Connecting with our communities

Our goal through our events is to create neighbourhoods that are more inclusive, sustainable, and empowered to talk to us about their issues, so that we can bring change to all our residents.

By the end of this year, we will have completed 20 resident engagement events including drop–in sessions, Resident Voice Panels and community days, as well as attending external events held in our community. We will have also completed 22 estate inspections which you can read about on pages 24 – 25. Between April and September of this year, we also asked you to take part in voting on five community investment grant applications via The Place and invited you to get involved with our anti-social behaviour consultation and sustainability survey.

Here is some of the feedback from our residents who attended some of our events:

“At the last event, I raised issues with trees, and it was actioned straight away, and I am very grateful for this.”
“I am very happy an evening event was put on, so I was able to attend.”
“It was great to be able to discuss issues face to face.”
“It is so great to be able to talk with different teams, saves my time having to ring up and try and find the best person to speak to!”
“Thank you for putting on this event; the children enjoyed growing and looking after their sunflowers and we hope it comes back next year!”
“It is so lovely to be able to put faces to names!”
“It is great to see a housing association putting on free activities for the children over the summer holidays.”

What are our plans for next year?

Next year, we are looking at bringing you much of the same as this year, however we really want to understand how you want to be involved with us.

We’ve made lots of changes over the last few years, including listening to your views through surveys, complaints, feedback, and increasing the number of events we do in your communities.

To make sure we focus on what really matters to you moving forward, we are asking you to complete our engagement survey which you can find at the end of this article.

The aim of this survey is to find out how you want to get involved providing feedback on our services and what more we need to do to make sure your voices are heard.

We are also using the opportunity to ask you about ways we can improve our community investment grant, which you can find out more about on our website.

If you complete the survey, you will be in with a chance to win a £250 supermarket voucher of your choice, just in time for Christmas. We will review all the feedback and share our new plans in spring 2025.

Step 1 of 2 – Having your voice heard

How do you prefer to contact us?

Face to Face

In your own home

At an event

Visit to our office

On the phone

Via email

Via online platforms (our website, social media etc)

Other

How do you want to share your views?

Resident focus groups

Attending an event

Completing a survey

Voting in a poll

Being a champion in your community

I don’t want to share my views

Please tick as many of you feel relevant.

If there is another way you would like to share your views let us know here.

Do you feel listened to when you raise something with us?

Yes

Please let us know why.

On a scale of 1 – 10 (1 being not very important and 10 being very important) how important is it that we take your views into account to shape services and events?

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

Who do you think is best to give feedback on one of our services?

Anyone who works at Havebury

Someone who has recent used or accessed the service

Someone independent (an auditor or scrutiny panel)

Other services that interact with Havebury (contractors, partners etc)

No one

Please tick as many of you feel relevant.

We currently have several ways that residents can share their views as part of formal groups, this includes being a member of our Complaints Panel or attending a Resident Voice Panel (RVP). Thinking about these, do you think they should:

Have formal requirements with a specific length of time someone can be part of the panel.

Be based on experience and exposure to the service being discussed (for example someone who has made a recent complaint, reported anti-social behaviour or a new repair).

Have a larger group of interested residents who ‘rotate’ based on the topic or subject matter.

A mixture of the above.

Please tick as many of you feel relevant.

Anything else? Please let us know in the box below.

Would you be interested in joining one of our Boards/Committees/Academy?

Yes

if you answer yes, a member of our Engagement team will be in touch to discuss this with you further.

Do you think formal engagement should be incentivised (in the form of vouchers) for time spent working with us?

Yes

Other

Is there anything you would like to tell us that could shape how we communicate and update you on things that are relevant to you and your home?

Engaging with your community

Our community investment grant (CIG) is a £50,000 pot that is renewed annually, where applications for up to £5,000 per project are voted on by the community for approval. It is currently intended for community improvements, which has included projects such as; providing a defibrillator for a local village, a disabled toilet for a local library and equipment for a food bank.

What is important to you in your community?

Community hubs or spaces

Foodbanks

Safety and security (neighbourhood watch schemes)

Community activities/things to do

Youth groups, cadets, scouts/guides etc

Support groups

Access to pre-school, childcare or education

Other (please give details in the box below)

Please tick as many of you feel relevant.

Other

What is missing from your community that one of our grants could help with? Or are there any community groups you are already a part of that you would like to tell us about?

How would you like to vote on what CIG applications we should award funding to?

On our website

On social media

Via text message or email

Other

Thinking about your community, what do you see as the priorities we should focus on immediately

Thinking about your community, what do you see as the priorities we should focus on in the next 12 months

Thinking about your community, what do you see as the priorities we should focus on in the future (next 3 – 5 years)

Name

First

Last

Address

Street Address

Address Line 2

Town

County

Post code

/* = 0;if(!is_postback){return;}var form_content = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘#gform_wrapper_127’);var is_confirmation = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘#gform_confirmation_wrapper_127’).length > 0;var is_redirect = contents.indexOf(‘gformRedirect(){‘) >= 0;var is_form = form_content.length > 0 && ! is_redirect && ! is_confirmation;var mt = parseInt(jQuery(‘html’).css(‘margin-top’), 10) + parseInt(jQuery(‘body’).css(‘margin-top’), 10) + 100;if(is_form){jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_127’).html(form_content.html());if(form_content.hasClass(‘gform_validation_error’)){jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_127’).addClass(‘gform_validation_error’);} else {jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_127’).removeClass(‘gform_validation_error’);}setTimeout( function() { /* delay the scroll by 50 milliseconds to fix a bug in chrome */ jQuery(document).scrollTop(jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_127’).offset().top – mt); }, 50 );if(window[‘gformInitDatepicker’]) {gformInitDatepicker();}if(window[‘gformInitPriceFields’]) {gformInitPriceFields();}var current_page = jQuery(‘#gform_source_page_number_127’).val();gformInitSpinner( 127, ‘https://www.havebury.com/wp-content/plugins/gravityforms/images/spinner.svg’, true );jQuery(document).trigger(‘gform_page_loaded’, [127, current_page]);window[‘gf_submitting_127’] = false;}else if(!is_redirect){var confirmation_content = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘.GF_AJAX_POSTBACK’).html();if(!confirmation_content){confirmation_content = contents;}jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_127’).replaceWith(confirmation_content);jQuery(document).scrollTop(jQuery(‘#gf_127’).offset().top – mt);jQuery(document).trigger(‘gform_confirmation_loaded’, [127]);window[‘gf_submitting_127’] = false;wp.a11y.speak(jQuery(‘#gform_confirmation_message_127’).text());}else{jQuery(‘#gform_127’).append(contents);if(window[‘gformRedirect’]) {gformRedirect();}}jQuery(document).trigger(“gform_pre_post_render”, [{ formId: “127”, currentPage: “current_page”, abort: function() { this.preventDefault(); } }]); if (event && event.defaultPrevented) { return; } const gformWrapperDiv = document.getElementById( “gform_wrapper_127” ); if ( gformWrapperDiv ) { const visibilitySpan = document.createElement( “span” ); visibilitySpan.id = “gform_visibility_test_127”; gformWrapperDiv.insertAdjacentElement( “afterend”, visibilitySpan ); } const visibilityTestDiv = document.getElementById( “gform_visibility_test_127” ); let postRenderFired = false; function triggerPostRender() { if ( postRenderFired ) { return; } postRenderFired = true; jQuery( document ).trigger( ‘gform_post_render’, [127, current_page] ); gform.utils.trigger( { event: ‘gform/postRender’, native: false, data: { formId: 127, currentPage: current_page } } ); if ( visibilityTestDiv ) { visibilityTestDiv.parentNode.removeChild( visibilityTestDiv ); } } function debounce( func, wait, immediate ) { var timeout; return function() { var context = this, args = arguments; var later = function() { timeout = null; if ( !immediate ) func.apply( context, args ); }; var callNow = immediate && !timeout; clearTimeout( timeout ); timeout = setTimeout( later, wait ); if ( callNow ) func.apply( context, args ); }; } const debouncedTriggerPostRender = debounce( function() { triggerPostRender(); }, 200 ); if ( visibilityTestDiv && visibilityTestDiv.offsetParent === null ) { const observer = new MutationObserver( ( mutations ) => { mutations.forEach( ( mutation ) => { if ( mutation.type === ‘attributes’ && visibilityTestDiv.offsetParent !== null ) { debouncedTriggerPostRender(); observer.disconnect(); } }); }); observer.observe( document.body, { attributes: true, childList: false, subtree: true, attributeFilter: [ ‘style’, ‘class’ ], }); } else { triggerPostRender(); } } );} );
/* ]]> */

The post Connecting with our communities appeared first on Havebury Housing.

Procurement Agency for Essex

PAE seeks to establish a collaborative approach to category management, procurement and supplier relationship development across the Essex public sector.

Connecting with our communities

What are our plans for next year?

Engaging with your community