Shows
The Housing Sector PodcastThe Housing Sector Podcast #42 – Greedy, Stupid, Incompetent, or All of the AboveIn this episode, I sit down with Martin Donkin — chair of the Coniston House Tenants & Residents Association (CHTRA) — to unpack one of the most outrageous examples of planning gone wrong and residents being ignored.Tower Hamlets Council signed off on what was pitched as a “low-impact” rooftop extension by Eastend Homes. What followed has been anything but. Serious water damage, unsafe living conditions, and families forced into temporary accommodation — all because the building was left unsealed and neglected during construction.Martin, like so many before him, didn’t set out to be a campaigner. He just wanted...2025-06-3034 min
Our HouseS2: London School of Economics Housing & CommunitiesToday we have a very special episode of Our House where we discuss the local housing approach that award winning social landlord, EastendHomes, prides itself on and why this approach benefits the communities they serve. We reflect on research about this from the London School of Economics and get four different perspectives on why the 'neighbourhood management' approach helps the community. Our guests include Laura from the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, part of the London School of Economics and Stephen from EastendHomes. We also welcome back Sheena, a local housing officer at EastendHomes and Forhana, a re...2022-10-1447 minOur HouseS2: Holland Estate Play AreaWelcome back to Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.In our final episode of this series, Helen chats to some of the lovely people from the Holland Estate in Spitalfields. We start the episode by hearing from Tim Elliott, a project manager at the Holland Estate. He discusses how residents, like himself, transformed a play space for the young people in their area in partnership with EastendHomes. We then hear from Iyana and Mejubin, two young people living on the Holland Estate who use the play area every day. They t...2022-07-2928 minOur HouseS2: Laurie Allen (East End Historian)Welcome back to Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.In today's episode, Helen welcomes Laurie Allen - a local historian who shares the fascinating history of Tower Hamlets with us. Laurie tells us about his childhood growing up around Spitalfields, how the community has changed over time and how his life experiences in the East End have shaped him.If you liked this episode, please follow us, give it a rating and share with a friend! Tune in next week for the last episode of the s...2022-06-1732 minOur HouseS2: Isle of Dogs Foodbank Jubilee PartyWelcome back to Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.In today's episode, Helen chats to Isle of Dogs Food Bank in Christ Church, Tower Hamlets as they're in the middle of their Jubilee street party! They discuss what they're doing for their party and what community means to them. If you liked this episode, please follow us, give it a rating and share with a friend!This series is sponsored by our friends over at Community Fibre, who are future-proofing London's communities by delivering a 100% full...2022-06-0307 minOur HouseS2: EastendHomes Horticultural TeamWelcome back to Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.In today's episode, Helen chats to Jack, Lewis and Aaron - the brilliant horticultural team at EastendHomes. They discuss the kind of flowers they've been planting for residents, advice for how we can take care of our plants at home and how they're pairing up with corporations in East London like Morgan Stanley to onboard more volunteers!If you liked this episode, please follow us, give it a rating and share with a friend!This...2022-05-2711 minOur HouseS2: Mile End Jubilee Street PartyWelcome back to Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.In today's episode, Helen is joined by one of EastendHomes' residents and volunteers, Tania Nalywajko, who has lived in Mile End for 38 years. She tells us more about the street party she's organising for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee!Tania shares why she's coordinating the street party and why she enjoys volunteering for her community. We also find out what community means to some of the young people who live in Mile End and are coming along to t...2022-05-2013 minOur HouseS2: Judith Riley (EastendHomes Housing Officer)Welcome back to another episode of Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.This week in the UK marks mental health awareness week and this year's theme is loneliness. We thought it was apt to return to a lovely episode from our first series where an amazing member of the EastendHomes team is helping to combat loneliness in her local community. Helen chats to housing officer, Judith Riley. Judith is a woman of many talents - balancing her role at EastendHomes with two (yes two!) other projects. She talks ab...2022-05-1329 minOur HouseS2: The Felix Project & Food for AldgateWelcome back to Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.In today's episode, Helen is joined by Rachel Ledwith from The Felix Project, Paul Wilson from EastendHomes and Helen, Ruby and Forhana from Food for Aldgate. They discuss their mission to reduce food waste in East London and beyond.We start by with learning more about The Felix Project from Rachel, the head of community engagement. Rachel shares how The Felix Project came to be and what motivated her to start working within food redistribution. We also h...2022-05-0633 minOur HouseS2: Community FibreWelcome back to another episode of Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.In today's episode, Helen is joined by Charlotte Warner of brilliant broadband provider, Community Fibre, who are also very kindly sponsoring this series of Our House. Charlotte discusses the organisation's vision to create a more digitally inclusive future where everyone has access to fairly priced, fast broadband. She shares their ambitions for the next few years and what they're doing to tackle the digital divide in London. She also tells us more about their digital ambassador p...2022-04-2923 minOur HouseS2: Jim Ford (EastendHomes Resident)Welcome back to another episode of Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.In today's episode we're returning to another of our favourite episodes from the first season! Here Helen chats with EastendHomes resident and avid volunteer, Jim Ford. This episode was recorded remotely in February 2021, when England was still in a national lockdown due to rising covid-19 cases. Jim discusses the value of open spaces during the pandemic, his voluntary work at his local food bank and why his mother is such a big role model for him. 2022-04-2238 minOur HouseS2: Women's Environmental NetworkWelcome back to Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.In today's episode, Helen is joined by Jo Wilson, Shazna Hussain and Sajna Miah of the Women's Environmental Network and Dr Elaine Swan of the University of Sussex. They discuss their new, collaborative project - Food Stories Tower Hamlets. This programme is all about the important role food plays in our history, culture and communities. It's being run on the St George’s Estate in Shadwell. In this lovely episode, we hear more about the project from th...2022-04-1435 minOur HouseS2: Forhana Begum (EastendHomes Resident and Board Member)Welcome back to Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.On today's episode, we return to one of our favourite episodes from the first season! Here Helen chats with local superstar - Forhana Begum. This episode was recorded remotely in February 2021, when England was still in a national lockdown due to rising covid-19 cases. Forhana is a resident and board member at EastendHomes. In the episode, she shares more about her life in Tower Hamlets. She discusses how her father inspired her passion for serving her community, how East Lo...2022-04-0831 minOur HouseS2: Girls Friendly Society - Mile EndWelcome back to Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.In today's episode, Helen heads to the Bernie Cameron Community Centre in Mile End to chat to the Girls Friendly Society - one of the longest standing charities for young women and girls in England and Wales! In this warm, inspiring episode, we hear from the various people who make up the weekly Tuesday Girls Club at the centre and create a safe, single-gendered space for young women and girls to grow and develop. It runs every Tuesday during...2022-04-0126 minOur HouseS2: Zoe Barwick and Izzy Kasinska (Aldgate Connect)We're back with another episode of Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.Today Helen is chatting to the brilliant Zoe Barwick and Izzy Kasinska from Aldgate Connect. They begin by discussing what a business improvement district is and their work to build a business community in Aldgate. They then share how the Aldgate community is like an incubator and space for people to connect. They also tell us a little more about their activities for the community like their parade and Fête in Aldgate Square. Th...2022-03-2532 minOur HouseS2: Fr Tom Pike (Vicar of Christ Church, Isle of Dogs)Welcome back to another episode of Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.Today Helen is chatting to the amazing Fr Tom Pike of Christ Church, Isle of Dogs. In today's episode, Fr Tom discusses how the Church was set up by the local community and how this community has grown over the years to reflect the diversity of the East End. He also shares how the Church teamed up with EastendHomes to support people during the pandemic. This series is sponsored by our friends over at...2022-03-1829 minOur HouseS2: Terry Lyle & Ken Greenway (The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery)Welcome back to a new series of Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes.Today Helen is chatting to the wonderful Terry Lyle and Ken Greenway from The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery. Their love for the environment, their community and the impact of their work is striking throughout the episode. In today's conversation, we discuss why they are so grateful for their volunteers before moving onto how the cemetery park has helped Londoners during this unprecedented time. We also talk about how the Friends encourage young people to ge...2022-03-1131 minOur HouseS2: Munsur Ali (Filmmaker & CEO of The Limelight Film Awards)Welcome back to a new series of Our House, a podcast brought to you by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes. Today our host, Helen, is chatting to brilliant filmmaker and CEO of the Limelight Film Awards, Munsur Ali. Munsur is a social entrepreneur, political activist and Councilman for the City of London Corporation. In today's episode, he begins with discussing his life growing up in the East End where lots of cultures merged into one strong community. We then talk about the importance of representing his Bengali heritage through film, being inspired by his community an...2022-03-0442 minOur HouseS1: Sophia Koopman (Community Fibre)In the final episode of this series, Helen chats to Sophia Koopman, a business development director from award-winning broadband provider - Community Fibre. They discuss Community Fibre's inclusive customer service and their speedy response to helping communities during the pandemic. To find out more about the range of services and support Community Fibre offer, check out their website: https://communityfibre.co.uk/Thank you so much for tuning into this series of Our House! We will be back very soon with even more amazing guests and warm conversations. As always, if you liked thi...2021-05-1520 minOur HouseS1: Nurull Islam (Co-Founder - Mile End Community Project)After a short break, we're back with the incredibly talented yet humble Nurull Islam. Nurull is the co-founder of the Mile End Community Project (MCP), an organisation that nurtures the skills of young people in Tower Hamlets through creativity and conversation. In this episode, Nurull explores the benefit of grassroots organisations and MCP's collaboration with EastendHomes. He also shares the story behind MCP’s award winning film, ‘Chicken’ and what it meant to young people in Mile End. If you liked this podcast, please rate it, leave a review or share with a friend!Want to...2021-04-2336 minOur HouseWelcome to Our House!Our House is a podcast by award winning social landlord, EastendHomes. We're bringing together residents, staff, and partners to chat about all things community, the power of social housing, and what it means to live and work in Tower Hamlets.Expect warm, insightful conversation, and we hope a few laughs along the way.We'll be bringing you new episodes every Friday via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts!Want to see some BTS footage and be the first to know about new updates? Follow us on instagram @ourhouse.p...2021-04-1800 minOur HouseS1: Samirun & Jesmin Chowdhury (EastendHomes Residents)We're chatting to a passionate and caring mother daughter duo, Samirun & Jesmin, from Holland Estate in Spitalfields in today's episode. They view their neighbours as their family and are actively volunteers in their community. They discuss why family, community and Tower Hamlets mean so much to them and why even little acts of kindness for others are so important. If you liked this podcast, please rate it, leave a review or share with a friend!Want to see some BTS footage and be the first to know about new updates? Follow us on...2021-04-0136 minOur HouseS1: Judith Riley (EastendHomes Housing Officer)On this week's episode of Our House, Helen chats to housing officer, Judith Riley. Judith is a woman of many talents - balancing her role at EastendHomes with two (yes two!) other projects. She talks about Here's a Hug, a project she set up in 2020 to knit scarves and hats for homeless people around East London. She also tells us all about her love for baking, which she shares with others through her patisserie company - Love Me Take Me Home. If you'd like to volunteer or donate to Here's a Hug, you can email them at her...2021-03-2628 minOur HouseS1: Andy Mossop (East London Tabernacle Baptist Church Youth Worker)Today Helen speaks to Andy Mossop, a fantastic youth and community worker at East London Tabernacle Baptist Church. He frequently collaborates with EastendHomes to organise youth projects for local teenagers. In this episode, Andy discusses some of his favourite memories of his youth work and the importance of his work having a local focus. If you liked this podcast, please rate it, leave a review or share with a friend!Want to see some BTS footage and be the first to know about new updates? Follow us on instagram @ourhouse.podcast2021-03-1935 minOur HouseS1: Ken, Ray and Adam (EastendHomes Horticultural Team)In our latest episode of Our House, Helen talks to Ken, Ray and Adam - the brilliant horticultural team at EastendHomes. They discuss how their role improves residents wellbeing and enhances their way of life. If you liked this podcast, please rate it, leave a review or share with a friend!Want to see some BTS footage and be the first to know about new updates? Follow us on instagram @ourhouse.podcast2021-03-1220 minOur HouseS1: Sheena Monilal (EastendHomes Housing Officer)On this episode of Our House, Helen talks to Sheena Monilal. Sheena is a housing officer at EastendHomes, keen baker and a huge fan of East London's many markets. She talks about how her role allows her to give back to others and some of the skills needed to be a good housing officer. If you liked this podcast, please rate it, leave a review or share with a friend!Want to see some BTS footage and be the first to know about new updates? Follow us on instagram @ourhouse.podcast2021-03-0528 minOur HouseS1: Paul Wilson & Danny Jack (Food for Aldgate team)On the third episode of Our House, Helen talks to Paul Wilson and Danny Jack. Paul is the Community Engagement Manager at EastendHomes and Danny is a chef who runs a catering business from his commercial kitchen in South London. They talk about their joint project, Food for Aldgate - a food bank and kitchen determined to deliver nutritious, chef cooked meals to vulnerable, elderly residents during these challenging times. Food for Aldgate is seeking funding to continue sending healthy, cooked meals and kindness to those who need it most. If you would like to donate to th...2021-02-2620 minOur HouseS1: Jim Ford (EastendHomes Resident)On the second episode of Our House, Helen talks to Jim Ford. Jim is resident of EastendHomes and an active volunteer in his community. He talks about how his mother inspired him to keep giving back to his community, the value of open spaces during COVID-19 and his voluntary work with Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery and Christ Church Food Bank. If you liked this podcast, please rate it, leave a review or share with a friend!Want to see some BTS footage and be the first to know about new updates? Follow us on in...2021-02-2238 minOur HouseS1: Forhana Begum (EastendHomes Resident and Board Member)On the first episode of Our House, Helen chats with Forhana Begum. Forhana is a resident and board member at EastendHomes. She talks about how her father inspired her passion for helping others, the sense of community that arises in social housing and how East Londoners are united by diversity. If you liked this podcast, please rate it, leave a review or share with a friend!Want to see some BTS footage and be the first to know about new updates? Follow us on instagram @ourhouse.podcast2021-02-1131 min