Covid-19: Ongo one year on

This week has marked officially one year since we were all plunged into our first national lockdown and told to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.

So much has changed since then, good and bad. We’ve baked hundreds of cakes, watched Joe Wicks teach PE, home-schooled, tuned into daily briefings, worked from every room in the house, some got pets, some gave birth, but most importantly of all, we’ve all done our part to protect and look after each other.

As an organisation Ongo has had to make many changes and adjust the way we work. From virtual meetings with you, building 182 homes and starting 68 new ones, delivering thousands of food parcels, making even more safe and well calls, changing the way we offer our support and launching virtual repairs to name just a few.

Its’ been nothing short of amazing on how much we have all achieved together, so we wanted to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to you, our tenants. Over the last 12 months, together here are just some of the achievements we’ve made:

– We’ve carried out 37,779 safe and well calls to our most vulnerable tenants

– Delivered 14,457 food parcels to those most in need

– Started a huge new project in Westcliff to make it safer, after receiving over half a million pounds from the Police and Crime Commissioner

– Interviewed and registered an astounding 1,273 applicants for work over the past 12 months

– Recruited 10 apprentices, placed 302 temporary workers into employment and 17 people into permanent higher level roles and mentored 112 young people

– Taken 86,213 telephone calls and 29,010 digital contacts totalling to 115,223 contacts

– Moved contacts onto digital platforms contacts, resulting in a 17% increase over the year

– Handled 2,677 cases involving anti-social behaviour and crime and managed to stop the majority of them being subjected to court proceedings, and have worked with the Police in over 10 separate operations

– Dealt with cases where tenants have been targeted for cuckooing by organised criminal gangs or by street workers and worked with partner agencies to target those responsible for setting deliberate fires and to try ensure the safety of the areas targeted

– Supported our Homeless Team into helping six people from the streets into our properties

We’ve also recently created our own Ongo roadmap out of lockdown, in line with the one set out by the government, to make the new rules being introduced as easy to follow as possible for our tenants.

This includes our offices reopening, approach to repairs, face to face appointments, communal lounge changes, safety checks, meetings of up to six and more, community events and more. To view the map please click here, and to find out all of our guidance and updates on Covid-19, click here.

All of this amazing work would not have been possible without the hard work, support and dedication from our colleagues and tenants and for that we thank you. We can’t wait to see you all in person again just as soon as possible.