Welcoming our new Resident

Members of Evolve Housing’s 2019–2020 Resident Advisory Group.

WELCOMING OUR NEW RESIDENT ADVISORY GROUP

Our new Resident Advisory Group (RAG) began working together in February this year, and have been meeting each month.

The role of the RAG is to represent all residents, relay any concerns residents may have, and provide feedback to us about our activities, programs and key policies.

The group includes a diverse mix of residents of all ages coming from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and geographic areas of Sydney. Some long-term members have remained in the group, while we also welcomed aboard some new residents, providing a good balance of experience and fresh perspectives.

We have created a flat structure for the group, which enables all members to have their say and provide feedback and suggestions on the work we do. Each month, the RAG makes a suggestion for

a guest speaker from Evolve Housing to attend their meeting and discuss the work that they do and how it impacts residents. This allows members to learn and understand all areas of our business so that they are able to communicate accurate information about

organisational processes to their fellow residents.

The group has already made some significant contributions such as providing ideas for online activities to keep young residents busy during the school holidays. They have also contributed by reviewing standard letter templates that are sent to residents, reviewing the proposed Resident Handbook and providing suggestions to the Rent Review department. Notably, the RAG have played an important part in the implementation of the Resident Satisfaction Survey by providing input in the planning stage and volunteering their time to contact residents to follow up on their surveys.

Despite COVID-19 preventing many in-person meetings in 2020, the group has still been able to work effectively, learning how to use technology so that they can engage via Zoom meetings.