More popular than OAPs

Basildon goes to the movies

Forget Hollywood, if it’s tinseltown you want, get down to Basildon, Essex. Basildon council was scheduled to stage its own Oscars-inspired film premiere last night, complete with red carpet, limos and tuxedos. The event was staged in an effort to entice more people to work in the sector and featured the premiere of a film called Who Says Housing is Boring? at the Towngate Theatre.

The film features a number of interviews with housing staff recalling how and why they got started in the sector – rather too few car chases and wisecracking sidekicks for Social Animal’s taste, but there you go. If you missed it, well, bad luck. Social Animal understands that there are, as yet, no plans to put the film on general release.

Drive time

A Hertfordshire-based housing association has taken a novel approach to increasing access to its services – by holding surgeries inside a people carrier.

The Howard Cottage Society started the new “roaming surgery” in a bid to help tenants stay in touch and talk through issues with housing officers. From now on, as well as the traditional community centre and housing office meetings, tenants will be able to access services from their own doorstep. The pilot scheme has thus far proved successful and tenants can expect more doorstep visits in the spring.

The care home in front is a Toyota

Toyota is set to add a new business line to its portfolio in an effort to boost profits. Not content with its massive automobile empire, the motor manufacturer is set to enter the social housing sector. Social Animal has learned that Toyota will begin opening care homes in Japan from 2006. The company has been drawn to the sector after it was revealed that listed private nursing home companies made a profit of ¥25bn (£123m) in 2004. Social Animal confidently predicts the conclusion of this will be a wave of cross-sector mergers. Accord Housing Association will become Honda Accord. Focus Housing Association will become Ford Focus. And Metropolitan Housing Group will become Mini Metro.

Compassion shortage

A suicidal woman in Bath has been issued with an antisocial behaviour order banning her from railway lines, bridges, rivers and multistorey car parks after repeatedly using them to try and end her life. Trains were stopped during one episode, while passers-by attempted to pull her from a river during another suicide bid.

The unfortunate woman could be sent to jail if she breaches the ASBO. At no point in the trial was it suggested that the court find her help to deal with her problems so that she no longer felt the need to kill herself.

The emphasis was more on making sure her death didn’t inconvenience anyone. Joined-up thinking – perhaps not.

It’s a dog-eat-pensioner world

The UK is often described as a nation of animal lovers, but it seems we don’t have the same depth of feeling for our senior citizens. Rodney Bickerstaffe, formerly boss of trade union Unison and now president of the National Pensioners Convention, recounted to a conference last Thursday how he put forward an early day motion in parliament on care for elderly people.

Unfortunately, it came at the same time as a motion appealing for better rights for retired greyhounds, he told delegates. Yes, you guessed it, the pooches got more votes than the pensioners.

Source

Housing Today