Not one, not two, but three social housing providers operating in Nottingham have won national awards for excellence in their field!

Derwent Living won ‘Excellence in Tenant Communication’ at this year’s TPAS Awards for its collaborative approach to developing a new website, which involved customers at every stage. Read their full article here

Metropolitan Thames Valley have been named Affordable Housing Provider of the Year at the First Time Buyer readers’ awards.  MTV is a new partnership and was the first housing association to go through the new tenant’s ballot process. Click here for a full list of winners.

Last but by no means least Nottingham Community Housing Association scooped two awards at the Building Communities Awards back in February.  The provider was recognised for Social Housing New Build and Tenant Participation.  Find out about why they won here

Nottingham City Homes have flats available in some of its Independent Living Schemes.  These homes are for those aged either 60+ or 55+ receiving Disability Living Allowance or a Personal Independence Payment. 

The communities consist of self-contained homes, each with their own front door, and vary in size between 16 and 96 units. Everyone who lives in the independent living communities is linked to the Nottingham on Call emergency alarm service that provides 24/7 assistance at the pull of a cord or the press of a button.  Many of the schemes have scooter stores and a large number have been transformed through NCH's Grander Designs programme. 

For an informal chat or to arrange a viewing please call 0115 7469619 or email: lettingsteam@nottinghamcityhomes.org.uk

One of Longhurst Group's money advisors has been hailed a ‘miracle worker’ by a customer who she helped to overcome a crippling fear of Universal Credit.

Pam Malhi, who works with Longhurst’s customers to help them manage household finances and ensure they receive their benefit entitlements, helped a Beechdale resident overcome her concerns about applying for UC, which has received some negative attention in social media.

With Pam’s assistance the family’s income has been boosted by an extra £277 a month.  Read more here

Accent Housing are delighted to be a part of the National Housing Federation’s Together with Tenants initiative, which aims to bring residents views about the way landlord engage with them to forefront of the national housing agenda.  The proposals in the initiative’s draft plan are aimed at:

- Building stronger relationships between residents and landlords

- Ensuring residents are listened to and their concerns taken seriously

- Increasing opportunities for residents to influence the services they receive

Accent have adopted the Together With Tenants principles and will be working with its counterparts and residents to ensure objectives are met.

A number of other housing associations with properties in the city also signed up to become early adopters of the initiative, including Derwent Living, Stonewater and Metropolitan Thames Valley.  Click here for a full list

Stonewater has transferred its affordable retirement living homes to Nottingham’s Tuntum housing association.

A total of 35 affordable homes have been transferred: one general needs rented house and 34 self-contained retirement living apartments.  The scheme provides round the clock support for residents along with housing-related support to assist residents to remain independent at home.  Read the full article here

Host Nottingham are a local charity facilitating short term accommodation for destitute asylum seekers and newly recognised refugees in people’s homes for periods of between a week and 3 months.

The charity can’t do this without a bank of willing hosts, which it is seeking to increase to help meet higher demand.  If you have a spare room and would consider making a real difference to someone’s life by hosting them at a time of great need, or would simply like to find out more, please get in touch at hostnottingham@gmail.com or tel: 07963 740 175

For more information about the charity please visit their website.

Local homelessness charity The Friary has launched a brand new service specifically supporting local rough sleepers out of homelessness. To help meet demand on services (over 18,000 people presented to the charity last year) additional drop-in sessions now take place on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8.30 am, providing in-depth advice and practical support to rough sleepers.

Whereas the Friary works tirelessly to assist people into appropriate accommodation, to access jobs and to access benefits, it is acknowledged that some people have become entrenched into rough sleeping and intensive efforts are often required to relieve them from homelessness. The new service will enable the Friary to increase its amount of contact time with local rough sleepers and facilitate earlier relief from homelessness.

Visit the website for more information or follow @theFriary88 on social media.

Age UK Notts’ Safe and Sound service recently became an accredited Home Improvement Agency, as awarded by Foundations.  Foundations is appointed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government to oversee a national network of nearly 200 HIAs and handyperson providers across England.  

Safe and Sound, a service supporting the wellbeing of the people aged over 60 enabling them to stay safe, warm and independent at home,  passed the standards of good practice expected for accreditation and are proud to be the bearers of the HIA quality mark.  For more information see www.findmyhia.org.uk

According to the UK House Price Index in February 2019 the average cost of a home in Nottingham was £140,464. 

While this is positive annual growth at 2.0%, the uplift is the lowest annual growth recorded for Nottingham since September 2013.  Growth has also slowed across the East Midlands region and England.  Nottinghamshire fares slightly better, impacted by large-scale housing development in Mansfield influencing prices.

Growth in the city continues to be poorest for flats with prices contracting by 0.25% annually.  Detached and semi-detached properties fare better, highlighting the demand for family homes.

The weekly median rent of £126 for a 1 bed property in February remained the same as it was in December (the month reported in our Winter 2018/19 newsletter). 

Rents for 2 bed and 3 bed homes rose however – by 2% to £156 for 2 beds and +3% to £160 for a 3 bed property. Again, this underscores the demand for housing more suitable for families.

You have received this email because you are subscribed to Nottingham City Council’s “Stay Connected” service for news and information about council services. Other subscriptions you may be interested in include:

You can review which emails you receive from the service or unsubscribe by editing your subscriptions - log in with your email address and update your preferences.

Disclaimer: Nottingham City Council is not responsible for the accuracy of any information in this bulletin provided by or linking to external sources.