The ‘Residents Section’ is for residents/tenants/leaseholders and leaseholders tenants to share any tips, recipes, household hacks, local events or news or in fact anything that you may feel could be of interest to your fellow residents. We need input from you the people we serve to regularly update this page so if you think you have an item that may be of interest then please email it to us at info@strf.org.uk

PLEASE CLICK ON ANY NEWS ITEM LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION.

PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR CONTACT NUMBER HAS CHANGED. IT IS NOW 07904 052311

These are the latest events being held by our Resident Involvement Team:

At the Sheltered Properties:

Bishop House — Monday 18^th November — Coffee morning to discuss process of setting up Residents Association

At the General Needs Properties:

QUEENSWAY — Drop-in advice session monthly — Next session Tuesday 26^th  November from 10.30 till 12noon — Tenancy Officer is on site at Queensway to offer advice and our Housing Support officer is also available.

QUEENSWAY — Youth Club every week on Tuesdays from 4 till 6pm for children aged 8 and older — Youth Club every week on Tuesdays from 46pm for children aged 8 and older.

COMPLAINTS REVIEW PANEL!

A new Resident Panel has been set up to review complaints that are received by South Essex Homes. You can see what they do by going to the Focus Group link and finding ‘Complaints Review Panel’. If you are interested in becoming a member of this group, then please contact suerickard@seh.southend.gov.uk 

Have you thought of joining the RAP? 

Next Meeting of the Disability & Carers Action Group

13th November at the Civic Centre Room 2 – ground floor

There will be a presentation by

Jean Broadbent from Healthwatch Southend.

She will be giving a brief overview of their services, and examples of when they have helped people with issues relating to local health and social care services.  She will then take questions from the floor. Jean will also bring leaflets, copies of their annual report, free pens and cloth bags etc.

Click here https://strf.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Community-Fund-Panel-poster-1.pdf to see the full information regarding joining the panel.

A CASH-STRAPPED charity providing support and advice to unpaid carers in Southend has closed after almost 25 years. Southend Carers has announced it has shut as “financial difficulties” have made it “impossible” for the organisation to continue. Those who use the service can still access support where it is needed through other groups, according to Southend Council. The charity’s mission was always to “offer assistance, hope, and a sense of community” to unpaid carers.

A Shoeburyness resident, expressed how the charity gave her vital support when caring for her dad. She said: “Southend Carers were the only organisation who were able to support me as a carer for my 98-year-old father during Covid. This was a time when I felt so isolated and concerned about his wellbeing. “Some of the support they offered gave me great peace of mind as a carer and I can’t thank them enough. They were a lifeline and provided essential advice, information, and guidance to me as a carer to help me and make sure my father was safe and well cared for. “I’m sad but also angry we’re losing yet another local voluntary organisation providing local support to local people when they need it.”

Numerous attempts to gain the additional funding needed to continue were unsuccessful in securing extra cash. In a statement, Daryl King, board of trustees’ chairman at the charity, said: “Despite our unwavering dedication and efforts to serve unpaid carers in our community, severe and ongoing financial challenges have made it impossible to continue our operations. This decision was not made lightly, and we understand the significant impact this will have on the individuals and families who rely on us. We understand this news will be difficult for you to hear, and we want to assure you that we have exhausted all possible options to avoid this outcome. While this chapter is coming to an end, we hope the spirit of Southend Carers will continue to live on through the countless lives we have touched.” Maxine Sadza, councillor responsible for social care and healthier communities, said: “Teams across our adults and communities’ area are working with local carers organisations to ensure any carers affected by this can access support and signposting where needed.”

South Essex Homes are pleased to announce that their new Repairs contract will commence on Monday 1st July 2024 and Axis Europe will provide the service that was previously provided by Morgan Sindall Property Services. As our service standard for routine repairs is 28 days, any routine repairs reported to us from 1st June 2024 onwards may be allocated appointments in July and therefore jobs will start to be allocated to Axis Europe.  You may therefore receive appointment confirmations from Axis. Similarly, as urgent repairs have a service standard of 5 working days, any urgent repairs reported to us from 24th June 2024 onwards may be given July appointments, in which case those jobs will be allocated to Axis Europe and you can expect to hear from them with regards to your appointment. Meanwhile, Morgan Sindall will continue to attend repair appointments up until the end of June when their contract expires, for issues reported up to and including 31st May. In some cases, you may need to wait slightly longer for an appointment than usual, but we aim to minimise any disruption during this transitional period and thank you in advance for your patience and understanding during this time. Our contact numbers and ways to report a repair will remain the same, and you will not need to do anything different when reporting a repair to us.

Why not come along to the following events and meet new        and old friends.

   Do you care about your home, repairs, planned works or how your rent is used.

Then you need to come along to one or all of the three focus groups that meet to discuss these issues with our Residents, Officers and Contractors. They are: Repairs, Planned Works and Finance. You are not expected to know everything about the subjects, but having some knowledge of repairs, building or finance, will help you and us. So, come and help other residents to shape the services we have and need for the future. There are free refreshments at the Civic Centre for the Income Group that meets every quarter, the repairs meet monthly and planned works bi-monthly via video link (Teams). You are welcome to come to any of the meetings to see if it is for you, before committing yourself. We also have our Disability and Carers Group that meets on the second Wednesday of the month that is there to help our residents who are disabled or a carer. If you are interested and would like more information regarding all or just one of the group meetings, then please contact Sue Rickard on 01702 212650 (leave a message and Sue will get back to you) or email: SueRickard@seh.southend.gov.uk

Scrutiny are Looking for Residents to join them

The Resident Scrutiny Forum are looking to recruit new members to join them. If you are a South Essex Homes resident or leaseholder and feel that you can work alongside others, who are like minded and dedicated and have some free time to spare, then please contact Chris McPhillips (RSF CHAIR) – Email: chris.mcphillips@sehscrutiny.co.uk

Recent reports created by the Resident Scrutiny Forum can be found by clicking Here as well as more information around the Scrutiny Group.

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TENANCY OFFICERS

To find your Tenancy Officer please click Here.