RoundUp Newsletter | Issue 9

About our members for our members

Welcometo your latest issue of

Youth InvolvementSpecial

/tpasengland

@tpasengland

Abba Ashmeade

Inside RoundUp:

• Our shared future P3

• Youth Engagement P6

• Abba Ashmeade P7

• Involving Young People P9

Featuring:

Youth InvolvementSpecial

In this issue of RoundUp

Our Shared FuturePage 3

Abba Ashmeade Page 7

TrainingPage 14

My StoryPage 13

MembershipPage 5

Member StoriesPage 11-12

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Jenny Osbourne Chief Executive Steve Meakin MBE Chair

Welcome to my first RoundUp as Chief Executive of TPAS! On page 3 and 4 I introduce my ambitionsand vision for TPAS. Earlier this year when I chaired our annual conference I asked the question, ‘What’s top of your agenda as an issue in tenant involvement today’? Without doubt the one issue that repeatedly came up was ‘how can we get more young people involved’? We know this is something that our members take seriously and strive to overcome. In this editionof RoundUp we tackle this question

As usual we’ve teamed up with our members to share their stories, in thisedition it’s Hackney Homes and Regenda talking about their youth engagement and involvement experiences, read more on pages 11 and 12. TPAS strongly believe in collaborating with others so on page 6 we’ve invited youth engagement specialists Fourteen19 to share their top tips.

Finally, we give you the membership update on page 5, including news about our upcoming AGM in January.

It’s a packed edition and we hope you all enjoy.

head on with a challenging piece fromour Assistant Training Manager Val Alker who guides us through the essential questions we should all be asking ourselves before we embark onattempting to engage young people. Read more on page 9. We’re very proud of our TPAS Awards - Young Tenant of the Year, Abba Ashmeade from AmicusHorizon. Abba is our guest columnist in this edition. Read about the young people that inspire him on pages 7 and 8 and our interview with him on page 13.

Stay in touch with TPAS on0161 868 3500 or email info@tpas.org.uk

Introduction

Involving Young People Page 9

Where can you get more information? Follow us:

Freephone 0800 035 6351 Email info@tenantcentral.org.ukVisit www.tenantcentral.org.uk Write Tenant Central Team, TPAS, Suite 4b Trafford Plaza, 73 Seymour Grove, Manchester M16 0LD.

A FREE one day conference for social housing tenants that will inspire and inform.

Bridging the Gap Conferences

@tenant_central

Youth EngagementPage 6

Tenants go free.

28th January 2015

Copthorne HotelNewcastle

Two dates and locations!

9th February 2015

Thistle HotelExeter

An opportunity to catch up with the national agenda as well as hear what others inyour region are doing and a chance to find out how you can embrace good practice, share ideas and learn new skills.

Visit our events page on our website for more information: www.tenantcentral.org.uk/events/event

Welcometo your latest issue of

TPASAGM

3 4

TPAS - Our vision and ambition

involvement and empowerment standards to include everything from tenants being involved in feedback, complaints and surveys, through toassisting tenant and landlord partnerships to develop stronger service standards, strategies, policies, monitoring performance and undertaking detailed scrutiny reviews together. We know we’re getting somewhere.

So how can we buildon this success? To ensure the tenant involvement agenda continues to thrive, I believe TPAS needs to take a more direct and active role inthe wider housing agenda and give ourmembers an independent voice whenthe sector most needs one.

I intend to speak loudly, andif I need to forcefully, acrossthe sector about the absoluterelevance of tenant empowerment.

Our members have always been at the forefront of excellence in involvement and so it is my personal commitment to make sure that continues by ensuring we work together to provide tenants, staff and boards with high quality information, analysis and professional development in every aspect of the tenant and landlord relationship.

We need to unlock some of our strongand passionate tenant involvementchampions and give them a voice on anational stage. To do this we will work with our members and our friends in the wider housing sector to devise a new set of products.

Our focus will be on developing a revitalised and diverse programme ofservices, training and events that reflectthe needs of our landlords and tenantsto achieve real and meaningful involvement opportunities for a new generation.

We must do all we can to incentivise and assist contractors and suppliers of all sizes. Giving them the confidence and skills they need to unlock the value

they can create by achieving brilliant tenant involvement standards and help revitalise communities.

Why we need you The general election next year will be the most important for housing in a generation. The housing sector polls show that the public are either aware of, or have experienced, the housing crisis first hand. We all know we need solutions.

As a member of TPAS, you are part of anational organisation in social housing. Make the most of us, support us, embraceour aims and together we can influence the future of social housing. For good.

on the ‘back burner’, we witnessed the many more organisations who demonstrated that striving to achieve meaningful tenant empowerment can act as a catalyst to ensure a stronger future for their organisations.

So why is TPAS’s roleso important? We aspire to a social housing sector where all tenants can influence and hold their landlord to account for their performance. We want to see organisations truly embrace co regulation. When I joined TPAS, ten years ago the definition of ‘Tenant Participation Advisory Service’ was

‘ supporting a two way process involving both tenants and landlords in the sharing of ideas, enabling tenants to influence decisions regarding the management of their homes ’.

We’ve moved on since those days. Together with our members we’ve successfully driven up tenant

In October TPAS appointed Jenny Osbourne as Chief Executive.In this article Jenny discusses her vision forthe future.

I want to start by saying how proud I am to lead TPAS. It’s a huge honour and I am determined to take TPAS to greater success in the future. This year, more than ever, we’ve witnessed how our collective voice, experience and action can inspire and influence change.

Most recently we’ve seen this on Housing Day in November. This was a day when tenants, housing staff, political commentators, and bloggers came together to share their involvement stories, experiences and opinions. At a time when some within the housing sector have put tenant involvement

Our Shared Future

Tweet Jenny on:@tpasjenny“...I believe TPAS needs to take a more direct

and active role in the wider housing agenda...”