Hi all,
Following a chat at our local forum I thought I'd bring what I think is some good news to this time of data clensing work (assuming there are others like me at the moment spending all their time getting the council tax information clean ready for new homes bonus time).
In this world of doom and gloom and endless cuts we seem to have bucked the trend. Empty Homes is very much in our Members spotlight and they've agreed to put money into it for the next 2 years doubling the empty homes resource (yes, the job is on our website, 18.5 hours a week, grade 7, based in Hertford but the closing date is Monday 12th at 5pm!!).
In return we do have to get our numbers back into use up (the target has doubled) so I'm also on the look out for everyone else's brilliant ideas and how I can tweek them for here. I'll be scouring the forum library but if you think you have something that will help I'm interested. We have some funding and already and do a loan scheme (through the PLACE project) but maybe if you've had success with grants and or letting schemes that would be good to hear. We will be prioritising our list and aiming to target 40 a year for a real focus as well as the standard letter approach for the new empties. We also want to get our members more involved in information finding for us but that's a bit of a data headache at the moment!
Maybe if we get some success I'll start a new blog for us down south to share our experiences and stories!
In the meantime October's nearly here and the real work can begin again.
Keep Smiling
Jane
Jane O'Brien, Empty Homes Officer, East Herts Council.