Channel 5’s ‘Housing Yorkshire: Somewhere to Call Home’ documentary certainly highlights the issues faced by our clients,Yorkshire Housing and many other housing associations around the country. The daily challenges faced by the team at Yorkshire Housing, and in particular the Housing Officers on the front line, are varied and often jaw dropping.
This week Channel 5 aired Episode 3 which featured the role SPS operatives play in supporting clients in the most demanding of circumstances. In this instance, we were tasked with clearing an abandoned flat described by the Housing Officer as “the worst she had ever experienced”.
The state of the flat defied belief; piles and piles of rubbish including dirty nappies and used needles – and a SNAKE! Last year, we cleared a property where the previous tenant had left pigs in the garden, but a dead snake inside the property surely trumps that.
It is clear when watching the programme that our customer has to deal with an increasing demands for social housing, so any vacated property needs to be made good for the next tenant as quickly as possible. SPS operatives, Marion and Adris did an admirable job of clearing the property, and remarkably, it was in ‘show house’ condition and ready to receive new tenants in less than three weeks.
We take pride in the way our operatives roll up their sleeves and get the job done, even in circumstance that most people would walk away from. We are also proud to work with Yorkshire Housing; the work done by the whole team looking after the diverse needs of 40,000 tenants day in day out it is nothing short of remarkable.