Scottish Housing Day: How our young people work to deliver quality housing and services

With this year’s Scottish Housing Day focusing on the difference that affordable housing can make to people and communities, we spoke to two staff members in our Investors in Young People group to hear how they contribute to delivering quality housing and services for our tenants.

Caitlin

My name is Caitlin and I started at Hillcrest as an admin trainee in 2015.   I am now working as a customer service adviser, and i’m also a member of Hillcrest’s Investors In Young People group.

My role involves speaking to tenants to answer questions about their tenancy and resolve problems they might have.  I have to work with lots of different departments and feel that staff at Hillcrest are very dependable and always work towards solutions for tenants.  This was put to the test at the beginning of lockdown where we all had to adapt very quickly to working from home.  The customer service team answered a lot of calls from tenants, who had queries about rent, money advice, energy bills and concerns about support.  We had to reassure tenants that they were not going to lose their home.  It was challenging but also rewarding seeing the difference we were able to make in pointing people to various support available.

Emily

My name is Emily and I am a member of the Investing in Young People group.  I work as a Maintenance Assistant and deal with void properties.

Being part of a team that brings void properties back up to standard is very satisfying.  I work to ensure that the properties are kept to a good standard, and knowing that tenants have a safe, comfortable home is very rewarding.