19 May 2006
Taking on local young people as caretakers has proved to be a winning idea for Richmond Housing Partnership. Its Paintbrush scheme has not only cut levels of graffiti and vandalism but also solved its recruitment crisis. Neil Merrick reports
Just over two years ago, Daniel Seelhoff wrote to the London Borough of Richmond to ask if it could build a football pitch on the estate where he lived with his mother. After being referred to Richmond Housing Partnership, a social landlord that had taken over the council's 8,500 homes three years earlier, he was told he would have more chance of getting the pitch if he and his friends helped to clean up the estate.
Within a few months, the Paintbrush scheme got under way. Since 2004, about 350 youngsters have removed litter and graffiti from the estate and carried out small-scale repairs in return for vouchers they can spend in high-street stores.
Owing to planning objections, Seelhoff never got his football pitch. But he did end up with a job. For the past two years, he has been a caretaker in the housing association's estate services team, the winner of this year's housing team award, and he has played an integral part in making its homes better places to live.
Daniel, now aged 21, is one of eight youngsters taken on as caretakers by Richmond Housing Partnership via Paintbrush.
Before the stock transfer in 2000, the council contracted out cleaning to a private firm. RHP had pledged to set up its own estate services team but wanted to offer a wider service, including day-to-day maintenance, health and safety checks and introducing new residents to the estate.
'We didn't want to treat the caretakers as glorified cleaners,' says chief executive David Done. 'We wanted to give them real responsibility.'
Before Paintbrush, the association had great difficulty finding caretakers, who start on just £12,500 per year. But by encouraging young people to take more pride in where they live, the initiative not only overcame recruitment problems but reduced vandalism and low-level crime.
'It's a win-win situation,' says estate services manager Brian Burton. 'We gave them a desire to go out and improve the environment, but we were also in a position to train them and offer them jobs.'
RHP freely admits that many of the first youngsters taking part in Paintbrush were either partly responsible for problems on estates or knew the people that were. 'They were hanging around with nothing to do,' adds Burton. 'We wanted them to direct their energy into something that was worthwhile and, at the same time, save us money.'
Before becoming a caretaker, Seelhoff was unemployed and had no ambition to work for the housing association. 'I started doing the work and thought 'that's not too bad',' he recalls. 'My mates started laughing at me – but then a couple of them applied and now they're working here as well.'
Daniel is responsible for about 200 flats in the north of the borough. Although he finds the job interesting, it can have its dangerous moments. Once he saw a man attacking another with a knife. 'You never know what you are going to come across,' he says. 'Sometimes you see people lingering. You have to be careful.'
Des Fogg, part of a specialist team that removes graffiti, says some youngsters who cause trouble have behavioural problems. Residents find it reassuring to approach a caretaker who then warns the troublemakers. 'Some people see us as agony aunts or social workers,' Fogg says. 'At the end of the day, we are helping them and making our job easier.'
The estate services team is made up of 60 people – about one third of RHP's entire workforce. It is acutely aware that one in five residents are leaseholders who, having bought their homes under the right to buy scheme, pay £5 per week for the team's services.
Ian Elgar, another caretaker, says each time a property is sold on, he has to develop a rapport with the new owners. 'The leaseholders used to worry about the cost but now they have come around,' he says. 'They like to have someone on site.'
Caretakers are initially employed away from the estates where they live. They may be redeployed to their own estates once they have gained greater experience. Four of the eight caretakers employed through Paintbrush have since left RHP for jobs elsewhere but operations director Cedric Boston says finding people work is just part of the story. 'We are running a business,' he says. 'It's a key business strategy in terms of getting value for money and being better able to manage our estates.'
The housing association wants to make its estates indistinguishable from those in the rest of the borough, which has some of the most expensive housing in London. While this is already true in parts of Richmond, other areas still have some way to go.
On the Meres estate in Barnes, just a stone's throw from the Thames, about 120 flats are being refurbished. The programme includes building paths and balconies and installing new floors. The door entry system is also being upgraded.
According to Burton, residents agreed to the work only after their 1950s estate was cleaned up through Paintbrush. 'People would come here and congregate in doorways,' he says. 'One of the things holding up the work was that residents didn't want further graffiti or criminal damage.'
Less than a mile away in Barnes, Julie Rule has been a tenant since 1999, the year before Richmond Council transferred the homes to RHP. She says most residents have noticed a huge difference. Not only is there less graffiti but the estates feel safer, thanks to security lighting. 'The caretakers come around and talk to you,' she adds. 'They ask you about the services and what you want to see changed.'
For the past two years, Rule has been one of eight resident inspectors employed by RHP to check on the work of caretakers by ensuring repairs are carried out quickly and assessing the condition of communal grounds.
'Residents see you with a clipboard and come up to you. If there is poor paving, we fight to get it changed because we are residents as well,' she says. 'It's good that tenants are listened to.'
Rule is paid £100 per month to inspect seven estates between Richmond and Putney and will shortly take on more. Inspectors' scores are used to assess the caretakers' overall performance. Last year they achieved a satisfaction rating of 85%.
Burton wants this score to rise to 95% in the next 12 months. 'As a service, we believe it is important to be customer-focused,' he says. During the past year, caretakers and their helpers removed a total of 3,580 metres of graffiti. Meanwhile, antisocial behaviour has 'dropped phenomenally' as youngsters take more pride in their estates.
Both Done and Boston found out at first hand what it is like to be a caretaker when they left their Twickenham offices to get a taste of manual labour. Done says the day's experience with the caretakers reminded him what a tough job they do. But he stresses RHP no longer treats them as blue-collar staff. 'They are a vital part of our overall workforce.'
By offering better training and career progression, RHP has also overcome some of its recruitment difficulties. 'We are retaining caretakers,' says Done. 'We looked at the salary structure so there is a direct link between performance and pay.'
Sir Roger Singleton, former chief executive of Barnardo's and a judge in this year's Public Servants of the Year awards, says RHP produced impressive results by persuading disaffected youngsters to accept ownership of the areas where they live. 'This is genuine community innovation at its best,' he says.
Since becoming a caretaker, Seelhoff has moved out of the house he shared with his mother into a place of his own. He reflects on how Paintbrush helped change him as a person – so that he is no longer seen as someone who hangs around housing estates with nothing to do.
As well as gaining people's respect, he has developed interpersonal skills that he uses in his job, most especially in striking up relationships with the local people he serves. 'If you get the residents on your side, then half the job is done,' he says.
PFmay2006
