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Tenant Involvement

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Tenant Involvement

Cumbria Housing Partners is developing its approach to customer involvement across all Social Housing Providers. Tenants have recently been involved in post investment work inspections and this is set to become a regular feature of our investment programme.

Why would I want to be involved with Cumbria Housing Partners?

Actually it's more a case of why wouldn't you get involved.

Work done in peoples home is by far the biggest issue for all social housing tenants. What's done and the way it's done matters to people and can have an impact on their quality of life.

In partnership with your Social Housing Providers CHP is involved in the supply and installation of materials and labour for all the major improvement works done to your homes.

This includes:

Windows and doors
Kitchens
Bathrooms
Central heating
Tiles
External fencing
Gateways
Roofs
Electrical improvements

The list doesn't quite cover everything but its growing all the time, and as you can see all of the above are the sort of things that it is crucial to get right. They are long term improvements to people’s homes and it is vital that people are satisfied with the quality of the products used and the way that they have been installed.

The only way we can make sure that we get things right is to have tenants involved in how products are chosen, and how things are done. Tenants are the experts when it comes to what its like to live in their homes and the features proposed improvements need to have to most improve their quality of life.

We need to work closely with as many tenants as possible to ensure this.

I understand my involvement is important, but what sort of issues would I actually be involved in?

There are a range of items that tenants need to be involved, including:

Selecting the best products (i.e. windows, doors) for the money
Deciding on the range of products available to customers
Deciding on product features and suggesting improvements
Deciding how we should select suppliers and contractors
Interviewing suppliers and contractors to choose the best ones
Setting performance standards
Reviewing contractor performance
Reviewing product performance
Setting targets for employing local people as part of projects
Monitoring local jobs and apprenticeships created
Ensuring works are carried out in an environmentally friendly way
Determining work priorities
Making decisions with managers

Tenants have been or are currently involved in all of the above but as you can see it's a big list and we need a lot of people.

Okay, so I've got an idea of the sort of things I may be asked about and involved in but how will this happen?

Opportunities to be involved include:

Sitting as a tenants representative on a working group with other tenants and staff looking at developing new products or initiatives
Sitting as a tenant representative on a management group making decisions with staff members
Sitting as a tenant representative on an advisory panel with other representatives reviewing performance, progress and any other key tenant issues
Attending supplier road shows and material exhibitions to identify which are the best
Interviewing prospective suppliers and contractors, sitting on focus groups and filling out questionnaires to give feedback on specific issues
Attending site meetings and inspections of works being a carried out
Briefing other tenant groups on what's happening
Getting involved in the inspection of completed work

CHP involves tenants from all Social Housing Providers in the above ways on things that have relevance for all tenants. However, you can also get involved in more local issues through your own Social Housing Provider.

Okay, I can see now how you can become involved and on what. It sounds interesting but I've no experience of doing this sort of thing and I'm not a technical expert! How can I get involved?

Firstly you do not have to be a technical expert to get involved. All you have to be is an interested tenant who can comment on proposals, performance and priorities from a tenant perspective. In this respect it's the same role that a councillor or a member of a jury fulfils.

Secondly to help people CHP provides training and support in terms of helping representatives get the most out of meetings or sessions that they attend. This is done by assessing the skills needed to be confident and effective in meetings and ensuring that you are able to take an active role as well as providing good easy to follow briefings about the any technical issues.

We run both group sessions and/or one to one sessions (whichever is preferred). We also arrange more practical activities if people feel that they would be beneficial i.e. visit to a repairs call centre, spend time with a neighbourhood surveyor etc.

We will also be providing useful material and information on this website along with details of meetings, training sessions and briefing papers etc.

We also support people in terms of child care or other care costs as well as travel expenses for everyone. We believe no one should be out of pocket because they want to be involved.

Where do I sign up?

If you are interested in getting involved please contact us.