I moved into my Aster home five years ago and soon after became an involved customer, providing feedback and sharing my thoughts on the services Aster provides.

When we moved into our home shortly after retiring, I knew that it needed to be a home that would adapt to our needs as we got older. Having our communal garden maintained by Aster is just one example of the support in place to make this our forever home.

I love where I live, and appreciate the sense of community here, which was especially important during the national lockdowns we all went through. Continuing to see our gardens looked after by Aster boosted people’s mental health and spending time there helped us all feel less isolated during that deeply worrying period. Despite people coming from a range of backgrounds with young couples, families, and older people all living here, we consider ourselves one community.

To me, good customer service means listening to what customers want and keeping effective communication to have honest conversations about our homes. Sometimes it’s easier to give someone good news, but it’s equally important that I can have an open conversation with Aster when there is an issue that need to be resolved.  

Aster’s vision that everyone has a home is very inspirational to me. People think that they’ll never be affected by homelessness, but you never know when you might be in a situation where you need the help that Aster provides. It all starts by having a safe and secure place to call home, and I can see the efforts that the team at Aster are putting in everyday to give people somewhere to live and thrive.  

Through my role as an involved customer, I’ve gained an understanding of the challenges that face the housing and social sectors right now. Whether it’s recovering from the pandemic or dealing with an ageing workforce and the national materials shortage, I feel like Aster employees are genuinely trying to do what’s best for customers. Being an involved customer, I feel that I can influence how improvements are made and have a say in how Aster responds to these challenges.  

I’m proud that over the last 12 months we’ve continued to adapt and keep strong involved customer teams despite the challenges faced by COVID-19 restrictions. Over the next year we’ll face further challenges, including the rising cost of living crisis, and I feel confident the input we’ll have can make a positive difference to our customers. I’m looking forward to challenging Aster over the next year to make sure we have an even more diverse involved customer groups that represents the opinions of all customers.  

Lastly, I’d like to encourage any customer reading this report to consider getting involved in the work Aster does in some way. It’s in every customer’s interest to give feedback, so that Aster can do everything they can to improve the customer services available and the homes we all live in.