Street Talk No 67

Street
TENANTS & RESIDENTS MAGAZINE
Spring 2021 | Issue 67
Happy
Easter
from all at
Ocean Housing!
New homes in St Blazey,
find out how you can
register your interest
. . . see page 5
Find out how you can get
peace of mind and keep
your family safe in their
own home
. . . see page 6
Meet China, who in our Christmas edition, said she was grateful for her sister being
born last Summer. Amorah was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at
birth. Thankfully, the family are safely back together at home. China says, “I’m so
happy that Amorah is not poorly any more. I’ve wanted a sister my whole life.”
Find out more about
Chris, one of our
Board members
. . . see page 7
Our Easter opening times…
Our customer service advisors will be unavailable from 5pm on Thursday 1st April
and will re-open on Tuesday 6th April at 8.30am.
For emergencies please contact our out of hours service on 01726 874450.

Street
TENANTS & RESIDENTS MAGAZINE
Last year our Tenant and
Resident Panel and Scrutiny
Panel combined together to build
the exciting new ‘Together with Ocean’ group
(TWO). We are lucky to have dedicated tenants
who give up their time and energy to share
their feedback and give recommendations on
how we can continue to improve the services
we provide. The coronavirus pandemic hasn't
stopped them either, with meetings switching
to virtual ones, online. Each month they
meet with senior members of staff and Board
members on topics and subjects that matter
to them.
Newest group member, Maria says, “There are
lots of ways to be involved, depending on the
time you have to offer and how much time you
can commit. I’ve overcome barriers of severe anxiety,
loss of confidence and the feeling of being lost after a
breakdown of my health, marriage and employment.
With encouragement, support and understanding,
I have grown and found purpose and a connection
Have you been spending more time at home due to the lockdown restrictions and cold weather?
Perhaps you are missing the social interaction with your neighbours, friends and family. If so, we
have a great way for you to get involved and make new friends from the comfort of your own
home with the Ocean Virtual Internet Panel (VIP). VIP is our new online platform exclusively for
tenants and residents of Ocean Housing. All you need is internet access, a phone, tablet or laptop
and you’re ready to go!
VIP is a great way for you to make a difference and tell us what you think of the services we provide as a housing
association. We have recently received positive feedback on how we have handled the pandemic and given
recommendations on how we could improve in some areas. This feedback
doesn't take much time and you can access it online anytime of the day.
2
Join Maria with Together with Ocean
Become an Ocean VIP!
again by taking part
in this group. I still
struggle with my
physical and mental
health, however I’m
so glad I took the
steps to join this
group of people
from all walks of life
and I feel I can still
contribute in some
way, and hopefully
help others in a
similar situation."
If you would like
to get involved or
you would like more information about the range of
options available, which suit your individual needs,
please contact our Tenant Partnership team on
(01726) 874450 or email help@oceanhousing.com
We can't wait to hear from you.
With every contribution you make, you will be rewarded with points, the
more points you earn the bigger chance you have of winning the prize draw
of a £50 shopping voucher.
This is exactly what happened with Steven from St Newlyn East who is our
first winner. Steven told us, "I found it an easy to join VIP and it's great that
we have a chance to put our views across on all areas of the business, I
would recommend everyone to join."
If you are interested in joining our online community, please follow this link
to sign up www.oceanhousingvip.co.uk/oa/6a612e
or for more information please email
tenantpartnership@oceanhousing.com or call 01726 874450.

Spring 2021 | Issue 67
Every tenant and resident will have received a letter explaining
their new rent charges that take effect from the 5th of April 2021.
If you are in receipt of Universal Credit (UC) and get help
towards your housing costs, it is important that you notify the
Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) of the changes to
your rent.
You should receive a notification within your online Universal
Credit account, such as pictured here on the right. There will be
an action in your "to-do" list or you can telephone 0800 328 5644
(8am to 6pm Monday to Friday).
These changes must be reported on or as soon after Monday 5th
April 2021 to ensure you receive the money you are entitled to.
If you pay by direct debit, we will automatically adjust your
payment to reflect the new amount that you need to pay. A new schedule will be sent to you in the post.
If you pay by standing order or are a manual monthly payer, then you will be responsible for amending your
own payments to reflect the new amounts.
If you are in receipt of housing benefit from Cornwall Council, you do not need to inform them of the
change to your rent. We are able to inform the Council direct of any changes and your housing benefit will
be adjusted accordingly.
If you have any concerns about paying your rent, please contact our Customer Accounts team on
01726 874450 or visit our website www.oceanhousing.com/your-benefits
Changes to be
made to fix-term
tenancies...
Rent Review 2021
Many of our tenants will already have a lifetime tenancy. Following a review
we have decided to stop using fixed term tenancy agreements. This means we
will soon begin issuing lifetime tenancies to all new tenants who successfully
complete their 12 month starter period. If you have a lifetime tenancy your home
is yours for life if you wish, as long as you keep to the terms of your agreement.
Over the next few months we will be contacting all existing tenants who have
a fixed term tenancy, or a starter tenancy leading to a fixed term agreement. For tenants who have kept to the
terms of their tenancy agreement, they will be offered
a lifetime tenancy.
A lifetime tenancy will only be offered if:
• Your rent is up to date with no arrears
• You have let us carry out the necessary checks and
services to ensure your home is safe
• If you have not breached any other terms of your
current tenancy agreement
A member of the team will be in touch if we are able to
make the offer to you, so please ensure your contact
details are up-to-date, you can do this by emailing
help@oceanhousing.com or call 01726 874450.
3

Street
TENANTS & RESIDENTS MAGAZINE
Did you know that Ocean has a set of Service
Standards which are set and agreed with you, our
tenants?
So that they remain current and cover the things
you expect and want, we’ve recently reviewed
them with Together With Ocean (TWO), our tenant
group and made some important changes.
The standards continue to explain what services
we will provide and when, however, as an adopter
of the National Housing Federation’s ‘Together
with Tenants’ campaign, we will now be listing
these standards against a set of six commitment
which are:
• Relationships
• Communication
• Voice and influence
• Accountability
• Quality
• When things go wrong
Service Standards, set by you
“The revised commitments set out the quality
of service you can expect, the improvements
we are planning and how you can judge our
performance,” said David Jory, Head of Customer Experience, “For the first time we will also be asking you
questions like do you trust Ocean and how easy do you think we are to deal with, as part of our monitoring. It
really is your opportunity to have your say!”
We will be publishing the updated standards in the coming months. In the meantime, you can read our current
Service Standards booklet and see how we are performing against them on our website at
www.oceanhousing.com/home-2/about-us/service-standards
Are you interested in helping shape the services we provide?
If you’ve read our service standards and think that you have ideas on how we might improve, then we would
love to hear from you. As you will have seen earlier on in this edition, there are plenty of ways to get involved
as part of the Tenant and Resident Partnership. There are so many options available to suit the time you have
available and commitment you are able to make. Why not contact the Tenant Partnership team by emailing
tenantpartnership@oceanhousing.com and find out how you can make a difference today.
IFF Survey Update
IFF Research has been selected to complete research on our behalf, as
they are independent housing research specialists.
IFF Research will continue to contact you from 0208 049 5758.
If you have any concerns or would like to discuss this further,
please get in touch at help@oceanhousing.com or call 01726 874450.
4

Spring 2021 | Issue 67
In January, we were delighted to be able to hand over
the keys to a brand new home in Cubert to Amy and
Debbie. Their new property is one of six affordable
homes in the village. This is their second home
purchased through the shared ownership scheme,
which has helped them to move up the property
ladder and go from a flat which they have outgrown
and into a house. Shared ownership is a stepping
stone for so many people to gain access onto the
property ladder.
Celebrating our 500th shared owner!
Amy said, “I grew up in Cubert. It’s a lovely village
with a great mix of coast and countryside, but due
to high property prices, I never thought I’d be able to
return to living in such a sought-after area. I was so
excited to see that some of the houses at the scheme
would be shared ownership, and due to being local
with my family still living in the area, we were lucky
enough to be accepted for one of the properties. We
have purchased a 75% share, and will pay rent on the
remaining 25%.”
When the UK was placed into our third lockdown,
Nicola, Sales Co-ordinator was thrilled the sale could
go ahead. She explained, “We are committed to
ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our tenants,
residents and staff. We have a secure handover
procedure, making sure we are following the latest
Government guidelines, so we can continue to deliver
much needed homes to our buyers, such as Amy and
Debbie, keeping everyone safe and happy is
our priority.”
We have a number of precautions in place to keep
everyone safe: these include appointments for
viewings and key handovers, redesigned our viewing
process to ensure social distancing is allowed for, and
introduced additional safety measures such as hand
sanitising and wearing masks and gloves.
If you are interested in becoming a shared owner,
please visit our website www.oceanhousing.com
or email help@oceanhousing.com or call
01726 874450 and we will be able to give you
more information.
New Year, New Homes!
Polgrean is entering an exciting stage with the new build phase of the first ten social rent homes due to complete
this Summer. Despite the national lockdown, our essential work to deliver these new affordable homes has
continued. Just up the road, is where we will be offering, for the first time in St Blazey, the opportunity to purchase
a shared ownership property.
There will be nine homes in total across the project for shared ownership and you can register your interest with
our sales team. We have also begun the exciting building of our bespoke block of older persons' flats, similar
to our other older persons' accommodation at Windmill House in Fowey. This block will specifically cater to the
needs of our older community with a lift serving all floors as well as a mobility scooter storage and charging room.
We would like to hear from anyone over the age of 55, with a connection to St Blazey. This may
be a great opportunity for you to secure a brand new purpose-built flat in the heart of the new development.
We would like to take this moment to thank all the residents, neighbours
and the wider community of St Blazey. We are doing all that we can to
ensure that noise and disruption is kept to a minimum and we really
appreciate the patience and support we have received from everyone,
whilst we undertake this exciting project. For more information or to
register your interest, please email
help@oceanhousing.com or call 01726 874450.
5

Street
TENANTS & RESIDENTS MAGAZINE
We love to hear your feedback, whether it is positive
or negative, as we understand that we
don’t always get things right.
If things do go wrong, our three stage
complaints procedure is designed to
give us an opportunity to resolve the
problem, put things right and work
with you to find the best outcome.
Where possible, we will try to resolve
complaints as early and quickly
as possible. If this isn’t possible,
or you are not happy with the
outcome, your complaint will be
logged formally at Stage one of our
complaints process.
We want to hear your feedback, good or bad!
At Stage one your complaint will be
referred to a manager, who will take a look
Our Complaints
Procedure
at the issues you have raised. You can expect a call
to discuss your concerns within five working days,
and a full written response within
10 working days.
Your guide to making a complaint
with Ocean Housing
T: 01726 874450
www.oceanhousing.com
Ocean Housing Ltd Stennack House
Stennack Road St Austell PL25 3SW
We hope this resolves your
complaint, however if it doesn’t then
you can escalate your concerns to
Stage two and three which is reviewed
by a Managing Director or finally our
Group Chief Executive.
At any stage of the process you are able
to contact the Housing Ombudsman
to seek advice and support. We’ve
included these details below and
information about what you can do if you
remain unhappy after completing our
complaints process.
After completing our procedure, if you feel the issues persists or you are still not happy with our
response, you can take your complaint to a Designated Person or speak to the Housing Ombudsman
Service. You can visit the Housing Ombudsman Service website for more information at
www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk
To find out more details about our procedure, and access our online complaints form visit our website at
www.oceanhousing.com/home-2/contact-us/online-complaint-form
Lifeline, peace of mind to continue living independently
Within the last year we think we have
all noticed how much we appreciate
our independence. Our lifeline service
gives this to so many of our older and
vulnerable tenants who live alone. You
don't need to be a tenant to access the
service, lifeline is available to private
residents too. The Lifeline service
provides 24-hour monitoring and
emergency service all year round. The
call centre team will have access to the
details and contact information you
provided for your local doctor, family and
friends, ensuring you get the assistance
you need as soon as you need it. This service costs just £3.95 per week, which includes installation.
For more information please contact the Ocean Extra team by emailing help@oceanhousing.com or call
01726 874450.
This service is NOT only for Ocean residents so if you think a member of your family or community would benefit,
please do contact us.
6

Spring 2021 | Issue 67
I was born and raised in the Clay Country, so I have deep roots in the area
which makes me feel really privileged to be involved with the Ocean
Group. I have spent my entire 21-year career working in the social housing
sector, from being a housing officer working in Truro to now working for a
national law firm as a housing consultant. In my spare time, I like to enjoy
the natural pleasures that Cornwall has to offer, with my wife and three
daughters. The last year has meant that I haven’t needed to travel away, so
I have really enjoyed spending quality time with my family. We also have
a cat and five chickens which the children love, and we enjoy spending
time outdoors as much as possible, enjoying the fresh air. I paddleboard
regularly and play golf when I get the chance!
As a board member, I take great pride in the fact that I am involved
with an organisation that provides affordable, safe and secure housing to people in Cornwall. At board
meetings, we always have a lot to discuss, whether it’s about approving new policies or investing in
housing stock such as energy efficiency programmes. Getting the balance between investing in our
existing homes and building new ones for local people is always a challenge, but we do this in a balanced
way. I joined the Board of Ocean Housing Ltd in 2019 and it’s been an eventful couple of years, especially
2020 with the global pandemic and ensuring that both staff and tenants are safe, whilst still working
with the Executive Group to ensure that services are delivered. It’s been an absolute pleasure serving as
a Board member and I look forward to seeing what we can all achieve in 2021, and working with TWO
(Together With Ocean).
Our Neighbourhood Services Team
is now headed up by David Hooper.
David has worked in the housing
sector for 30 years, most recently for
a large national housing association.
Away from work David likes to relax
by visiting the gym and watching
football, both professional and
non-league.
David has told us:
‘I’m very pleased and excited to be
working at Ocean.
Meet our Board Member, Chris Grose
We have a great team, achieving fantastic results,
and I’m looking forward to working with them to
make our services even better. I’m particularly keen
to focus on making sure our neighbourhoods are
safe, clean and welcoming, as experience tells me
these things often matter most to people. If you
have any thoughts on how we can improve our
services or the area where you live, it would be
great to hear from you.
Meet David, Head of Housing
Hopefully life will get back to
something we recognise as normal
in the not too distant future which
means I will be able to meet more
of my team in person. So far there
are some who I’ve only met via a
video meeting, which isn’t ideal.
That said I’m hugely impressed by
the way my team, and the others at
Ocean, have continued to provide
services during the lockdowns,
finding new and innovative ways to do so.
We will make sure that we keep the best bits of that
learning as we move forward and will always look
for ways to deliver a better service. Our cleaning
teams are now using backpack hoovers which are
quicker and safer to use, while we will be investing
in another remote controlled lawnmower (known
as a spider) which offers a number of advantages
over a traditional ride on mower.
I hope your 2021 is healthy and happy.
7

Street
TENANTS & RESIDENTS MAGAZINE
Easter Spot the Difference
Competition
Can you spot the differences between these
two Easter pictures ,
how many can you find?
The first three correct entries drawn will win:
1st Prize £60 Shopping Voucher
2nd Prize £40 Shopping Voucher
3rd Prize £20 Shopping Voucher
The competition is open to Ocean residents.
Only one entry per household.
Closing date is Friday 21st May 2021.
You don’t need a stamp, just cut out the
picture with the differences circled and pop
it into an envelope addressed to:
FREEPOST RSES-LCCA-EJUJ
Easter Competition 2021
Ocean Housing, Stennack Road,
St Austell, PL25 3SW
Name:
Address:
How many differences did you spot?
Good Luck!
$
Take part in Census 2021
Census day has now passed, but you still have time to
complete your pack that you received through the post.
This happens just once every 10 years and gives the most accurate information of the households
in England and Wales. You are able to complete the questionnaire on a computer, tablet or phone.
“A successful census will ensure everyone from local government to charities can put services
and funding in the places where they are most needed,” Iain Bell, Deputy National Statistician
at the Office for National Statistics, said. “This could mean things like doctors’ surgeries, schools
and new transport routes. That’s why it is so important everyone takes part and we have made it easier for
people to do so online on any device, with help and paper questionnaires for those that need them.”
The census
is here
If you need further information www.census.gov.uk or contact us on (01726) 874450 or help@oceanhousing.com
Tel No:
Mobile:
Email:
Postcode:
Sunday 21 March
By taking part,
you wi l help inform
decisions about
the things that
matter to you and
your community.
If you need help
to fi l in your census
form, we’ve got it
covered.
Visit
www.census.gov.uk
to find out more.
CGPTP15VT
Please recycle your Street Talk. Printed on Re-cycled paper. Designed & produced by Karen Jackson Design 01326 373108 Photography by Frame by Frame 01503 262684.
email: help@oceanhousing.com
www.oceanhousing.com
01726 874450
Out of Hours Numbers
Emergency Repairs: 01726 874450
Anti-Social Behaviour: 01726 874450
Contact us for a Large Print or Audio CD of this newsletter