A year with Origin

On 27 February 2023, 152 homes joined Origin from L&Q. We wanted to make sure that everyone felt welcomed and listened to, so it was important that we came out and met our new residents as soon as we could. As well as the dedicated resident liaison officer and Neighbourhood Manager, we had a team of our people visit their homes on 29 March. 

From the initial visits, we came back with the feedback that residents wanted a better service from Origin that had been experienced before, some homes had been neglected for repairs, parking was an issue along with communal cleaning in some shared areas. 
 
What have we done? 
•    We have developed a regular caretaking and cleaning schedule for communal areas.
 
•    Replaced communal doors where needed and have made sure that communal work is going to be included in our planning. 
 
•    We have been reviewing the information provided to us about the condition of these homes, so that we can include in our planning for future investment work. Our investment programme is to upgrade key components (like windows, kitchens etc) and decorate communal areas. 
 
•    We have introduced parking control through our contractor, Elite parking. This is working well but we realise there is still more to do. 
 
•    We met residents and found how they are doing – by completing welfare checks and promoting our Financial Support Officers if anyone needed any help with their money or benefits. 
 
•    We come out for a quarterly estate walkabout so residents can let us know of any issues.  These dates are advertised on your noticeboarsd and how you can get involved. 
 
•    We’ve installed CCTV at one scheme which  means we should see a reduction in anti-social behaviour. We also have developed a neighbourhood action plans with residents where needed. This is where the issues require the involvement of other agencies or cross team working - we jointly decided with residents what we are going to do to improve things. 
 
•    Some of the information supplied to us highlighted that some homes had urgent repairs needed and we have started a remediation programme and began to fix these issues.