Respond | Housing Association

Hello and welcome!

to the latest edition of the Respond Tenant Newsletter. Once again, a warm welcome to our newest tenants across Respond estates. We are delighted to welcome you to our community and hope you have settled into your new homes. If you have any questions or need help with your housing issues, please contact the Housing Management teams in your local area. This is a message we extend to all tenants, we’re here to help! In this edition you will find the latest feedback from our Tenant Satisfaction Survey. As you will see from the results of the survey, the Customer Service Centre (CSC) team lead the way in terms of tenant satisfaction. As a first point of contact, staff in the CSC offer tenants a genuine listening ear. They do this by always treating people equally and respectfully. You can catch up more with the team on page 5. A new addition to our Newsletter is a story sharing platform titled ‘Tenant Tales & Staff Stories’. Here you can catch up with tenants and staff to hear personal and professional stories and peoples lived and life experiences. Storytelling is important and a great way to connect and understand each other.

Highlights at Respond

The last few months at Respond saw plenty of activities take place across our estates and services. We hosted Art Exhibitions, Family Fun Day’s, along with so much more!

2024 Key Highlights

TENANT SATISFACTION SURVEY RESULTS

Ard Mor Windows and Door Replacement

Respond Assets Management Team are responsible for the delivery of planned maintenance across our estates, ensuring our properties are kept to the highest standard and your home is safe and secure. The team achieve this by following careful planning to ensure we target properties where work is most needed. The community of Ard Mor, Tallaght, Dublin had their windows and doors replaced in February 2024. One resident in the area said the new windows and doors made such a difference in her home. Michelle Farrelly who has lived on the Ard Mor estate for nine years said: “The windows let in so much natural light and make my home so much brighter”. She added, “the window and door replacement has also lifted the appearance of the estate with the estate looking so much brighter”.

Collaboration with Children’s Books Ireland

We teamed up with Children’s Books Ireland, the national charity and arts organisation championing every child’s right to develop a love of reading. Every festive season they raise funds to gift Christmas books to children. This year, Respond was chosen as a beneficiary of the Children’s Books Ireland’s Gift a Book Appeal. 132 children in our Family Homeless Services will receive a set of 2-4 books this Christmas, along with selected ELSAC services receiving a library of books. Every festive season Respond staff work to make Christmas special for the children in our Family Homeless Services. We are grateful to Children Books Ireland for their support.

CELEBRATING LOCAL STORIES

Tenant Tales & Staff Stories

Helen – Respond Tenant

My name is Helen Ogbu, and I have proudly lived and served in Galway for over 19 years. I am a Community Development Worker with 15+ years of experience at the Galway Volunteer Centre.

Holding a master’s degree from the UNESCO Child & Family Research Centre at the University of Galway, I work as a Family Support Practitioner and Life Coach, supporting young people, families, and communities across Galway and Ireland. I am also a widowed parent to a 23-year-old daughter and have had the privilege of fostering over 30 children from diverse cultural backgrounds.

I am deeply passionate about social inclusion and have campaigned tirelessly for the rights of marginalised groups, particularly migrants, women, and children. My master’s thesis focused on the challenges of family life in Direct Provision, and I had the honour of having my research launched by the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre.

I have also presented at international conferences, such as the UNESCO Child & Family Research Centre Biennial Conference, where I spoke on the role of faith in parenting within Direct Provision. My research has been published in leading academic journals, and I contributed a chapter in the bestselling book, Ionbha – Empathy Book for Ireland, titled All Life Matters.

Running as a Councillor

I wanted to run as a Councillor for Galway City East because I believe in the power of community involvement and the impact that positive change can have on people’s lives. For the past 18 years, I have been deeply committed to community development, family support, youth mentoring, and social activism in Galway.

My campaign, driven by the slogan “A New Voice, A Better Choice: Vote for Change,” is about creating a community where everyone feels heard and supported. I am passionate about advocating for equity, inclusion, and social justice. My goals are to ensure that Galway City East is a place where children have access to recreational facilities, where families can secure affordable housing, and where mental health and wellbeing initiatives are prioritized.

Running for Councillor was both a challenging and deeply rewarding experience. It gave me a unique opportunity to connect with the community on a more personal level, hearing directly from people about the issues that matter most to them. Engaging with residents, learning about their concerns, and discussing ideas for improving Galway City East reinforced my belief in the importance of community-driven change.

The campaign was intense, requiring a lot of hard work, perseverance, and determination, but it was also empowering. It allowed me to bring attention to issues such as housing, mental health, and social inclusion that are often overlooked. While there were moments of stress and tough competition, the experience helped me grow both personally and professionally.

My Experience as a Respond Tenant

My experience with Respond has been overwhelmingly positive, providing me with stable housing and access to valuable community resources. The accommodation has allowed me to focus on other important aspects of my life, without the constant concern about housing instability. Beyond just living here, we have built a true sense of community — we’re not just neighbours, but families who look out for one another and support each other.

I also maintain a strong relationship with my Tenant Relations Officer (TRO), who has always been responsive and supportive whenever I’ve needed assistance. Their guidance and help have made the process easier, smoother and more manageable and given me a greater sense of security in my living situation. This sense of community and support has truly enriched my experience with Respond.

I’ve suggested events like a family feast or potluck to bring everyone together, share ideas, and possibly set up a residents’ association. I’ve also participated in neighbourhood watch meetings to explore partnering with the Gardaí to ensure the safety and security of our community. I believe we’re all invested in this and should work together to create a safe, supportive environment.

Darren – National Tenant Engagement Manager

Growing up and living in social housing for most of my life has clearly brought me to where I am today. Working with people and communities in social housing estates has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. I began my career in the community and voluntary sector as a volunteer community youth worker in an Inner-City Dublin flats complex called Fatima Mansions, known to me and my pals as ‘the flats’.

The ‘flats’ were built between 1949 and 1951 with the aim to help improve living conditions for people living in abysmal and decaying tenement housing that had poor sanitation and chronic overcrowding. The fifteen blocks of four storey flats were a vast improvement in housing for the families moving from the tenements. However, the priority for Dublin Corporation (known in Dublin’s inner-city as ‘the corpo’) was to provide housing – little to no thought was ever given to support services for tenants.

When industry in the south inner city went into decline throughout the mid-seventies, and unemployment began to bite, the situation in Fatima began to change. Fatima found itself at the cornerstone of the heroin problem that gripped inner-city Dublin, alienating individuals, families and the wider community. Drugs affected many young people, taking over their lives, leading to illnesses such as Hepatitis and HIV, and putting people in conflict with the law. Dirty needles around the area were a common sight, antisocial behaviour by some tenants and many non-tenants, and a lack of proper estate maintenance made life very difficult for the community. This created an image in the wider area that the flats were a hopeless ghetto. The flats developed a poor reputation beyond the local community, portrayed by many commentators as a ‘no go zone’ and described by one national media outlet as ‘Hell on Earth’.

But to me, Fatima Mansions was my home, my community; a place I remain proud to call home and a place that grounded me in the values of social justice, human rights and equality. There is an untold story about Fatima Mansions. We all agree there were times of struggle, however the stories of community spirit, the stories of hard work, the stories of tenants supporting each other in times of adversity and crisis went untold for many years. What the tenants of Fatima Mansions had in abundance, however, was resilience. This was built up over years of struggle and neglect by the very institutions employed to provide structure and safety in our community.

The response to this was initiated by a local women’s group, who decided the drug related activity in the flats had become so intolerable that something had to be done. The tenants and the community began engaging with local stakeholders. Empowered by local community development workers, specifically the team leader in the local drug team, tenants worked constructively, engaging with and challenging the negative stories and image inflicted upon us all. As a result of these engagements Fatima Groups United (FGU) was born in 1995. FGU was an instrumental factor in the improvements of the flats. Driven by local people and supported by community stakeholders, tenants amplified their voice, and the flats went under a full regeneration programme in 2004.

This was the beginning of a new story, one that brought positivity and improved the lives and living conditions for so many people, young and old, over the past twenty years. Research which informed the regeneration process, Making Fatima a Better Place to Live, was launched by Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, in 1998. In the welcoming speech to the President, Fatima Groups United chairperson at the time said:

“The wonder of Fatima is that so many men and women in the Fatima community still have that inner strength, humour and resilience, not just to continue the daily struggle, but to have enough energy and goodwill to give something back to the life of the community in the steadily growing number of groups active here in Fatima.”

The skills I developed in these early years, including the support of local youth and community development workers, provided the platform to allow me to remain working in the service sector my entire career. After many years working in Fatima, I worked as a youth worker in Cherry Orchard and Ballyfermot, Dublin.

I joined Respond in 2013, initially as a youth development worker, later joining the housing management team in 2018. In 2023 the organisation, committed to its newly developed Tenant Engagement Strategy, created the position of Tenant Engagement Coordinator. This is my current position and one we have great plans to develop and progress in the coming years.

The one thing that has sustained me throughout the years is knowing, on both a personal and professional level, just how transformative good housing, aligned with quality community services are. This deep-rooted passion for the provision and delivery of services to tenants can hopefully guide us on a journey of working collectively to achieve many great things.

I’m sure we can all appreciate that times are tough with so much going on in the world. Working together within our communities and beyond, reaching out to support each other in times of adversity and just like the Fatima women’s group mentioned above, the amplification our collective voices can help us all even the most challenging of times.

WHAT WE DO

Respond Family Support Service

The Respond Family support team work with families and individuals, jointly identifying their strengths and needs. The support focuses on enhancing the family’s strengths and putting supports in place to meet identified needs. Supports are provided on a one to one basis or in group settings. The types of supports available include parenting, well-being, infant health and child development, money and home management, educational support, information and advocacy and much more.

A recent example of the great work of the Family support team was with the tenants from Shalom house and St Francis Court in Youghal, Co. Cork who headed to Tramore to visit the Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens.

The group, which is open to the wider Youghal community, are participating in seasonal gardening programmes funded through Co Cork ETB in the community building in St Francis Court. This has fostered their green fingers and interest in different styles of gardens. They are currently working on “lasagne” style planting, which will bloom at different times throughout the Spring and Summer.

When the group aren’t gardening, they like to keep fit. They had great fun with instructor Ann Guiry at the August exercise programme and are currently getting ready to purchase their own Nordic poles so they can be “ready for road” in the Spring. The group are grateful to the HSE and Age Action Ireland for their financial support for the exercise class and purchase of the Nordic poles.

MEET ONE OF OUR TEAMS

Meet the CSC Team

In 2012, the CSC team developed a centralised model for all Customer Services, with the intent of enhancing and optimising the support channels required to manage the organisation’s customers, tenants, staff and external stakeholders.

The CSC is a first top shop for all public queries at local, regional and national level. Susan Goodison, a member of the team said the team did more than answer calls, they are a valuable addition to the strategic operations of the organisation.

The team deal with a range of queries daily, including housing needs, anti-social behaviour, rent and maintenance, along with so much more. The team also processes a high volume of administration tasks, supporting the housing teams on the ground, ranging from applications, lettings packs, mail in and outs.

This support ensures the tenant experience that you have and the relationship with Respond is of the highest quality.

Keeping your home safe this winter

Community Garda, Marc Connolly from Celbridge Garda Station, spoke about keeping our homes safe during the Autumn and Winter months. He said stats show that there is an increase in burglaries as the shorter autumnal and winter days set in. To keep us all safe Garda Connolly provided the below facts and some tips to keep our homes safe in this period

Tips to help you prevent burglaries.

Secure all doors and windows.
Light up your home, use timer switches when out if you have some.
Store keys safely and away from windows & letterboxes.
Record details of valuables and don’t keep large cash amounts at home.
Use your alarm, even when at home.

Home Burglaries: The Facts

During the winter months, burglaries increase by 25%.
Over 40% of burglaries in winter occur between 5pm and 11pm.
In 20% of burglaries, entry is through an unsecured door or window.
Be careful where you leave your keys. There were over 200 cases where car keys were “fished” through the letterbox in the past year.

Did you know?

- Respond are a proud member of The Irish Network Against Racism (INAR). INAR is a national network of nearly 160 antiracism civil society organisations that aims to work collectively to highlight and address racism in Ireland through the promotion and monitoring of Irish, EU and global trends and anti-racist initiatives.

- As an organisation we recently achieved the Investors in Diversity Silver Standard, which means we are recognised for our commitment to fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace.