The swapper journey – stories from successful swappers
If you’ve been watching the new Channel 5 series, ‘Council House Swap’, you may have noticed some of the residents using HomeSwapper
What can you do to stop food waste?
In the UK, a colossal amount of food gets wasted - beyond the farm gate, an astonishing 22% of all food goes in the bin! This is particularly hard to stomach considering that 9-10% of people are experiencing food insecurity. Food insecurity means not having access to food because of a lack of money or other resources. Across the UK, communities are coming together to help one another. Did [...]
Swapper Story | Peter’s mutual exchange journey: starting somewhere new
Sometimes a change of scenery is just what the doctor ordered. For Peter and his family, the hustle and bustle of his hometown, London was wearing thin. He was looking for a swap somewhere else in the UK and following a successful mutual exchange, he’s moved to Nottingham for a fresh start! Peter was new to mutual exchange and HomeSwapper when he started his swapping journey earlier in [...]
Passphrases | Creating easy-to-remember but impossible-to-crack passwords
As we all become more and more reliant on technology, it’s never been more important to keep yourself and your data safe online! This year we’ve been looking at HomeSwapper and how we can make it as secure as possible for you – which has included changes around how passwords work on your account. Today, we’re sharing some ideas for how to create - and importantly – remember strong passwords [...]
Safety in neighbourhoods
When choosing a new place to live, how safe it is will likely be a big factor. Unsafe neighbourhoods have been linked to greater feelings of unease, anxiety and even poor health outcomes. This week, we’re looking at what social housing residents in the UK believe could change in their neighbourhoods for them to feel safer and how you can include important information about your sense of safety and community [...]
The 15-minute neighbourhood
In the recently released Resident Voice Index™ report, we took a look at neighbourhoods and communities across the UK. This week, we’re having a look at an interesting town planning approach called the ‘15-minute city’ that sparked some of the ideas in this report. The idea aims to put local services with fair access at the centre of people’s lives to help support neighbourhoods and communities. What’s the difference between [...]
Resident Ambassadors revisited | Exploring belonging and caring
Following the publication of the Neighbourhoods & Communities report our resident ambassadors talk about the outputs.
The Neighbourhoods & Communities Survey: The results are in!
Over the past six months we’ve been speaking a lot about The Resident Voice Index™ project, which launched this year to gather insights into those living in social housing in the UK. Now we are finally able to share what the almost 4,000 social housing residents who joined in feel about where they live! The first survey topics explored by the Resident Voice Index™ project included: What facilities [...]
How to do COVID safe home viewings
Your hours of searching and chatting to other swappers have paid off - congratulations, you might have found the perfect home! To make sure, you’ll need to have a good look around to get to know the place and the neighbourhood and make sure it’s the right move for you. However, with the UK opening up again and lockdowns easing, we know many people are still concerned about the risk [...]
Resident Ambassador, Jackie: “Residents are an asset to their providers”
Our Resident Ambassador Jackie had some good ideas of what social housing in the 21st century may look like.
There’s always time to get involved – Advice from our third Resident Ambassador
This week we meet our third Resident Ambassador for the Resident Voice Index™ project, Jim. Living in the North East of England, he’s a no-nonsense stalwart of local activism and contribution. From being on tenant advisory panels, becoming a town councillor, contributing to national think tanks on social housing, to helping us with the Resident Voice Index™ project, he’s passionate about improving his local community and the interests of social [...]
Our next Resident Ambassador: ‘We can achieve great things working together”
Our second Resident Ambassador, Val lives in the North East of England and has been working alongside her housing association and for national resident boards for years. She came forward as a Resident Ambassador for the Resident Voice Index™ project and describes how resident engagement takes dedication and partnership working. The relationship that Val has with her housing provider is a strong one. “We don’t feel it’s us and the [...]
How mutual exchange helps change lives for the better
A new TV series on home swapping is soon to be made, showing the positive stories in social housing. Would you like to be in it?
Introducing our Resident Ambassadors
Community projects such as changing a public space or building new developments should involve those who actually live in a community.
Resident Voice Index™ workshops: What matters to residents
The Neighbourhoods & Communities survey is the first of a project which aims to get to know what social housing residents in the UK think
What do you think about your neighbourhood?
Understanding an area better means finding out about the people living there and how they feel. Our Resident Voice Index™ aims to do that.
The Resident Voice Index™ project: Have your say
Your voice matters and giving a few minutes to share your opinion can give the people planning improvements to services a real insight into where their efforts can be best placed.
Why your voice matters
We spoke to residents and separately, to housing providers to find out what communication between them was like at the moment and ways in which they wanted to see engagement improved. Now we're launching The Resident Voice campaign.
What are Help to Save accounts and who are they for?
In times like these, it may be hard to find the incentive to start saving. But there are schemes available that can turn this around!
Who is the Social Housing Regulator and why should you care?
The Regulator works with government, Housing Ombudsman and housing providers to make sure that social homes are safe, decent and sustainable.
HomeSwapper Timewasters: what we’ve done
We asked you, of course! And you gave us some great suggestions for changes that could be made to the site.
The census is coming: Why is it Important?
A large-scale data collection exercise, the cencus influences how public services like GPs and green spaces are planned and funded.
Who is the housing ombudsman?
In our last blog post, we spoke about what an ombudsman is and how they can work with you to sort out issues with complaints across most areas of your life. This week we are talking specifically about the Housing Ombudsman, who is the last port of call for when communication breaks down following a complaints procedure. The Housing Ombudsman service is responsible for working out if a [...]
What is an ombudsman?
Sometimes organisations don’t behave as they should. In the worst cases, there are impartial bodies that can help deal with this.
First aid training – be a hero!
Some housing providers in the UK want to help you protect your family and community and are offering first aid training for free.
What is the Good Work Standard?
At HomeSwapper, we take a look at one scheme called the Good Work Standard in more detail. Read all about it here.
What is community-led housing?
Here we’re giving you a breakdown of the different types of Community Led Housing schemes and how you can get involved within your own community.
Consolidating your pension
The idea of a job for life and a pension to come along after is a thing of the past. Read our blog post about consolidating all your pensions.
Wintry days: Preparing for the colder weather
The colder months are drawing in, the days are getting shorter and most of us are spending more time at home than we bargained for. Making sure that your home is ready for this cold spell can help you stay warm and healthy as well as save a little on those winter bills! There’s lots to look forward to in the winter; from those cosy nights, to catching up with [...]
Sarah Jayne Tells – Finding the Right Swap
We were lucky enough to talk again to Sarah Jayne about how she makes a swap on HomeSwapper smooth sailing.
Swapper Stories | Sarah-Jayne tells us how to get organised
HomeSwapper user, Sarah-Jayne spoke to us about how she keeps on top of all the HomeSwapper ads she’s actively engaging with.
What benefits are available at pension age?
Getting older often means accepting more support than we needed before. Retirement has an effect on the spare money we have to spend on the more exciting things in life. For those nearing that time we’ve put together a list of the help that’s out there to support us:
NHS Healthy New Towns
NHS Healthy Towns proposes that homebuilding and town planners think of health, economic growth, infrastructure, housing and environment as factors that are interconnected.
Why swappers are moving house
It’s very rare that the majority of people living across the world have the same experience as one another. Here at HomeSwapper we have been noticing some changes in the reasons you want to move…
Moving? Putting your unwanted stuff to good use
Congratulations! You’ve found a swap, your application has been approved and now all that’s left to think about is the move itself. Moving home is a chance to shed some of the possessions that over time, have turned into clutter. Instead of sending them to landfill there are places you can put them so others can find your unwanted goods. When preparing for a big move, items hidden [...]
What does a Member of Parliament do?
With all the current goings on, the news has been filled with our Members of Parliament (or MPs). Especially at this time, it can feel as though a lot of decisions about our day-to-day lives are being made for us. But who are the people that are making them and how can you have your voice heard? This week we’re giving you the lowdown on what an MP is and [...]