Haringey estates under the spotlight

Tuesday 25 August 2009

A Walthamstow resident taking part in a new scheme to monitor the standards of estate services across London has praised housing estates, managed by Homes for Haringey. As part of the Peer Review scheme, residents from six London boroughs work together to mark various aspects of cleaning and caretaking on estates, such as stairwells, garage areas and communal gardens.

Haringey was one of six boroughs monitored by the group between May and September. It involved residents examining the internal and external communal areas of blocks and providing an assessment rating.

Tenant Lily Evans, from Ascham Homes in Walthamstow, noticed ‘lots of good points’ and described Haringey estates as ‘one of the best so far’. She was impressed with the communal recycling banks, estate community noticeboards, environmental landscaping and feedback she received conversing with tenants in Wood Green.

She joined tenants and leaseholders from Camden, Redbridge Homes, Barnet Homes and CityWest Homes for Haringey’s estate inspection, back in June. Haringey’s inspection involved Newbury House, Wavell House, Hillcrest estate and Stella House.

The aim of the Peer Review scheme is for residents to get a clear idea of the standards they should expect, and for social landlords to get objective views on their Estate Services. A photobook developed by Housemark, with photographic examples ranging from 'excellent' to 'very poor', is also used to assist the residents in making assessments.

Lily said: “If you have to live in social housing, it is often the little things that make a difference, like how well the estate grounds are maintained. In Haringey this has been done very well and I would give the landscaping areas on the estates I saw a rating of at least 8 out of 10.”

Homes for Haringey's Executive Director of Housing, Jackie Thomas, added, "This has been a useful resident-led appraisal exercise. We will be using the feedback and different perspectives from our local and neighbouring residents to make further improvements where we can.”

Currently Ascham Homes’ tenant of the year, and an active resident representative, Lily was also a short listed finalist in the recent TPAS (Tenant Participation Advisory Service) Connecting People Awards. The final inspection of estates managed by City West Homes, will take place in Westminster next month.

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