A customer who moved back to her native County Durham after 20 years in a remote Australian opal mining town is our newest Customer Voices member.
Anne Budau spent two decades living Down Under but returned home to Brandon in January 2021, for family reasons. Three months later she moved into her own believe housing property.
When a position came up on believe housing’s Customer Voices, Anne was keen to share her experience as a new customer and the views of several relatives who also live in believe housing homes.
Anne had also spent ten years helping to shape her old community back in Oz.
“I lived in a place called Andamooka. It was a very, very remote area where there was no council, no mains electricity, sewerage system, mains water, streetlights, pavements or bin collections. Its claim to fame is that it provided opals for the Crown Jewels,” said Anne.
“The town was run by a group of volunteers called the Progress Association, after being there a couple of years I wanted to find out what it was all about and got involved. I was on it for ten years, and town treasurer for five.”
Customer Voices at believe housing is made up predominantly of customers.
It carries out scrutiny tasks and members are consulted about specific projects, ensuring believe housing listens and responds to customers’ voices when making decisions.
When Anne learnt that new members were needed, she thought it sounded interesting. She successfully applied to the role, which she started on 1 September 2022.
She said: “The customers, the people living in the houses believe housing provides and looks after, are the best ones to say what is working and what isn’t.
“There was no social housing in Australia, but what I did there was the same. It is about trying to make a better community for everybody, regardless of where we have come from, race, religion.
“If you see something wrong, do something about it rather than waiting for the rest of the world to.
“I like that believe housing is trying to do the right thing for everyone, but I think we have a responsibly to do our bit for our community and the people in it.”
More information on the Customer Voices can be found here.
Here are some of the ways we engaged with customers, from April through to June.
Five people with a range of life skills and experiences have started an exciting new development programme with believe housing, which could turn them into board members of the future.
believe housing employees took part in a community action day to help residents and tidy up areas of West Rainton.
believe housing is an innovative multi-award-winning not-for-profit housing association with more than 18,000 homes across County Durham and beyond.
