BHT Housing Services

The latest edition of the Housing Services newsletter "Lighthouse" is now available to read via the BHT website. This quarter's edition includes information about the LGBT*Q Social Research study, this year's "In Bloom" gardening competition joining details, some tips for staying safe on the Internet, the results from the Winter 2017 Tenants' Survey and information about BHT's Universal Credit drop-in sessions.

Publications Lighthouse magazineInformational leafletsTenancy Handbook Lighthouse magazine In the latest issue we have articles including an LGBT*Q social research study, new Universal Credit drop-ins, staying safe on the internet, BHT in Bloom 2018 call for entries, and the results of the 2017 tenants' survey.....

Universal Credit is a monthly payment for people of working age who have no or low income which replaces six benefits - Housing Benefit, Income-based Jobseekers' Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.

Since December 2016 in Hastings and October 2017 in Eastbourne, Universal Credit has been on Full Service in those areas. This is now also taking effect in Brighton & Hove.

If you would like to find out more about how Universal Credit affects you, BHT Housing Services are running monthly workshops in each of the geographical areas in which it has properties where officers will be on hand to answer your questions.

The next workshop in your area is on the following date and time:

Brighton: Wednesday 18 April - 2:00pm to 4:00pm, 144 London Road, Brighton BN1 4PH, Tel: 01273 645454/01323 340018

Eastbourne: Friday 27 April - 10:00am to 12:00noon, Suite 14, Highlight House, 8 St Leonards Road, Eastbourne BN21 3UH, Tel: 01323 340018

Hastings: Friday 11 May - 2:00pm to 4:00pm, Renaissance House, London Road, St Leonards on Sea TN37 6AN, Tel: 01424 445354

The Greater Brighton Cycle Challenge 2018 is taking place on Sunday 1 July and will comprise three exciting cycling experiences. Further information about this event and how to join in are available via the link below.

About the Greater Brighton Cycle Challenge 2018 Share this page This year BHT has teamed up with The Living Coast to create the Greater Brighton Cycling Challenge, comprising three exciting cycling experiences: The BHT Around the World Cycle Challenge 2018 BHT’s Around the World Cycle Challenge 2018 is a family friendly event taking place the P...

BHT Housing Services is looking for your experiences about Universal Credit.

We would like to give you and all our tenants as much assistance as possible when you are in receipt of Universal Credit.

If you can tell us about your experiences, it may shows us how we need to adapt or change our services.

Follow the link to the survey on the Survey Monkey website.

All entries that are returned will be entered into a draw to win a £50 Sainsbury's shopping voucher.

You are welcome to call your Income Recovery Officer and go through your answers with them. Julie Schofield can be contacted on 01323 340018 and Shirley Campbell is on 01424 445354.

Can you spare a few moments to take my survey? Please take the survey titled "Universal Credit Users' Survey". Your feedback is important!

South East Training and Uniting People - SETUP South East Uniting and Training People (SETUP) is a partnership of social housing providers from across the South East of England

Universal Credit is a monthly payment for people of working age who have no or low income which replaces six benefits - Housing Benefit, Income-based Jobseekers' Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.

Since December 2016 in Hastings and October 2017 in Eastbourne, Universal Credit has been on Full Service in those areas. This is now also taking effect in Brighton & Hove.

If you would like to find out more about how Universal Credit affects you, BHT Housing Services are running monthly workshops in each of the geographical areas in which it has properties where officers will be on hand to answer your questions.

The next workshop in your area is on the following date and time:

Brighton: Wednesday 21 March - 2:00pm to 4:00pm, 144 London Road, Brighton BN1 4PH, Tel: 01273 645486

Eastbourne: Friday 23 February - 10:00am to 12:00noon, Suite 14, Highlight House, 8 St Leonards Road, Eastbourne BN21 3UH, Tel: 01323 340018

Hastings: Friday 9 March - 2:00pm to 4:00pm, Renaissance House, London Road, St Leonards on Sea TN37 6AN, Tel: 01424 445354

The HomeSAFE study, commissioned by HouseProud and funded by 6 national housing associations, is using an online survey to collect information from Le***an, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Q***r and Questioning social housing tenants. (LGBT*Q)

The survey will be the biggest LGBT*Q social housing survey to date in the UK and findings will help landlords identify practical steps to address the main issues raised by LGBT*Q residents.

To complete the survey, please visit this link http://bit.ly/2t9BW0N You will be given the option of being entered for a prize draw, to win a £50 voucher, upon completing the survey. The draw will take place in January 2018.

HouseProud | LGBT Consortium HouseProud is a new nationwide LGBT network for individuals working in the housing sector.Our aim is to develop and facilitate best practice on LGBT issues within housing, provide networking opportunities, social events, fundraising and campaigning

SETUP Training are running 2 training courses this autumn which BHT tenants are invited to join.

The first course is on Wednesday 18 October at Langney Community Centre in Eastbourne from 10:30am to 12:30pm. The course is called "Becoming a Dementia Friend" and will enable you learn more about what it is like to live with dementia and ways you can help someone who has dementia.

The second course is a Level 2 Food Hygiene course and this is a full day course that is being held on Tuesday 14 November from 10:00am to 4:00pm at The Orangery in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex. This course is aimed at anyone who prepares or handles food and will help you to develop food hygiene principles and will train you to the nationally required safety level. Topics covered during the course will include food poisoning, cleaning, refuse, pest control, safe food handling and legislation.

To book your place on the course, please call Juliet O'Brien, Tenant and Client Involvement Coordinator on 01273 645443.

Travel expenses will be reimbursed by BHT wherever a valid train or bus ticket is provided and car mileage will be reimbursed at a rate of 45 pence per mile.

Further information about the courses is available on the SETUP website which is found at http://www.setup.org.uk/training-events-2016 .

Thank you to the Management Team at the Churchill Square shopping centre in Brighton for their time and efforts in transforming a garden at one of our properties. Also thanks to Next and Debenham's for donating various items and also to Homebase for providing all the plants and compost.

Churchill Square Team Swap Shopping For Shovels The management team at Churchill Square Shopping Centre, Brighton, spent the day transforming a garden from BHT's Housing Services.

Calling all Tenants! BHT are looking for people to take part in our focus groups. These are to take place in October and November.
Come and share your views, opinions and suggestions for improvements.
If you're interested then contact Juliet O'Brien (Tenant and Client Involvement Officer) on 01273 645443 or email [email protected].

MyTenancy is an online portal that is available to all tenants holding an active tenancy with BHT Housing Services. It enables you to check your current rent balance, to view a rent statement, to report a repair and to change the personal details that BHT has for you.

Any new tenants with BHT should receive a letter providing your login details and password shortly after your tenancy starts.

It is possible now for you to change your MyTenancy login details to something more memorable.

If you have any queries about using MyTenancy, please call the Housing Services office on 01323 340018.

MyTenancy MyTenancy has undergone some security improvements. As a result of this, user names and passwords are now case sensitive.

Do you have contents insurance in place at your property to provide cover in event of damage or loss to your possessions in your property? If not, Thistle Insurance are an insurance company that specialise in providing contents insurance to tenants in social housing properties and who offer rates much more economical than the market average.

The benefits of setting up a contents insurance policy with Thistle include:

- You will be able to set up flexible, pay-as-you-go payment options
- You will experience a straightforward, user friendly application process where a policy can be set up quickly over the telephone or via the post
- You will not be liable to excess (you do not pay the first part of the claim)
- You can be covered for fire, theft, flood, water damage and other household risks
- You can be covered for damage to internal decorations
- You can be covered for accidental damage to toilets and washbasins
- You can be covered for damage to any external glazing that you are responsible for
- You can put in place cover for any lost or stolen keys or freezer contents
- You will not need to have special door or window locks
- You do not need to have an active bank account

For further details about applying for contents insurance or to obtain a quote, please call Thistle Insurance on 0345 450 7288, or visit their website at www.thistlemyhome.co.uk . Alternatively, you may speak to your Housing Officer about how to apply.

Thistle My Home - Why Choose us Premiums are based on your postcode, age, level of cover you require and preferred payment method – for a quotation please use the contact form attached or telephone 0345 450 7288.