Sunderland's Gentoo tenants ‘Meet the Ombudsman’ over issues

Gentoo customers have met the Housing Ombudsman at a special event held at the organisation’s head office in Doxford International Business Park.

The event gave customers of Sunderland's biggest housing association the chance to find out more about the Housing Ombudsman service, as well as raising any concerns.

The Housing Ombudsman works with Gentoo and their customers to resolve housing disputes including issues about disrepair, antisocial behaviour, complaint handling, damp and mould, adaptations, charges, leasehold and other housing management issues.

Over 70 customers attended the event in person, as well as through a live online feed.

As well as hearing from the ombudsman, Richard Blakeway, Gentoo staff were also there to talk to customers about individual concerns. The organisation says all matters raised have since been followed up with appointments booked in to resolve issues.

Louise Bassett, chief executive officer at Gentoo, said: “The Meet the Housing Ombudsman event was a great opportunity to welcome customers into our head office to listen to their issues and concerns.

"Events like these are vital to us to ensure we can capture customer insight and listen and act on all feedback to provide a better service across Sunderland.

“We will continue to work in partnership with the Housing Ombudsman, and we’d love to host similar events in the future to give more customers the opportunity to attend.”

Gentoo group chair Emily Cox said: “We were delighted to welcome Richard Blakeway to Gentoo last week.

"Our customers are at the heart of everything we do and strong partnerships with organisations like the Housing Ombudsman are crucial to ensure we deliver safe and decent homes for our customers of today and tomorrow.”

Richard Blakeway said: “Meet the Ombudsman sessions are a great way to hear about the concerns your residents are facing, as well as being a vital way for us at the Ombudsman to raise awareness of what we do and ensure that residents know their rights around complaints.

“We welcome that Gentoo listened and acted on the concerns raised by residents during the session and will continue to work with the landlord and the board to help deliver better services for residents.”

For more information about how customers can get in touch with the Housing Ombudsman, visit www.gentoogroup.com/contact/complaints-procedure.