We welcomed staff and tenants from nine local housing providers on Tuesday 21st May, as we hosted an event for Tpas, the national tenant engagement organisation, who have relaunched their regional member events following a hiatus during the Covid pandemic.
This event was for member organisations in Tpas' East region, including Central Bedfordshire Council, Fairhive, Soha, and Papworth Trust. Every few months one of these organisations hosts a get-together for fellow tenant engagement professionals, giving them a space to hear about the latest social housing news and to share tips and best practices.
Two Tpas representatives kicked off the event with a 'state of the nation' presentation on the latest news and developments around social housing regulation. Then Jon and Sophie from our Resident and Community Engagement team presented on our recent work - talking about what makes us tenant-led, then drilling down into our recent service scrutiny reviews.
After lunch, Tpas guided the group through a networking and feedback session. Attendees were able to compare their states of readiness for the new regulatory inspection regime, and Tpas collected our questions and messages for the government which they'll collate and use as feedback during their high-level lobbying activities.
Jon said:
"The event gave us a great opportunity to showcase Red Kite and our tenant engagement work, and to meet up with local colleagues working in social housing engagement - some I knew already and some are now new contacts. Some of our amazing volunteers also attended and they were able to meet their peers, swap notes, and get new ideas for holding us to account. The day was really affirming, and we left re-energised in our efforts to ensure that the voice of tenants is heard clearly by our respective organisations."
