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SCOTTISH CHARITY NO. SC 036265

At the heart of our community – investing in your future SUMMER 2020

We hope this Summer Newsletter finds allour tenants and family members well. Werealise we are still living in exceptionallydifficult times with Covid-19 still wreakinghavoc across the world. We will howeverremain committed to following ScottishGovernment guidance and where relevantUK guidance to ensure we are all guidedsafely out of lockdown and beyond. This isnot going to be easy and is undoubtedlygoing to result in further disruption toservices for many months to come.

However, the current situation forScotland allows for some optimism andwith that we’d like to share some of themany things we’ve had to deal with sinceMarch 2020 when we rushed to implementlockdown and were forced to shut downservices. Your patience and co-operation hasbeen very much appreciated.

The last four months have allowed for usto really focus on how we adapt andemerge as an organisation to embracechange as we move forward in what is nowthe ‘new norm’ for all of us. Overnight, thisnew norm has become digital and online,whether we were prepared for this or not.

We have produced risk assessments tore-open services, for the office environment,for staff to safely return to the office; andfor our contractors to safely resumeservices to tenants. We realise manytenants are still self-isolating so please workwith our staff and contractors who can offeradvice on how to enter your home andconduct work in a safe manner followingGovernment guidelines. There will be lots ofchanges to the way we work and many ofthese are included in this issue of theNewsletter. We know that some servicesmay change again. Our website will

continue to offer up-dated information onCovid-19 so please continue to visit –www.barrheadha.org.

Office OpeningWe don’t have an exact date for when theoffice can open, but plan for early August2020. However, we will only operate anAppointment system which will meanrestricted and limited office entry. You willbe asked to wear a face covering. Wecannot accommodate more than 2-3customers from the one household safely inour office and will have to arrange handsanitisers and additional cleaning inbetween visits. Office ‘opening’ will belimited to 9am-4.30pm, closed between12.30-1.30pm with staff available by phoneduring lunchtime. We will no longer be

able to take rent payments in the office.

Staff AvailabilityWe will have up to 50% of staff in theoffice at any one time, and will continue torely on homeworking. We will have twomain staff teams, working a combination ofoffice and homeworking over a two weekperiod. As now, staff at home are availableto provide services and communicate withtenants. We will rely on email, text,

WhatsApp and telephone calls and willlimit face to face contact. We have limitedspace to provide meetings in the office andwe have become great users of Zoomconferencing overnight, even for our Boardmembers.

There are lots of articles in theNewsletter to read and we hope that youfind the information useful. Please contactstaff is you need assistance. We are here tohelp.

IN THIS ISSUE COMMUNITY REGENERATION • FUTURE DIGITAL SERVICES • WELFARE RIGHTS • GOOD NEIGHBOUR AWARD • COMMUNITY HARDSHIP FUND

Barrhead HA plan to resumeservices and re-open theoffice in August 2020 ...but things have changed over lockdown – we’vehad to move to digital and online servicesOur Chief Executive, Shirley Robison updates you on what has been

happening.

New ContractorThe Association has commenced a newpartnership with Everwarm, who have beenappointed to deliver our reactive and voidmaintenance service. Everwarm is a well-established organisation with experience ofworking with housing providers.

The initial two year contract will start on10th August 2020, providing multi-traderepair, emergency and void services.

Meantime we have been working closelywith Turner Property Services to ensure asmooth transition and to review any repairsyou have already reported but which mightnot yet be complete. Once lockdownmeasures are relaxed, we will be in touchwith you to gradually commence theseworks with our new Contractor Everwarm.

We would like to thank everybody fortheir patience during this time.

Gas SafetyAlthough the Gas Maintenancecontract was disrupted, thecontract is now fullyoperational again and we are relyingon your cooperation to ensure that yourannual safety inspection can be completedprior to the 12 month anniversary of thecurrent safety certificate. The contractor willfollow new Covid-19 safety guidance toensure the safety of our tenants andthemselves.

Please work with us to ensure youprovide access to allow us to meet theannual gas servicing safety requirements.

Retirement of ChiefExecutive – UpdateCustomers will beaware that the ChiefExecutive announcedher retirement earlierthis year. The Covidpandemic has resultedin a slight delay torecruitment, which will now proceedwith the post being advertised inAugust 2020. Further details will beavailable on our website,www.barrheadha.org.

SUMMER 2020

Community RegenerationOn this page, you will find detail of the Association’s ongoing Community Regeneration

activity as well as details of the three funding sources the Association has recently

been successful in accessing.

Supporting Communities Funding Barrhead Housing Association weresuccessful in obtaining £104,750 of fundingfrom the Scottish Government’s SupportingCommunities Fund. Funding has so far beendistributed to 14 vital partner communitysupport agencies already who are respondingto the challenges created by Covid-19 invarious ways, namely:• All About Barrhead and I Love

Clarkston

• Alzheimer Scotland

• Care for Carers

• East Renfrewshire ASN Parents Action

Group

• Flair Gymnastics

• Include Me 2

• Parent Network Scotland

• Self-Directed Support Forum

• East Renfrewshire

• Strathclyde 4x4 Response

• Thornliebank Together

• Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire

Other projects have included:

• Back 2 SchoolBank will be supplyingbrand new school uniforms to childrenliving in hardship and deprivation in EastRenfrewshire, primarily in Barrhead andDunterlie and are working with localagencies, BHA, East Renfrewshire SocialWork, HSCP, Citizen’s Advice, Women’sAid and directly with local schools. To findout more information visithttps://backtoschoolbank.com/.

• Citizen Advice East Renfrewshire areidentifying those who are struggling withfuel costs, and administering a fuel grantscheme to support those most in needand provide advice and support. If youneed support with fuel costs then speakto CAB on 0141 881 2032.

• Totnosh have been preparing anddelivering meals on a weekly basis to 42residents of the Sheltered HousingComplex, Main Street. Meals are beingdelivered to the shielding tenants once aweek for eight weeks during thecoronavirus outbreak to ensure that theyhave a hot, nutritious meal. It also givesthe residents, who may be at a greaterrisk of the negative effects of socialisolation, something to look forward to. Italso allowed Totnosh premises – which

are normally used for children’s cookingclasses – to be used for the good of thecommunity during this crisis. All residentsreceive a laminated recipe card with eachmeal so they can recreate the dishthemselves at home too.

The meals have been well received by theresidents who have stated that:

“The meals are lovely, well presentedand hot““You get a great portion““The people delivering the meals arevery nice““The cake that was added was a lovelysurprise and very nice too.“

Barrhead’s Climate ChallengeMembers of the Barrhead community arebeing offered to learn cooking techniques toreduce food waste and upcycling skills andlearn more about the links between generalwaste, and climate change

£99,804 was secured from Keep ScotlandBeautiful Climate Challenge Fund for a newtwo year project focusing on Dunterlie,Auchenback and the Sheltered

Accommodation. The Barrhead’s ClimateChallenge Project will be run by BarrheadHousing Association, with partners Totnoshand Dunterlie Food Share and will offer freesupport to help the community of Barrheadto reduce food and textile waste. The projectwill facilitate discussion about climatechange by delivering a series of cooking,upcycling and recycling and will increaseunderstanding of climate change in the localcommunity through climate changediscussions and programme of communityclimate themed events. The closures tocommunity venues due to Covid-19 haddelayed the launch of the project, but wehave been able to adapt and with work withour partners and community members totake part in the project online and digitally, anexample of this is the hugely popularfoodwaste workshops. Shortly we will belaunching our online upcycling and recyclingworkshops, and hopefully we will be able toaccess community venues again soon whenit is safe to do so.

Eight families have completed the first ofmany Food Waste Workshop online, cookingvarious meals. One parent had been having aterrible time with her little boy not eating andonly eating pizza and microwave burgers butafter participating he ate three of the chillinests and then helped mum make more afew days later. Mum was delighted. The nextround of cooking will start on Friday 31stJuly at 3pm, ring Louisa at Totnosh on07584 246513.

Brighter Futures BarrheadWe are delighted to announce that wereceived an award from The National LotteryCommunity Fund of £99,985. The ‘BrighterFuture Barrhead’ project will tackle povertyand inequality for local families through a co-ordinated partner and community volunteerapproach, with BHA as the lead delivery andmanaging partner. This project will allow usto further develop our successful communityregeneration programmes across theBarrhead area and allow us to continue tosupport our tenants and the widercommunity as a community anchororganisation. Brighter Futures Barrhead willlaunch in Autumn 2020 and the project will:

• Support families on low incomes tomanage their finances appropriately,enabling them to make their resources gofurther and are accessing all financialentitlements they are eligible for.

• Reduce food insecurities.

• Supporting families, parents and children.

• Reduced household spend of families onlow incomes, again directly increasing theamount of money available to families.

• Run the BHA Community Fund usingParticipatory Budgeting.

19 local groups received Community Choices funding in March 2019.

At the heart of our community – investing in your future

Future Digital ServicesThe recent Covid-19 situation has requiredthe Association to react quickly and adaptour services to a new way of working.

It is unlikely that this situation will changein the foreseeable future – so we are lookingat how we might be able to deliver servicesdifferently. This includes communicating withour customers digitally in future, as well asoffering a wider range of services to bedelivered online.

This will not all happen overnight, but wedo need to start making arrangements forthis now.

We are therefore asking all our customersto consider how they would want to engagewith the Association in future, and to provideus with their email and mobile telephonecontact details to us. This is in order that wecan look to deliver digital services to them infuture.

We would ask our customers therefore toarrange to provide us with their email andmobile contact details. This can be done in anumber of ways:

• Put the following address into your web-browser and you will be taken to therelevant form for completionwww.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BHAConta

ctDetails.

• Scan the QR code oppositeto be taken directly to theform.

• Email enquiries@

barrheadha.org with yourname, address, email and numbers.

• Call the office and provide these details toany members of staff.

Details of how we use your information canbe found in our privacy notice on our websiteunder the useful documents section or at thefollowing address:www.barrheadha.org/downloads/

2020/21 Investment priorities...In our last newsletter we promised an update of our investment priorities for 2020/21. Belowyou will find further details of what we are planning to spend over the next year oninvestment in our stock. Further information will follow to those tenants who will be havingwork carried out to their homes over the coming year.

Want to get more involved in our work?Tenant participation cantake many forms. We haveprovided a wide variety ofopportunities for tenants tobecome more involved inour work over the years –from becoming a member,standing for election to ourGoverning Board andattending our open daysand fun days.

But what about TenantScrutiny – what is it? Wealways want to go furtherand give you the power tochallenge us on how weare doing. So we haveestablished a TenantScrutiny Panel comprisingaround 6 tenants, andwhich we are looking toincrease to around 12-15and who will work with usto look at areas where weneed to improve.

So far the Tenant ScrutinyPanel have reviewed andcommented on a range ofmatters such as:• How we allocate

properties• How we provide repair

and maintenanceservices to you

• How long we take torespond to emergencyrepairs

• How we set out rents inthe context of our widerfinancial commitments

• Opportunities to getinvolved in MysteryShopping with similarhousing organisations

Ultimately all of the aboveleads to improving ouroverall performance andthe standards of servicethat we provide to you, asour customers.

Tenant Scrutiny is anapproach rather than aprocess and we think youcould help to:• Act as a critical friend• Act as a voice for other

tenants

• Be tenant led andindependent

• Improve our overallservices

The Tenant Scrutiny Groupmeets four to five timesover the course of a year. Ifyou are interested andwant to know more thenplease contact us forLorraine Dallas our Directorof Customer Services on0141 880 3833 or emailLorraineD@barrheadha.

org. Panel members willbe reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses.Further details will beprovided to you when youcontact us.

Welfare Rights ServiceAlthough our office has been closed to thepublic, we are still able to provide a WelfareRights Service throughout this difficult time.Our Welfare Rights Officer can assist if yourhousehold income has reduced as a result ofthe impact of coronavirus.

If you are struggling or think you maystruggle to pay your rent please contact us0141 881 0638 and select Option 2. We arehere to listen and we will do what we can tohelp your situation.

We understand that many of our tenantsmay be facing some challenging financialcircumstances at the moment and we canprovide a full benefit check and help youmaximize your income. We can also makereferrals to our partner agencies to assistwith fuel debt, daily living costs includingfood provisions.

As your landlord, we are here to supportour tenants through these challenging timesand our highly trained staff will work withyou to ensure you are supported throughout.

Governing Board after our 2018 AGM.

If you have any comments orcomplaints to make about any of ourservices, please contact the office:Barrhead Housing Association Ltd58-70 Main Street, Barrhead G78 1SBT: 0141 881 0638E: enquiries@barrheadha.orgW: www.barrheadha.org

At the heart of our community – investing in your futureSUMMER 2020

Website and SocialMediaIn future, there is no doubt that we willneed to be delivering our services in adifferent way, and in doing so making fulluse of the Association’s website and SocialMedia Platforms.

Did you know that, in addition to ourwebsite, the Association also has a socialmedia presence on both Twitter andFacebook.

So look out for us on Facebook or ontwitter @barrheadhousing.

In relation to our website atwww.barrheadha.org, you will find a lot ofuseful information and contact details,alongside copies of our policies, procedures,rules etc. In addition, you are now able toapply for housing or medical priority online,direct from the website. In future, weexpect to be able to offer a wider range ofservices online, reducing the need forcustomers to attend our office to receive aservice from us.

Letter from the Minister forLocal Government, Housingand PlanningEnclosed with this newsletter is a letter sent from theScottish Government’s Minister for Local Government,Housing and Planning, Kevin Stewart MSP.

The letter, intended for all of Scotland’s Council andHousing Association tenants provides information andadvice, following the publication in May of Scotland’sRoute Map for moving out of the crisis, and which setsout the steps that will help us to return to a more normallife.

Online Housing Applications andMedical Priority

Community Hardship Fund

...follow us on

We have recently updated the wayapplicants apply for housing or medicalpriority with us. We have gone online!!

You can now apply for housing by visitingour website and click on “Apply for aHome”.

Once we have received your onlineapplication, we will contact you and ask youto supply any evidence that we require tofully complete your application.

If your current home is no longer suitabledue to a medical condition you can alsosubmit a medical priority application online.Please note you will need to complete theHousing Application Form too if you haven’talready completed one.

More information about the way weallocate our properties can be found on ourwebsite at www.barrheadha.org.

Barrhead Housing Association opened up itsCommunity Hardship Fund in April to assisttenants who were facing financial hardshipas a result of the Coronavirus outbreak andsubsequent lockdown.

Many of our tenants have faced reducedworking hours or redundancy and havefound themselves in financial difficultythrough no fault of their own.

The Community Hardship Fund hashelped many of our tenants cover somecosts that have helped improve their qualityof life throughout lockdown or have assistedthem in securing alternative employmentand get back on track.

The Community Hardship fund isavailable to all of our tenants, and grants upto the value of £250 can be awarded. TheFund has received almost 30 applications

and with just under £4000 being awarded totenants.

There are still some funds available andapplications can be made via our website:www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Community

_Chest_Hardship_Fund

Please note grants cannot be awarded toassist with rent arrears or council tax debt.However if you are struggling to pay yourrent or have any debt concerns, our WelfareRights Officer is onhand to help on 0141 881 0638 –Option 2.

Good NeighbourAward This year we will again be running thepopular Annual “John McIntyre Award”.

This award is to help us recognise aCustomer who is a good neighbour, whotakes care, attention and pride in theproperty, his/her neighbour orneighbourhood. It could be something assimple as washing stairs for an elderlyneighbour, taking and returning the bins forrefuse collection. It could be looking afterchildren, or an elderly person. It could behelping in a neighbour’s home withhousework or decoration that you don’t getpaid for.

Please call us for an application, or findone to download in the news section of ourwebsite.

Completed forms should be emailed toenquiries@barrheadha.org by Friday 21

August 2020. Thewinner will receive boththe John McIntyreAward Trophy and a £25shopping voucher.