Your Homes Newcastle customers decide on £90,000 plans

Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) customers have decided to spend £90,000 on various projects including a scheme which will use football to reduce crime and anti social behavior on their estates.

Customers were given the power to spend the money by YHN, who had raised the funds over the past year and decided to give its customers the opportunity to vote on which six projects it should be spent on.

Over 80 tenants attended the ‘You’ve got the Power’ event at Newcastle’s Theatre Royal. Customers listened to short presentations on each of the projects and asked YHN staff questions.

Before the event, YHN had identified ten projects which would help to improve the lives of its customers but only six were eligible for a share of the money. The projects tackled issues that customers had told YHN were important to them and covered a number of themes including the environment, the community and learning new skills.

Community Payback, a scheme that will involve the probation service offering more community projects was also voted for by tenants. The other winning schemes included a community clean up and a victim support project, as well as activity sessions for young people and a range of innovative schemes to help customers gain employment and learn new skills.

John Lee, chief executive at YHN said: “There’s nobody better placed to make decisions on the best interests of their communities than the people who live there.

“We trusted our customers to make some excellent decisions about which projects were awarded the money and I’m sure that the schemes will have a great impact right across the city.”