Getting Involved This section tells you: • • • • • • •
General Information. About becoming a shareholder. About becoming a Tenant Board Member. About joining or setting up a Tenants’ or Residents’ Association. About joining our Tenants’ Information Panel. About our Timebanks scheme. About other ways to get involved.
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General Information Taff Housing Association wants to encourage you, our residents and our customers, to get involved and participate in our organisation and your communities. We want you to know about the ways in which you can get involved, what’s expected and what benefits and support you can expect from us. We recognise that not everyone wants to get on a committee or keep accounts, and therefore we have lots of informal ways for you to participate in the work Taff Housing Association does, as well as the more traditional methods of involvement. By getting involved you will help us help the communities you live in. We have a simple structure of formal and informal mechanisms for participation. We feel this is inclusive and welcoming to all who would like to get involved.
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About Becoming A Shareholder You can buy a ÂŁ1.00 share and become a shareholding member of our Association. This gives you extra rights, including the right to go to our Annual General Meeting, elect the Board of Management and become a Board Member. If you would like further information about becoming a shareholder, please contact a Customer Service Advisor on 029 2025 9100.
About Becoming A Tenant Board Member If you are a tenant, you can stand for election to our Board of Management. The Board meets once a month and makes all the decisions about managing our Association. We encourage tenants to join our Board, and will give you support and training to help you carry out this role. We currently have four tenants sitting on our Board of Management. If you would like more information about becoming a Tenant Board Member, please contact our Office Co-ordinator on 029 2025 9165.
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About Joining Or Setting Up A Tenants’ Or Residents’ Group Taff Tenants’ Association Anyone who is a tenant of the Association can join the Taff Tenants’ Association. This is an umbrella association for all other groups. This group has been undertaking work on a Taff-wide basis for some time, although it is now developing into a more active body. Taff Tenants’ Association has charitable aims and objectives and a formal constitution. This enables it to access external funding from trusts and charities. The group organises events and functions for the benefit of all Taff tenants and their communities, as well as providing a source of support, advice and guidance for tenants on a range of issues. Taff Tenants’ Association welcomes members from all other tenants’ groups in order to build a diverse, sustainable and active group which is able to work on participation activities across the organisation, and support other groups. If you would like information on joining Taff Tenants’ Association, please contact your Housing Officer on 029 2025 9100.
Tenants’ Associations These are formally constituted participation groups that are established on a permanent basis to facilitate participation in a specific community or geographical area, for example, on an estate. Like the Taff Tenants’ Association, these groups are established with an appropriate constitution and financial structure to enable them to access small amounts of external funding from trusts and charities. This enables the groups to undertake participation activities to benefit the community they work in. A representative from each Association should commit to becoming a member of Taff Tenants’ Association. The benefits of this should be mutual, with Taff Tenants’ Association providing capacity building, training opportunities and best practice examples.
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Taff provides each formally constituted Tenants’ Association with a monthly payment, currently £40.00, (correct as at October 2011) in order to assist with the funding of activities. There are currently Tenants’ Associations operating in Grangetown, Canton and Riverside. These are street based and in some of our sheltered accommodation and flats. We also have an Allotment Group, a Knitting Group, a Pride Group, a Women’s Group and a Disability Awareness Group. Taff has a BME Housing Contact Group which consists of 26 people from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds who look at issues that affect them and their communities. If you are interested in setting up or joining a Tenants’ Association please contact your Housing Officer on 029 2025 9100.
Resident Groups Resident groups can be established to function in a similar way to Tenants’ Associations, however they are not formally established. Resident groups are not required to have a committee or financial structures. Initially, Taff Housing Association will support a Resident Group. We will keep financial information and provide administrative support for the group. Staff members from Taff Housing Association will support Resident Groups to enable them to be sustained. A Resident Group can be established to benefit a community or geographical area and can develop into a Tenants’ Association if so desired. However, this is not an expectation.
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Community Action Groups Action Groups are the most informal type of group. An Action Group can be established to tackle a specific issue, and is not intended to be permanent or formal. Action Groups allow tenants to participate in order to change, resolve or impact on issues that are important to them. The participation will be mainly action based i.e. through community development opportunities, rather than through formal meetings. Taff Housing Association is committed to appropriately support action groups to ensure their success.
Special Interest Groups These are groups that are established with all members having a common interest, for example, gardening or knitting. These groups meet informally to share skills, ideas or just to have some fun. They also assist the Association by feeding their ideas on issues the Association is consulting on at the time. If you would like to find out more information about forming your own group, please contact the Customer Involvement Officer on 029 2025 9100.
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About Joining The ‘Have Your Say Group’ This is a group of tenants who meet with officers of the Association once every two months. This is an opportunity for tenants to provide us with feedback on our services, as well as an opportunity for us to consult you on new policies or on changes in the way we provide services. We have discussed issues such as our Customer Service Standards, our Anti-Social Behaviour Policy and the Welsh Housing Quality Standards. If you would be interested in joining this group, please contact the Customer Services Manager (Housing) on 029 2025 9100.
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Timebanks Plus What is a time bank? Timebanks is a reward scheme offered by Taff to tenants who get involved with Taff and the community. One Timebank credit voucher is awarded for each hour that is given to Taff on a voluntary basis. You can spend these credits at the venues of our Partners for free entry. (Details of our Partners are shown on the back of the credit voucher). Timebanks Plus – this is additional to the Timebanks scheme and offers alternative rewards such as: room decoration, access to a training workshop or similar, or perhaps a trip to a place of interest. Timebanks rewards can be saved and given back to Taff in exchange for the alternative rewards which Taff will pay for.
What kind of services can I give or receive? • Help with shopping. • Sports activities. • Looking after pets. • Help with gardening. • Help with housework or cooking. • Washing the car. • Help with computer skills. • Help with budgeting. • Home visits, listening or being a ‘phone friend’.
How Does It Work? When you join, the scheme we will open a “time account” for you. Your hours will be recorded so that you and we can keep an accurate record of how many hours you have given to the scheme. If you would like to know more about the Timebanks and Timebanks Plus schemes, please contact the Customer Involvement Officer on 029 2025 9100.
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About Other Ways To Get Involved Some of our tenants have been involved in helping us to recruit new members of staff by sitting on interview panels. If you would be interested in helping us in this way and ensuring that we appoint the people you feel will give you the best service, please contact the Head of Housing and Communities on 029 2025 9100. We are always looking for tenants to help us with ideas for our Tenants’ Newsletter, in order to ensure that we inform you about the things that are important to you. If you feel you can spare a couple of hours once every three months, please contact the Head of Housing and Communities on 029 2025 9100. We have a Suggestion Box in our reception area at Alexandra House. If you have any comments – good or bad – please drop them in the box! From time to time we send out surveys or questionnaires to ask you about the services we provide. Please take the time to fill these in, as they provide us with valuable information about how we are performing. You will earn a Timebank credit for completing the survey. If you would like to join a telephone or e-mail survey group, please contact the Customer Services Manager on 029 2025 9100.
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