Haringey tenants review decent homes

Monday 29 June 2009

Over 40 Haringey residents attended the Civic Centre to mark the end of the first year of the borough’s decent homes investment programme.

Tenants and leaseholders, some of whom have already had their homes refurbished, recently joined contractors Apollo Housing, Mulalley, Wates and Lovell recently for Homes for Haringey’s official End of Year 1 Review. They heard about the successes and challenges faced by contractors as well as future programme improvements.

Cllr Claire Kober, leader of Haringey Council, opened the event by welcoming residents as the ‘experts’ for the day and acknowledged the fact the £200m investment programme already has a high satisfaction record amongst tenants.

“Decent Homes is not just about home improvements but it is also about improving the quality of life for tenants and leaseholders. I want to ensure that as the programme progresses it continues to be supported by tenants and leaseholders. It is also great to see that through the Decent Homes programme our contractors will be providing the opportunity to improve young people’s life chances through career apprenticeships.” she said.

Key themes arising from the presentations and questions and answer sessions were further explored in three workshops. Residents had the choice of attending ‘communications and consultation’, ’added value initiatives’ or ‘works quality’ workshops.

Currently the programme has brought over 1600 homes up to the decent home standard.

Irene Baawuah from Carlton Lodge Residents Association, described her ‘new home’ as a ‘palace’ and said it was interesting to hear what the contractors had to say for themselves. “It was good to see them taking on both the tenants concerns as well as the compliments.”

Pauleen Lijertwood, from Milton Road, N15 also had her home completely refurbished under the early ‘pilot’ test scheme which started in January 2008. She said: “Having an end of year review allows for constructive food for thought. This way, tenants in years two and beyond benefit from any identified issues. I am very pleased with the work carried out in my home, the workers were professional and their craftsmanship was excellent.”

Return to Latest News or the News Archive