Easing of lockdown: impact on our services

Easing of lockdown: impact on our services

 

Thank you for your patience and understanding over the last unusual 18 months. I hope this letter finds you and anyone else in your household well.

 

As you will know the Government relaxed COVID-19 restrictions from 19th July.  All our services are operating as normal, and Millwood House has re-opened.

 

This doesn’t mean the virus has gone away and we urge everyone to stay vigilant, respect people’s personal space and mask wearing and continue to keep up with regular hand washing to protect yourself and others. We also ask that you continue to ventilate any areas when we carry out work in your home and leave plenty of space for our staff to work safely.

 

Staff will wear masks when making home visits. Only with your agreement, if one of our repair operatives is on a long job (say an entire week) in one room which you are not in, they may take off their mask. They will put it back on when moving into any other room in your home.

 

All repairs and grounds maintenance are operating as normal, although some of the team and our subcontractors are needing to self-isolate after NHS Track and Trace alerts. This may mean repairs or grounds maintenance may take slightly longer, subject to team members required to isolate.

Teign Housing, like all housing and development organisations, is seeing a lack of supply of key building materials such as roofing tiles, timber, timber products such as kitchens, doors etc. and some decorating and plaster materials.  The COVID-19 shutdown, import delays due to Brexit changes and the recent blockage of the Panama Canal are some reasons why supplies are feeling scarce. We don’t yet anticipate major delays to our planned property improvements, but unfortunately, we do expect some shortages in some key areas.  To reduce this risk, we are working with partners and supply chains. If your property is directly affected, then we will communicate with you directly and keep you informed.

 

You can come to the Millwood House office, although the front door will be closed to restrict numbers in at any one time. So please ring the bell and someone will answer.  We’ll ask visitors to wear a mask when moving around the building. As not all staff will be working in the office every day, if you want to see a particular member of staff it’s best to make an appointment to save a wasted journey.  We have opened up our Drop Down Zones based in local communities, so our housing team will meet with residents there.

 

If you have any questions about this update, you can call us on 01626 322722 or email us at haveyoursay@teignhousing.co.uk   

 

We welcome feedback on how things are working and how they feel for you.

 

Thank you for your support and understanding.

 

Jo Reece

Chief Executive