Tenant empowerment – supporting innovation
Michelle Glavin reports on a TEG project to give tenant working groups a clearer remit and focus on achieving results
Newydd Housing Association has a long standing tenants ‘community panel’ which worked traditionally as the hub for consultation, participation in planning and decisions, including organising various participation events and activities.
Over the years new advisory groups of tenants had been set up, including the Newydd Equality and Disability Sub Group (NEADS) and others covering maintenance, anti-social behaviour, SASH, policy and development.
The community panel realised that the sub groups would need to co-ordinate all tenant participation activities and to act as a central consultative tenant body with Newydd.
The community panel and sub groups agreed that with the aid of TPAS Cymru they could accomplish their outcomes by applying for a TEG and in 2012 the project was approved.
Active tenants were involved in more than one group and it was identified that there was a need to stimulate involvement of a lager number of tenants (and from a wider profile) in more basic participation activities. These tenants could then feed to involvement in the working groups as their confidence and knowledge grows.
Newydd staff’s focus on tenants highlighted the number of tenants involved and the process of involvement. The opportunity for them was to sharpen the focus of the tenant groups on external outcomes from their activities and to clarify how the whole structure of tenant participation should connect together.
The TEG project aimed to:
• improve the clarity of the sub groups’ roles, purposes and intended outcomes, this was to ensure that the groups have a positive impact on the wider intended outcomes of the landlord.
• enable effective measurement of the impact of the work of tenant working groups.
• strengthen the linkages between the advisory groups and the overall structure of tenant participation.
• improve the internal operations of each group to ensure the smooth running and accountability of the group and to develop ways to involve the wider body of tenants in the new structure.
If they were to accomplish these objectives training sessions would have to take place. The sessions would help developing skills, knowledge and review the subs groups. The groups’ structures would look at links and co-ordination with the practicalities of monitoring, measuring and presenting.
Once all the training was completed an away-day was seen as the best way to finish the report. The tenants would be consulted on the sessions that took place along with findings from the project’s health check report. All active tenants were involved in finalising the outcomes-focused plan for the sub groups. It was agreed
that the community panel will become an annual tenant conference.
Outcomes included:
• Revised tenant participation structure
• Terms of reference for all groups and code of conduct
• A training needs assessment report
• Health check report for each group
• An outcomes focused plan for the subgroups and the community panel. The active tenants who participated in the project had an increase in confidence from gaining knowledge and acquiring new skills. The tenant participation action plan is robust and clear about accountability and focuses on outcomes that will keep the groups well informed and they have accomplished good links within the community. Newydd Housing will now be in a much better place to ensure its services truly reflect tenants’ needs and wishes.
John Phillips, one of the tenants involved in the TEG, summarised what the project meant to him: ‘The biggest difference this project has made is that we have a greater sense of purpose, more direction, more focus, a better sense of our achievements and a clearer resolution. I get more satisfaction from my involvement now.’
For further information on the full report of 192/12 Newydd HA community Panel and Partnership Sub Groups or more on TEG contact michelle.Glavin@cih.cymru or phone 02920 765 760
For more information. contact:
Nina Langrish, TPAS Cymru nina.langrish@tpascymru.org.uk
Tracy James, Newydd Ha – tracy.James@newydd.co.uk