Working together for change
We love working with residents to shape our services at Connect.
Here are just some of the changes in progress this year, thanks to residents giving us their time and thoughts.
Reviewing re-let times
On November 28, residents came together with staff to look at how long it takes our empty homes (voids) to be repaired and re-let. Once a tenant moves out of a Connect property, our Voids team goes in to complete any checks and repairs required before we can re-let and, if necessary, clean and decorate parts of the home so it’s ready for its new resident.
The quicker we can get a void ready for a new resident the better, but sometimes these turnarounds can be delayed.
We decided to bring together residents and teams from across Connect – including Voids, Lettings and Community Engagement – to do a deep dive into our current process, looking at what’s working well and what can be improved so we can re-let homes sooner.
The insights that residents shared with us were invaluable and their recommendations are a vital step in changing our empty homes process. Thank you to everyone involved and watch this space for more information!
If you’d like to get involved with what we do at Connect, please get in touch by calling us on 0300 5000 600 and asking for ‘Tenant Engagement’ or by emailing gettinginvolved@connecthousing.org.uk
Damp, mould and condensation
Over the past few years, we’ve been working hard to improve how we deal with cases of damp, mould and condensation (DMC).
Kevin McAllister, Head of Asset Investment, has been working proactively with staff across departments to improve the way we manage DMC cases, looking at a range of areas including staff training and the IT systems we use.
Residents have been a vital part of the process too. We contacted over 400 residents by letter and phone to discuss how they felt we handled cases of DMC, focusing on those who had been through the whole process.
The main theme that all the responses highlighted was the importance of communication throughout. This led to a review of the stages of the process, and further communications are now being integrated, as residents recommended.
If you have any concerns about damp, mould and condensation in your home, please contact us on 0300 5000 600, hello@connecthousing.org.uk or visit our DMC page for more information.
