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Getting a different perspective on New Charter's housing advice.

02/04/08

Who better to measure the success of a housing association than two young people who’ve recently experienced life on the streets?  The idea that people with first-hand experience of housing problems should survey New Charter’s service users was first raised at the Tameside Homeless Conference. Amongst the conference’s delegates were several young people from a Hyde housing project run by NACRO, the reduction charity.

Once selected, the two young people undertook training to make sure they had everything they needed to conduct face-to-face interviews. As well as the training, the young people met the staff and were given guided tours behind the scenes of local housing advice services.  The volunteer surveyors were paid travel expenses and walked away with some ASDA vouchers as a big thank you.

So what about the results? Overall, customers were “very satisfied” with the service. And the results arrive just as the government announced a major cash injection for homeless services across the country.

Patsy Davis, Area Manager for NACRO Housing said:

“Young people can sometimes have a different point of view to other service users.  In this instance, we were delighted the staff of the Housing Options Centre openly welcomed their involvement and the personal perspective they bring.  In return, the surveyors heard from other users how they felt helped by a professional service.”

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