Get Connected Summer 2016
Get Connected is Connect housing's tenant magazine that is sent our quarterly with news and exciting happenings reported on.
Get Connected is Connect housing's tenant magazine that is sent our quarterly with news and exciting happenings reported on.
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We have six new Community<br />
Housing Officers starting<br />
shortly who will have smaller<br />
geographical areas to cover.<br />
The intention is that they get<br />
to know people in those areas<br />
really well and develop a better<br />
understanding of what our<br />
tenants want from Connect<br />
in an ever-changing world.<br />
NS: Will you continue<br />
to work with the CRF?<br />
HL: Absolutely. The CRF<br />
does a phenomenal amount<br />
of work which is voluntary<br />
and gives Connect great insight,<br />
so it’s really important that<br />
this carries on and we continue<br />
to support them in new and<br />
different ways.<br />
NS: Finally, do you have<br />
a message for all of<br />
Connect’s tenants?<br />
HL: I see this job as a great<br />
responsibility. I’m carrying<br />
forward a legacy that goes back<br />
50 years. Connect was one of the<br />
organisations created at the time<br />
of the film ’Cathy Come Home’<br />
to respond to a housing crisis.<br />
We’ve still got a housing crisis<br />
and I want Connect to continue<br />
to be part of the solution.<br />
As a tenant, I felt good about<br />
renting from Connect because<br />
I felt my rent was being invested<br />
back into my community and<br />
residents’ lives. I saw this as<br />
ethical investment.<br />
We are in an era where the big<br />
push is for home ownership.<br />
Home ownership is not for<br />
everyone – it can be very<br />
stressful, insecure, uncertain<br />
and poorer quality than living<br />
in good, well-maintained social<br />
housing. I would like all our<br />
tenants to have a sense that<br />
they are investing in something<br />
bigger – by renting from Connect<br />
they are investing in their<br />
communities.<br />
Farewell from Jenny<br />
‘Home’ is my all-time favourite word. All of us need shelter<br />
and safety, but a home is so much more than that. A place<br />
where we can relax and grow and be ourselves. A place to<br />
bring up our families. A place where we can give and get<br />
the support we need. A place where we can become part<br />
of a community. Ensuring that everyone has a place they<br />
can call home should be a priority for a healthy society,<br />
but sadly too many people find this impossible to achieve<br />
in our current dysfunctional housing market. So this is<br />
where Connect comes in…<br />
Helping people – young or old, employed or not, long<br />
established or newly arrived – to find a place that is secure<br />
and truly affordable, where they can create a real home,<br />
is Connect’s goal, and taking responsibility for making<br />
this happen has been a huge privilege. Sometimes<br />
daunting, often inspiring, never dull! But I simply could<br />
not have done this job without great colleagues at Connect<br />
and without a true ‘critical friend’ in the CRF, constructively<br />
holding me to account on your behalf. So I want to say a<br />
heart-felt thank you to everyone who has worked with me<br />
and supported me along the way.<br />
Connect’s work is needed now more than ever. As I move on<br />
to a different challenge (making homes energy efficient and<br />
sustainable) I will greatly miss being part of Connect’s future.<br />
All good wishes for the future, to you and to Connect.<br />
Jenny Brierley, Chief Executive to July <strong>2016</strong><br />
I know that Helen will<br />
make sure Connect<br />
continues to thrive,<br />
to work hard to<br />
improve its services,<br />
and to put its values<br />
into practice every<br />
day of the week,<br />
helping to make<br />
‘home’ a reality<br />
for many<br />
more people.<br />
Jenny<br />
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