Your Home, Your Voice
Orwell Housing aims to provide you with every opportunity have your say in directing not just the future of your homes and communities, but also the future direction of the Housing Association itself. Your opinions are important and there are many ways you can express them!
Browse below or use these quick links to read more about a specific group:
Resident Involvement
Tenant Involvement Committee
Customer Advisory Panel
Local Residents Association
Resident Involvement
Resident Involvement is about making sure that all residents have the opportunity and choice to have a say in the decisions that affect their homes and communities. Resident Involvement is about influencing how YOUR neighbourhood is managed and the services that matter to YOU. If you are a resident, young or old, and care about living in a better home and a more pleasant neighbourhood, then Resident Involvement can help you achieve this!
For more information about Resident Involvement, please click to view the Association's tenant involvement strategy 2009-2012.
Tenant Involvement Committee
The Tenant Involvement Committee (TIC) was first formed in 1996. It has recently undergone a major restructure and remains an integral part of the Association’s decision-making structures.
TIC is run by tenants for tenants. The members themselves set the agendas and priorities, with staff taking a 'back seat' and providing reports when requested. The Committee meets four times a year in the evenings. The Association pays childcare and travel expenses so that committee members are not out of pocket. Meetings are very informal and are a big help to the Association in that they give members a chance to discuss ideas for service improvement which impact on all of the Association’s tenants.
If you care about the level of service that you receive from Orwell, whether it be gardening, cleaning, caretaking, repairs or programmed works or maintenance, even how the Association answers your telephone calls or letters, then please do let TIC members know how you feel… or better yet, come along and ‘sit in’ on a meeting to find out what the committee does! There is no obligation to join and members welcome your contributions.
For more information please contact either David Betts 01502 518660 or Zena Fisher 01473 228614.
Customer Advisory Panel
The Customer Advisory Panel (CAP) is a new, informal means for tenants to ‘get involved’ with the Association without having to join committees or residents’ groups. CAP is an informal group where tenants can drop in on meetings as and when they wish to participate or share a view.
CAP will be involved in setting and monitoring the standards of service you receive from the Association and its contractors, and in deciding which areas of the business should be ‘mystery shopped’ (by tenants) to check that these standards are being adhered to.
CAP’s findings will then be reviewed by TIC, who will make recommendations about further action. If you would like to come along to a CAP meeting and have an input in setting these standards, please Please contact either Zena Fisher 01473 228614 for a no-commitment discussion.
Local Residents Association
Local Residents Associations meetings take place in several of the larger estates, Including Adastral Close, Felixstowe, Brookwood, Ipswich and Newnham Court, St Catherines Court & Woolverstone Close, Ipswich. Members meet regularly to socialise, organise community events and help raise funds to be spent on their communities. Representatives of the Residents Associations also have the opportunity to attend the Tenant Services Committee.
If attending meetings is ‘not your thing’ please click here to find out about other ways to express your ideas, opinions or concerns.
Many more initiatives are being planned for the coming months, providing you with even more opportunities to get involved. Orwell Housing has a dedicated Sustainable Neighbourhoods Officer who is more than happy to speak to you directly if you have an idea that will benefit you and your neighbourhood. If you have an idea or a suggestion, don’t just sit on it – get in touch and help put it into action!
For a 'no obligation' chat about the work of the Tenant Services Committee or to find out about your local Residents Association please contact Zena Fisher, Sustainable Neighbourhoods Officer on 01473 228614. Alternatively, you may email on zenaf@orwell-housing.co.uk.
Whichever way you decide to find out more, please do not be hesitant in coming forward. The Association would like very much to meet as many people as possible from all walks of life, as the more diverse the committee is, the better it will function in terms of decision making.
We look forward to hearing from you.
