Port of Leith Housing Association Newsletter Autumn/Winter 2013

WINTER IS COMING! Are you struggling with fuel bills? Worried about keeping warm this winter? Need debt or money advice? The Affordable Warmth Project, funded by ScottishPower, offers energy efficiency and fuel billing advice to our tenants. The service includes advice and support from energy advisor Simon Barnes from Changeworks who can carry out home visits to help you make the best use of heating and hot water systems, understand your fuel bill and deal with energy debt. This project also includes

financial advice and budgeting from CAB’s Fiona Neilson. If you are interested in making an appointment, contact 0131 554 0403 to request a referral from your housing officer or contact Fiona direct on 0131 553 8745.

Condensation is often confused with damp but is very common in houses. This is created by steam from cooking or bathing, forming as water on windows. Mould can occur if it’s not removed. Here are our tips to prevent it:

Keep your home a little warmer during the day with some background heat during the day if you can

Circulate air by occasionally opening doors and windows

Wipe away any water lying on the inside of window sills in the morning

Open windows if you are cooking and don’t allow steam to enter other rooms

Dry clothes outside if possible

Use extractor fans in kitchens and bathrooms and keep air vents open

If you do experience mould growth on walls, you can wipe it off with a solution of one part bleach to four parts water. Special paints can be applied to prevent mould. Please contact your maintenance officer on 0131 554 0403 if you need advice.

LEIPING TO HELP PoLHA has secured funding for Leith Early Intervention Project (LEIP) from the Scottish Government’s People and Communities Fund. The partnership project between Pilmeny Development Project, YMCA Edinburgh, Police Scotland, PoLHA and local schools will receive nearly £72,000 over the next two years. Anne Munro, Project Manager for Pilmeny Development Project, said: “We are delighted to have received this funding as it will go towards providing effective intervention for young people via a tailored programme of street work, weekly drop in youth work, a mentoring service and opportunities to use and develop skills and experience through volunteering.”

NEW FACES AT POLHA

Marie Williams, Maintenance Officer

Leanne McAndrew, Assistant Housing Officer Finbar Moreby, Assistant Housing Officer Nikolaos Koutris, Assistant Accountant

PROMOTIONS

Paul Henderson, Housing Officer Chelsea Smith, Customer Advice Assistant

JACK HUNTER RE-ELECTED PoLHA CHAIRMAN

We are delighted to announce that Jack Hunter has been re-elected as PoLHA Chairman where he will continue to ensure the Association’s objectives are met.

GREENING AT WESTERN HARBOUR

Improvements by Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust to the undeveloped site overlooked by residents of Windrush Drive have included grass seed sown, new trees and bushes planted, a new gravel path laid and a wild flower meadow planted to improve the aesthetic look of the area and encourage insect life.

WELFARE REFORM - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW The ‘bedroom tax’

Some of our tenants will by now be feeling the full effects of the ‘bedroom tax’, where their housing benefit has been reduced because they are considered to have a spare bedroom under new Government rules. We have been able to transfer over 30 of our tenants to smaller properties to avoid the ‘bedroom tax’ and have helped others to apply for Discretionary Housing Payments to top up their Housing Benefit.

If you have concerns about your housing benefit or your rent payments for this or any other reason, please contact your housing officer on 554 0403 – we are here to help.

Universal Credit

The next phase of Welfare Reform is the introduction of a single, working age benefit called ‘Universal Credit’, which will replace a number of current unemployment, housing and child support related benefits and which will be paid into your bank account on a monthly basis. It is planned to phase this in over the next four years but with no clear date yet for introduction in Edinburgh.

When Universal Credit is introduced, payment of housing benefit will be made directly to you rather than to the Association as at present. This means that you will need to have a bank account for the payment of Universal Credit and you will also have to make arrangements to pay your rent to the Association.

Please note, though, that this does not affect people of pensionable age.

If you have any queries about this or would like help to set up a bank account, please contact your housing officer or the tenant support team on 554 0403.

CONNECTING WITH THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

Community Connecting North East Edinburgh (CCNEE) works to reduce social isolation for older people helping them stay healthy and confident. It provides a quality service to support people in their own homes.

The volunteers help older people to use and find out about local facilities and resources, helping them to stay connected in their communities.

CCNEE is a free service which is based at Pilmeny Development Project just off Leith Walk. For more information contact Danny or Mary on 0131 553 2559.

CONTENTS INSURANCE – CAN YOU AFFORD NOT TO? Port of Leith Housing Association does not insure your furniture or personal belongings, including those stored in communal areas eg bikes, so if you lose any of these through theft, fire, flood or vandalism, you would have to meet the cost of replacing these. The existence of CCTV is no guarantee for theft and only helps as a deterrent. It is therefore very important that you have arrangements in place for your own contents insurance. Leaflets on home contents insurance for housing association tenants are available from the Association’s office – please call in person or phone us on 554 0403 for more information.

CENSUS AND SURVEY

You will be aware that we have been carrying out a ‘census’ and a satisfaction survey of all our tenants and sharing owners in the past few weeks. This is to make sure that we have as much up to date information as possible on our customers so that we can target our services better to those who need them most. The feedback from the satisfaction survey will give us information on where we need to focus improvements to our services.

We would like to thank all of you who took part in the survey and we plan to report the outcome of this to you in March 2014.

SUNSHINE ON LEITH AT POLHA’S SUMMER FAYRE

Residents at St Nicholas Court Sheltered Housing Complex on Ferry Road raised £2,000 at its Summer Fayre.

An integral part of the social calendar, which has been celebrated for over 15 years, the money raised goes towards day trips and activities for the elderly residents to enjoy.

Maureen Tait, Senior Sheltered Housing Co-ordinator with PoLHA, said:

“Our Summer Fayre is one of the main highlights in our social calendar for our residents as it’s such a wonderful, fun-filled day.”

OVER £1,200 RAISED FOR MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT

The Association has raised over £1,200 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

PoLHA’s sheltered housing developments at St Nicholas Court in Ferry Road and Hermitage Court in Academy Park hosted events for their residents and locals as part of Macmillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning, raising over £1,000.

PoLHA also held a coffee morning for staff at its Constitution Street office raising a further £209.

PoLHA’s Out of Hours Emergency Number is:

0800 783 7937

LOTS GOING ON AT JAMESON PLACE

ST NICKS 25TH ANNIVERSARY On 5th December 2013, St Nicholas Court will be celebrating its 25th anniversary. You can find out more in the spring issue of PortCall.

Residents of Jameson Place have had a busy few months.

The sheltered housing complex has been working with Inspiring Leith to enable residents to teach pupils from Lorne Primary how to knit.

Elaine Edwards, scheme co-ordinator for Jameson Place, said:

“The children have enjoyed taking part and the residents have had a lot of fun teaching them. The highlight for the residents was being invited along to the school assembly for the children to show off their work.”

The residents also put on their dancing shoes and boogied on down at a 60s night.

And they’ve enjoyed a tour of Leith Police Station organised by PC Kevin Weaver.

Some residents were invited to the unveiling of a mural in Halmyre Street. Artist Tim Chalk was part of a team that created a beautiful mural on a wall at the corner of Halmyre Street and Gordon Street featuring a steam train coming out of a tunnel. Now, 27 years later he, together with the artists from Leith Late, was given the task of creating a new contemporary mural in its place, which

involves and reflects stories from the local community.

BE READY FOR WINTER - ADVICE FOR A HEALTHY CHRISTMAS

People across Scotland are being encouraged to prepare ahead for a healthy Christmas this year, as part of a national campaign. The Be Ready for Winter campaign highlights the simple steps that people can take to keep themselves and their families well during the cold months when many common ailments are circulating within communities. NHS 24 is working with local NHS Boards to urge everyone, particularly older people and those looking after children, to plan ahead and make sure they are not caught out this winter. By restocking their medicine cabinet, ordering necessary prescriptions in plenty of time and finding out the opening times of their local GP surgery during the festive period*, they can help to keep those winter ailments at bay. For further winter health advice visit www.nhsinform.co.uk

*GP practices across Scotland will be closed for two days at Christmas (25th and 26th December) and two days at New Year (1st and 2nd January).

PEDAL POWER

PoLHA’s Director of Property and New Business, Gordon Cameron, joined colleagues past and present to join in Pedal for Scotland from Glasgow to Edinburgh, raising £225 for the Association’s three sheltered housing complexes. He said:

“I was hugely impressed by the work undertaken by staff at our sheltered schemes and the impact this has on the people who live there. It is the additional work they do – the coffee mornings, open days and special events that make all the difference.”

Other team members also fundraised for other charities and some took part just for fun! Picture left to right: Ian Treger, John Murray, Lauren MacKinnon, Neil Donald, Ann MacDonald, Gordon Cameron

***NEW WEBSITE COMING EARLY 2014***

Our new website will give you the facility to:

Pay your rent

Check your rent statement

Report repairs - and more!

More information soon and an article in the Spring issue of PortCall.

PoLHA WINS PROPERTY AWARD FOR LINDSAY ROAD

PoLHA has scooped the highly-coveted award of Affordable Housing Development of the Year for its site at Lindsay Road at The Herald Property Awards for Scotland 2013.

Lindsay Road is the first mixed-tenure development by PoLHA and its subsidiary Persevere Developments Ltd. It contains 58 social rent and 53 mid market rent (MMR) properties and has a wide range of housing types from one bedroom through to four bedroom apartments.

Keith Anderson, Chief Executive, said:

“We are delighted to have won this award as high-quality, affordable housing is what we set out to deliver and we are pleased our efforts have been recognised.”

Chris Stone is one of our first MMR tenants. He lives in a one bed apartment with his wife.

He said: “The location and design of the development is second to none. Not only is it ideally placed to enjoy local amenities and attractions Leith has to offer, but being new build means it’s a lot more energy efficient which saves us money on heating bills.”

BANKING TIME Leith Time Bank is a new project giving people the opportunity to share time and skills to develop their community. Time banking is a way for people to exchange their skills and time. For every hour members deposit in a Time Bank, perhaps by giving practical help and support to others, they are able to withdraw equivalent support in time when they themselves are in need. Everyone's time is valued equally whatever is being offered, for example: one hour of time = one time credit. For more information on Leith Time Bank, call Mary Ann O’Connell on 0131 553 2559.

JUSTICE SECRETARY TO SPEAK AT TOIL GRADUATION

We’re delighted to confirm that Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill MSP will be speaking and presenting awards at the TOiL (Training Opportunities in the Lothians) graduation on 9th December.

The graduation will recognise those young people who completed six month paid work placements. More details will appear in the spring issue of PortCall.

CHRISTMAS CLOSING The PoLHA office will close at 1.00pm on Tuesday 24th December 2013 and will reopen at 8.45am on Friday 3rd January 2014. Any repairs or maintenance issues outwith office hours should be reported to:

Bield 24 hour Response Line 0800 783 7937

Useful Telephone Numbers

National Grid (gas emergency) 0800 111 999

Scottish Water 0845 600 8855

ScottishPower 0845 272 7999

Citizens Advice (Leith) 0131 553 5984

Leith Police Station/Noise Stoppers 0131 311 3131

Crimestoppers 0800 555 111

City of Edinburgh Council

Main switchboard 0131 200 2000

Council Tax & Benefits Office 0131 469 5000

Pest Control 0131 666 2623

Special Uplift 0131 529 3030

All of us at Port of Leith Housing Association wish you a very

Happy Christmas and all the best for 2014!

Port of Leith Housing Association Ltd, 108 Constitution Street, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6AZ SCOTTISH CHARITY NUMBER: SC 027945

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