L&Q wins Gold Award from Housing Corporation

L&Q and another housing association have jointly won a major housing award for our pioneering work with the Turkish speaking community in Enfield.

L&Q and Metropolitan Housing Trust (MHT) held off fierce competition from over 100 other entries to win a Housing Corporation Gold Award at a special ceremony in central London this week.

Our Reaching Out project encourages and supports the involvement of the local Turkish speaking populations of Edmonton in housing, community affairs, local democratic structures and the wider community.

The project began in 2002 as part of the “Green Horizons” scheme, a £100 million housing regeneration programme started in 1999 by L&Q and MHT which delivered over 800 new homes and refurbished 600 existing homes in Edmonton Green.

Working in partnership over the past five years, L&Q and MHT have invested resources in activities and initiatives designed to help Turkish speaking residents access services and advice and to become more active members of the wider community. We jointly funded a Turkish speaking Outreach Worker to engage residents and consult with them on the services they receive and factors which affect their quality of life. As a result of this work, the following things have all been done:

• Establishing the first Kurdish And Turkish Residents Association (KATRE) in Enfield
• Offering monthly drop-in sessions where any resident, with help from an interpreter, can discuss housing issues. The project also offers walk-in sessions
• Setting up a database for correspondence to all Kurdish/Turkish residents living in our homes
• Producing a quarterly Turkish-language newsletter
• ESOL English language classes operating from L&Q and MHT's local neighbourhood office
• Delivery of numerous community development projects which provide a platform for engagement e.g. drama project, homework club, horticulture training for women and knife crime awareness project
• Arranging monthly public information meetings about issues like health, education and community safety
• Acquiring office space in a local voluntary sector organisation and offering an advocacy and information service
• Supporting a homework club for Kurdish/Turkish young people (118 young people are currently on the register)
• Identifying and forming partnerships with other organisations that deliver training opportunities for BME communities e.g. Capel Manor College and Enfield College
• Working with other excluded BME communities (Somali) in identifying, supporting and enabling people to participate in influencing service provision

Suzanne Thomas, who led on the project for London & Quadrant, said: “Reaching Out has succeeded in reducing isolation, improving family relationships and personal independence, improving community relationships, and increasing voluntary and community group activity. It has also increased the community's ability to contribute to and affect local initiatives and communicate more effectively at all levels.

Now in its second year, the Housing Corporation's Gold Awards have two themes: Empowering Communities and Environmental Sustainability. The L&Q/MHT project won the Empowering Communities category.

Sir Duncan Michael, A Housing Corporation Board member and Chairman of the judging panel said: “Congratulations to London & Quadrant Housing Trust and Metropolitan Housing Trust in securing this prestigious national award for their community work.
“Housing Associations are doing some fantastic work within their communities and it has made choosing a winner very difficult.
“The Reaching Out initiative is a shining example of how understanding the needs of communities can achieve great results. A worthy winner.”

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