You can contact us 24/7 via MyAccount, email or on 01768 861400 (only emergency services are available outside standard office hours). If you would like to see someone at our office, please make an appointment so we can make sure someone is available to meet you.  Most staff are either out on visits or working from home so will need to arrange to be at the office to meet you. We are still having problems getting some building materials and parts, and we are still experiencing higher than usual sickness rates amongst contractors and staff.  In these difficult times, our staff and contractors are working hard to try and keep things running as well as possible. If a member of staff or a contractor has to come to your home, please wear a face covering if you are able to and open the window – this helps keep all of us safe. If you are ill or self-isolating with covid, we will only come into your home to fix risk to life emergencies. Repairs We are booking repairs as normal, but please note that services are currently affected by Covid staff shortages as well as problems getting building materials and…

Click here to view the April 2022 Digital edition of Viewpoint

After a successful programme concentrating on our rural properties, Eden Housing Association is continuing to work with our approved contractor, Warm Front Limited, to carry out energy assessments of our homes. The inspections will enable us to identify any energy-saving improvements that can be carried out which will result in lower fuel bills and reduced CO2 emissions. Warm Front Limited will be carrying out around 300 surveys throughout the spring and summer of 2022, focusing on homes which do not currently have an up-to-date energy performance certificate (EPC). Surveys should take no longer than an hour, and the surveyor can also provide tenants with energy-saving advice and guidance on how to reduce fuel bills during the visit. Warm Front Limited are leading providers of insulation and energy efficiency measures in the UK. They are the only company authorised by Eden Housing Association to carry out these surveys and potential energy efficiency measures to their housing stock. More information on the company can be found on their website. If you have any concerns or would like to request a survey appointment on a particular day, you can call Warm Front free of charge on 0800 0834 333 Surveyors will always present identification…

Residents at Mill Gardens in Kirkby Stephen have raised £500 for Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Team by eating their way to success!  Kirkby Stephen residents Eunice Trusler and Joyce Fothergill have volunteered and dedicated their Wednesdays to making a lovely lunch for residents at Mill Gardens.  This not only provides residents with a tasty, nutritional meal but it also gives them an opportunity to engage in socialising and chat with their friends and neighbours. The residents pay a small fee for the two-course meal and decided any money left over would be donated to a local charity. This week, residents happily handed over a cheque for £500 to Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Team, the first local charity to benefit from the lunch club donations. Speaking on behalf of Mill Garden’s Tenants’ and Residents’ Association, Pearl Bibby said a huge thank you to Eunice and Joyce and presented them with some flowers to show their appreciation . Debi Wilkinson Extra Care Co-ordinator said “We really can’t thank Eunice and Joyce enough for giving up their time and energy to make our tenants a lovely meal and making them feel part of their community.  After all the isolation we endured during lockdown,…

10 year old Freya Murphy from Kirkby Stephen has raised more than £400 by walking over 70 miles during lockdown, to the benefit of town residents.  Alongside her Labrador Harper, Freya has walked a staggering 70 miles.  Freya said “As part of my school project during lockdown, one of my challenges was to raise some money for a good cause.  I decided I wanted to do something for the local people who have been affected by this annoying coronavirus, and thought it would be lovely if I raised enough money to give the residents a treat at Mill Gardens Assisted Living Scheme.  Like a lot of older people they have not been able to see their families and friends and have lived in fear of catching this awful disease.  I remember how happy they were to get the lovely pictures we drew for them last year, so thought I’d give them something else that they could enjoy.” Freya initially decided to walk 31 miles, however as the month progressed, she actually doubled this and walked over 70 miles in 31 days alongside Harper.  Due to the ongoing pandemic, the Eden Housing Association residents have only just been able to enjoy…

Every year the first period of cold weather can cause large numbers of tenants to lose their heating and hot water as they have forgotten to check their condensate pipe from their boiler. Please remember to follow the advice below: If caught early enough, this issue is often quick and simple for someone to solve for themselves without having to wait for a heating engineer to attend. If you get your heating and hot water from a gas or oil combi boiler, it will most likely have a condensate pipe – this will usually be white plastic and will run away from the boiler to a drain – often going to an outside wall and looking like an overflow pipe. In cold weather the small amount of water that runs from this pipe can freeze up, eventually causing the boiler to shut down and stop working. By defrosting the pipe and removing the frozen blockage, you can get your boiler working again. How to defrost a frozen condensate boiler pipe Use hot water – not boiling – heated by a kettle or a microwave and pour over the end of the pipe where it is frozen using a suitable container…

We wish to provide our customers and applicants with an overview of the changes to the Cumbria Choice Policy and system that we will be making in 2022. During a consultation with customers and our stakeholders in 2020, we were informed that our customers wanted an easy-to-understand policy and a simple system that would function on a mobile phone, tablet, or computer. What will we be delivering? Band A – Urgent need for housing Band B – Statutory housing need to move Band C – All other applications with an evidenced housing need Do you need to do anything? Please do not panic! You do not need to do anything. We will update our website when the changes are closer to being implemented with a fixed date for the changes. All changes when applied will occur automatically for you. In the meantime, we are asking applicants to ensure that their application is up to date with the correct contact information, including your email address, and that applicants are aware of their log in details.

Author, journalist, associate editor, travel writer and photographer, Midge Todhunter has been elected as an EHA Board Member. Midge, a tenant of the Association, lives in Armathwaite and brings a wealth of local knowledge and contacts in the media and beyond, experience as PR officer for well-known Cumbrian companies, and in businesses administration. Midge is also a very accomplished horseman and has worked and ridden in many areas of the world “I’ve lived life and travelled widely but keep returning to my roots in North Cumbria, an area I know so well – both its people and culture. Because of its beauty and ambience Cumbria is a hot spot for property prices, and I strongly believe in EHA’s ethos of providing affordable housing for people with a local connection.” Midge is also a volunteer driver for Brampton Food Bank. John Clasper, Chief Executive of Eden Housing Association commented, “ We are delighted to see Midge elected to our Board. His local knowledge, working experience and life skills will complement the quality and expertise we already have on the Board. It is great that we continue to be able to attract volunteers such as Midge, willing to give up their valuable…

Due to unusually high demand on our repairs service earlier in the year, we concentrated on emergency and urgent repairs over the summer to help clear the backlog of reported work and limit the overspend on our repairs budget. We’re grateful to our tenants who have been understanding and helped out by only reporting urgent repairs during that time. By helping to reduce spending, we should now have enough money available to see us through the winter months which are traditionally the busiest time of year for repairs. To help avoid any further disruption in service, we’d be very grateful if tenants would continue to be mindful of the repairs that they report. This will help us stretch the remaining budget through to the end of March, allowing us to keep the service open.  

  As COVID-19 restrictions continue to be eased, Eden Housing Association is making good progress with our approved contractor, Warm Front Limited, in carrying out energy assessments of our homes. The inspections completed so far have enabled us to identify any energy-saving improvements that can be carried out which will result in lower fuel bills and reduced CO2 emissions. Warm Front Limited will be continuing with surveys throughout the summer of 2021, and energy efficiency improvement works are now underway, with a strong focus on rural properties. Surveys should take no longer than an hour, and the surveyor can also provide tenants with energy-saving advice and guidance on how to reduce fuel bills during the visit. Warm Front Limited are leading providers of insulation and energy efficiency measures in the UK. They are the only company authorised by Eden Housing Association to carry out these surveys and potential energy efficiency measures to our housing stock. More information on the company can be found on their website. With a lot of similar programmes being run by other companies and organisations at the moment, It is important to remember not to let anyone in to your property without first seeing valid identification….

Two electric vehicle chargepoints and two charging sockets for e-bikes have been installed at our office at Blain House in Penrith. The electric vehicle chargepoints are the latest in a series of similar installations by Lancaster based community benefit society Charge My Street who, over the past year, have launched chargepoints in Carlisle, Kendal, Barrow and Aspatria among others. This is the first of the installations to have integrated charging facilities for e-bikes, a prospect that Richard Ingham, Cumbria’s bicycle mayor saw as an important step forward. He said: “it makes a statement that cyclists, whether they be on e-bikes or non-assisted bikes are welcome here which is important for Penrith because it lies on the coast-to-coast, the UK’s most popular cycle route. “It’s becoming increasingly apparent that transport has a very large contribution to our carbon footprint and poor air quality in town centers. Cycling and walking for our daily short journeys is a really good way to reduce our car use and tackle those issues. Cycling and walking to school, work and local shops is also a great opportunity to be more active and healthy”. The chargepoints are located at Blain House, headquarters of Eden Housing Association on…

Eden Housing Association (EHA) was delighted to be given the opportunity to present at the Scottish Rural Housing Summit on the subject of community-led housing. Presenting together were EHA’s Land and Development Manager Martha Shields, and Madeline Teasdale from Patterdale Parish Community Land Trust (PPCLT).  The presentation focused on approaches to community led housing, and the affordable housing project being developed in Glenridding was used as a case study.  The project is a collaboration and joint working between EHA and PPCLT. Speaking after the event, Martha commented “The conference is a fantastic event that showcases the breadth and depth of work being carried out across the UK to deliver rural affordable housing. So much can be gained from sharing ideas, listening to each other’s story’s and collaborating to resolve what is a nationwide challenge. Thanks to the Rural Housing Summit for giving us the opportunity to share our journey.” The Scottish Rural Housing Summit has been organised by Rural Housing Scotland, a national charity which supports community action on rural housing issues.  The summit takes place over five days, from Monday 22 February, and includes a mix of panel discussion, interactive workshops, webinars and one-to-one sessions.  Sessions are free to…