LMH's tenant focus in line for two more awards

Published by Jean Clarke for Liverpool Mutual Homes in Housing and also in Communities, Environment, Health

Liverpool’s largest housing association has been shortlisted for two more awards after its focus on tenants was recognised by industry leaders.

Liverpool Mutual Homes (LMH) is in the running for the Tenant Care Programme of the Year award and the Partnering Scheme of the Year title with asset and facilities management services specialist, the Kinetics Group.

The inclusion and support work LMH’s Supported Housing Team carries out has been nominated for the Tenant Care Programme of the Year award.

The team provides in-depth one-to-one support plans for elderly people who live independently in the community by identifying the individual support services they require with reviews carried out every six months to meet their needs.

Support plans ensure they are specific to the needs of the individual, concentrating on daily living skills, economic well-being, participation, inclusion and tenants’ cultures and religious beliefs.

The service also provides a range of innovative activities with projects including older persons’ fashion shows, older persons’ theatrical productions, Nintendo Wii activities with inter-housing scheme challenges, Tai Chi, faith awareness and the ‘Electric Blanket’ – a project encompassing film clubs with talks provided by the movie directors.

Art-based creative projects, reminiscence workshops, photography and the development of web blogs and other IT-based programmes are also designed to stimulate and encourage participation and involvement in the sheltered and wider community.

The Housing Support Team’s work has been such a success in reducing social isolation and improving integration in the wider community that a number of schemes have been decommissioned by other agencies including Age Concern and other social landlords.

LMH and the Kinetics Group’s work to deliver a more extensive range of improvements, repairs and maintenance in tenants’ homes has also been recognised with a nomination in the Partnership Scheme of the Year award.

Instead of completing work to the Government’s Decent Homes Standard, the partnership introduced a range of measures to increase the quality level to the ‘LMH Standard’.

Initiatives such as intense tenant consultations through regular open days, the creation of tenant groups, the introduction of health and safety road shows and designated tenant liaison officers to provide regular updates and manage enquiries, have all made a huge difference to tenants experiencing LMH’s £380 million improvement programme.

Together, the two organisations have given 250 days of training sessions and sponsored and supported over 50 community projects.

The work puts tenants’ welfare at the forefront and has resulted in the creation of modern, sustainable neighbourhoods that are tackling fuel poverty issues with huge reductions in bills from £800 to £236 a year.

The partnership has also boosted the local economy and workforce with 77 per cent of the 989 people employed to carry out the regeneration work coming from the Liverpool area.

Together, a range of apprenticeships have been made available as well as over 50 training opportunities by engaging in the Future Jobs Fund.

LMH Chief Executive, Steve Coffey, said: “Being shortlisted for these awards is further testament to the hard and innovative work our staff carry out to improve tenants’ lives.

“LMH was created to deliver sustainable neighbourhoods with homes and communities that people choose to live in and where customers receive the highest possible quality of services so families and individuals can thrive and prosper.

“Both of these nominations exemplify this ethos and it would be very rewarding if both went on to win the awards.”

Winners of the awards will be announced at a ceremony in Manchester on May 12th.

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