[speaker002:] Right so so we have erm the Neighbourhood Hous Housing Officer and the, the Area Housing Officer. Erm how do you, what's, what's, how do the roles actually differ?
[speaker001:] Erm, well, there's sort of five staff
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] here at
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] at the office. Two Area Housing Officers management, erm one Area Housing Officer technical, a clerical
[speaker002:] Mhm.
[speaker001:] and a Neighbourhood Housing Officer. I'm responsible for the sort of overall management, but I tend not to get out as much as say, Area Housing Officers, they're more sort of at grass roots.
[speaker002:] Mhm.
[speaker001:] Erm sort of I may deal with sort of solicitors letter, that sort, the, the more complicated legal side, and, and that sort of thing. Erm distribute work out to, to officers and they report back if there's problems with it or, or that sort of thing.
[speaker002:] Mhm. erm in your case you worked at erm another neighbourhood office prior to erm, and how does it compare working?
[speaker001:] Yeah, prior to, prior to coming to Hyson Green, I worked at,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] and then previously I worked at neighbourhood office, and I only came to when it had be d been declared a clearance area,
[speaker002:] Mhm.
[speaker001:] so it was totally different work from what I'd been used to.
[speaker002:] Mhm.
[speaker001:] Erm but it w saw it as a useful experience in a clearance exercise, which
[speaker002:] Mhm.
[speaker001:] I'd never been involved in before as an Area Housing Officer, and just involved with day to day management, but with it being a clearance area it's a totally different approach, and the sort of things that you deal with are totally different as well.
[speaker002:] Mhm. So what are the areas of work that you've been involved in? What are the
[speaker001:] Previously?
[speaker002:] Yeah, previous, and how, and how's, and how's, does it yeah, well, here, right? T what, what's the kind of work that you are now involved in? What, what's your
[speaker001:] Well before,y you tended
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] to deal with re-letting the property, normal
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] day to day transfers, neighbour problems, that sort of thing. Now you're involved with finding people alternative accommodation. Erm there's no choice everybody's got to move, and you're more involved with the, the removal of people, sort of, the sort of problems that they encounter finding removal firms, connection of electricity at the new places, and all that sort of thing.
[speaker002:] Mhm. In terms of the Neighbourhood Housing Office, what are the, what are the origins behind that, cos this is... cos this i this actual, it's actually situated, isn't it, within the flats, erm do you think that was a deliberate decision made that it should be part of the flats rather than somewhere outside,
[speaker001:] Yeah, it's part of erm the housing policy erm
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] to basically decentralize erm er N c the city of Nottingham. Erm they, they picked out erm particular areas where there were a lot of pe there were problems within that area erm whether it be normal management problems or erm racial issues, I E there is a particular area, there is a high density of black people erm er the properties them themselves weren't up erm of a particularly high quality, erm they decided to decentralize and i and do an intensive management area for that area. Erm and so they set up a team erm four or five teams within the city, er which included Radford, the Crabtree Meadows area, erm and Bestwood area
[speaker002:] Mhm. Yeah, how does it actually differ, this kind of office and the roles that
[speaker001:] It's
[speaker002:] compared with the typical traditional Housing Officer?
[speaker001:] Housing Officer, yeah. Erm you basically erm deal with erm the tenants on a more personal basi basis,
[speaker002:] Mhm.
[speaker001:] you, you, you see them as erm er er you know you t you speak to them on erm christian name terms, you, you help them with any kind of erm social problem or welfare problem they may have. It's not a par erm not particularly a housing problem. Erm you, you're in fact a er everybody, er every Housing Officer erm... oh what was I going to say? They, they're sort of like a probation officer, social worker, that sort of thing, erm most people come to us with all sorts of problems not just not particularly housing problems.
[speaker003:] And you're on site, you're about
[speaker001:] And you're on site, yeah, yeah. You're just
[speaker003:] two minutes away, aren't you?
[speaker001:] Yeah, they see you every day, they you know and
[speaker003:] You use the same shops and
[speaker001:] Mm.
[speaker003:] you know.
[speaker002:] Mhm. How good would you say the relationship has been between erm the Housing, Housing Office and the tenants, how is the relationship for all of you?
[speaker001:] I think generally, there, there is erm a decent rapport between us and the tenants, er because yo we, we do explain to them erm you know what we can do, and what we can't do. The they're never sort of given feeble excuses, we are erm very truthful with them,i in order to make them understand that, you know, there are limitations erm within our jobs as well, cos a lot of people expect things, and erm you may promise them, well other people may promise them, and it's not delivered then of course it's sort of them and us, and we, we try to dispel that idea, it's not them
[speaker002:] Mhm.
[speaker001:] and us. We're here to serve them, that's why we're being paid. Er we we're here to give them a decent service, and we'll do our utmost to do that,
[speaker002:] Mhm.
[speaker001:] and help done.
[speaker003:] Obviously you can't please everybody,
[speaker001:] Everybody. You are going to get people who are, who are