Social housing

Medway Council wants its tenants and leaseholders to have a say in how their homes and estates are managed. Getting involved makes for better local services and stronger communities.

The council would like to see tenants and leaseholders involved with all the services it provides, from setting and monitoring standards for caretaking to developing service plans, targets and strategies for the future.

This may seem like a daunting task but the council will be there to provide training and support, as will MeRGe, a group of independent tenants already involved in the decision-making process. Getting involved in council services can enable tenants to have a positive influence on the way these services are delivered.

By talking to tenants the council can improve its services, solve local problems and bring communities together.

Ensuring tenants can get involved

The Housing Department provides several ways for tenants to become involved in shaping the services it provides. This is because it realises that not all tenants or leaseholders want to become involved at the same level or have the time or energy to make a large commitment. The important thing is that tenants' voices are heard and services are shaped to meet their needs.

• People Bank is an ever-growing group of tenants and leaseholders that the Housing Department can call upon for consultation. It is a group of people willing to give a little of their time to answer questions on various issues. There are few meetings but members might be called on to read and comment on a document or answer a small survey by telephone, email or text.
• Street voices and estate champions
  If you have a keen interest in your area, are friendly with your neighbours and have a few spare hours each month, you may want to become a street voice or estate champion. As an estate champion, you will be the point of contact for your area, tell the council what's good and what's bad about things on your estate and hear about what it is going to do to improve things. You must show that you have the support of at least five of your neighbours to become a street voice or estate champion.
• Forums
  If there are several street voices or estate champions in your area, you may want to meet and form a forum. This is an informal group that meets to discuss issues in your area. The council's Tenant Participation Officer and other council officers will be happy to attend meetings if invited and will answer any questions that you may have.
• Sheltered forums are regular tenant meetings held in the council's sheltered accommodation to discuss issues that affect residents. The council's Tenant Participation Officer attends these meetings. Please ask your scheme manager when the next meeting will be held.
• Tenant and Resident Associations (TRAs)
  TRAs are formal groups of people working together and in partnership with the council to improve things in their neighbourhood. A TRA must have a formally-agreed constitution (an agreement setting out how the group will operate), work democratically and be open to all. A TRA holds formal meetings, usually on a monthly basis, and requires more commitment in terms of time than the methods of involvement mentioned above. It can also apply for funding from the council.
• MeRGe is an independent umbrella organisation currently representing council tenants and leaseholders across all of the council's housing. Its members are drawn from various official groups, such as forums and TRAs that represent the local communities in which the council owns properties. Members of MeRGe sit on various contract monitoring panels, attend Housing Department and other council meetings and champion tenant and leaseholder rights. They have an office located close to Gillingham High Street, open to the public Monday to Friday.

How to become involved

You can:

• phone the Tenant Participation Officer on 01634 333017;
• phone MeRGe on 01634 570037;

visit the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) website (www.tpas.org.uk) or phone 0500 731 1315. This is a freephone number.

^ (back to top)