How involved are you with your council or Housing Association?
Some Councils and Housing Associations actively try to involve their tenants and leaseholders, others aren’t quite so forthcoming. With the Audit Commission doing their thing in just about every area of housing (to rate them to Government Standards), some councils seem to overload their tenants with questionnaires on everything from how well a repair was carried out to how long it took the council to answer the telephone!
There are lots of other ways to get involved though. Setting up or joining a Residents Group, being part of a tenant’s involvement group, housing liaison boards etc. Do you know this? If you are a Council or Housing Association, do your tenants and residents know these things? Do you actively encourage residents to become involved? If so how?
[ad#Google 200×200 right]Being involved means becoming part of your community. It also gives you a voice as to what decisions are made. Tenants and leaseholders are the customer, and the customer should always be listened to!
So if you want you voice to be heard, join a residents group or set one up yourself. It’s not easy but if you have issues within your own area or have ideas that might help and/or improve your local community, believe me, your council or housing association will definitely take more notice of a group than a lone voice.
Comments are welcome.
Author: CCHE Deb