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Industry Information >>Bath & Toilet Appliances>>Improving people’s homes can make a major impact ontheir lives

Improving people’s homes can make a major impact ontheir lives

Thanks to Leeds City Council’s investment in its massive‘Decent Homes’ programme of upgrades, council tenantsacross the city have seen old kitchens and bathrooms replaced,while others have seen significant improvements to theirhome’s structure.

As part of the scheme Mrs Windsor, who lives just north of Leedscity centre with her husband, has had her postage stamp of akitchen replaced with one double the size, while her upstairsbathroom has been enlarged and replaced.

In a massive programme of work, £520million of suchimprovements has so far been delivered by the city’s ArmsLength Management Organisations, meaning there are now 17,800 more‘decent’ properties in Leeds than there were threeyears ago.

78% of the city’s council houses now meet the government'sDecent Homes standard and a further £100million of investmentis planned over the next year, bringing it up to 85%.

It means the council and ALMOs are on target to deliver thegovernment’s ‘Decent Homes’ standard to Leeds bythe deadline of 2011.

By 2011, the amount spent on bringing homes up to the DecencyStandard will total more than £720 million.

The works have varied in size from internal improvements such askitchen and bathroom replacements, and installation of centralheating through to external works such as replacing windows,external doors and roofs.

There have even been homes which have had whole new external wallsbuilt around them to create cavity walls for insulation.

Many of these improvements have not only improved the decencystandard of properties but also improved their energy efficiencyand so contributed towards reducing ‘fuel poverty’ incouncil housing.

Councillor Les Carter, executive board member for housing, said:“Providing decent homes for the council tenants of Leeds hasbeen one of this council’s top priorities and the sheeramount of investment we have made shows that we are taking itseriously.

“Despite decades of under-investment in the city’scouncil housing, we are on target to reach the government’sdecency standard within the next two years.

“Improving people’s homes can make a major impact ontheir lives and with the ALMOs we are committed to maintaining thecity’s council housing at the highest standardpossible.”

DECENT HOMES CASE STUDY : Mrs Rosemary Windsor, Scott Hall Avenue, Leeds.

Mrs Windsor has lived in her council house on Scott Hall Avenue for25 years and has lived on the same street her whole life. One ofnine siblings, she said she couldn’t wait to show off her newkitchen and bathroom, delivered as part of the Decent Homes scheme.

The work by council contractors took five weeks and Mrs Windsorsaid it would give her space to cook when her three grandchildrencome to stay.

Mrs Windsor is a tenant of East North East Homes Leeds, one of thethree council-owned Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs)that maintain and manage council housing in Leeds.

Mrs Windsor described her old kitchen: “On one side there wasa toilet, on the other side was a bathroom, so it wasn’t akitchen, it was a scullery, as my mother used to call it; a tiny,tiny horrible little thing.

"It was tiny, you had your sink, you could just about fit a washingmachine, if you had a twin tub it had to go across the back door.You had your sink, you could get a fridge in – just –in one corner. One wall cupboard, one bottom cupboard and yourcooker. And that was it. Anything else, you had to put in front ofthe back door and move it around.

Commenting on the work that has been carried out she said: "Now,it’s beautiful, I love it. It’s fantastic, it meansmore than one person can fit in there!

"It’s beautiful to look at – my walls were shockingbefore, they were damp, they were horrible, it didn’t matterhow many times you washed them down you couldn’t get rid ofit. But now, it’s absolutely wonderful – the room, thespace, being able to move about.

“To keep it tidy is so much easier, because you’ve gotroom to put stuff away now and you couldn’t before.

“Now I’ve got 18 cupboards, nine drawers, the mostamazing kitchen and it’s beautifully tiled, you’ve gotplenty of work tops to work on, it’s absolutely massivecompared to what it was – it’s double the size, atleast.

“Upstairs I had three bedrooms so they’ve taken part ofone of the rooms and created a small bathroom, which is what youneed, you don’t need a massive bathroom to move about in butyour kitchen you do, you need to be able to move, you need to feelcomfortable.

“I was brought up in the street and have lived her most of mylife, and I was never happy with the house as it was, you justcouldn’t take any pride in it, it was horrible. But now… I think the council have done a fabulous job, best thingthey’ve ever done.

“Not before time, but welcome nevertheless.”


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