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:
- Accessing our services
- Winter fuel payment
- Stock condition surveys
- 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
Accessing our services
City of York Council’s housing services are committed to supporting our tenants and leaseholders. We want to make sure you can all access our services equally.
We are asking you to let us know about your needs and if we can do anything to make things easier or better for you when we deliver our services.
Some examples are:
- providing information in different ways, for example in large print or Braille, as an audio file, or on coloured paper if it would be easier for you to read
- communicating in a preferred method and/or timeframe that is safe for you, within business hours
- communicating by email, text or phone instead of by letter, if these are easier for you to access
- dealing with a family member, friend or representative - you'll need to give us permission to do this
- providing translation services or interpreters for you if your first language is not English, or if you are deaf or partially hearing
- waiting longer for you to answer the door if you need more time to answer it for things like a repair
Let us know by:
- sending us a letter or email to explain what adjustment you need and why you need it, to Housing Service Improvements, West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA, or email: housing.serviceimprovement@york.gov.uk
- calling us on telephone: 01904 555556
- contacting us online - Tenant and leaseholder feedback
- phoning any housing service area - tell us if you ring about something else
Winter fuel payment
Pension Credit is a valuable benefit worth around £2,677 a year, and getting it now secures the Winter Fuel Payment.
Pension Credit is paid in addition to the State Pension, and now it automatically unlocks the Warm Home Discount. Recent changes announced mean that eligible pensioners will miss out on the Winter Fuel Payment if they don’t claim Pension Credit before 21 December 2024.
People who get the State Pension and a lower income can apply for Pension Credit. Then, they automatically get other help such as Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support. They can also claim social tariffs from gas, electricity and broadband providers, free TV licences and lower water bills.
Around 450 households in York could be missing out on Pension Credit and we’re contacting them to let them know they’re eligible and how to get help making their claim.
We’re also working with Age UK York, Citizens Advice York, and Older Citizens Advocacy to support you checking your eligibility and claiming.
You can contact the following organisations for further support.
Citizens Advice York
- Telephone: 0808 278 7895
- Website: Citizens Advice York
Drop in sessions on Mondays, from 10.00am to 12.00pm at West Offices, Station Rise, York YO1 6GA.
Age UK York
- Telephone: 01904 634061
- Website: Age UK York
Older Citizens Advocacy York
- Telephone: 01904 676200
- Website: Older Citizens Advocacy York
CYC Benefits Advisors
- Telephone: 01904 552044
- Website: Get benefits and money advice
Stock condition surveys
A big thank you to all of the 6,500 households who have allowed our surveyors, Michael Dyson Associates into your home.
This has been so helpful for us to understand the condition of your home and what might need updating in the future. The information we’ve gathered will now be used to plan our upgrade work to your homes for future years.
Any serious repairs will have been spotted and work actioned, but general repairs will not have been picked up, so please continue to report these as normal Monday to Friday, on telephone: 01904 551550 Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.00pm (option 4, option 1).
If you live in a City of York Council home and have not yet had your property surveyed, please contact Michael Dyson Associates on freephone 0800 328 9896 or on a local rate call to 01484 668724 to arrange your survey.
This survey is by eye only so it won’t disrupt you and is required to plan for repairs and future investment programmes. It takes 20 minutes and includes a visual assessment of the inside and outside of your home, including windows, doors, kitchens, bathrooms and heating appliances.
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.serviceimprovements@york.gov.uk
- Telephone: 01904 555556