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The cost of living crisis has unfortunately led to many households across the region and country feeling significant pressure on their budgets. Everyday costs including food, fuel and energy have seen sharp rises, much quicker than the average person’s income is rising. 

We know many of our customers are feeling the effects of this situation, and we want to make sure you are aware of the support available to you if you are struggling, including from us, the government and other charities and organisations. 

To help support you, we have launched a new section on our website which includes information on what we are doing to support you, the government support available and help from other charities and organisations to help you if you are struggling financially. 

Find out more. 

We have recently released our customer annual report for 2021-22, which is all about how we performed over the last year for you. 

The report includes statistics and information on how happy you are with our services, how we are supporting customers and much more about what has been happening over the last year. 

You can take a look at our customer annual report here. 

We celebrated Black History Month in October by sharing stories and experiences of our black colleagues and customers, recognising how black people have helped shape our history, and reflecting on how housing associations across the UK are supporting black customers.

As part of our recognition of the month, we spoke to Agnes Lanchbery, one of our customers who lives in North Tawton who moved to the UK from Zambia 32 years ago. 

Agnes has been active with the Salvation Army and with other charity work, as well as getting involved in the North Tawton community as a volunteer. 

Talking about her charity work, Agnes said: “I was doing charity work in Africa already as I was on the Committee for the Children’s Hospital to provide lots of things. It was really interesting actually and when I came here, I got straight involved with it so I couldn’t believe I was able to do that. 

“I started door to door collecting money for the charity and then because I was new, and it went so well, they asked me to give a speech where they paid me £10 which I gave to the Cancer Research charity. After I did it, I received a thank you letter from the London Salvation Army which I still have.”

You can read more about Agnes’ story here. 
 

We will be getting in touch with customers in November 2022 about changes to their service charges, which covers services like day to day maintenance in your building, electricity usage in communal areas and more. 

We appreciate that with the cost of living crisis stretching household budgets additional costs may lead to financial concerns. If you are worried about your financial situation, there is a range of support available: 

• We have recently launched the new cost of living section on our website, which contains information about what we, the government and other charities and organisations can offer.
• We offer support through our Tenancy Sustainment team, including help with accessing Universal Credit and grants. You can complete an online self-referral form here. 
• Your Income Officer can provide support if you are struggling to pay your rent. Find yours here. 

We will be providing more information for customers who pay a service charge as part of their tenancy soon. If you have any questions, please contact us. 
 

We recently made some changes to the way we give out grants, now focusing on those struggling to pay their energy bills or buy food. With household budgets continuing to be stretched for our customers, we have made these changes to make sure we are providing the most relevant support possible. 

If you need support with getting white goods for your home, this is something we can provide help with in exceptional circumstances through our Tenancy Sustainment team. 

What is our crisis and hardship grant?

Crisis and hardship grants are available for LiveWest customers who are experiencing financial difficulties accessing food or managing energy costs as a result of a crisis or emergency. 

The crisis and hardship grant programme aims to offer financial help where no other form of funding can be secured in a short period. Funding is a one-off payment that is intended to prevent an individual or family from moving into crisis or to cover an immediate need.

If you need support, you can get in touch with our Tenancy Sustainment team by completing a self-referral form, or by calling Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm: 

• Somerset and West of England Duty Line: 01934 526444
• Devon and Cornwall Duty Line: 01392 302444

Find out more about the support we offer and the changes to our grants here. 

With the help of one of our Housing Officers, a neighbourhood in Penzance has worked together to create support networks where everyone they belong, feel safe and can thrive and achieve. 

Residents in St Johns Court came together with our Neighbourhoods Housing team to make plans about how to grow the community feel. Speaking to their Housing Officer, Gemma Jenkin, they reflected many people have friendship networks around them, but they would like to find new ways to help people in their neighbourhood to get along and create a community which they feel proud of.

Gemma said: “The residents wanted to make changes to the area so it can be the best place it can be and an enjoyable place to live. If people feel valued in the area they live in, this can support in creating community connections and structure to maintain a great environment.

“We listened to what residents wanted and what their community meant to them and focused on building a better community for families.”

The community now enjoy events together and hosted a barbeque over the bank holiday weekend earlier this year. 

If you would like to get in touch with your Housing Officer about changes you would like to see in your neighbourhood, you can find yours here. 

We celebrated our second Creating Greener Futures Together week in October, which is all about setting out our ambitions and celebrating our achievements on sustainability. 

One of our primary sustainability targets is our roadmap to net zero by 2050, which outlines our plans to increase efficiency, reduce our carbon footprint and improve living costs for our customers. We launched this during Creating Greener Futures Together week, and we are looking forward to progressing our sustainability aims. 

One part of our roadmap to net zero is our retrofitting programme, which is our commitment to ensuring our homes meet a minimum EPC rating of ‘C’ by 2028, which is two years ahead of the Government’s target. Our ambitious retrofitting project will deliver warm, energy efficient homes, helping to tackle fuel poverty. The project will support green jobs, whilst reducing the carbon emissions of our customers.

Tim Wotton, Green Funding Manager, discusses our retrofit project in the video below. 

With rising house prices making homeownership harder for many, we are delighted to have recently helped a couple get onto the housing ladder with a shared ownership home. 

Jessica Sleight and Cameron Webb have recently been accepted for a new home at our Pinhoe Quarry development in Exeter, which has a range of homes from one-bedroom flats to four-bedroom family houses. 

Jessica said: “We didn’t ever dream we would be able to buy our own home. We were looking on the open market and there was nothing we could afford.

“Prices kept rising and it was becoming more and more unlikely. We didn’t even consider shared ownership until we spoke to some friends who had done the same.

“It all made sense as you can own part of the home and rent the other part. And as your financial situation changes, you can buy up more of your home.

“LiveWest were brilliant, they made everything so simple and kept us updated all the way through. They were always at the end of the phone to answer our enquiries and made the whole process a nice experience.

“Buying a home is a daunting experience, but LiveWest certainly eased our worries and made sure it was a smooth and straightforward process.”

If you would like a new home, you can take a look at the different options we have available including shared ownership here. 

As well as the support we are providing to customers to help cope with the rise of cost of living, we are proactively helping customers to reduce fuel consumption through our Renewable Technologies team. 

The team have been making adjustments in customers’ homes to make them more energy efficient, including providing advice or installing technology like air source heat pumps or solar panels. 

We have installed approximately 1000 air source heat pumps over the past four years and are continuing to help retrofit approximately 250 homes every 12 months. Removing inefficient heating systems and replacing them with the latest technology available is reducing fuel consumption in customers’ homes at a time when bills are set to rise.

John Praoline, Renewable Technologies Manager, said: “We tailor what we do to suit people’s different requirements. Even with two properties next door to one another, they are always different. You have to treat each home independently to see what is most suitable.

“It doesn’t matter whether the home is 100 years old or 10 years old. All the team are well versed in all areas of renewable technologies and our focus is on support for customers. If a customer works nights, we can change their system to suit their lifestyle.

“Some customers might have a medical condition which means they might need a constant 23 degrees so we might introduce a new heating system. We weigh up each property in their own right and it is not a one-size fits all.

“We all love our jobs because we can play a part in helping to reduce costs for customers.”

Our Renewable Technologies team are an important part of our work to ensure our homes are Energy Performance Certificate C by 2028, which is two years ahead of the government target. Find out more about our Cby28 project and our green advice here. 

With demand for affordable housing across the region continuing to grow, we have ambitious plans to build more than 6,000 homes over the next 5 years. 

Paul Crawford, our Chief Executive, said: “Our absolute commitment is to continue to develop much-needed affordable homes across the South West.

“The sector continues to see demand for affordable homes growing faster than supply and we are seeing over 75 applicants for every property that becomes available for rent. 

“This desperate shortage of housing has been worsened by private market rent volumes reducing as owners convert to holiday lets in the South West, making our strategy to invest sustainably and deliver a long-term programme of new homes even more important."

We have recently published our financial report for the year ending 31 March 2022, which tells the story of both how we are playing our part in trying to ease the housing crisis in the region, but also how we are supporting our existing customers. You can read the report here. 

Paul continues: “The greatest need in the South West is for low cost rented housing which underpins our commitment to increase the supply of new housing with a focus on delivering affordable homes for rent.

“Behind our financial and development figures is the story of how LiveWest has put social purpose, the quality and safety of the homes we develop, health and safety, and the needs of our customers at the heart of everything we do.

“We are a not-for-profit organisation, so we use our surplus to reinvest in our homes and communities, and to build more affordable housing.”
 

As part of our commitment to keeping you safe, we have been providing you with seasonal information to help you stay safe in your home, as well as important advice for all year round.

Take a look at our latest safety information to help you stay safe:

Fire doors

Fire doors are an important safety feature in many homes, helping to contain the spread of fire and giving you the time to escape to safety. Whilst we regularly check and repair fire doors in our homes, there are regular checks you can do to make sure you are protected. Find out more. 

Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night is a much loved tradition in the UK, seeing both public and private firework displays and bonfires. There are a range of fire risks associated with this event, so be sure to take care when celebrating. Find out more. 

Gas safety

With the nights drawing in and the temperatures dropping, it is the time of year when heating becomes more and more essential. With the rising cost of living we are aware some are avoiding using their heating or turning to alternative sources. It is recommended you use your installed heating system, as this helps to prevent damp and mould as well as keeping you safe and healthy. Find out more. 

For more safety information, visit Your safety. 

The festive period is approaching, and we wanted to provide an update on our opening hours during this time. 

Our opening hours will be:

• Friday 23 December: open 8am to 3pm
• Monday 26 December: closed (bank holiday)
• Tuesday 27 December: closed (bank holiday)
• Wednesday 28 December: open 8am to 5pm
• Thursday 29 December: open 8am to 5pm
• Friday 30 December: open 8am to 5pm
• Monday 2 January: closed (bank holiday)

On a day we are closed, if you need an emergency repair which affects your safety, security or health and safety, please call us on 0300 123 8080. We will aim to respond to emergency repairs within 24 hours. 

For all other repairs or queries which are not a genuine emergency, remember you can use our solve an issue tool and report a repair online.