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Run every year and decided at the National Federation of ALMOs annual conference later this year, the photography competition celebrates real tenant stories.

The shortlisted entries are as follows (in no particular order):

1) St Leger Homes of Doncaster

Doncaster’s history in a single frame, captured by St Leger Homes resident Boleslaw Olszewski – narrowboats on its broad ancient river by the bridge that carries the A1, the old Great North Road, across it.

It is, says keen amateur photographer Boleslaw, a more picturesque place than many might think, and in the seven years since he made his home here he’s grown to love it.

Image: Boleslaw Olszewski

2) Cornwall Housing

21 Cornwall Housing Homes is where we feel safe

Brian and Lisa know they are not the star of this show. Smiling four-legged photobomber Kobi rules the two-bedroom flat in Truro they moved into four years ago after many months of having no place to call their own.

The moment they collected their keys from Cornwall Homes was the moment they felt they had become a family. Their two children arrived, and Kobi completed the picture.

“What makes us feel like a place is where we want to ultimately be? I think the answer is – security,” says Brian.

“We know we can develop a nest and routines, gather belongings, enjoy friends, play music and read books and cuddle our dogs. We are warm, safe and secure.”

Image: Toby Weller

3) Poole Housing Partnership

24 The community Garden Poole Housing Partnership

The Poole Town Community Garden has always been about more than growing veg. It’s part of Poole Housing Partnership’s (PHP) strategy to combat loneliness and isolation. Started in 2014.

It was led by local residents so that the community could meet, socialise and grow a range of fresh fruit and vegetables.

“I had been living on the estate for a number of years and hardly knew my neighbours,” says one of the cheery crowd who is now a regular at the once bare patch of land. “This was a great way to bring people together and share skills and problems. I didn’t feel isolated anymore.”

Image: PHP

4) Eastbourne Homes

31 Eastbourne Homes Plant a tree, plant a hope

Sheilah Roberts had been an Eastbourne Homes resident for many years when she became one of the tenant representatives on its board. Since then, she’s championed a discounted home insurance scheme, a handyman service for the elderly and putting the environment high on the board’s agenda.

Here she helps fellow tenant Jed Powell plant a Cox’s Pippin apple tree near her home. A row of silver birch had also recently been planted on the same plot.

Sheilah loves her home and is passionate about making it a lovely place to live for residents now and in the future.

“My favourite quote is by Plato,” she says. “A society grows great when people plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in”.

Image: Peter Cripps

5) Derby Homes

38 Derby Homes Sacred Bean

Sacred Bean is a specialist coffee social enterprise established by and for people who are overcoming life-controlling issues.

Volunteers work to leave behind addiction, criminality and homelessness through their work to ethically source, roast, brew and sell artisan coffee.

Founder Reverend Darren Howie has worked with Derby Homes in his role as a local chaplain and has always been very open about his recovery from heroin addiction and the life of crime it led him into.

Building on his own experiences, and using his links with organisations that support people recovering from addiction or leaving the prison system, he works to help Sacred Bean volunteers develop a sense of purpose and belonging.

He says: “We all know that building a home is not as simple as just putting a roof over someone’s head. A sense of community and support helps people create a sense of home and a new life for themselves.”

Image: Derby Homes

6) Wolverhampton Homes

40 Wolverhampton Homes Mrs Austin

Mrs Austin – Sarah, but everyone calls her Mrs Austin – has live in the same home in Eastfield, Wolverhampton, for 45 years.

The retired nurse was just one of the Wolverhampton Homes tenants honoured on the 2019 International Day of Older Persons and as part of the centenary celebrations for the UK’s council housing.

She embodies the words on the commemorative mug she was given: A community is only as strong as its people. Through acts of kindness, volunteering in the neighbourhood, or even just taking pride in our homes, together we can bring community spirit to life.

Mrs Austin is, quite simply, famous in her world. Everyone knows her and, as she says: “I regularly see familiar faces when I’m out and about and some give me a big hug! There really is no place like home.

“I’ve been a tenant here since 1975 and I love it. Do you think I would stay in the same home for so long if I didn’t? This gives me the confidence to live independently. It keeps me young at heart. Eastfield is like a big family to me.”

Image: Wolverhampton Homes

7) South Tyneside

48 South Tyneside homes Catching up with a friend

There is nothing complicated about what makes a home for Theresa Brown and this image captures it perfectly. “My home is a perfect place for a cuppa, a chilled afternoon reading and a catch-up with a friend,” she says.

She moved here 20 years ago with her husband from the three-bedroom house where they’d brought up their family.

Not long afterwards, she met neighbour Amy Hedley who had moved into another of the flats at Davies Hall, a South Tyneside Homes sheltered scheme in South Shields and they got into the habit of sharing a cuppa.

Theresa has never regretted the move: “My husband and I were happy from the day we moved in,” she says. “It was the right time and the right place for us and it was wonderful to have that choice.”

Image: Rebecca Hughes

8) Solihull Homes

51 Solihull Comm Housing More than bricks and mortar

Saxon Court is a magnificent extra care living scheme in Solihull for people over the age of 55. It’s managed by Solihull Community Housing and a full-time activities coordinator organises a range of events and social get-togethers that are also open to the wider community around them.

Last summer, children from a nearby nursery helped bury a time capsule to mark the formal opening of the building, while residents proudly offered tours around their home and promoted their range of weekly community activities.

9) Northwards Homes

61 Northwards Housing yes collyhurst

Southchurch Parade was once a row of derelict shops due for demolition. Demolition day never came, so local ALMO Northwards Housing decided to turn them into an opportunity for residents.

They helped Northwards tenant Althea Barnett (right) lease a place where she could open her ‘Upcycle Collyhurst’ business, not only selling refurbished goods but also running classes to teach local people how to do their own upcycling.

Gill Cook (left) is CEO of ‘yes’, set up by Northwards and its parent council in 2013 to help local people find jobs, get training and start their own businesses. The third branch of ‘yes’ opened on the Parade in 2018 and has been a catalyst for the transformation of what was once the second most deprived area in the UK. Then in December, local graffiti artists ‘KelZo’ and ‘Entise’ painted the mural on the parade’s gable end celebrating icons of Collyhurst’s past and present.

The success of Southchurch Parade speaks volumes about how ALMO housing management is so much more than bricks and mortar,” says Northwards’ Mark Hesford.

“This picture says it all – entrepreneurial tenants, empowered by ALMO investment and innovation, living in energy-efficient homes amongst a vibrant, proud community.”

Image: Northwards Homes

10) Barnet Homes

Barnet Homes Urban Gamez 7

Grahame Park is Barnet’s largest housing estate. Its 1,777 homes were built, like many other post-war estates, to operate as a self-sufficient ‘new’ town. The result was very different. Residents became more and more isolated from the rest of the borough. A massive regeneration is underway, both of the fabric of the estate and of Grahame Park’s community, and the annual Urban Gamez have been part of that for the last decade.

“On the last day of the school summer holidays, hundreds of residents come out to the centre of the estate, known as the Concourse,” says Tim Blanc, Head of Community Engagement at Barnet Homes. “We put a running track over the concrete path. “The area has some of the highest levels of deprivation in London. We’re trying to engage and support the community, help them lead healthier lives and encourage youngsters to be more active.

“Last summer, 102 children and young people took part in the ninth annual 60m sprint, and out of that came this perfect picture of one happy, excited little boy. We’re very much looking forward to our tenth anniversary.”

Image: Barnet Homes