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A scheme to make housing services more accessible to residents is about to launch in North London. Hackney Homes is installing a network of multilingual public access kiosks and software from Amatica.
 
A branded Housing Information Point kiosk will be installed in each Hackney Homes neighbourhood office. The kiosk information will be available in a number of languages, including French, Somali, Chinese and Turkish. More language options, including Gujarati and Vietnamese are to be added in the future.
 
The information points will contain information about housing services, up to date community information as well as links to Hackney Council's website. Residents will also be able to use the kiosks to pay their rent, report faults, request repairs and check when planned maintenance work is due to be carried out on their property.
 
Amatica has ensured that the kiosks and software are as user-friendly and accessible as possible, so residents won't have to be expert web-users in order to find the information they need.
 
Hackney Homes hopes that the kiosks will become so popular and easy to use that they will be used even when the neighbourhood offices are closed, like a 'hole in the wall' or bank machine. There are also long term plans to install the kiosks into local libraries and supermarkets, to extend access even further for local residents.
 
Phase two of the project will see the kiosks fitted with handsets so residents can contact Hackney Homes direct from the kiosk. Phase three will incorporate video conferencing facilities, so residents can have face to face contact with someone who speaks their own language or access an expert with a translator on line.
 
Hackney Homes is an arms length management organisation, launched in April 2006 and is responsible for managing council homes in Hackney.

© Amatica 26/04/2006