Hi, I’m Tracy, your Involvement Officer. Welcome to your June edition of In Focus!
In this edition, you’ll find articles on our new WHQS (Wales Housing Quality Standard)videos; a smart technology in social housing workshop; a progress update on our Cadarn Scrutiny Team's review of service charges; tenant involvement in our self-evaluation; and a review of our community pop ups.
If you would like to get involved or have any enquiries relating to tenant involvement- please contact me at tracy.james@newydd.co.uk
To help raise awareness of WHQS (Wales Housing Quality Standard), Newydd and Cadwyn worked with 8 other members of LENS (Landlord Engagement Network South-Wales) namely Hafod, Bron Afon, Beacon, Cynon Taf, Vale Homes, V2C, CCHA and Trivallis, along with volunteer tenants and TPAS Cymru to produce a short series of animated videos. Thanks to Turnip Starfish for creating wonderful animations for us and to everyone who was part of this amazing collaboration!
To learn more about how WHQS and how it will benefit you and your home, click on the link below to watch the 4 videos- we hope you like them!
Click here to watch the videos.
In May, we hosted a creative workshop with the University of South Wales to explore the barriers to smart technology acceptance within social housing.
Our Digital Inclusion Team kicked off the session with demonstrations of smart technology devices, allowing the tenant participants to experience first-hand how these innovations could improve their living conditions.
A representative from the Welsh Government's Optimised Retrofit Programme (ORP) was present which provided a unique opportunity for tenants to share their experiences and insights. We also had representatives from Hafod, Bron Afon and TPAS Cymru.
The event offered a chance for tenants to connect and engage in creative activities and the insight gained has contributed to valuable research which will help shape the future of smart technology to better meet the needs of our communities.
Thank you to everyone who came along and made the event special!
The Cadarn Scrutiny Team’s review of service charges is now well underway. Their aim is to help us improve tenant satisfaction, service quality and delivery.
In May, the team met with managers from Newydd and Cadwyn to gather insight into the process and discuss the themes that had already been identified:
The team has now started drafting their report which when complete will be discussed with Senior Management Team before being shared with the Board. We will keep you updated on the changes that will be implemented to better serve you.
We were thrilled that TPAS Cymru recently invited to Jason Wroe, Cadarn Group’s Chief Executive and Amanda Lawrence, Chair of the Cadarn Scrutiny Team, to appear in a short film about regulation and our innovative work in tenant scrutiny and self-assessment! This video has since been shared as best practice on various social media platforms.
Click here to watch the video.
Many thanks to the 103 tenants who completed the recent survey on Community Pops. Congratulations to Hannah (Barry), Sian (Rhydyfelin) and Steve (Cowbridge) who won the prize draw and were each awarded a £25 gift voucher. We followed this up by holding an online focus group meeting to further discuss the survey findings and plan how we can improve future pop-up events.
In addition to the door knocking, tenant surveys, litter-picking and support referrals for employability, financial and digital inclusion, you told us that you would like us to:
Interestingly, nearly 50% of survey respondents expressed an interest in having a digital pop up i.e. where tenants receive an email or text. So, we are looking into this further as this would enable us to undertake more frequent check-ins with our tenants and resolve any issues they might have much quicker.
Our next pop up is at Magellan Close, Columbus Close and Clos Llawhaden on 1 July at 11.30am. We look forward visiting our tenants in this area.
