Your level of involvement could include:
- Giving ideas e.g. completing a survey, taking part in a focus group or attending an event
- Making recommendations e.g. joining an improvement group, becoming a Resident Inspector or starting a local group in my area to resolve an issue
- Making decisions e.g. starting a Residents’ Association, selecting contractors, be involved in reviewing a service
- Having delegations for budgets/decisions e.g. becoming a Board member, joining the Area Panel or starting a Tenant Management Organisation
or a combination of a few of these.
Your level of time commitment may be:
Low level of commitment. As and when required. An average of one or two hours.
Medium level of commitment. Occasional involvement. An average of two to eight hours each month
High level of commitment. Regular involvement. An average of eight to 16 hours each month.
*We are reviewing our Residents Compact and supporting documents which includes simplifying the level of commitment required for involvement opportunities to Low, Medium and High levels of involvement.
Scroll down to see a brief description of each of the 27 involvement opportunities currently available, and the level of involvement and time commitment required for each. You choose which issues you are interested in and the ways you want to be involved. For more details, refer to section two of the Lewisham Homes Residents' Compact Supporting Documents pack.
Area Panel
Conferences
Estate agreement
Estate inspections
Improvement group
Lewisham Homes board member
Local assembly meetings
Local group
Local Management Agreement
National or regional tenants’ groups
Neighbourhood agreements
Neighbourhood Watch
One off focus group
Online consultation
Open Day and other one off events
Reading group
Resident inspector
Residents’ Association (RA or TRA)
Selecting contractors and procurement involvement
Service review
Setting up a Tenant Management Organisation (TMOs)
Shadowing a service
Telephone, postal survey or face to face survey
Text us
Training and employment initiatives
Area Panel
Area Panel members represent the views of an area. They are consulted on strategic, policy and operational items. (Resident Associations can have
two representatives on the Area Panel who are voted in by the other panel
members.)
Time commitment:
Type of involvement: Ideas, recommendations, decisions, delegation
Please refer to the Area Panels pages in the Get Involved section of our website for documentation on meetings to date.
Conferences
These events help build residents’ confidence and capacity so they can be
fully involved in the work we do.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations
Estate agreement
Residents express their views about what they think is important locally and to influence how the service is delivered. The agreement gives information about the level of service and who provides the service in a way that aims to be clear and understandable.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations, decisions.
Estate inspections
This is an opportunity for residents to accompany staff and raise issues with caretaking or communal repairs, monitor our performance and learn about the standards of service to expect.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations
Improvement group
We have four groups that look at specific areas of service: Housing Management, Repairs, Leasehold Services, and Major Works. These forums give residents the chance to shape the services from the inside out.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations, decisions
Please refer to the Regular forums page in our Get Involved section of the website for progress from these improvement groups.
Lewisham Homes board member
The Board is responsible for the strategic direction of the organisation and
meets six times a year to monitor performance and make key decisions.
The Board has 15 members - seven residents, three Councillors and five
independent members of the community with relevant skills and experience.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations, decisions, delegation
Local assembly meetings
Local assemblies enable Lewisham residents to work alongside the Council and other local organisations to improve the character of neighbourhoods throughout the borough. Everyone who lives, works or has an interest in their area is invited along to discuss any matter they consider important.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations, decisions
You can view the schedule of upcoming local assemblies.
Local group
It might be too much to start a Residents’ Association, or to join one of the other forums. You might have a particular issue or want to start a community group like a mother’s and toddlers group. We will write to residents in your area, and help you source a venue and apply for funding if required. The level of support we offer depends on the aim of the group.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations
Local Management Agreement
For residents to manage their own services locally through a competent contractor for a defined period. Lewisham Homes would pay the residents a fee to provide the service, subject to satisfactory performance and meeting
standards and obligations of the agreement. The residents would also be
required to have insurance.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations, decisions, delegation
National or regional tenants’ groups
The London Tenants Federation, Tenants and Residents Organisation of England, National Tenants Voice and National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations are all groups our residents can be involved in. The purpose is to represent residents’ views at a regional or national level to help gauge the opinion of those most affected by changes in policy and to help lobby government.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations
Neighbourhood agreements
Residents, landlords and other agencies agree to provide the best possible service to an area within existing resources. Neighbourhood agreements aim to give residents more say about the management of their area. They are involved in:
- Setting local service standards
- Agreeing performance plans
- Reviewing the service
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations
Neighbourhood Watch
The Neighbourhood Watch is an opportunity to get together with your neighbours to reduce local crime and disorder in a bid to make your neighbourhood a safe and better place to live, work and play.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas
One off focus group
To investigate an issue or an idea with residents to see if it would fulfil needs and work in practice. Ideas may be put forward by Lewisham Homes or its residents.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations
Online consultation
To enable people to give views on topics without having to attend a meeting.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations
Open Day and other one off events
To give residents, their friends and families a chance to have a fun day out,
talk to Lewisham Homes staff and to participate in consultation.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas
Reading group
Read newsletters and leaflets to ensure residents are able to understand
their content.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations
Resident inspector
Residents take part inspecting offices, repairs, customer care, estates or
empty properties (voids) to ensure we are meeting our standards.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations
Residents’ Association (RA or TRA)
To facilitate tenant and leaseholder involvement and community improvement. Each Residents’ Association will receive funding through Lewisham Tenants’ Fund for day-to-day running.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations, decisions, delegation.
Please refer to the Residents' Association pages in the Get Involved section of our website and our Frequently Asked Questions pages for more information on existing TRAs, what's involved in setting up and maintaining a TRA, support available**, and more.
Selecting contractors and procurement involvement
To sit on an interview panel to help select the right contractor for major
planned works or other contracts such as gas. Residents may also be
required to read tender documents and help set the standards or selection
criteria.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations, decisions
Service review
Residents can elect to be on a project team or project board as part of a service review.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations, decisions
Setting up a Tenant Management Organisation (TMOs)
The Housing (Right to Manage) Regulations allow residents to take over the management of their homes from the local authority. TMOs can choose to take all or part of the management functions such as caretaking, rent collection, repairs etc and receives management and maintenance allowances for the services it provides.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas, recommendations, decisions, delegation
Please refer to the Regular forums page in our Get Involved section of the website for more information on TMOs.
Shadowing a service
Spend time with a specific service to better understand
how services are delivered.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas
Telephone, postal survey or face to face survey
Surveys help to regularly track a service or the organisation’s performance. Surveys may also be used to get feedback from residents who are unable to attend a meeting.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas
Text us
Allows residents to quickly ask a question, get involved or make a
comment.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas
Training and employment initiatives
To allow residents to learn new skills such as computer skills, food hygiene,
equality and diversity, resolving conflict, first aid or painting and decorating.
Separate training is also offered to those undertaking other involvement
opportunities such as chairing skills, secretary skills, treasurer skills, speed
writing or service based training.
We work with other agencies to refer unemployed residents to employment
and job search programmes such as interview skills, CV writing and
motivation and confidence building.
Time commitment:
Level of involvement: Ideas
Training is just one of the ways that we are able to support your involvement.
There are many training opportunities available throughout the year. See our training programme schedule for more details or fill out the form to register your interest.
To get the ball rolling and get involved register with us now. Simply fill out the form and press send or print off the document and return to our freepost address (no stamp needed):
FREEPOST Lewisham Homes
Attention: Community Involvement Team
Holbeach Housing Office
9 Holbeach Road
London
SE6 4TW
