I hope you are enjoying the signs of spring and longer daylight hours.

I’m pleased to share this latest update covering key discussions from our recent Community Voice meeting. Our group is made up of myself and other tenants who live in the Salford area.

We work together with ForHousing to take action and signpost to partners when it’s needed.

Together we understand the importance of listening and learning from tenants, like me and you, about crucial matters affecting our neighbourhood.

We want to have our voices heard and be a part of influencing what happens in our homes and communities.

Please read on for all the essential news from our March Community Voice update.

Janette Ball Chair of Community Voice

We all want to feel safe where we live and proud of our neighbourhoods. Being part of Community Voice and attending the meetings is important as it gives us an opportunity to raise concerns.

Colleagues from ForHousing are there to listen, note down our views, and follow through with actions to improve things.

We raised the issue of litter in Little Hulton. There is only one bin outside the school and it’s often full. When this happens, people put bags of rubbish next to it, but nothing is done. It was agreed that ForHousing would speak to Salford Litter Heroes about sorting this.

We asked what happens if tenants dump rubbish in their gardens and don’t move it –  ForHousing confirmed that this counts as a breach of tenancy agreement. ForHousing can collect waste and charge the tenant back for that if need be.

Salford Council changed bin collections from weekly to three out of every four weeks back in 2017 due to budget cuts. For people living in flats with large communal bins, this has caused major issues with litter. This is in addition to rules put in place meaning that side bags won’t be collected or bins without fully secure lids.

We heard that in the last financial year, £231,354 was spent by ForHousing on waste removal in Salford.

For residents in flats, the collection charge is shared if the individuals responsible can’t be identified. ForHousing’s Scrutiny Panel, which is made up of 14 tenants, has recommended that everyone should be charged in situations like this.

We also heard about a waste compacting pilot project which was launched in 2019. This is helping but we’re still seeing that there has been an increase in fly-tipping and waste in general. Another issue contributing to the rise in fly-tipping is that tips no longer accept goods like fridges and mattresses.

There were suggestions about better partnership working with the waste authority. We will keep this issue on the agenda.

We heard that new Consumer Standards from the Regulator of Social Housing come into effect from this month (April 2024). You can read more about these by clicking here.

The new standards prioritise tenant engagement, complaints, and respect for tenants. There is also a particular focus on understanding tenants who are not actively involved and who may be more ‘hidden’ from ForHousing.

As part of this, social housing landlords with more than 1,000 homes, like ForHousing, have to report on tenant satisfaction to the Regulator every year.

We also heard that the Housing Ombudsman is inviting tenants to join their resident panel and one of our Community Voice members has already joined. It’s great that ForHousing tenants will be represented.

We heard from ForHousing about its new tenant satisfaction survey and had the opportunity to share our feedback.

We were happy overall with the questions and suggested a few improvements to make them even more effective. Including adding a section about follow-on work regarding repairs. So, the question is now; “Do you consider your repair to be completed, including any follow on work?”

The data from these questions will be ready for the next community voice meeting in June.

At Community Voice we are dedicated to working with ForHousing and local partners to make a positive impact in our neighbourhood.

At the meeting, we had an update from ForHousing on a long-term project called Understanding Our Communities. It is about identifying what can be improved and focusing on the existing strengths that can be built upon.

A major finding was that there aren’t enough places for the community to come together, and community providers are feeling exhausted. There is a real desire to avoid any regeneration projects that the community doesn’t actually want. We’ll keep you updated on the progress of the project.

We got an update on the Community Fund and heard that many tenants who have applied have commented on how flexible and accessible the funds are.

We did, however, share that the criteria and feedback form need redesigning so they’re even more accessible. We discussed reducing the number of questions and perhaps offering a video application alternative. We also suggested that an example application on the website would be really helpful.

The budget for the 2024/2025 community fund has been increased significantly from £35,000 to £63,750 as part of ForHousing’s commitment to supporting and investing in communities to make a positive impact.

Community Voice members asked if we could be informed of what projects are being funded, which ForHousing is going to consider as part of the feedback process.

Tenants can apply for funding here. For those not online, Community Development staff can assist with phone, or in-person applications and paper forms can be sent by mail. We have been told that any leftover money will be given to local projects, charities or initiatives.

As part of ForHousing’s support for Tenant and Resident Associations and Community Groups, it holds training sessions to help ensure groups are up to date with legislation. Some recent sessions were discussed. We commented that for the safeguarding training, 17 were invited but only four attended. Despite the disappointing turnout, the training was very good. It was added that the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training was also excellent.

More safeguarding training will be organised for those who didn’t attend the first time and positive feedback will be provided to the EDI trainer.

We are actively recruiting new members to the Community Voice, so if you are interested in representing your local community and working with ForHousing to make improvements, please get in touch here. ForHousing wants to understand what matters most to you and we really appreciate people giving their time and input to groups like these so ForHousing can listen and learn.

We’ll continue to share future updates with you. Do spread the word about the tenant newsletter with your family and friends, this is published every three months, and you will be able to view the latest version on their website homepage here.