Summer 2002 Edition
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SERVICES

Premier Service


The Premier Service is an incentive scheme through which Ulidia aims to reward and encourage good conduct of tenancy by offering a range of benefits to those tenants who meet the eligibility criteria.


In order to be eligible to become a Premier Service member you must meet all of the criteria listed below:

  • You must be a Ulidia tenant for at least two months;
  • You must have a clear rent account for a minimum period of six weeks;
  • If you are currently in rental arrears you must have maintained a Repayment Agreement for a minimum period of twelve weeks. However, if your rental arrears are as a result of a delay in Housing Benefit payments, you must have maintained a Repayment Agreement for a minimum period of six weeks;
  • You must not be subject to any notice of anti-social behaviour, notice of noise disturbance or any other breach of tenancy; and
  • You must not owe any rechargeable repairs.


As a Premier Service member you will be entitled to receive a range of benefits listed below:

  • Bonusbonds - you may receive Bonusbond gift vouchers worth up to a value of £48.00 per year
  • Faster Repair Service - you will benefit from urgent repairs being carried out within 2 days and routine repairs within 10 days
  • Competitions - you will be eligible to enter special competitions which will offer a range of prizes.


To apply to become a Premier Service member you must be a Ulidia Housing Association tenant and complete our Premier Service Appliation Form, which can be obtained by contacting our office.

Latest Premier Service News

  • 53% of our tenants are Premier Service members
  • The Association has paid out £7,406 in Bonusbond gift vouchers
  • Two Christmas Competitions are currently available for members to enter including a Wordsearch for tenants and a drawing competition for the children.  Fabulous prizes are up for grabs including DS Nintendo Consoles and Games and Shopping Vouchers.  Closing date for all completed entries is 17 November 2006.
  • A Premier Service Survey has recently been sent to all members.   The Association values the opinions of its members and would be grateful if the completed survey be returned as soon as possible.   For those who provide us with the top 5 most original suggestions or ideas on how we may develop the Premier Service further a £10 Bonusbond will be awarded.

 

Shared Future Initiative

 

On 30 October 2006 Ulidia Housing Association, in partnership with the Housing Executive, opened the first housing project in Northern Ireland developed in accordance with the principles of the government's A Shared Future document. A Shared Future has been described as arguably one of the most important areas of public policy to promote sharing over separation; the elimination of sectarianism, racism and all forms of prejudice; and most importantly the development of shared communities where people of all backgrounds can live, work, learn and play together.

 

A Shared Future was launched in April 2005 and required the Housing Executive to bring forward as soon as practicable a number of pilot housing schemes. In May 2005 the Housing Executive approached Ulidia Housing Association and nominated the Association's project at Carran Crescent, Enniskillen, which was under construction at the time, as the first pilot. It is anticipated that work on a second pilot at Loughbrickland will commence next year. The sites at Enniskillen and Loughbrickland were selected following research by Queen's University. Future shared future housing schemes are also planned for Banbridge, Ballycastle, Magherafelt and Lisburn.

 

Research undertaken by the Housing Executive has shown that tenants in 94% of social housing estates in Northern Ireland (97% in Belfast) are segregated by religion. These patterns have developed over many decades and to some extent reflect the impact of the Troubles when householders chose to live in areas where they felt safe. Speaking at the Launch of the Carran Crescent project on 30 October, the Secretary of State, Peter Hain, described the first Shared Future housing scheme as “a significant and practical step to addressing division, imbalance and combating polarisation through housing.”  

 

Carran Crescent consists of a mix of 20 houses and bungalows built by Ulidia Housing Association at a cost of £2 million. The properties were allocated to applicants on the Common Waiting List in accordance with the rules of the Northern Ireland Housing Selection Scheme. In other words, the houses were allocated to those applicants in most housing need. As predicted by the Housing Executive's analysis of the Waiting List for this location, the resulting community, cultural and religious makeup of the 20 families moving into the houses reflected in microcosm what the Secretary of State termed “the diversity of the new Northern Ireland.”  

 

A precondition for a Shared Future Housing scheme developed by the stakeholders and organisations from the fields of community relations and community cohesion who came together to form an Advisory Panel for the pilot projects was that the community balance does not exceed 70% from either of the two main community groupings in N Ireland. At Carran Crescent this important precondition was achieved and the next step was to meet the new tenants, explain the principles of A Shared Future and ask would they be interested in developing this further.

 

Following the allocation of the houses, staff from the Housing Executive's Community Cohesion Unit and Ulidia Housing Association met each tenant individually and discussed the concept of a Neighbourhood Charter designed on the principles of A Shared Future and its Vision of a peaceful, inclusive and fair society. A second precondition established for the scheme was that the majority of tenants should agree to the development of a Neighbourhood Charter based on Shared Future principles. At Carran Crescent every tenant made the choice to work with the Advisory Panel to take forward the Charter.

 

The opportunity and challenge now for the Housing Executive, Ulidia, and the Advisory Panel is to support the people living in Carran Crescent to make their Shared Future vision a reality, and hopefully develop it further with people living in the neighbouring estates. As more Shared Future housing schemes are built, and the possibility of promoting the Neighbourhood Charter in existing social housing estates is developed, Carran Crescent may prove to be a significant first step on the journey towards a shared future through integrated housing in Northern Ireland.