Previous activities – 2024

Independent Living Forum

We hosted our second independent living forum at Gatesgarth Close Community Centre in Newby on Friday 15 November. We invited our Reach & Respond customers to drop in for a cup of tea and chat with our friendly team. Our colleagues also asked for feedback from customers, so they could feed this into our next five-year strategy.

Leaseholder forum

This month, we hosted two informal drop-in sessions for our leaseholders, as we wanted to seek their views on our new draft leaseholder handbook. The session supported us in gathering thoughts about the development of a new leaseholder forum, and we answered any leasehold-related queries.

TVHF Common Allocations policy review

Beyond Housing is part of the Tees Valley Lettings Partnership, which consulted for six weeks to seek views on the proposed changes to the Common Allocations Policy for Tees Valley Home Finder applications. The results have now been directly fed into the review of the policy, ready for implementation in 2025.

Feet on the street – estate walkabout

On Wednesday 6 November, our colleagues conducted their estate walkabouts. As always,s it was a great opportunity to directly engage with customers, and respond to any queries and questions.

Wheatfields Close communal decorating

Following customer feedback about the need for internal decoration of the communal areas in this block. We consulted customers on their preferred colour choices for the hallways and stairwells.

Hungate Court – Social value consultation

Our contractor Eon carried out large-scale energy efficiency improvements at properties at Hungate Court in Hunmanby. They have a social value pledge and have consulted with customers on their preferences for how the money is invested at Hungate.

Beyond Housing Community Fund

Customers who are part of our newly established Community Fund panel were empowered to review the first round of funding applications. Our panel members were instrumental in enabling us to support projects that will positively impact our local neighbourhoods.

Body cameras

We prioritise the safety of our customers and colleagues. Body cameras can provide valuable evidence for addressing anti-social behaviour and ensuring fair and respectful treatment for everyone, which is why we are considering implementing them in specific circumstances. Before trialing these devices, we consulted with our Involved Customer group to gather feedback. This was to ensure customer perspectives were part of the decision-making process.

Vulnerability policy

We are committed to understanding and supporting our customers with diverse vulnerabilities and have developed a new Vulnerability Policy to ensure everyone has equal access to our services. As part of the policy consultation, we sought feedback from our involved customers and colleagues to ensure this policy is as effective as possible.

Castle Ward community clean-up day

We worked in partnership with the Castle Ward Tenants & Residents Association, Cllr Janet Jefferson and North Yorkshire Council to give the Castle Ward area of Scarborough a pre-Christmas clean-up. The event was held on Thursday 28 November, with skips located at various sites for residents to dispose of items they no longer needed.

New Beyond Housing Strategy 2025-30

Our strategy ‘Helping our customers and communities to succeed and thrive – 2020-2025’ sets out what we wanted to achieve for our services and we wanted to look to review and create future plans for the next five years. We value both customer and colleague input in shaping the future of Beyond Housing, and as part of this process, we sought customer input and feedback on what priorities they would like to see for our services within the next five years.

In addition to all our digital customers receiving a survey via email, we also hosted engagement drop-in sessions for customers at Ennis Square, Redcar on Tuesday 8 October from 1-3pm and Brook House, Scarborough on Wednesday 9 October 11 am – 1pm, along with attending local community engagement opportunities within the two-week consultation period of 1st-15th October.

Property adverts

We are always looking for ways to improve the information we provide potential customers about our homes. With this in mind, we asked customers to undertake a reality-checking exercise to review how we currently advertise our homes. Customers helped by spending a few minutes visiting and reviewing a set number of adverts. This feedback helped us to improve the information and detail included in our property adverts to help potential customers find their perfect home.

Leaseholder engagement

We proactively engaged with our leaseholder customers. Considering the legislative changes contained within the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act, we consulted on the new Leaseholder Handbook and ways to enhance customer communications with the development of a Leaseholder Forum. We hosted three informal drop-in sessions across Whitby, Scarborough and Redcar.

Wreyfield Court, Scarborough

Customer consultation regarding the safety and security of the communal area and access points within the block of flats on Wreyfield Drive, Barrowcliff.

Dormanstown review

We reviewed recent Tenant Satisfaction Measure (TSM) results for the Dormanstown area to help support and guide the locality plan improvement implementations.

Woodlands, Scarborough

We conducted community engagement with local Woodlands residents to seek views on the recent Police Environmental & Visual Audit (EVA) recommendations. This further supports the development of our improvement works and our internal action plan.

Independent Living Forum

We held our first session for customers on our Reach & Respond services at Marton Court in Whitby on Wednesday 4 September, 10am – 12pm. This allowed customers to give their perspective on what matters most to them and what they feel are priorities for the future.

In addition to providing customers with a chance to ask questions and give suggestions, we also had a special guest partner from North Yorkshire Council who attended the event to provide people with free advice and support about the best ways to stay warm this winter.

Beyond Housing Community Fund

As part of our social value commitments, we launched our Beyond Housing Community Fund on Monday 2 September. This new funding stream provides an opportunity for community projects and activities to be strengthened with funding support from Beyond Housing. For this funding round, we have allocated a pot of £5,000 and encouraged applications that meet either one or both of these key themes: ‘Keeping communities warm and well’ or ‘Bringing people together’.

As part of this funding, we will be providing an opportunity for a group of customers to help us assess the applications and be involved in the decision-making process by establishing the new Community Fund Panel.

Feet on the street – estate walkabout

Beyond Housing colleagues completed estate walkabouts, engaging with customers and responding to their questions on Wednesday 4 September.

New digital support leaflet

In June, we reached out to gather feedback from new customers who had recently signed their tenancy using our new digital sign-up process. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and customers told us they appreciated the flexibility and convenience of our digital tenancy sign-up. The new process allows customers to access documents at their own pace and refer back to information whenever needed.

To enhance the experience even further, we’ve adjusted our process to ensure customers have easy access to local and national IT support resources. We’ve created a new digital support leaflet that will be available in both digital and printed formats. We sought feedback from our involved customers on the leaflet’s readability, content and clarity, before finalising the end document which is now ready to share with new customers.

Wreyfield Drive, Scarborough

A customer consultation was completed regarding the safety and security of the communal area and access points within a block of flats on Wreyfield Drive in Barrowcliff.

Kirkham Close Community Centre, Whitby

We held a community volunteering event on Friday 13 September to spruce up the rear communal patio area of our community centre, for residents’ enjoyment.

Chestnut Grove, Brotton

Over the Summer, we delivered improvement works to Chestnut Grove as a result of customer involvement and feedback on the proposals. We also re-engaged with customers in September, as the works have been completed, to ensure we have been successful and met the needs of local customers.

Lifting Equipment policy review

As part of the three-year review of the Lifting Equipment Policy, we conducted consultations with customers living within blocks containing a lift serviced by Beyond Housing. This was to ensure customers are aware of the requirements for testing and meeting customer expectations concerning maintenance and servicing standards, and to ensure all residents are aware of how to raise any safety concerns. This feedback was directly fed into the policy review process.

Community Clean-up event in Dormanstown

Together with partner organisations we held a clean-up event on Tuesday 6 August with colleagues and vans available to support customers living in Wilton and Broadway West areas. This also included a resident-led litter-picking session and a fun event held at the Corus Club afterwards.

Community drop-in events

Face-to-face customer engagement opportunities were held at Wykeham Court Community Centre and Hilda’s Church, Redcar. These drop-in style events provided a range of services available to support customers with employability, housing, repairs, health and safety,y and customer feedback.

 Resilience Hubs

Working with the Cleveland Resilience Forum and the British Red Cross to create and deliver community hubs within the Greater Eston area. This project will run until October 2024.

Tees Valley Women’s Centre, South Bank

As part of a community volunteer support project, we worked with the centre to help with re-painting the main hall and entrance area, with members of our painting team taking up the challenge, which included supporting the repainting of the nursery. Welcome support came in from PPG Johnstone’s Paints, who supplied the paint, and PB Joiner,y who kindly provided new radiator covers for the nursery area.

Chestnut Grove, Brotton

We delivered improvement works to Chestnut Grove over the summer as a result of customer involvement and feedback on the proposals. We will then re-engage with customers at the end of the work to ensure we have been successful.

Beech Walk, Eastfield

We sought feedback from all local residents who live and use the open space in Eastfield so we can gather input on potential future uses for the area.

Kirkleatham community day

We supported the Kirkleatham Community Fun Day and Litter Pick on Wednesday 28 August with with partners such as Cleveland Fire Brigade, South Gare Litter Pickers, Redcar Police and RCBC. Everyone involved made the day a success.

Dormanstown locality plan

Customers told us they wanted to live in a property that is warm, where they can afford their bills, and is located in an area that felt cared for.

As part of our approach to provide support to customers, our Assets team undertook stock surveys to collate more detailed information to help us understand the needs of our customers better and develop a plan for the next steps.

Regent House, Darlington

As an organisation we have a duty of care and responsibility to keep customers safe, which includes assessing ongoing fire risks in multiple occupancy blocks. During a recent fire risk assessment at Regent House, it was found that the current location of the bin store, in the car park, was a potential fire risk, and we acted swiftly to reduce this risk to customers and the building. After the removal of the bin store, we consulted with customers on two options for a new bin store area.

Empty Homes policy

As part of the three-year review of our Empty Homes Policy, consultations with customers were conducted to identify any support needs or service improvement suggestions within the pre-termination process.

Roseberry Road, Redcar

Customers highlighted the lack of storage within the block for bikes, causing issues with multiple properties storing bikes in communal hallways. Consultation was undertaken with customers to understand storage needs.

Church Lane North

Groundworks have started their liaison programme with residents on the Church Lane North Estate and invited them to give their input on the future use of the Community hub via a flyer campaign. Additionally, conducting weekly estate walks and chatting with the community about the future development of the communal green space.

Feet on the street – estate walkabout

Our colleagues completed estate walkabouts, engaging with customers and responding to their questions on Wednesday 3 July.

Burnside, Eastfield

Obtained local feedback from customers on improvements to communal areas, including fencing.

Bell Close, Seamer

We supported the local resident group, who requested support to help spruce up a local communal space. This included sanding and painting patio furniture, planting of raised beds and general weeding.

Dormanstown

Engagement event at Dormanstown Primary School held on Tuesday 16 July with Sid the Shark to raise awareness of Loan sharks alongside local partners.

Board chair candidates – stakeholder engagement

We’re committed to ensuring customer voices are heard throughout our organisation, including the important process of selecting our new ‘chair of the board’. A virtual meeting was held with customers to learn about the shortlisted potential candidates and provide valuable feedback to the selection committee.

Barrowcliff community clean-up

This community event took place on Friday 7 June and it was a collaboration between resident volunteers, partner organisations, and local charities such as Barrowcliff Big Local, North Yorkshire Council, Sanctuary Housing, Barrowcliff Residents’ Association, Gallows Close Centre and Sparks Project.

We supported the initiative to reduce fly-tipping in the area by:

• Funding a community skip
• Supporting colleagues to take part in a community litter pick
• Providing a van to pick up pre-ordered items.

It was a great team effort, and there was lots of community spirit. It was the largest event yet, with an estimated 40 tonnes of waste removed from the area! This was achieved by organising free community skips across the estate, tipper vans taking fridge/freezer loads, as well as two bin wagons taking additional loads.

It showcased the fantastic efforts of everyone involved and has resulted in a much cleaner and safer environment for the local community to enjoy. Well done to everyone involved!

New digital sign-up process

We contacted customers who recently experienced our new digital sign-up process to collate feedback and suggestions on ways we can further support the customer experience. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and as a result, we will be adjusting our process to ensure customers are signposted to local support when necessary.

Tpas Diverse Voices focus groups

Beyond Housing is a member of the independent tenant support organisation Tpas. They asked us to promote the opportunity for customers to be part of virtual focus groups designed to understand the barriers faced by people from ethnic minority backgrounds, when it comes to engagement.

Staithes

A free skip provision for the local community in Staithes was held on Tuesday 18 June. We’d listened to customer feedback highlighting the difficulties customers were having removing their rubbish, due to lack of a nearby Household Waste Recycling Centre.

Hungate Court Drop-in event in partnership with Eon

This was an opportunity for local customers to see details of the works planned and ask any questions they had. They were also invited to partake in the project film and discuss what the work means to them and how it will benefit them and their homes.

Barrowcliff Residents Association, Scarborough

As part of our ongoing commitment to support the association via our historic stock transfer agreement, this year’s annual health check process was conducted with the group to strengthen the work of the group and ensure sustainability.

Dormanstown locality plan – improving spaces and communities

As part of the Dormanstown locality plan, customers expressed a need for support with waste removal from gardens and homes.

In collaboration with partners, we organised a community spring clean where 10-12 tonnes of waste and over 150 bags of rubbish were collected and removed.

Church Lane North – resident drop-in

We hosted another opportunity for customers in the Church Lane North area to engage and discuss the ongoing regeneration work in the area.

The drop-in provided an opportunity to talk about any issues with their specific homes and wider feedback on the regeneration of the area.

Customer summit

This year’s customer summit brought together customers and colleagues to discuss opportunities for digital services.

Feet on the street – estate walkabout

Beyond Housing colleagues completed estate walkabouts, engaging with customers and responding to their questions.

Feet on the street – estate walkabout

Beyond Housing colleagues completed estate walkabouts, engaging with customers and responding to their questions.

Tenant satisfaction measures

Following on from the first round of TSM data collection, in October 2023, the second round of data collection commenced.

Customer scrutiny

Building on the collaboration with Tpas in developing Beyond Housing’s new approach to customer engagement, we launched our new scrutiny approach. The new scrutiny approach will focus on two key service areas: Neighbourhood management and asset/property management.

Feet on the street – estate walkabout

Beyond Housing colleagues completed estate walkabouts, engaging with customers and responding to their questions.

Locality partnership event

A locality partnership event took place at Ennis Square in Dormanstown, involving various statutory, charitable and local organisations to discuss partnership working and customer feedback to move forward a deliverable plan.

Westfield Farm drop-in event

A drop-in event was held at Westfield Farm, offering customers access to services such as housing, repairs, damp and mould, income, benefits, and employability.

Digital survey

A survey was sent to the residents of Dormanstown to understand their needs and expectations in shaping a safe and thriving community. This feedback will be used to develop a deliverable plan with partners.