Barnet tenant shortlisted for national housing heroes awards

Monday 19th April 2010

A 21-year-old from Edgware could be named the most inspirational tenant in the UK after being shortlisted for a major national award.

Rui Jorge Octavio is one of just six people across the country in the running for the Inspirational Tenant of the Year award at the 2010 Housing Heroes Awards, organised by Inside Housing magazine and the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Rui was nominated by his landlord, Barnet Homes, in recognition of his work in setting up Nutmeg (New Unique Talented Motivated Energetic Generation) – a group that seeks to motivate, empower and support young people in the west of Barnet.

Rui was originally motivated to help other young people following the murder of 15-year-old Kiyan Prince outside his school, the London Academy in Edgware, in May 2006.

He and his friends wanted to counter the negative perceptions of youth arising from Kiyan’s death, and agreed to stage an event during Peace Week in September 2008 under the Nutmeg banner. Subsequent Nutmeg events have proved increasingly popular - more than 500 young people attended a one year anniversary event in September 2009.

Rui has also held “Grab Ur Mic” comedy workshops for youth in the area aimed at instilling confidence in his peers and giving them a better platform to succeed in later life.

The Nutmeg events have been given funding through Barnet Homes’ Youth Engagement Panel, which offers up to £30,000 a year for projects which will provide long-term benefits for young people on its estates. Nutmeg has also received support from the Metropolitan Police and was recently offered funding from the Home Office.

Barnet Homes’ Deputy Chief Executive, Derek Rust, said: “We invited Rui to our AGM last November to talk about his work and he just blew us all away. We think it remarkable that someone so young is willing to give up so much of his time to help others – he’s an inspiration to us all.

“Rui’s work is clearly helping us in our aim of creating safer and stronger communities in Barnet, so we’re thrilled that he has been shortlisted for the Housing Heroes award. I wish him the very best of luck at the ceremony.”

The winners of the Housing Heroes Awards will be revealed at an awards ceremony in central London on 14 May.

Inside Housing’s events director Ted Stevens said: “All the finalists have done brilliantly in getting this far. Well done to Rui for getting shortlisted. The competition was really fierce with more than 40 entries in some categories.”

Posted by Rashmi for Barnet Homes