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Caption: Michelangelo's Mates apprentices (from left) Henryk Rusowicz, Robert Blackshaw and Keith Boyer with the certificate and award.
A scheme that trains people with learning disabilities so they can then provide painting and decorating services for elderly or disabled residents has won national recognition.
East North East Homes Leeds (ENEHL) and charity Avalon have won the Most Effective Partnership category at National Federation of ALMOs (NFA) annual awards for Michelangelo’s Mates, a social enterprise painting and decorating scheme.
The small team of people in Michelangelo’s Mates train as apprentices in painting and decorating, and then work as sub-contractors to ENEHL providing a quality painting and decorating service on behalf of tenants who are unable to do so through illness or disability, or on empty properties in preparation for new tenants.
East North East Homes Leeds (ENEHL) – one of the three Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) which manage and maintain council housing for Leeds City Council.
Avalon is a Harrogate-based charity providing supported housing for vulnerable and disabled adults throughout the north of England.
The 69 member organisations of the National Federation of ALMOs (NFA) oversee more than one million council owned properties across England. The winners of the 2009 NFA Awards were announced at a ceremony this week at the Royal York Hotel, York.
Representatives from the 21 short-listed ALMOs (Arms Length Management Organisations) across the country all gathered for the award ceremony, part of the NFA’s annual two day conference and AGM, which was hosted by Wayne Hemingway, MBE, of HemingwayDesign. The audience of 350 were treated to films of all the finalist projects as well as a public address from Peter Marsh, Head of the Tenant Services Authority, who praised the work of the ALMO movement saying that it was an essential part of future housing provision and community development.
The awards were judged by an independent panel; Roy Irwin, the Chief Inspector of Housing at the Audit Commission Housing Inspectorate; Janet Dean of the Dean Knight Partnership, Adviser to the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and the Homes and Communities Academy, Michael Gelling, Chairman of the Tenants and Residents Organisations of England (TAROE) and Jane Gething-Lewis, Editor of media partner 24housing.
Angelena Fixter, chair of the East North East Homes Leeds board, said:
“To receive this award and gain national recognition is fantastic. It is a tribute to what can be achieved through successful partnership work in breaking down barriers for people. Michelangelo’s Mates is a wonderful example of what can be realised and this is just the beginning!”
Dennis Rees, chair of the National Federation of ALMOs, said:
“This year the quality of entry to the NFA awards was excellent. ENEHL has identified a demand from older residents who cannot maintain their own homes and then gone further to tackle both worklessness and disability discrimination. Michelangelo’s Mates is an asset to East North East Homes Leeds and has been recognised as best practice by other ALMOs.”
Designed to honour and credit the individuals and teams who do so much at ground level and beyond, the awards have been developed to recognise and celebrate the hard work and achievements of ALMOs – which manage more than one million council homes, over half of all social housing in England.
Notes to Editors:
• About the National Federation of ALMOs: The National Federation of ALMOs promotes the ALMO option in council house management which provides housing management and housing services to more than one million council properties across 69 ALMOs nationwide.
• ALMOs are the top performing social housing sector according to the Audit Commission judgements; 14 ALMOs have scored three star ratings, a haul well in excess of that achieved by either directly managed councils or housing associations.
• By the end of 2007/08 £3.7 billion had been allocated to ALMOs to invest in improving social housing for tenants.
• East North East Homes Leeds is one of three Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) which manage and maintain council housing on behalf of Leeds City Council. It is wholly owned by the council, which retains ownership of housing stock and sets rents. East North East Homes Leeds covers the areas of Boston Spa, Burmantofts, Chapel Allerton, Chapeltown, Collingham, Gipton, Halton Moor, Harehills, Linton, Meanwood, Moor Allerton, Moortown, Seacroft, and Wetherby.
ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact;
Michael Molcher, Leeds City Council press office (0113) 224 3937
Email: michael.molcher@leeds.gov.uk
