The Big Ongo Roundup 2021
We are now thanking our customers and colleagues after a successful year of new homes, community projects, supporting each other and more involvement than ever with tenants.
Some of our key highlights include over 180 new homes over the last 12 months. Building 78 homes for affordable rent, shared ownership, rent to buy and outright sale, along with acquiring 111 properties in Lincoln.
Myos House, our outstanding dementia care scheme, was just one of the developments completing this year. It’s made up of 25, modern two-bedroom apartments and specially designed, spacious communal spaces for residents to socialise and relax.
Over 670 people have been given employment support, with 400 now in work or training. Our mental health services have supported more than 300 individuals since March, making it our busiest year yet.
Huge new projects have been launched. These include Kickstart, a government funded scheme, to get young people into placements. To date Ongo has supported 70 young people into jobs within 31 companies, with many being taken on full time after their placement is up.
Endeavour which supports disadvantaged people from communities across North Lincolnshire, focusing on mental health issues and barriers to work also begun. And My Move, an online platform allowing users to browse homes and apply direct, along with Reconnect, a post- pandemic programme to re-engage members of the community.
Over 600 people have been given support to improve their financial situation, with £692,732 of extra income gained. More than 280 tenants have been helped to sustain their tenancy, and overall there has been a decrease in rent arrears.
Partnership working has continued with the Police on a number of operations, with Ongo’s cuckooing work winning ‘Project of the year’ at the National Resolve ASB awards, and the Safer Streets project in Westcliff being hailed a huge success.
One further exciting achievement was appointing a Sustainability and Carbon Reduction Manager to coordinate and deliver our aim of being a net zero organisation by 2050.
Financially we have remained at a V1 rating, with our governance being upgraded to G2.
Steve Hepworth, Chief Exec at Ongo said: “I’d like to say a huge thank you to our customers for being so fantastic over the last 12 months, being involved in making positive changes and having their say to help us improve our services.
“From handing over keys to new homes, helping someone get into work, supporting families with finances and everything in between, I’m so proud of my colleagues too.
“Looking ahead we’re going to have a real focus on delivering great services to our tenants as well as building new homes and developing our environmental work to reduce our carbon footprint.
“We will look to involve our tenants in as many ways as possible in this work and we will continue to focus on our governance to regain a G1 rating from the Regulator.”
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