- Event organised by three local landlords
- Almost 100 tenants booked on to the event
- Customers had their say on service delivery
Tenants of three local landlords had their say on key policies at a Joint Involved Tenants Conference organised to encourage engagement.
Rykneld Homes, working in partnership with North East Derbyshire District Council, Chesterfield Borough Council and Bolsover District Council, brought together their involved tenants at the SMH Stadium in Chesterfield, to take part in interactive workshops and hear from keynote speakers, including the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS).
TPAS is a not-for-profit membership organisation who work to bring tenants and landlords together to improve services and strengthen communities.
Involved tenants provide valuable insight to help landlords understand what is important to them and help to shape the services they provide.
The free event aimed to bring people together to make connections, share views, educate and provide information, promote landlord involvement opportunities and encourage tenants to have their say.
The event received positive feedback from participants, with more events like this requested in the future.
Niall Clark, Director of Customer and Strategic Partnerships (Deputy MD) at Rykneld Homes, said: “Engaging with our customers is something we are always keen to do - their voice is crucial in shaping our future service delivery.
“Social housing is an ever-changing environment and only by working with our customers can we continue to provide more homes and the type of housing services all of our customers deserve.
“This fantastic event aimed to help us to improve the services we deliver to our customers whilst allowing tenants to meet new people and share their views and experiences.”
Victoria Dawson, Assistant Director of Housing Management and Enforcement at Bolsover District Council, said: “It’s great to be able to work with our neighbours at Chesterfield Borough Council and Rykneld Homes to be able to put on event of this nature.
“As officers we get a lot from partnership working, learning from each other and comparing our services, and we hope that events such as this will give tenants the opportunity to learn from each other too.”
Louise Holt, Head of Membership Services at TPAS, said: “I was delighted to be invited to this event.
“It was great to see three different local authorities come together to provide this opportunity and share good practice.
“Tenant involvement is really enhanced when you’ve got different people from different organisations all coming together with the same aim.”
Involved tenant, Faridah, said: “The workshops were all absolutely fantastic. I liked the fact that besides getting much needed information, I got to meet new people and share ideas/experiences.”
Involved tenant, Adrian, said: “I am leaving the conference with more knowledge of legislation and services available, and the amount of ways I can become involved and informed.”
Participants were also treated to a special appearance from Chesterfield Football Club’s mascot, Chester the Field Mouse.
