Crawley Homes’ Tenant Conference 2024 Did you know Crawley Homes held a tenants’ conference in Autumn 2024? Those who came gave us lots of feedback and ideas about many aspects of our service. Here is our summary of the event and how actions have been taken forwards. The conference workshops asked for views and opinions on new strategies, standards and proposed changes. They also provided information on performance, satisfaction and how we keep homes safe and healthy. Councillor Michael Jones, Leader of Crawley Borough Council, joined Crawley Homes’ senior staff for the Q&A panel, which answered a wide range of questions from the floor. Lunch provided an opportunity for informal discussions. Tenants felt able to speak up and share their views and found the whole day enjoyable, interesting and informative. Colleagues from our contractors Mears, Wates and Liberty Gas, were also part of this successful day.
“Residents posed lots of great questions during our Q&A panel session. Good to have more informal discussions with residents over lunch too. A great day had by all.” Some of your feedback on the event: ‘Very informative and rather an eye opener’ ‘I felt I was able to speak up and was able to say what I needed to and found it interesting listening to other people and the speakers too’ ‘Excellent - really enlightening very pleased that I came and stayed to the end - Thank you all’ ‘This was so helpful to me – I feel like I have been heard and I enjoyed joining in’ Here are summaries of the workshops on the day:
Workshop one: your views on how we consult you A quick trip through our proposed Resident Engagement Strategy. How would you like to influence decisions? What should we be doing? Meetings, surveys, online, face to face? Hear about a range of ways to get involved and tell us what you prefer. What we heard: Participants identified several key actions for improving engagement. Increasing diversity and understanding different communities was a primary concern, as was ensuring that all voices are heard. Some residents expressed frustration at encountering barriers when trying to improve their local areas, while others felt their concerns were overlooked.
Amanda Kendall said: “We had a great turnout and some really insightful information was gathered during the series of workshops. It was great to engage with residents, some difficult conversations were had, but also some amazing feedback.
Acknowledging that not all residents use social media or digital methods of engagement, attendees suggested the introduction of a comprehensive newsletter covering boroughwide engagement activities. They also recommended better communication about upcoming events, greater representation through local residents’ groups, and