Trust HomeChoice goes live!
The first phase of the new, Choice Based Lettings service, Trust HomeChoice has gone live, enabling customers to access homes across the former Chester and Vale Royal areas as one, easy to use service.
Cheshire West and Chester Council, Chester & District Housing Trust (CDHT) and Weaver Vale Housing Trust (WVHT) have been working together to deliver the new service.
During the first few hours of launch, over 600 customers were online, bidding for and reviewing the properties available, with 3,000 visitors on the Trust HomeChoice website in the first week.
Housing Offices and Information Centres were busy with customers using the Trust HomeChoice service to find their new home. A roadshow is now planned to tour all the offices to demonstrate how to use the online service and how easy it is.
Alan Slater, Head of Strategic Housing and Spatial Planning at Cheshire West and Chester Council, said:
“The Trust HomeChoice partnership has created a scheme which will maximise choice, accessibility and ease of understanding for over 10,000 customers which is expected to rise to 15,000 applicants on the unified register once our final phase is complete. Feedback from customers so far has been very positive. Trust HomeChoice is easier to use, provides clearer information about the homes available and is simpler to understand with the new banding rather than points allocation system.
Trust HomeChoice will offer increased choice and satisfaction across communities within a wider area. Choice based letting was first introduced in Chester in 2006 and this experience has contributed towards a decrease in evictions, less tenancy failures, increased customer satisfaction and a more positive effect on communities and sustainability.”
Mr Mohamed Karas was the very first applicant to bid for his chosen property with the help of an advisor in one of the housing receptions which advertises all Trust HomeChoice properties. (Photo available on the right.)
The partnership will now focus on the next phase which will see Trust HomeChoice launch across Ellesmere Port & Neston in April 2010, creating maximum choice across the whole of the new Cheshire West and Chester Authority
For more details on the roadshows and any further information needed please visit the website at www.trusthomechoice.org
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Trust HomeChoice ensures that residents will only need to join one housing register to apply for social housing owned by the Council, Chester & District Housing Trust, Weaver Vale Housing Trust and participating registered social landlords like Arena Homes and Muir Group.
The joint policy and register will use a banding rather than a points based system because it is simpler and more transparent for applicants. It is expected to assist customers set up over 1,500 new homes a year.
An extensive customer consultation process helped agree the allocation policy for Trust HomeChoice in July. In response to customer feedback, specific changes were made for Trust HomeChoice. They include:
• Ensuring local priorities are addressed, particularly in rural areas.
• Ensuring that methods of advertising properties meet the needs of all our customers.
• The provision of easy to access local contacts and advice, and
• Ensuring that the partnership works hard to ensure that allocations are sensitive to the needs of local communities now and in the future.
Research about the benefits of Choice Based Letting schemes is published at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/596/231MonitoringtheLongerTermImpactofChoicebasedLettings_id1503596.pdf and
http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/599/MonitoringtheLongerTermImpactofChoicebasedLettings_id1503599.pdf
Photos and captions at:
http://www.marketingprojects.co.uk/news/trust-homechoice
For more information:
Cheshire West and Chester Council www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
Press contact : Julia Thorley-Morse 01606 867512
julia.thorley@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
Chester & District Housing Trust www.cdht.net
Press Contact: Jane Harrad-Roberts 01244 330000
07785 395705 jane@marketingprojects.co.uk
01244 330000
Weaver Vale Housing Trust www.wvht.co.uk
Press contact: Lucy Goldsmith lucy.goldsmith@wvht.co.uk
01606 813317 or
Andrew Moores, Profile Communication
01606 888111
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