I n s i d e t h i s i s s u e :

Welfare Reform

Housing Benefit

Changes

2

SHBA Tenant

Inspectors

4

Small Community

Grants Awarded

5

HomeSwapper Mutual

Home exchange

service

6

Making Waves

Project and

Personal Safety Tips

7

Repair Response times

Bi –Lingual Outreach

Housing support :

Venues and Times

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Newsletter S u m m e r 2 0 1 2 I S S U E N O 1 1

SPECIAL POINTS

OF

INTEREST

WELCOME TO STEVE BIKO

HOUSING ASSOCIATION

NEWSLETTER

Since our last Newsletter Steve Biko

Housing Association have been busy with a number of things,

Staff training in preparation for the widely publicized changes

to Welfare benefits, recruiting new staff to the team as part of

the Association’s development, including preparations for an

office move before Autumn. We continue to work with our

tenants and have provided training for Tenant inspections. We

remain involved with many community and neighbourhood issues

and have attended various events and partnership working

opportunities including the pre selection of the City Mayoral

Hustings.

Community Engagement—Titanic Sea Odyssey Project

Some Tenants from Steve Biko Housing Association took part in

a writing workshop lead by a local historian from Writing on the

Wall (WOW) as part of the Sea Odyssey project themed around

the city Celebrations of the Titanic. A selection of creative

letters written by tenants were chosen to be part of a wider

exhibition in Liverpool Museum during the parade of Giant

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P a g e 2

The Government is reducing the amount of housing benefit

some people can claim.

If you claim housing benefit to help pay your rent you may be affected by changes from April

2013. The changes mean that some people will get less housing benefit than they did

before.

We know that many of you will be worried about what this could mean for you and your

family. This leaflet has information to help you find out what’s happening and what you can

do to prepare.

How many bedrooms do you have?

From April 2013, if you live in a council or housing association home and you have one or

more ‘spare’ bedrooms your housing benefit may be reduced.

This could affect you:

if you are 16 to 61 years old

even if you only get a small amount of housing benefit – for example, if you are

working

even if you are sick or disabled

You won’t be affected if:

you live in a one bedroom flat or bedsit, or if

you or your partner are old enough to receive pension credits. In April 2013 the

pension credit age will be around 61 years and 6 months

Under the new rules if you have more bedrooms than the Government says you need, you

will lose part of your housing benefit. The new rules mean you will be allocated one bedroom

for:

each adult couple

any other person aged 16 or over

two children of the same sex under the age of 16

A carer (who does not normally live with you) if you or your partner need overnight care.

What you need to know

about changes to

housing benefit

3

P a g e 3 I S S U E N O 1 1

two children under the age of 10 regardless of their sex

any other child

a carer (who does not normally live with you) if you or your partner need overnight

care.

It does not matter how the ‘spare’ bedroom is used, the new rules will apply even if:

you and your partner need to sleep apart because of a medical condition

the main residence of your children is another address, but you have a spare room

for when they stay with you.

What happens if you have a ‘spare’ bedroom?

If you have one ‘spare’ bedroom your housing benefit will be cut by 14% of the rent you

pay every week. If you have two or more spare bedrooms, you will lose 25%.

If your benefit is cut you will have to pay your landlord the difference between your

housing benefit and your rent.

Limit on benefits

From April 2013, the overall amount of benefit you can receive will be capped.

The Government will add up how much money you get from a range of benefits, including:

housing benefit, jobseeker’s allowance, employment support allowance, child benefit,

child tax credit and carer’s allowance.

If the total comes to more than the maximum amount allowed your housing benefit

payments will be reduced.

The maximum amount of benefit you will be able to receive from April 2013 will be:

£500 per week for single parents

£500 per week for couples with or without children

£350 per week for single people without children.

This will not apply to you if:

you get pension credit or working tax credit

a member of your household is claiming disability living allowance, attendance

allowance or the support element of employment support allowance.

What should I do? If you are worried about being able to afford to pay your rent

from April 2013, you should ask for advice now. If you don’t pay your rent you could lose

your home, so talk to you’re your housing officer about different ways to pay, transferring

to a smaller home or taking in a lodger. You can also Talk to our Housing Advice worker

to make sure you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to.

Contact your council to ask about extra financial help they have a limited amount of

money available to make discretionary payments towards housing costs.

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Changes to Housing Benefit continued...

Do you have a disability and need overnight care?

If you are of working age, have a disability and need a ‘spare’ bedroom so that a carer can

stay overnight you should contact your local council now so that staff can help you keep more

of your housing benefit.

TENANT INSPECTORS TRAINING

We are pleased to report that our first round of tenants completed their Tenant Inspector training days Well done! They have carried out 2 Inspections up to now with more planned for the future after completing two of our Sheltered schemes.

Tenant inspectors have a process to complete and carry out inspections along side our staff and housing services to ensure all issues they observe are reported and actions required are followed up. Inspections involve looking at the exterior and interior of our properties and addressing health and safety issues etc. It is important to have tenants involved in this aspect of our work as they offer a broader insight to issues from a tenants perspective.

If you are interested in becoming a Tenant Inspector and would like to find out

more or put your name down for future training please contact:

Beverley Williams on :

Tel: 0151 708 4098 ext 21 or bwilliams@stevebikoha.org

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Steve Biko Housing Association Community Grants

Earle Jenkins Learning Support Mentor reported on the work and success of Kingsley United who provide opportunities for local young people aged 7 to 18 and Adults from Toxteth Kensington, Abercromby, Dingle and Wavertree areas of Liverpool to access high quality football coaching. Kingsley have also delivered Home Office sponsored mentoring programmes and work in local schools and during school holidays. Earle thanked Steve Biko Housing Association on behalf of their project for the grant awarded.

This Year we have awarded grants to a number of grants to

community projects as follows:

Kingsley United New football kit

Dingle Community Theatre—Dub poetry Black History project

North Hill Street Children’s & residents day trip

Liverpool Muslim Society weekend school garden project

Merseyside Caribbean Centre—Annual Domino Tournament

Merseyside Refugee Support Network—Refuge Action Week Activities

Many Thanks go to our tenants who decide which projects are awarded small grants

Kingsley United Team in their new Football Kit

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STEVE BIKO HOUSING ASSOCIATION ARE NOW SIGNED UP TO

HomeSwapper

What is HomeSwapper?

HomeSwapper is a professional mutual exchange service and the UK’s largest

community of tenants looking to swap home.

How HomeSwapper Works:

As a Steve Biko Housing Association tenant you can register with

HomeSwapper .

There is no cost involved for you as a tenant.

Many Landlords partner with HomeSwapper to offer it as a professional

mutual exchange service at no charge to their tenants.

Over 180 landlords representing more than 10% of social rented stock in the

UK are already partnering with HomeSwapper

Over 66,000 tenants have joined HomeSwapper since it started in February

2007

75% of members are found potential swaps within 24 hours of joining

Over 1500 households has reported they swapped using HomeSwapper

Every day HomeSwapper automatically searches for potential swaps and

sends out alerts as often as twice a week to tenant members.

Key Features:

Professional mutual exchange solution for landlords and councils

Local and national mutual exchange

Landlord marketing support

Leading edge technology & Powerful property searches

Automatic matching of new homes

Favourites function

Quick and easy registration

Google maps of property locations

Instant access to swapper’s contact details

Please visit the Website to register if you are interested: www.HomeSwapper.co.uk

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Steve Biko Housing are a member of the Steering Group of The Making Waves project. The project provides individual support to tenants and residents who are witness to or experiencing various kinds of anti-social behaviour. The Making Waves officer works alongside ourselves, landlords and other agencies to give you support and work with you to help the resolve the situation as promptly and as effectively as possible. Making Waves have provided some guidance on personal safety issues that you may find useful as follows, your first step is to report anti-social behaviour to your housing officer or

member of staff at Steve Biko Housing if required we can refer you to Making Waves for additional help;

Safety - being safe on the street.

If you think someone is following you, check by crossing the street, more than once if necessary, to see if they

follow – if you are still worried, get to the nearest place where there are other people, a pub or anywhere with a lot

of lights on, and call the Police

Avoid using an enclosed phone box in the street, as the attacker could trap you inside

Don't take short-cuts through dark alleys, parks or across waste ground

Walk facing the traffic so a car cannot pull up behind you unnoticed

If a car stops and you are threatened, scream and shout, and set off your personal attack alarm if you

Have one

Get away as quickly as you can – this will gain you vital seconds and make it more difficult for the car driver

to follow – if you can, make a mental note of the number and description of the car

Try to look and act confidently even if you don't know the area, looking ahead so that you are not taken by

surprise

Remember....you can use reasonable force to defend yourself or effect your escape but you may have to justify what you have done later

Cash points - Some simple safety advice when using cashpoints.

Avoid using a cashpoint during the night or after you have been drinking

Go with a friend if possible and be aware of what is happening around you before inserting your card

Make sure the slot in which you insert your card appears normal and has nothing attached to it

Only withdraw as much as you need and avoid carrying large amounts of cash around

Don't count your money in full view of strangers

If you see someone suspicious hanging around, use another cashpoint or return later

Don't keep your PIN number with your cashcard

Report any theft or loss immediately to your bank and the Police

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CATEGORY EXAMPLE RESPONSE TIME

Emergency Burst Pipe 24 hours

Urgent Leak Under Sink 3 Days

Routine Faulty Hinge 28 days

Housing Outreach Advice Surgery

Do you need help with :

Housing Issues

Arrears

Housing Benefit or Council Tax Eligibility Assessment

Bidding on Property Pool

Anti social behaviour problems

Racial Harassment Incidents

Environmental Issues

Drop in and see Mr Mohamoud Hassan at:

The Somali Womens’ Group 171 Lodge Lane L8 o n Mondays from 10am to 1.00pm or at :

PSS GATEWAY PROJECT , 26 Princes Road, on Wednesdays from 9.30am to 1.30pm

For further information please call : 0151 708 4098 ex 20.

Advice and Advocacy support available with Translation and Interpreting (Somali/

Arabic) for More info: Tel: 708 4098 ex 20 or email: mhassan@stevebikoha.org

REPAIRS RESPONSE TIMES

The following is a guide to how we respond to reported repairs , depending upon the nature of the

repair it may take a little longer than if it is in the Emergency category,