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Open house: an association opens its doors to tenants

A Glasgow housing association has opened its doors to give tenants an insider’s view of its work. Sandra Dick joins locals to find out more

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A Glasgow housing association has opened its doors to give tenants an insider’s view of its work #ukhousing #QueenscrossHA

Tenants are taken on a bus tour of QCHA’s properties with repairs manager Jim Williams

School is finished for the day and instead of being out playing with his pals, Anne Ramsey’s young grandson is in the kitchen at the offices of Queens Cross Housing Association (QCHA).

He’s ready to bite into a hot dog when a tall figure looms over him. “Hey, son, when was the last time you were in a police car?” The lad’s eyes widen as he takes in the shiny buttons and police officer’s cap. While he checks out the panda car, Ms Ramsey reflects on what’s brought them and around 100 other tenants to an open day at QCHA’s offices in Firhill Road, in the Maryhill area of Glasgow.

A tenant of the housing association for 12 years, Ms Ramsey, 54, lived in Dundasvale Court’s high-rise flats until illness meant she needed a wheelchair. Within weeks she had a new home built on land where an iron foundry once stood. The mix of affordable rentals and shared equity properties is known as the Timber Basin, a throwback to when cargo barges drifted along the nearby canal.


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“They got me an occupational therapist and helped with my benefits,” says Ms Ramsey. “The house is adapted for the wheelchair – there’s a wet room, lowered worktops, grab rails. I’ll never have to move.

“I thought you just paid your rent and that was it,” she adds. “But they do so much more here.”

Having benefitted from their support, Ms Ramsey was keen to offer something back, and joined the QCHA board as a community member. She says she’s come to its first open day to show support for her landlord and pass on her experiences to others.

Visitors wander behind the scenes at the QCHA offices. A carefully managed one-way system has been put in place to avoid any risk of chaos or visitors straying into ‘no-go’ areas where sensitive information may be stored.

Staff are relieved of their daily duties, and instead marshal visitors along corridors to meeting rooms transformed for the day to showcase QCHA’s services that go over and above the typical role of housing provider – from job clubs to homework cafes for children.

Shona Stephen, chief executive of QCHA, has wedged open her office door, having decided it’s not an open day if it remains closed.

Bob Alston and Jean McPetrie

“People think we hand over the keys and that’s it,” she says. “But we’re pushing the boundaries of what a housing association does. Today is about telling our tenants what we do.”

Louise Smith, director of neighbourhood services at the association, explains the thinking: “We opened our doors to give tenants a chance to see what goes on beyond reception, chat informally about ways they can get involved and ask for their views on services.”

In one room, old photographs of Maryhill’s industrial past are on display. They have some of the older visitors reminiscing about how wrecking balls ripped into tired tenements to reveal ornate cornices and intricate ceiling roses – a reminder of grander days.

“People think we hand over the keys and that’s it. But we’re pushing the boundaries.” - Shona Stephen, QCHA

Not that anyone wants to go back in time. QCHA now has almost 4,500 inner-city homes with around 12,000 occupants. Many have front and back doors, while new homes have been built on derelict land alongside the Forth and Clyde Canal, where factories once provided jobs.

QCHA was born from grassroots community activism, adds Ms Stephen. “Communities were threatened by the demolition of poor housing and plans to drive a motorway through Maryhill to Bearsden. People wanted to save their neighbourhoods and improve the housing,” she says.

Queens Cross Housing Association: a history

Queens Cross Housing Association (QCHA) launched in 1976 with an allocation of 91 tenements and money to regenerate the area, thanks to the Housing Act 1974. Derelict tenements and empty gap sites were replaced by homes, including specialist housing for older people and those with special needs.

QCHA spans four city-centre areas – Woodside, Dundasvale, Queens Cross and Hamiltonhill/Westercommon – and is run by an executive team of four and a management board of nine, six of whom are tenants. Each neighbourhood has a tenant-led community involvement group, which feeds local people’s requests straight to board level, while the residents’ taskforce scrutinises the association’s work.

Open house 2

QCHA’s John Boyle speaks to tenants Atal and Roshami Gupta

A tenant-led association with less than 100 tenements mushroomed, as housing stock was transferred from other landlords and the council. Now that QCHA is a not-for-profit organisation with charitable status, its rental income (the average weekly rent is just over £77) is boosted by a city centre car park and its factoring service.

In the board room, Alan Muir, project manager at QCHA, is showing local councillor Jacqueline McLaren the landlord’s £13.5m plans to upgrade the 314 flats at Cedar Court.

“I was born around here,” says Ms McLaren. “Growing up, the canal was only used in summer when barges took kids for a day out. There were no facilities; the houses were damp. There was no central heating and [there were] icicles on the windows in winter. The changes are phenomenal. The canal is lovely and the community spirit is thriving.”

Not everyone, however, is quite as positive. Charles Murphy, 54, is an unintentional open day visitor. “I actually came in looking for some technical advice,” he says, but doesn’t elaborate. Instead he’s found himself swept from room to room by enthusiastic staff, and is standing
in front of the Cedar Court display looking slightly unimpressed.

“I’ve told them, what we need is a proper community centre that’s large enough for everyone to use,” he says. “I’ve got three kids – they need somewhere to go to burn off their energy.”

Open house 3

Local councillor Jacqueline McLaren visits the open day

Nearby sit Bob Alston and Jean McPetrie. Both are in the residents’ taskforce, a go-between for tenants and QCHA which also gives purpose to Mr Alston and Ms McPetrie’s day.

“The wife used to do these things,” says Mr Alston, 70. “She died in 2010; I didn’t want to sit around watching television. This is a lifeline for me.” Ms McPetrie has been active within QCHA for five years. “I get stopped in the street by people who want to talk to me,” she grins.

Outside, a minibus is waiting to set off on one of a series of tours of the association’s four neighbourhoods. Jane Hunter, 61, has just stepped off the bus, having discovered parts of the city she didn’t realise fell under the QCHA umbrella. For a new tenant like her, the open day is a revelation. She recently moved in after being given eight weeks to quit her private let. “Today has made me think about how I can get involved,” she says.

Ms Smith says: “We learned a lot and talked to people we wouldn’t normally hear from, so we’re happy with the result.” The association plans to repeat the exercise next year.

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