Community Engagement
What is Community Engagement?
Community Engagement provides people with opportunities to have a greater say in what happens in their city and to be more active in decision making. It covers many different activities carried out within local communities. It’s about making sure that people can participate and engage in lots of different ways to make Sheffield an even better place to live, work, study and play in. At the heart of Community Engagement is the development of relationships, clear and transparent communication, networking, listening, having fun, and understanding the diverse people and places around us.
Why is Community Engagement important?
- It reinvigorates local communities, giving people a real opportunity to contribute to the development and delivery of local services.
- Allows people to influence things that they care about
- Gives greater contact with hard to reach groups
- Tailors services to the needs of the community
- Shares problem solving
- Improved decision making based on a wider range of views
- Empowers people
- Allows people to be better informed
- Strengthens responsible citizenship / reduces anti-social behaviour
- Creates channels for feedback
- Encourages people to take responsibility for issues that affect them/their communities
How can I get involved – what are the different ways?
How you get involved is up to you and whatever time you give is appreciated. We recognise that different groups may wish to get involved in different ways.
You can contact the Community Engagement Team, for further information by:
Email:
Phone:
0114 293 0000, if you live in the North of the city.
0114 205 3333, if you live in the South of the city.
What is a TARA?
These are the initials for a Tenants and Residents Association. These are an essential and valuable part of a strong tenant participation framework, involving a group of local tenants and residents working together to help improve neighbourhoods and the quality of life for local people.
How do I join my local TARA – who can I contact?
Contact your local Housing Office. They will have at least one member of staff responsible for Community Engagement and Tenant Participation. This person is known as a Tenant Liason Officer (TLO). They will point you in the direction of your local TARA and give you directions and details of meetings.
I don’t want to join a TARA but would like to attend meetings or have my say on specific issues – how can I do this?
You can stay informed and have your say by:
- Reading our magazine “In Touch with Sheffield Homes”.
- Coming along to public meetings
- Looking at displays and notices in local housing offices
- Reading information and leaflets we send out
- Visiting the Sheffield Homes website at www.sheffieldhomes.org.uk
- Giving us feedback via the Sheffield Homes “Complaints, Praise and Suggestions” leaflet
- Going on an Estate Walkabout with an estate services monitoring group – these make recommendations on priorities for improving your estates
- Becoming a Mystery Shopper to look at our customer services and recommend improvements
- Joining a project group if the homes in your area are being improved
What is Tenant Participation?
Tenant Participation is about giving you a real say in your housing service. It means that you can be involved in shaping the decisions that affect you, your home and your community.
What training opportunities are there for tenants?
Joint training between officers and tenants is undertaken as often as possible as we recognise the benefits in improving relationships and understanding. Sheffield Homes Annual Tenants Training Budget can be used to commission external training, support individual requests from tenants, and support tenants wishing to attend conferences.
Other training could look at improving the IT skills of TARAs, or cover basic accounting, newsletters and committee roles.
Requests for training are considered by the Community Engagement Manager. If you are interested in training please contact the Community Engagement Team on:
- 0114 293 0000, if you live in the North of the city.
- 0114 205 3333, if you live in the South of the city.
What is a recognition policy?
This is the criteria which Tenants and Residents Associations need to comply with in order to receive funding from the Tenant Levy
Why is a recognition policy needed?
In order to be formally recognised by Sheffield Homes, TARAs must have as their primary aim, the representation of their members, particularly on housing matters. Recognition will also give the right to receive the Tenants Levy and associated benefits.
What are levy payments? How are they used?
During their tenancy, tenants pay a weekly ten pence levy payment to support their local Tenants and Residents Association. All tenants are given the opportunity to opt out of making this payment when they sign up for their property. – all TARA members can contact their local TARA to find out how the levy money is spent.
In areas where there is no recognized TARAs levy money is pais into the residual levy fund. A review is being undertaken to consider how this money can be spent effectively to benefit residual levy payers.
What is “The Bridge?”
This is our quarterly newsletter for TARA Committee members.
What meetings can I attend to get more involved?
- TARA meetings
- Sheltered Housing Group meetings
- Mystery Shopping
- Editorial Group
- City Wide Forum
- Tenant Participation Improvement Group
- Tenants Investment Working Group
- BME Forum
- BME Planning Group
- Area Investment Working Groups
- Decent Homes Project Groups
- Estate Walkabouts
- Annual Residents Conference / planning group
For further information on any of the above, please contact the Community Engagement Team on:
- 0114 293 0000, if you live in the North of the city.
- 0114 205 3333, if you live in the South of the city.
What is a Good Neighbour Agreement?
A Good Neighbour Agreement (GNA) is an agreement developed by local Tenants and Residents Associations, each tailoring their document to reflect the aims and aspirations of their own particular area. It is designed to complement the standard Conditions of Tenancy, with common sense principles, although it is non-enforceable. The documents are personalised to include clauses such as being considerate when lighting bonfires, driving carefully around the estates, and keeping communal areas clean and tidy.
What is a Good Trader Agreement?
This is a sister document to the Good Neighbour Agreement. It encourages traders in the area, including shops, supermarkets, doctors, dentists, libraries and petrol stations, to work together to improve the community. The traders are asked to sign a document which states that they will use the correct trade bins, keep their shop fronts clean and tidy, ensure that any age restricted products are not sold to juveniles, and to report any anti-social behaviour. Upon signing the document, the traders are given a large colourful sticker to display in their shop window or frontage.
Where can I find the “Get Involved” website?
By logging onto www.sheffieldhomes.org.uk/getting-involved
Can I claim expenses for attending meetings?
Sheffield Homes recognises the positive contribution that individual tenants and tenant representatives make to improving the housing service. Sheffield Homes will therefore pay expenses incurred when tenants attend meetings or events. The expenses that can be claimed are:
- Travel Expenses – bus / local rail / tram fares – tickets to be produced except where this is required for the return journey.
- Car mileage – 40p per mile with an additional 3 pence per mile per passenger will be paid to the driver who carries additional passengers to the meeting
- Taxi fares – these will be paid where the individual cannot use a car or public transport, or wish to attend a meeting that finishes late and may claim taxi fares for the return journey. A dated and numbered receipt must be provided.
- Carer / Support Expenses – this is a payment for someone to look after children or someone else cared for as a direct result of attending a meeting or event.
- Subsistence Expenses – this can include things such as overnight accommodation and a hospitality allowance where overnight stay is required.
The expenses policy was agreed as part of the Tenant Participation Agreement. Please refer to the Sheffield Homes Expenses Policy for further guidance or contact the Community Engagement Team on:
- 0114 293 0000, if you live in the North of the city.
- 0114 205 3333, if you live in the South of the city.
How can I get involved as a Local Board Member?
Local Board meetings are held bi-monthly. They are open to the public and details of future meetings are publicised in Area Housing Offices and also on the Sheffield Homes website. Members of the public may speak at the discretion of the Chair. Each Local Board consists of 11 members, 5 tenants, 4 independents and 2 council representatives. Elections are held for the tenant places on a regular basis. If you would like more information about becoming a tenant board member please contact the Governance Team on:
- 0114 293 0000, if you live in the North of the city.
- 0114 205 3333, if you live in the South of the city.
I’m a BME tenant – what’s available for me? / What support groups are available to other groups?
Sheffield Homes established a BME forum in September 2004. The primary role of the forum is to ensure the needs and views of BME tenants are clearly heard when developing and reviewing services provided by Sheffield Homes.A small group of BME tenants meet regularly with Sheffield Homes staff to plan the BME forums.
For details of the BME Forum and BME Planning Groups, please contact the Community Engagement Team on:
- 0114 293 0000, if you live in the North of the city.
- 0114 205 3333, if you live in the South of the city.
What is the Choices Not Barriers – Disabled Persons Monitoring and Scrutiny Group?
This group provides a forum for disabled people to contribute to housing policy. Arrangements are made to ensure that disabled people are able to participate.
What if I want to get involved in other issues, not just housing?
You can go along to your Area Panel meetings. These look to improve all services in local areas. To find out about meetings in your area, telephone:
- 0114 293 0000, if you live in the North of the city.
- 0114 205 3333, if you live in the South of the city.