Welcome to your residents’ newsletter. This is where we can share essential information with you about housing services and update you about the things you need to know.
In this edition of Open Door we’ve got information on:
- Get the home that’s the right size for you
- There’s a buzz about York
- Please bin it!
- How can we improve your services?
- Rock up to the next Housing Customer Roadshow!
- Need to see your Housing Management Officer?
- Your feedback helps make changes
- Help us balance York’s budget
Get the home that’s the right size for you
If you're living in a home that’s too big for you, we can help.
We know that households can get smaller for all sorts of reasons: the kids leave home, a relationship breaks down, or through bereavement.
If you’re left struggling to manage or pay for a home that’s too big for you, we can match you to a more manageable one and help with the move.
Moving somewhere smaller could reduce your gas, electricity and water costs, your Council Tax and contents insurance. It also frees a larger home for a growing household.
We can help with the cost and upheaval of moving. This could include helping pay for removals, new white goods, curtains and carpets.
To find the right-sized home for you, you can arrange an exchange. This can be with a tenant of the same or a different social landlord, as long as the property meets your needs and the landlord agrees. Register with HomeSwapper online.
See more information on swapping your council home.
Contact your Housing Management Officer, or our housing registrations team on telephone: 01904 554044, or email: housing.registrations@york.gov.uk, for more information.
There’s a buzz about York
To support a broader range of plants and wildlife flourishing across the city, we’re creating a ‘buzz about York’.
We are trialling flowerbeds with long-lasting, perennial plants that will be a good source of nectar for bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects. This also reduces harmful carbon dioxide emissions and waste that comes from annual bedding plants, while creating more weather-resilient planting.
We are also reducing our mowing programme in trial areas, to improve the habitat for plants, animals and insects by letting longer grass and wildflowers grow.
To find out more about Buzz about York.
Please bin it!
When you’re out, please remember to bin it, not drop it!
Please take any waste home to recycle or bin, or use local litter bins. They’re emptied regularly but can get full quickly so please tell us about full bins online.
If your recycling is overflowing, please make sure you squash it down well to reduce the risk of it blowing about, or use a lid or net over it, if you can.
Keeping our streets litter-free is better for:
- the environment - by stopping harmful plastics working their way into the soil
- animals - who risk choking, poisoning or dying from eating litter
- residents and staff - so we have more time to spend on you!
Thank you!
How can we improve your services?
We're committed to giving you the opportunity to let us know about our services, so we can get them right for you.
To help you shape and influence our services, we’re putting together The Housing Engagement Strategy 2024 to 2027 – and we’d love your help with it.
Your feedback, comments and views on our services will help us develop better understanding of your needs, expectations and aspirations.
Find out more about the Housing Engagement Strategy 2024 to 2027.
Rock up to the next Housing Customer Roadshow!
Please join us at your next Housing Customer Roadshow.
You can meet staff from our home improvements, repairs and benefits teams. They’re here to show you the latest kitchens and bathrooms, chat with you, answer questions and take your feedback.
Come and see the latest home improvement products. We’ll have samples of:
- kitchens and bathrooms
- flooring and wall coverings
- taps and showers
Feel the quality, see the colours and tell us what you think of them.
Come and meet our staff. They’ll help you with:
- repairs - ask about outstanding repairs and report issues with your home
- damp and mould - how to avoid it building up and what to do if it does, then report any problems to us
- the cost of living - it’s affecting us all. They can help you maximise your income, lower your outgoings and pay your essential expenses
See you on Thursday 26 September at Tang Hall Community Centre, Fifth Avenue, YO31 0UG.
Drop in any time from 9.00am until 1.30pm.
Need to see your Housing Management Officer?
You’re welcome to drop-in to weekly advice sessions held across the city.
Tuesdays:
- 217 Lindsey Avenue, Holgate, York YO26 4RL - 10.00am to midday
- Bell Farm Community Centre, Roche Avenue, Heworth, YO31 9BB - 12.30pm to 3.00pm
- Marjorie Waite Court, Evelyn Crescent, Clifton, YO30 6DX - 1.00pm to 3.00pm
Fridays:
- Tang Hall Community Centre, Fifth Avenue, Tang Hall, YO31 0UG - 9.30am to 10.30am
- Foxwood Community Centre, Cranfield Place, YO24 3HY - midday to 2.00pm - 3rd Friday of the month only
Your feedback helps make changes
We value your feedback. It can change how we support you and we make changes based on the comments and suggestions you give us.
See how we have changed our services based on what you tell us in response to tenant and leaseholder feedback.
To have your say to help you and other tenants bring about the change you want to see, complete our Tenant and leaseholder feedback form:
Alternately, you can contact our Housing Equalities and Engagement Facilitator on telephone: 01904 552097.
Help us balance York’s budget
We’re asking people across York to share their ideas and comments on the future budget of York - and there’s still time to take part!
Our Big Budget Conversation is open to everyone, and we want to make sure everyone has a voice in the discussion about what the future looks like for York, what services you value and what we could do differently.
You can take part in the consultation until 1 September, either by completing the Our Big Budget Consultation survey online, by emailing your comments to ourbigconversation@york.gov.uk, or calling on telephone: 01904 551550.
Open Door
- Email: housing.serviceimprovments@york.gov.uk
- Telephone: 01904 555556