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Phoenix Flyer
November 2021
A newsletter by residents for residents @phoenixtogether
All information correct at time of printing. Please visit www.phoenixch.org.uk for up-to-date information.
Stepping up
as Chair of
the Board
a resident be heard? Phoenix made Vice Chair was daunting but Anne
Phoenix resident and previous over 100 promises to us, and I’m mentored me in preparation for my
Vice Chair of the Board, Carmen pleased to say that everyone was appointment. I felt I had something
Simpson, will be stepping up as fulfilled. Transferring from the Council to bring to the board, not only my
Chair and has taken the time to to Phoenix was like day-to-night. 25 years of experience working in
reflect on her next steps with It felt exciting to be part of something housing, but as a resident voice.
Phoenix. new and joining an organisation that I also felt proud to represent my
would be run by its residents. heritage, bring some much-needed
I’d always wanted to get involved with diversity to the board and help
I have worked in social housing for reflect the diversity of our residents
over 25 years. My last job was as a Phoenix and once I retired in 2015,
I finally had the time and capacity to and community.
Resident Engagement Officer for
Southwark Council. do so. I decided to see how I could get Anne has been a great mentor over
involved by looking at Phoenix’s the years and a great support to all
I was part of setting up a Tenants and website and found that there was a the board members. Working with
Residents Association which gave vacancy for a resident board member. her has shown me the serious
residents a say in the management of responsibility of being Chair and the
I applied and went for an interview.
their homes and access to working
The interview panel fed back that I compassion she’s shown for Phoenix
with their local authority. I’ve also
had a great interview but wasn’t quite residents and staff has been inspiring.
worked with Tenant Management
ready to join the board. I am honoured to be stepping up as
Organisations to bridge the gap
between tenants and their landlords, They recommended that I join the Chair and look forward to working
which was challenging but also very Phoenix Gateway Committee to gain with my fellow board members to
rewarding work. a greater understanding of how the continue to build on the great
I’ve lived in the North Downham area board worked and what Phoenix was foundation laid by our past two
for over 20 years and have seen many about. So, I did. I learnt a lot and amazing chairs.
changes in that time. Originally, I was really gained an insight into how As Chair, I hope to embed our new
a Lewisham Council tenant before Phoenix is run and the role of its Grove Park residents into the
becoming a Phoenix resident after the board. After three months on the Phoenix way, offering opportunities
stock transfer in 2007. I remember Gateway Committee, I was appointed to enable them to have an equal
having the same trepidations and as a tenant board member. voice by being represented at all
concerns as many of the other At the time, Anne McGurk was due to levels of engagement. I am excited
residents in the stock transfer: become Chair and approached me by the future of Phoenix and its
will they hike the rent up? Will I still about becoming her Vice Chair. potential to lead the housing sector
get my repairs done? Will my needs as At first the prospect of becoming with its resident-led model.
info@phoenixch.org.uk www.phoenixch.org.uk 0800 0285 700
What happened at this year’s AGM?
Blooming Phoenix’s tenant Chair, Anne
marvellous! McGurk, has stepped down at
this year’s annual general
Congratulations to the winners meeting (AGM) after five years
of Phoenix in Bloom 2021! championing resident
Thank you to all our passionate
and green-fingered residents involvement and leadership as
who took part in our annual Chair of the Board.
gardening competition, which Anne said: “It has been a pleasure
celebrates the contribution of to see Phoenix grow as the tenant
residents to make our
Chair of Phoenix for the past five
community beautiful.
years - from completing our decent
Thank you to our special guest homes standard and starting our
judges: Patricia Newman-Sheaf, development programme, to the
Eileen Davies, and Phoenix growing resilience of staff and proxy and a small number of
Grounds Maintenance
residents who championed our shareholders attended the meeting
Supervisor Ben Moss. To check
out this year’s winning entries, model during the pandemic.” in person at The Green Man.
visit our website. Tenant Board Member, Peace Ayiku- Residents also put questions to
Nartey, also announced that she will senior management around creating
be stepping down from the Board. a community we’re proud of,
Peace said: “It has been a joy to be on fly tipping, resuming in-person
the Phoenix Board. I would encourage resident groups and the re-opening
all residents to think about how they of The Fellowship.
can use their voice to ensure we are
To read a full summary of
always resident-led.”
this year’s AGM, please visit
19 resident shareholders participated our website.
in the Phoenix Community Housing
AGM this year. 16 residents voted by
Proud to be Phoenix Academy News in
Wednesday 27 October
numbers
Starting in January
Join us for an online discussion Phoenix’s ‘School of Social
Events
about what makes us proud to be Housing’ returns with level 1
us, as part of our Diversity and qualifications in Housing. At the end of August 2021…
Inclusion Policy. See enclosed
leaflet for more information.
Enrolments are now open. 218 Leaseholders were in arrears
Contact us for more information.
for major works service charges
2067 Tenants were in arrears
Introducing Phoenix’s Denise Fowler said: “I am beyond owing over £1.8m (Struggling
thrilled to be selected as Phoenix’ new
new Chief Executive CEO. I am a long-time admirer of the
to pay your rent? Turn to page 4.)
Denise Fowler Phoenix model. This is a truly resident-led
From April-August 2021…
organisation with fantastic levels of
We are delighted to announce the community engagement. Phoenix funded 114
appointment of Denise Fowler as
I grew up in South London, on estates very appointments for residents with
our next Chief Executive. She will similar to those managed by Phoenix, and the Citizens Advice Bureau
join Phoenix in early 2022 to still live locally. Finding a safe secure
succeed Jim Ripley, who has affordable home transformed my Phoenix staff resolved 1428
been the Chief Executive life. I want to play my part in queries about rent, service
of Phoenix since our ensuring that at Phoenix we charges or payments and 398
creation in 2007 as one of continue to work together to queries related to benefits and
the UK’s few resident-led build a better future for financial well-being
housing associations. everyone in this community.”
November 2021
Community and good-to-knows
Your Community Chest projects
Each year we award Spontaneous
£100,000 of Community Productions Theatre
Chest funding to local Sydenham based not-for-profit
theatre show SAFE, exploring the
community projects that impact of knife crime and gang
benefit our community. culture on young people, will be
Here is more information touring local schools and youth clubs
and staging free performances in
on some of this year’s spring 2022. Find out more www.
projects available to you: spontaneousproductions.co.uk.
Bellingham Dances Wuntanara
Free Dance Sessions for 12-18 year in Free African Drumming workshops for
Phoenix residents at St Johns Church
Bellingham from January 2022.
on the Bromley Road. Workshops are
Healthy Living Therapies
Work with a professional dance artist open to all, no experience required. Free massage for Phoenix residents at
to develop new dance skills, make You’ll be taught to play by a Guinean Hazelhurst Court on Thursdays and
friends, have fun and feel good. Master Drummer. St Lukes Church, BR1 5JR on Fridays.
Email youthprogramme@ Contact 07909964106 or email Contact 0208 6178 820 or email
trinitylaban.ac.uk info@wuntanara.com. info@t4h.org.uk.
Getting
green and
Need somebody saving
to talk to? money!
Here at Phoenix, we’re committed to going green
We all have times in our lives where we need somebody and reducing our carbon footprint. Recently the
to talk, especially over the past year. That’s why we’ve government set a legal requirement for the UK to be
teamed up with Health Assured, the UK’s trusted Net Zero Carbon by 2050 which will have an impact on
independent health and wellbeing provider, to offer our how our homes are insulated, heated, and ventilated
residents emotional support and practical guidance. in the future. That’s why we will be carrying out
energy surveys of all Phoenix homes on our behalf.
The free service offers 24/7 access to counsellors who
The surveys will help Phoenix to plan for future works
will listen to you and help talk through any issues you
to meet the new government target and make your
may be facing. You can also access legal advisors who
home more energy efficient.
can provide advice and guidance on issues like writing a
will, work issues, divorce, probate costs, motoring issues Not only will this benefit the environment but
and immigration information. also your wallet! Increasing the energy efficiency
of your home means you’ll be spending less on
To access the service, call 0800 917 6470 and say
your energy bills.
Phoenix Community Housing – Residents Gateway.
Our reference number for the service is HA 179596. If you have any queries about the surveys or want to
find out more, please visit our website or contact us
A qualified counsellor or legal advisor will answer and
on 0800 0285 700.
ask for your contact details which will be kept securely
and won’t be shared with Phoenix.
info@phoenixch.org.uk www.phoenixch.org.uk 0800 0285 700
Useful Information
Pay your
rent before
it’s spent!
It is important that you
prioritise paying your rent in
advance. This means if you pay
your rent weekly, you will need
to pay one week in advance
and if you pay your rent
monthly, you will need to pay
one month in advance.
Paying your rent in advance
means that:
• you are meeting the
conditions of your tenancy
Have peace of
• you are unlikely to fall
into arrears
• you have a safety net if your
mind this winter
circumstances change
• you could improve your
credit score.
If you’re worried about
Winter weather can have devastating effects on our homes, struggling to pay your rent in
whether from gale force winds, rainwater flooding, or frost advance, please contact us
causing water pipes to burst. for support.
Our Financial Wellbeing team
Our pay as you go, home contents home contents insurance, whether
can help you set up a payment
insurance scheme, which is through our scheme or with plan and claim benefits that
underwritten by Aviva Insurance Ltd, another provider. you may be entitled to.
offers cover for damage to your home
Please remember you are responsible
contents caused by storms or floods,
for replacing your home contents and
falling trees and branches, as well as
fire, theft and more. belongings. Contents insurance is
designed to help protect your
We hope that you will never suffer a
possessions and personal belongings.
flood or water damage, but these
things can happen. We recommend For more information, please
all tenants and leaseholders take out contact us.
Reminder
Post Office card accounts are closing from November 2021,
and you will need to set up a new bank account.
!
If you are not sure which bank account is best for you, you can call the
DWP on 0800 085 7133 or Money Advice Line on 0800 138 777.
Visit www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en for more information.
Phoenix Flyer | A newsletter by residents for residents
Focus on
Focus on: making our services more accessible
At Phoenix, we value and are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion.
It is vital to delivering our vision and in recognition of this, consideration is one of our values.
Equality and Diversity is driven from the top, informs our plans, shapes our culture (the way we do
things), and is supported through staff training, development and engagement.
We are committed to treating impairments, audio guides for those
all residents with fairness and with hearing impairments, and
respect and providing services that adapting homes for those with
do not discriminate. mobility issues.
To help us deliver on these In January, our Board approved a
commitments, rather than having a new policy on making reasonable
specific policy on equality and adjustments. Reasonable
diversity, we ensure they are adjustments depend on your needs
embedded in every policy and and could mean changing an
procedure through an assessment of appointment time to when a carer
can attend too, providing alternative
the equality impact of changes as
accommodation if a complicated and
part of our policy review process.
disruptive repair is being done or We cannot always meet all
We have completed three Equality completing an adaptation. requests, but we will always
Impact Assessments since April 2021. consider them, taking into account
The new policy provides guidance to
These assessments help us to identify staff to help make sure we meet the impact on you, the cost and our
and address any areas where our everyone’s individual needs if they ability to meet your request. A copy
policies or services may not be have a disability. For example, of the new policy is available on our
accessible to all the different groups providing information to you in website or by contacting Customer
of people in our community. different ways or completing works Services. Thank you to the
For example, providing large print in your home to help you manage residents who worked with us to
materials for residents with sight a disability. develop the new policy.
A summary of our residents...
In June 2021 the information on our databases showed:
Tenants living with a disability Homeowners living with a disability
Disability Tenants Disability Tenants
No disability 46.5% No disability 7.7%
Hearing impairment 0.8% Hearing impairment 0.1%
Visual impairment 0.7% Visual impairment 0.1%
Mobility impairment 6.6% Mobility impairment 0.6%
Dexterity impairment 0.4% Mental health problem 0.1%
Mental health problem 3.5% Progressive/permanent medical condition 0.4%
Progressive/permanent medical condition 4.7% Multiple disabilities 0.2%
Multiple disabilities 6.3% Learning difficulty 0.1%
Wheelchair user 0.1% Unknown 90.5%
Physical co-ordination 0.3%
Learning difficulty 0.5% If you have a disability and have not told us,
Literacy problem 0.4% please let us know so we can update our records
including how we need to adjust our services to
Unknown 27.3% meet your needs.
November 2021
Community
Staying safe this festive season
Communication
is key! As we head into festive season, we want to remind everyone to
Join our Resident Communications stay safe. Here are our top tips for staying safe around fireworks
Group and help us manage how and bonfires:
we communicate with Phoenix
residents. Review letters, only adults should handle read and follow the instructions
feedback on our Annual Report, fireworks for each firework
put forward ideas for the next light fireworks a safe distance store fireworks sensibly, in their
newsletter, and more! away from people and buildings boxes, and away from any
naked flames
To find out more and join, email never go back to a
communications@phoenixch.org.uk lit firework don’t light bonfires near wooden
fences and sheds
dispose of fireworks safely
after use petrol, Paraffin or meths should
Thank you children and young people
not be used on fires
should be supervised at keep a bucket of water or sand
Thank you to the 669 residents all times handy, in case of an accident
who have signed up for our new
only buy fireworks that carry always make sure a fire is out
resident portal! On the portal
the CE mark when celebrations are finished.
you can access your information,
make payments, keep up to date
with news in your area, contact us
24/7 and book repairs online. Get set for winter
Congratulations to our prize draw Before the weather gets really cold, it’s a good idea to test
winner Vicky Adams who signed up that your heating works. Put your heating on for 15-20
to the portal within the first 24 minutes per day and if there’s no heat from the radiators,
hours and has won an iPad! please call us.
If there is no heating and no water, please check that that
there is enough money on your gas meter and that there are
no issues with the gas supply to the boiler. In most cases
resetting the boiler will work, especially for a F75 error code.
If you have a frozen pipe and you can safely access it, hold
a hot water bottle on the frozen pipe, and this will gently
defreeze it.
If you have a burst pipe in your home, turn off the water
supply at the stop cock (which is usually located under the
kitchen sink or in a cupboard) so that the water can be shut
off and then contact us on 0800 0285 700.
Christmas opening hours
Haven’t yet registered The Phoenix Repairs Service will carry out emergency repairs only during
your account? this time and our out of hours service will continue as normal.
Visit https://my.phoenixch.org. 24 December: 10am – 4pm 29 to 31 December: 10am – 4pm
uk/user/register 27 and 28 December: Closed 3 January: Closed
Resource Reg. No. 2110
Phoenix Community Housing, The Green Man, 355 Bromley Road, London, SE6 2RP
info@phoenixch.org.uk @phoenixtogether www.phoenixch.org.uk 0800 0285 700
Phoenix Community Housing (Bellingham and Downham Limited) is a Community Benefit Society, number 30057R. VAT number 162 4926 03. Regulator of Social Housing number L4505.
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