Press and media

Dozens of our colleagues have started vital voluntary roles, taking on extra duties to support the mental and physical well-being of those most at risk of isolation.

Some of the essential support came through a ‘Phone Pals’ service, which was designed to combat loneliness, and a food delivery service, established to help our customers stay stocked throughout the pandemic.

Here is what some of our colleagues who volunteered had to say:
 

Dasos, executive director (customer relations), said: “These have been incredibly tough times for customers of all ages right across our communities and our hearts go out to families who have lost loved ones due to coronavirus.

“We have done our utmost to protect our customers during lockdown and have ensured that those left most isolated do not go without essential moral and physical support which is why our phone pals and food delivery support services were set up.

‘It has given me immense pride to see the way our colleagues have mobilised and volunteered to ensure no one is denied essential supplies or left lonely, and that is why they are the ultimate unsung heroes and deserve immense credit for putting other people first.”

For the Silva Homes volunteers, making sure the phone pals scheme and food delivery support service have been successful has been a ‘labour of love’.
 

Phone pals and food delivery service volunteer Olivia, tenancy support coordinator, added: “I’d normally get out and about supporting vulnerable customers on things including benefits rights and budgeting and managing their property.

“Lockdown freed me up to volunteer in Silva’s phone pals service to help people who were shielding but didn’t have anyone to talk to. I spoke to 40 people each week as part of this programme and I also put my hand up to help on the food delivery service for people who couldn’t get out of their homes.

“One of our elderly customers lost one of her best friends to Covid-19, so I offered her emotional support, while at the other extreme another customer told me all about her son, who is a renowned musician and actor.

“I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at times, but this whole experience showed me how resilient our customers are and that even the most vulnerable people are in safe hands with Silva Homes.”
 

Phone pals volunteer Xolani, independent living scheme manager at Lawrence Court, said: “I actually think a real positive to the lockdown is the way it has brought Silva Homes’ colleagues and customers closer together, which bodes well for the future.

“For me it has been a real pleasure and a real privilege to chat to our lovely customers. I’ve loved the way they have responded in such a cheerful way and opened up about their amazing lives.

“I felt as if the calls I’ve been making through the phone pals scheme mean the world to them but it means so much to me as well. We’d speak for as long as an hour about anything and everything, as well as giving them important information.

“It provided customers with a link to the outside world. I have really enjoyed it because it’s been so valuable during a very confusing time. I just enjoy speaking to people because you learn a lot about how we can best do our jobs so I’m grateful the service was embraced by our customers.”
 

Food delivery volunteer Will, graduate customer relations partner (tenancy), said: “I have to admit it’s been a real labour of love for me and my fellow volunteers because we know we’re providing something of a lifeline to our customers whose supply lines were cut off.

“It’s been a far cry from my days at Reading University, where I did a politics degree, but far more rewarding. The way we changed our roles to adapt to new challenges has been great and to see positive results straight away from customers has meant the world to me.

“It’s all made me really proud to work for Silva Homes, to have such amazing colleagues and to know that our customers really appreciate our determination to go the extra mile – in an efficient but caring way.”
 

Food delivery service volunteer Mimi, customer relations manager (tenancy), said: “I jumped at the chance of volunteering to do home deliveries alongside a few other members of my team. I think it just proves that we are all in it together.

“As well as the basics of picking up food supplies and prescriptions, it was great chatting to people who were clearly missing social interaction and what I found moving is that one lady had something different to chat about every week, right from recipes tips.

“I relished the opportunity to get stuck in. I knew that the key to getting through this was stepping out of my comfort zone, while being honest and admitting how much I was struggling with lockdown. That opened things up and really strengthened the bond and trust between everyone involved in the organisation. I think it just proves that we are all in it together.”

 

Read it in Housing Digital: https://housingdigital.co.uk/silva-homes-staff-saluted-for-vital-volunteer-work/

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With the lockdown easing, most of our frontline services are returning to normal. However, Covid-19 is having a lasting impact on our ability to carry out repairs and maintenance work as usual.

The safety of our community is always our priority. To protect you and our colleagues from Covid-19, we have adapted the way we work, but this means that some areas of our repairs and maintenance service are operating more slowly than usual.

All our colleagues are working hard to accelerate our service, by adapting processes and introducing new, efficient ways of working. Where there are limited resources we find new suppliers, and when we receive an urgent request, our team resolves it as soon as possible. If our supplies are limited for certain types of repairs, we are asking specialised contractors to carry out the work for us. This is the case for our fence repairs, which will be completed by new contractors from October onwards.

To run our repairs service effectively while keeping you safe, we are prioritising work based on how urgent it is and whether we have enough resources to carry it out.

 

These five factors are helping us decide which repairs to prioritise:

 

1. The repair’s urgency

Some repairs are also more urgent than others, as they pose a health and safety risk.

Therefore, we are prioritising these emergency repairs:

• No heating or hot water 
• A blocked toilet (if it is the only toilet in your home) (this may be re-chargeable) 
• An uncontainable leak (including roofing or serious gutter leaks) 
• A broken shower, including wet rooms (if this is the only washing facility in your home) 
• Full power failure 
• An insecure property (such as smashed windows or a broken front door lock)

To book an emergency repair appointment, please call us on 01344 382 800.

 

2. The booking date

A large number of the repairs that were requested in the spring had to be cancelled due to the lockdown.

We are currently rebooking all these repairs requests and resolving them in turn. As soon as these are done we will start to book in new requests.

 

3. Covid-19 guidance

Our frontline colleagues are getting daily checks, in line with the government’s guidance, to ensure that they are healthy enough to go to work. This is helping us to protect our community from Covid-19.

However, it does mean that if one of our colleagues has any symptoms of the disease, such as a raised temperature or a cough, they are unable to go to work – which in turn leads to us having fewer available repairs and maintenance colleagues than usual.

 

4. Supply availability

While our supply chain has largely returned to normal, there are still some materials and tools that are in short supply.

We have a strong network of providers, but as they are still impacted by Covid-19, we receive fewer materials more slowly than usual. This is delaying some of the repairs which we could usually do quickly.

 

5. Contractor availability

A number of contractors help us carry out specialised repair and maintenance work in and around our homes, including roofing, boilers, asbestos surveys, kitchens and bathrooms.

Each of our contractors is following a different set of Covid-19 guidance, to protect the communities in which they work. This means that some contractors are not yet ready to fully resume their services safely, so some types of repairs are being delayed.

 

Contact us

Thank you so much for your patience during this challenging period. We are doing everything we can to resume our normal repairs and maintenance services as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Contact us

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Silva is supporting homes at the heart, a campaign and coalition calling on the government to put social homes at the heart of its plan for social and economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

 

The coronavirus crisis has highlighted the need for secure, high quality, affordable homes and, for many people, support to live in them. Some of the worst affected by the crisis in the South East include low-paid key workers living in homes they can’t afford, rough sleepers, homeless families in temporary accommodation, older people in unsupported homes, and families stuck in overcrowded conditions.

 

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the stability of a home and supporting communities. We believe that investing in social housing, in all its forms, will help the local area recover from this crisis by boosting the economy, creating jobs and improving people’s lives at a time when the region needs it most.

 

Dasos Christou, our executive director (customer relations), added: “Through the homes at the heart campaign, we are calling for a once-in-a-generation investment in social housing. Our teams are working extremely hard to improve our services, support our customers and build more high-quality homes, but greater investment from the government would help us improve the lives of more people.”

 

Our 230 colleagues have been working from home and on the frontline throughout the pandemic. The team has continued to provide essential services for its 14,000 customers and has worked especially hard to keep its 2,500+ isolating and vulnerable customers well.

 

In April, we set up a free delivery service for essential supplies and a ‘phone pals’ programme to keep isolating customers connected to the Silva community. Our independent living customers, aged over 55, have also received daily welfare checks, gifts on special occasions (such as VE day) and surprises. This 100^th birthday celebration at Broadway House, Sandhurst was a highlight.

 

The homes at the heart campaign is a partnership between Chartered Institute of Housing, Crisis, National Federation of ALMOs, Association of Retained Council Housing and National Housing Federation; along with over 60 supporters from across different sectors – from Carers UK to NatWest.

 

For more information on the #HomesAtTheHeart campaign, visit: www.housing.org.uk/HomesAtTheHeart

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As a tenancy administrator and full-time mum, Sarah leads a busy life. During the lockdown, Sarah has been working from home every day – and with school closures too, Sarah has been going above and beyond to balance the expectations of her role with caring for her kids.

 

Monday

As a tenancy administrator, I support a lot of our customers with enquiries about their neighbourhood. These can be anything from parking disputes and noise nuisance, to fly-tipping and requests for new pets. Our email inbox is never quiet and there are always new people to help.

With the flexible working we have at Silva, I can offer support and reassurance to our customers beyond our usual opening hours, which I think they appreciate.

At the moment, I’m also managing a lot of mutual exchange applications. Our customers are understandably eager to know whether and when their pending house move will happen. I like to keep them in the loop by maintaining regular contact with them. 

 

Tuesday

My role has changed massively since the lockdown, but the biggest difference is no longer having face-to-face contact with customers and my colleagues. Instead, everything is now communicated through video calls, phone calls and via email.

Since the lockdown began, my team has been contacting some of our isolating/vulnerable customers to see how they are doing and to provide reassurance. 

These calls are my favourite part of the day. I think it is so important to stay connected to each other and these chats never fail to raise both mine and our customer's spirits!

 

Wednesday

Online signups for new customers are coming in thick and fast and we are constantly moving customers into their new homes, which is a great feeling.

While working from home is not alien to me, I’m still getting used to having a five-year-old and a 19-month-old around me constantly. I’ve found that a daily routine, including exercise and regular time away from my laptop, has helped me de-stress during the lockdown.

 

Thursday

With my children occupied in their home-schooling routines/activities, I can take part in weekly conference calls with my team and get on with my work for a while without too much disturbance. 

Once I finish for the day, I take my kids on a long walk around a nature reserve. We do plenty of bug hunting and flower pressing and this gives me some much-needed breathing space from my home office.

We love nature and enjoy being outside and we even had our very own resident - Sammy the slow worm for a while!

Sammy the slow worm

 

Friday

Every Friday starts with biscuits and CBeebies with my children. I always try to find some quality time with them before we start the day, as it helps us all focus and begin on a positive note.

At the end of a busy week of work and childcare, our team quiz is such a great way to round it off. We even had a virtual night out a while ago, which was so much fun and easily the best club I’ve been to in a long time! 

I do feel lucky to work in such an amazing team. Even with all the recent changes to our processes as we’ve improved our customer services, I’m proud that we’ve managed to keep working so well throughout the lockdown.

 

At the weekend

In the morning, I take my little ones to the woods for some exercise. We’ve developed a bit of a routine where we rest on some logs 10 minutes into our walk and have a snack and a chat. 

I feel so lucky to be spending so much time with my children and we get to experience things like hearing the birds sing together.

But I am also proud to be part of a business that continues to improve lives and I am very much looking forward to returning to my second home at the Silva office.

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Silva has had its credit rating of A+, with a stable outlook, confirmed by prestigious credit rating provider S&P Global. This strong grade reflects our financial stability, management strength and successful development strategy, despite the turbulence of the current economic climate, caused by Covid-19.

This rating maintains Silva’s place in the second-highest tier of social landlords ranked by S&P, alongside much larger associations such as Bromford and Sanctuary. The ‘stable’ outlook means that the rating is unlikely to be downgraded in the future. S&P’s confident rating signals that Silva is continuing towards long-term financial success, which will enable us to build and maintain more homes and improve the lives of more people in the South East. The A+ rating was based on a set of criteria which assessed the full breadth of our financial activities. Areas considered by S&P included: our development plans for more new homes, the annual revenue generated by different areas of the business, our ample cash and our overall financial strategy and management.

John Andrew, Silva’s executive director (finance & procurement), commented: “Confirmation of our A+ credit rating is testament to the hard work that our teams have put into maintaining our financial strength and viability which will allow us to build the affordable homes that are desperately needed across our region, while improving the quality of our existing homes and the services we provide to our customers. We have maintained our core services during the lockdown imposed to deal with Covid-19 and expect to minimise the financial impacts on our business. This rating by S&P proves that our strategy of investing today for a secure tomorrow is working.”

In their report, which was published on 25 June, S&P explained that Silva’s financial credit rating reflected an expectation that long-term profit margins will improve once the initial impacts of Covid-19 have been overcome and stated that we were “quick to respond” to the pandemic. This was because site visits were replaced with phone calls and colleagues began working remotely before the lockdown had been announced. Although gross rental arrears have increased slightly compared to their historical three-year average, they remain favourable compared to other housing associations.

In March, Silva obtained £25m of new long-term loan funding through a private investment arranged by The Housing Finance Corporation at an interest rate of just 2.26%. We will use the funds to continue to invest in new homes while improving our existing homes and implementing new technology (as part of our Silva Transformation Programme 2021), which will improve our services while helping to reduce our operating costs.

 

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