The first residents moved into Asra Midlands Housing Association's new scheme in Willenhall.
The £2 million general rented housing scheme, Acorn Mews, developed by Great Hampton Homes, provides a fully secure community of 27 apartments, 18 of which have been acquired by Asra Midlands through funding made available from Sanctuary Group and the Housing Corporation.
Asra Midlands, a subsidiary of Sanctuary Group, took ownership of the 18 apartments, which provide general rented accommodation for residents, after identifying the housing needs for Black Minority and Ethnic (BME) communities in the region following discussions with Walsall Council.
The selection of one, two and three bedroom apartments will provide families with modern open plan living facilities, parking bays and a secure door entry system, while many will also offer balcony views of the surrounding area.
Connaught was appointed as the sole provider of asset management services to Accord, Ashram, Caldmore, Rooftop and Trident Housing Associations through the Matrix Housing Partnership.
The 10 year partnership will deliver a range of services to over 20,000 Midlands homes to the value of over £180 million. The services provided will include repairs, void property maintenance, gas servicing and breakdown, planned maintenance, Decent Homes, cleaning, and specialist works including Legionella testing and CCTV installations and maintenance.
Moat Homes strengthened its executive management team with the appointment of Gerri Scott as its new Executive Director of Housing and Customer Services.
Within her new role, she will direct, develop and continuously improve Moat's core business of delivering excellent services to residents and working alongside local authorities and other stakeholders to enhance local communities and neighbourhoods.
For the past two and a half years, Ms Scott has been working as Assistant Director of Community Development and Regeneration for the London Borough of Camden. Prior to that she was responsible for the housing management service for 33,000 homes in Camden. In that role, she led a team to secure a three star excellent service rating in an Audit Commission inspection.
Residents are being offered free accredited training to improve their prospects, as a result of Get Learning - a new training initiative launched by Catalyst Housing Group.
Taster sessions of the new Get Learning programme were held in London, Oxford and Reading. They previewed the range of informative courses on offer to develop residents' confidence and skills. The courses will be accredited by the Open College Network.
Topics included:
Waterloo Housing Association started a programme of installing food waste disposers into some its homes in Broomy Close, Stourport-on-Severn, where new kitchens were being fitted.
The InSinkErator waste disposers are being trialled by Waterloo to help residents cut down on the amount of waste they put out for collection. If they prove successful, Waterloo will look to extend their use to other homes.
Worcestershire County Council welcomed the step as a positive move towards reducing the amount of kitchen waste sent to landfill.
Food waste disposers grind up waste put down kitchen sinks and flush it away into the waste water system. This reduces the amount of waste being buried in fast-filling landfill sites. The disposers are particularly useful for residents unable to compost kitchen waste.
The Council is helping housing associations, developers and private householders with the cost of fitting food waste disposers.
Helen Scarrett, director of housing at Waterloo, said:
"We are keen to look at ways to make it easier and more convenient for our residents to cut household waste going to landfill. The Council is taking an innovative approach to helping residents dispose of kitchen waste and we are pleased to support it."
Oxford Citizens Housing Association and Westlea Housing Association officially came together to form the new GreenSquare Group.
Oakus will also be part of the Group and will undertake its non-charitable business, including acquiring and developing property for sale or commercial rent.
The new Group will manage 9,000 homes - growing at the rate of 400 homes a year.