Residents may want more say on the way housing management services are designed and delivered. They may want to be at the heart of the decision-making process at management board level, or even to take control themselves. No type of involvement, or participation, is better than the other. What is important is that residents have the opportunities to decide what they want.
However, the grant is not just about housing management issues. It is also aimed at getting tenants more involved in making their neighbourhoods better – to enable them to be involved in regeneration and investment projects. It's about community planning with real tenant input and equal partnership with other stakeholders in tackling local problems.
We want the grants to make it possible for residents to examine, review and influence options for their housing and communities to a greater extent than is commonly accepted today. As residents' needs are different in every case, other activities could qualify, and we welcome suggestions on what these might be.
How to get a grant
Grants could be part of a package that includes other sources of money – regeneration grants, for example.
Proposals should show how residents have been involved in drawing up the project, and demonstrate equal opportunities by involving all sections of the community. They should also explain how the development of the knowledge and skills of residents will be sustained in the longer term.
The corporation can only pay grants for activities that will help housing associations improve the services they normally provide, and not things like basic education. As the grant is not meant for standard tenant involvement activities, housing associations will often need to provide some funding to cover those aspects.
Residents' groups with experience of managing money are also welcome to apply for a community trading and enabling grant.
The grant is about community planning with real tenant input and equal partnership with other stakeholders in tackling local problems
In 2001, successful applications for the community training and enabling grant included the "Closer" project to improve the Speke and Garston areas of Liverpool. Led by South Liverpool Housing in partnership with Artists in Regeneration, Closer aimed to increase community involvement in regeneration programmes, to develop the skills and knowledge of residents and to use arts and culture in the regeneration process. Six artists were commissioned to work on six projects for six months, with ideas to come from about 600 residents.
The challenges were great. In 2000, government figures showed Speke to be the second most deprived ward in the country, and St Mary's ward, in Garston, was 86th. Unemployment was high, and more than half of the households received housing benefit. Previous regeneration attempts had been unsuccessful in making residents' lives better and so tenants were unenthusiastic about participating in any more such programmes.
Funding came from Liverpool nightclub Cream as well as the Housing Corporation, South Liverpool Housing, Artists in Regeneration and other groups. Residents were consulted, and two volunteers from the area helped coordinate the projects.
The projects covered various themes. One, Tate House, was a study into the possibility of converting two houses for artists from the local area and outside to promote their work. An internet radio station was also developed to link the sheltered accommodation schemes in Speke and Garston, addressing the isolation faced by many older people. The third project was a documentary put together by the residents of one street, telling how their houses had been redeveloped.
Environmental art
There were two environmental art projects. The first involved residents working with an artist to research the history of their area and learn more about the monks who had lived there in the past. The other art project was a partnership with the government's Sure Start initiative to develop a play area. Residents were consulted and involved in its design.
And then there was "The Finale", an event where all the projects came together. There was dance and drama involving the young and the old, based on the theme "let's celebrate; we are proud it's our community".
Liverpool John Moores University evaluated Closer. Its report shows the project was very successful in achieving increased tenant participation, with more than 400 people taking part. Residents developed general skills and confidence, such as accessing funding programmes and speaking to large audiences. And the artistic and cultural themes of the projects not only brought residents of different ages together but changed people's view of art as being something only for the middle classes.
Source
Housing Today
Postscript
Lynda Hance is a freelance housing consultant and former policy adviser at the National Housing Federation, and Fola Ogunjobi is a policy officer at the NHF
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