the chance and the confidence to succeed; and I couldn’t be prouder that LEAP is giving some of them that very chance.

Our Tenants' Got Talent

Our tenants really have got talent

Earlier this week I got the pleasure of being able to take a few hours away from my desk to pop down to the Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton to see some of the incredible talents our tenants possess. From singers and nail artists to cookery masters and photographers – our Flair Fair had the lot!

The stereo-type of council tenants still grates on me. A small minority who grab the unfortunate headlines have undoubtedly tarnished the reputation of council tenants across the country – but what about the silent majority who are simply getting on with their lives, working hard and providing for their families? The reputation hasn’t been helped in recent years by TV shows like Channel 4’s comedy, Shameless. Don’t get me wrong, Shameless can be really funny and has become a cult classic with viewing figures in the millions and spin-off series sprouting up across the world. But how many times have photos from Shameless been used to go alongside negative media articles about council house tenants?

How did I end up with Garfield?!

But are the antics of the Gallagher family really a true depiction of modern-day council tenants?

We launched our Flair Fair last year and it was a huge success. We’ve got a pool of exceptionally talented tenants. Earlier this week Flair Fair was back and I had the privilege of popping along to see for myself some of the tenants who were showcasing their talents.

We had singers, artists, photographers, nail technicians, cake makers, henna artists and clothes designers to name but a few!

I went along to the fair with the Chair of our Board, Sue Roberts MBE. Sue’s been a council tenant for more than 40 years, and with an MBE for her work in the community over the year I can safely say she couldn’t be further away from the Gallagher family!

It was wonderful to see so many tenants expressing themselves through their various talents and hobbies. For me, this is the story of social housing which, sadly, rarely gets told.

Proud: Our LEAP apprentices pick up another award.

And all this comes in the week where our LEAP apprenticeship programme beat of competition from companies like O2, Vodafone, NatWest and ASDA to be crowned overall winners of the Peer Excellence Awards for work in the community. Our tenant apprentices who come through LEAP have mostly either never worked, or are long-term unemployed. Perhaps it goes to show – our tenants have got talent – sometimes people just need to give them the break they need to realise how talented and successful they really can be.

Finally, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of the tenants who came to the Flair Fair – it was fabulous to see so many people there and I’m already looking forward to popping down again next year!

Welfare Reforms - time for action

In my last post, I talked about the huge impact of the welfare reforms on Wolverhampton’s citizens. We have partnered with our Council and other key players to provide a full impact assessment. This will tell us the financial impact on the City, which is in the many £10s of millions, and drill down to street and household level. It will help us build on the work we have already started, in supporting our customers through these changes.

So now's the time for action. To ready ourselves for the tsunami, we've grown our Money Smart Team by five new members drawn from across our business. We wanted to draw on the great skills and experience of staff, who know the business inside and out and they have truly hit the ground running. They are speaking to everyone affected by size criteria (bedroom tax) and the benefit cap, outlining the impacts on individuals and their families and working through the various option available.

We are delighted to have launched LEAP, our own work programme, to help unemployed tenants become “work ready”, gain qualifications, work experience and apprenticeships.

With a new expanded Money Smart Team the emphasis has changed, from being reactive and receiving referrals for support to being proactive. Now that we are contacting customers we are able to support them in many ways, not just with welfare reforms, but emergency support from the City’s Foodbank, providing debt advice, access to cheap furniture and new white goods in association with the City’s Credit Union.

We know that customers will need to alter the way they budget, with many needing to move from operating on a weekly basis to monthly. We are working with customers, giving advice on budgeting and this is proving to be a mammoth task. The key here is choice; we hope that by informing our customers they will be able to make decisions about their financial future.We are working with our City’s credit union to develop a suitable product for customers to allow them to effectively continue with “direct payments” of rent.

This month we are holding our first “speed dating” (or “speed mutual exchange”) event in the North of the City, where tenants, both those who are under-occupying and those who are over-crowded, can meet to see if they can resolve their housing issues by selecting a mutual exchange.

Then in December as part of WMBUS (West Midlands partnership Best Use of Stock) we will partner with several housing providers in a similar “speed dating” event, which will provide a wide choice of properties and tenures.

All in, it's a lot of action that will hopefully go some way to supporting our customers and the city to deal with the impact of welfare reform.

Thank you very much to Anne Herrmann who is leading on our welfare reform approach at Wolverhampton Homes for providing this information.

Now’s the time to believe in our young people

Who can believe it’s been a year since the disturbances of last summer shook our city?

It seems like an age since Wolverhampton was rife with false rumour about what was and wasn’t happening. Tensions were high after watching reports of the devastation in other cities.

I remember driving around the ring road on 9th August at about 5.30pm and it was completely dead; the rumours had frightened everyone away. Of course, that day, we did experience some disturbances.

Fortunately for us, they were not as bad as London, Birmingham or Manchester, in part because of our police and citizens. But what’s changed since then?

Well, certainly the economy is still a very difficult place if you are young and out of work. Our own Learning Employment Achievement Programme (LEAP) which launched this year aims to tackle that very issue.

LEAP will give young, unemployed people an opportunity to discover their strengths and harness their talents.

Supporting unemployed young people, many who may have grown up in households where no one has ever worked, to get into training and ultimately employment is one of our key priorities.

We’re also developing new business streams which will make it easier for them to contribute to the estate where they live and further their sense of pride in their communities.

Giving young people the opportunity to get involved with what’s going on in their area, listening to and respecting their opinion and yes, I know it sounds cheesy, but believing in them can make a difference.

I’ve been inspired by watching some of the videos of our young tenant ambassadors on our YouTube channel; articulate, passionate and natural-born communicators, they show what a positive future our city has.