A meeting with Jennie Rooney, community development and support officer at Barnsbury Housing Association after one of her coffee mornings is an uplifting experience. In the home of the silent rush-hour commute and suffocating anonymity, it becomes clear that community isn’t as dead as you might believe in the capital.
Walking a good mile over to her office, Jennie with her slightly hobbled gait explains that it has been moved out of the estate, but “we still do coffee mornings there because it’s nice for people to have a base”. Over milky lattes she says that her main role is to run activities and events for her residents: “My role is quite unique in that most of the stuff I do is friendly, I’m the friendly face of the organisation and I like that – that’s what community development is, building it up.”
One of the activities she organises is an annual five day trip to Kent for single parents who can’t afford a holiday. Jennie explains that as well as being fantastic for the residents, it’s also beneficial for her in getting to know them “because once they relax and start chatting, the barriers come down”.
On the last trip, a mother had confided in her that her daughter had won a scholarship to one of the most prestigious schools in Islington but the compulsory £234 music lessons and £120 after-school clubs weren’t covered. In effect, the woman’s daughter couldn’t afford to take up the scholarship. Jennie went back to her chief executive and said: “We need to be able to help this person. Can we not have a bursary scheme for her?” The housing association ended up creating a bursary for three young people a year.
Is there a downside? Building up a careful relationship with someone takes time and can be frustrating. A case in point for Jennie is the hoarder she is currently helping. “I’ve been talking to her for nearly two years, and I would say that it’s only been in the last six months that she’s even thought of me as a confidante; and I haven’t even stepped over the threshold yet. But we’re working towards it,” she explains.
Jennie has also been sorting out a leak-affected flat that one tenant she is in contact with has been dealing with for years. Residents on the block complained of a pungent smell, and to deal with the dampness, she had kept the windows shut in the hope that the heat would dry it out. Combined with litter trays for cats she kept in the flat this resulted in dire living conditions.
Jennie built up a relationship with the resident, gained her trust and eventually they were able to make her flat habitable again. When asked the best thing about her job, Jennie breaks into a smile. “For me, it’s actually being there with those people and enjoying it, and knowing you’ve done the best you could for them” she says.
