HFI NEWS - Islington Council

Local news - making a difference
Community fruit and
vegetable gardens
With help from Groundwork, an unused and overgrown
area on the Walter Sickert Estate has been transformed
into a community fruit and vegetable garden. With the
involvement of around 28 households on the estate and
with help from children from The Essex Road Pre-School
Nursery the unused area is now a community garden with
33 wood planters growing wildflowers, native bulbs and
soft fruit bushes and vegetables.
Similarly, a disused pitch at the back of Rydston Close, on the
Boston and Nailour Estates has been transformed into a community
garden.
With funding from The Cripplegate Foundation and with help from
the TRA the overgrown area was cleared of rubbish and weeds
and has now been transformed into a community garden with a
number of raised planting beds, fruit trees and a large poly tunnel.
And with funding from the sustainability fund, two large rainwater
storage tanks were installed which are supplied from the roofs of
the nearby houses.
These community projects help improve your estates by making
use of disused areas and creating productive food growing sites,
helping to bring communities together.
We are always seeking new volunteers to assist with running and
maintaining the gardens, helping to sow new seeds, planting for
the year to come and watering and weeding the gardens.
If you are interested in getting involved and helping out contact
the Community and Service Development Officer at your local area
housing office.
Picture shows the
Walter Sickert community garden
during the transformation.
Penn Road residents are
doing it for themselves
Over the last few years,
residents at 1 Penn Road in
Holloway have been looking
after the garden of their
estate.
Involvement from residents
increased through the
Edible Islington scheme
transforming the back area
of the estate for community
food growing. With
encouragement from Penn
Road Residents Association,
it was agreed that they
would look after all the
garden and get paid for it.
Keith Hodgson, Chair of Penn Road
Residents Association and Jacqueline
Hunter, resident of 1 Penn Road.
Following a consultation with
everyone on the estate, residents met with HFI and Islington Greenspace
to agree what they would do and how they would go about it.
Resident Jacqueline Hunter says with the money they receive they’ll buy
more plants for the garden, seeds and some better tools.
For more information contact Mark Rowe on 020 7527 7260 or email
mark.rowe@islington.gov.uk
Shared
Ownership
Scheme
Would you like to own your
own home but are struggling
to get on the housing ladder?
If so, the council is selling
one bedroom and studio
properties suitable for
single people or couples
on a shared ownership basis.
Priority will be given to existing Islington social housing tenants
and their children, people currently on the council’s housing
waiting list and key workers.
Properties are currently being advertised on
www.firststepslondon.org.uk.
For more details call Home Ownership on 020 7527 7705 or
email homeownership@homesforislington.org.uk
Volunteers needed
We are committed to
working with you to make
community centres hubs of
the local community.
The majority of our centres
are managed by local resident
volunteers and with more
than 50 centres in the borough, they provide a vital resource hosting
community events, playgroups, health and fitness classes, youth clubs
and much more.
Volunteers are always needed to help with running and maintaining
these valuable local centres so please get in touch if you are interested
in helping out. You can find out about the centres near you on our
website: click on ‘Your Housing Area’ then ‘Community Centres on
Housing Estates’ on the left-hand side of the page.
Would you like to move to a
smaller home?
Islington Council offers assistance to help you move to a smaller home.
You could gain £500 per bedroom that you give up, plus financial help
with your move. Call the Housing Options Team on 020 7527 4140 or
email rehousing@islington.gov.uk
HomeSwapper
Islington Council is working with HomeSwapper to give additional
help to tenants who would like to move locally or out of the borough.
For more information or help with finding mutual exchange partners
contact Sue Haire on 020 7527 4372 or email
sue.haire@islington.gov.uk
Local news - making a difference
Tackling housing fraud
Tackling illegal subletting
The government is considering taking a tougher line on council
tenants who rent their homes out illegally by making it a criminal
offence. Subletting your property is also unfair to the growing list
of local people in genuine need of a council home. We are already
working closely with other social landlords in the borough to
tackle the problem. Below are three recent successes:
Fraud doesn’t pay
Following a national records-checking exercise, one of our tenants
was discovered to be subletting her Islington property while
renting another one from The City of London. She gave up her
Islington property and was also taken to court by The City of
London who evicted her on grounds of fraud.
Caught out by a tenancy audit
During a recent audit a man claiming to be our tenant aroused our
suspicions as he was much younger than our records suggested
he should be. Further investigations revealed that the actual tenant
owned two properties in Enfield. When we challenged him he
surrendered his Islington property.
No Right to Buy
We discovered that an HFI leaseholder, who bought their home
under the Right to Buy Scheme (RTB), already owned a property
in East London at the time they applied for their lease. Because
they were legally required to tell us about their other home when
they made their original application we took them to court. They
were found to have acted fraudulently and their four bedroom
property was returned to HFI.
If you know of someone committing housing fraud let us know:
Phone: 020 7527 7432 (24 hour hotline)
Email: housing.fraud@homesforislington.org.uk or go online to
www.homesforislington.org.uk and complete the referral form.
If you think you could be an illegal tenant you can contact the
Housing Aid Centre on 020 7527 2000 or email
advice.housing@islington.gov.uk
All reports are treated in the strictest confidence.
Looking Local is a national service that offers
access to a range of local information and services
through digital TV and mobile.
Get the latest traffic news, look for a job, access public
services (including reporting housing repairs) from
organisations including Islington Council, and search for
local information and advice.
From 1 April 2012 digital TV will be in every UK home
and Looking Local will also be available on smart phones,
iPhones and most social media apps.
To find out more visit www.lookinglocal.gov.uk
6
Visit our website at
www.homesforislington.org.uk
Visit our website at
www.homesforislington.org.uk
7
IS424-HFI-News-Spring-2012-16pp-HomeOwner-v9.indd 6-7 02/03/2012 15:41