Winners list in Tenant Involvement from the Southern TPAS Awards

Published by TPAS for TPAS in Housing and also in Communities

It was a day of celebration at the TPAS Southern Awards,
recognising outstanding achievements in tenant involvement

The awards recognised those people who have gone the extra mile, as well as
the great partnership work between landlords and tenants. The event highlighted the great ideas that show what can be achieved when tenants are truly involved in the management and scrutiny of their organisations.

The awards, across ten categories, recognise both individual and collaborative initiatives that have had made a real difference to people’s lives and wider communities, as TPAS’ chief executive, Michelle Reid, explains:

“This year TPAS is celebrating its 25th year of supporting great communities.  Despite the challenges presented by welfare reform, scaled down regulation, and value for money pressures, we’re seeing more and more evidence of the impact of tenants working in partnership with landlords to achieve successful results. The judges tell me they were once again inspired by the number of exceptional projects and initiatives across Southern England.”

TPAS recognises the hugely important role and impact that involved tenants can have in the communities in which they live. Michelle added: “We believe it’s crucial that tenants are involved and engaged in managing and scrutinising all aspects of their homes and the wider community.  So it is particularly pleasing to recognise the passion, drive and commitment of of 17-year old Jaden Cameron of AmicusHorizon, Southern Young Tenant of the Year and Muna Mohamed of Gateway Housing Association, who today we were delighted to crown Southern Tenant of the Year.”

A delighted Jaden commented: "I'm really pleased to win - I love acting as a voice for young people and breaking down barriers and the negative perceptions people have of young people.”

Southern projects recognised for making a difference and which demonstrated successful collaboration included West Kent Housing Association and West Kent's  'Hidden History Never Judge a Town by its Reputation' for Excellence in Youth Involvement. Youth worker Keith Rowell on receiving the award commented:  “I am incredibly proud of everyone involved in the project; it has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with these young people and members of the Swanley community. Their commitment and drive has been inspiring and they deserve this recognition. This is a proud moment for me as a youth worker to receive this accolade”

Addtional collaborative awards went to Homes for Haringey's Green Estates Project for Excellence in Working Together; and Soha Housing for its Annual Report – '15 Years of Opening Doors' – which engaged the wider community through the use of social media.  Richard Peacock, Chief Executive of Soha, commented: “We are really proud to win this award for our annual report and it highlights our interactive approach towards resident involvement. As an organisation we really value involving our residents in annual report writing process and helping them learn new skills along the way!”

Tower Hamlets Homes scooped two awards for its Multi Faith Project in the Excellence in the Community category and the Excellence in Equality and Diversity award for 'We Speak your Language.' Gavin Cansfield, Chief Executive of Tower Hamlets Homes commented on their success: "We're really pleased to be TPAS award winners for the second year running.  It's great that the hard work of staff and residents to improve the communities and places where we work have been recognised, alongside so many other examples of best practice in the housing sector."

With the business case for tenant involvement stronger than ever, TPAS has always argued that tenant and landlord partnership makes total business sense, as Michelle explains: “This year we introduced a new award - Excellence in Tenant-Led Scrutiny,  to showcase the huge impact that good tenant scrutiny can have on organisations and communities and Cottsway Housing's Residents Scrutiny Panel, our first regional winners in this category, demonstrated pioneering examples of such work.”

"We are thrilled to have won this prestigious award which acknowledges the hard work and dedication of Cottsway's Resident Scrutiny Panel, and the support given by our Board members and staff. The panel's enthusiasm, ideas and attention to detail has led to a positive change to many aspects of our service which impacts on all of our residents. It is particularly special as this is a new category and the applications from all the organisations shortlisted were of such high quality," said David Waters, Cottsway's Chief Executive.

The important role of Tenant Involvement Officers in tenant empowerment and client engagement was also rewarded with Angela Gould's work at Synergy Housing's hub in Weymouth (part of the Aster Group) being recognised in the Tenant / Resident Involvement Officer of the Tear – Landlord category and the Tenant / Resident Liaison Officer of the Year – Contractor award, which went to Debbie Morey of British Gas/Southampton City Council.

All of the TPAS Southern Awards winners now go forward to the prestigious national finals, to be held later in the year, where they will compete against the winners of the Central and Northern regional finals.

The TPAS awards are open to social housing providers, tenants and contractors to give recognition to excellent work and to share great  practice across the sector.

ENDS

For further information contact Rachel McCormick 07582 739265 rachel@connectin.co.uk

Full details on the awards can be found at http://www.thetpasawards.org.uk/  Follow us @tpasawards

Notes to editors

1.TPAS is the leading national tenant involvement organisation. We’re unique in that our membership is made up of local tenants and their landlords. We represent 1900 tenant and residents groups and 230 landlords. Our mission is to promote effective tenant involvement and empowerment. www.tpas.org.uk

2. Being champions of co-regulation, we believe in enabling housing practitioners and tenants to work together to improve their communities. TPAS are at the forefront of joining up government policy with front-line service delivery and grassroots tenant groups.

3. Tenants who go the extra mile, landlords and tenants working together and great ideas that show what can be achieved when people are truly involved are what we recognise and celebrate in the annual TPAS Awards.

4. The three regional (Northern, Central and Southern) award ceremonies are held to determine the best in each region before the overall winners are unveiled at the grand final, to be held later in 2013.