Residents get involved and get awards

Published by Matt Critchley for Severnside Housing in Housing and also in Communities

Severnside Housing residents have been telling their landlord how services and opportunities for involvement could be improved, at a special Involved Residents Conference, held last week.

The day-long “How tenants can influence change” conference, which was for all of Severnside’s regularly involved residents, was held at the Education and Conference Centre at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, on Monday 21 November and attended by around 40 residents.

The event was launched by Severnside’s chief executive, Sarah Boden, followed by an informative talk from guest speaker Mark Soundie, formerly chief executive of TAROE, the Tenants and Residents Organisations of England, a  national group set up to unite tenants’ and residents’ groups and represent their interests.

It involved a number of workshop sessions, where smaller groups looked more specifically at how tenants could influence change in particular areas, including equality & diversity, residents’ panels and focus groups, and youth engagement.

The day included a presentation around financial inclusion to highlight the importance of financial services such as bank accounts and home contents insurance. It offered information on accessing savings and loan facilities through Credit Unions and highlighted the risks of using loan sharks or other money lenders who charge very high rates of interest.

There was also a presentation around social media, and how Severnside is using both Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with customers and provide an alternative channel for customer contact.

The event was crowned with the presentation of four Resident Involvement Awards, recognising those residents who have gone the extra mile to work with Severnside and create opportunities for other residents to get involved. June Jones was presented with both the Enhancing Communities Award, and the Outstanding Contribution Award, Pamela Cathcart received the Personal Development Award and Liam Thomas was awarded the Young Person’s Contribution Award. All recipients for awards were nominated and voted for by Severnside residents and staff.

At the end of the day, residents were asked to rate the event, so that it could be repeated in the future. 95 per cent of people rated the day as ‘good’ or ‘very good’, while 92 per cent felt opportunities for involvement were ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

Sue Dell, community development manager at Severnside, said: “I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who gave their time to attend the conference.  It is vital that we talk to our residents and partners if we are to continue to deliver high quality services that our customers want. We are keen to strengthen opportunities for customer involvement and encourage and support them to be part of the decision making process. I think that the conference has been a huge success and we have many great ideas and suggestions to take forward. I look forward to working with residents to make these ideas a reality.”

June Jones, Severnside resident, added: “It was a really informative day and the workshop sessions were excellent. There are a number of Government changes that are may to affect social housing tenants, so these sessions, coupled with the guest speaker, helped set the scene for us. It’s fair to say that Severnside really does all it can to involve residents, and give us a say in improving services.”