Rent Rise

Thousands of council house tenants and people who rent council garages have received letters about rent increases, which take effect from April 2008.
The council has agreed an average rent increase of 5.09% for its tenants which is in line with the Government's guideline rent increase.
This means that the rent for an average three-bedroomed house will increase from £56.40 per week to £59.73, and rent for a one-bedroomed flat will increase from £48.38 to £50.32.
Garage rents will increase from £5.85 to £6.10.
"We have set the rent increase at the level recommended by the Government," says director of housing, John Hocking.
"In addition to the rent from tenants, Hull is one of the few authorities which also receives a top-up from the Government to help us manage and maintain homes." In light of the increase, tenants are being urged to ensure they are claiming their full entitlement of housing and council tax benefit.
More than 18,000 tenants in the city already claim these benefits yet, despite previous benefit take-up campaigns, there is still believed to be a large number of people who are not claiming any benefits or the full amount to which they are entitled.
These could include older people, single people living alone, people who are frequently in hospital or disabled, and people who do not speak English as a first language.
Meanwhile, the council can provide advice on housing and council tax benefit, as well as budgeting and counselling advice, to tenants who think they might have difficulty in paying their new rent.
Tenants needing advice can call into any customer service centre (CSC) or area office.
They can also go to the Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) or Hull Independent Housing Aid Centre (HIHAC).

To check if you qualify for benefits, you can also use the 'benefits calculator' tool on the council's website at www.hullcc.gov.uk
For more information please ring 300300.

It's a real mystery

Tenant participation officer Marie Hall presents £50 in gift vouchers to mystery shopper Carole Midwood, who said: "I decided to take part because it's easy and real mystery shopping gives valuable feedback on both good and bad aspects of a service."

Would you like the chance to win a £50 gift voucher – and at the same time help to improve the Hull Housing service?
If the answer to these questions is 'yes', then why not become a 'real' mystery shopper and provide feedback on the services provided for you by Hull Housing? Volunteers are needed to record their experiences of reporting any housing-related enquiry to any council office, whether it's face-to-face in a customer service centre, by telephone to the call centre, or by post, email, or fax.
"Whether it's asking for repairs to be done on your house, reporting antisocial behaviour or using the council's Homesearch service – we want to know all about the good and bad parts of Hull Housing," says tenant participation officer Marie Hall.
"Working with service managers, we'll then examine the results and use the feedback to improve services.
"This is no ordinary mystery shop because we're looking for people to give feedback on their real-life situations rather than simply going undercover and reporting back on set up situations.
"What's more, our real mystery shoppers are entered into a quarterly prize draw when they can win £50 worth of vouchers."
Prize winner Carole Midwood decided to be photographed to help publicise the scheme and show that anyone can get involved, in whichever way they feel able.
"Even small contributions help to improve services." says Carole (pictured).
If you would like to volunteer please call 300300 and ask for the Tenant Participation Team.
Volunteers will be sent a pack of information about the scheme and a feedback form to record their experiences.

When one becomes two

Question: what do you do with an empty one-bedroomed bungalow which you can't rent out?
Answer: convert the large store cupboard into a second-bedroom.
That was the idea of a group of Hull Housing tenants – who realised that hardly anybody wanted to live in one-bedroom properties - but that two-bedroom ones were much more appealing.
The upgrade work, which costs around £2,000 per property, has now been adopted as policy by Hull City Council – and some of its 2,600 empty one-bedroom bungalows which are suitable for the renovation work will, when empty, be having the work done by the council's repair team.
"It seemed a simple solution to us – and a way of giving people what they want," says Kath Tong, chair of the Empty Homes Service Improvement Group, which came up with the idea.
"We noticed that some of the empty bungalows had a decent-sized storage room which, combined with part of the hallway and adding a window, could be turned into a second bedroom."
Meanwhile, many bungalows which were not suitable for the upgrade have still had make-over treatment, and all properties which are being worked on are being brought up to the council's Lettable Standard.
"This is a fine example of innovative tenant participation," says director of housing, John Hocking.
"It's great to see an idea generated by one of our tenant groups accepted into Housing Service policy."