News Categories: Tenant Participation

Get to know your landlord

We want to get to know our residents a bit better. Therefore this April we’re running a series of ‘Get to know your landlord events’.

Come and say hello and enter a prize draw to win a £25 TESCO gift card and an Easter egg!

We will be providing information on:

  • Our tenant portal and what North Wales Housing offers digitally
  • The opportunities available at North Wales Housing
  • How to get involved and have your say

We will also be asking your views on what’s most important to you as tenant and what should be our priorities as a landlord.

For more information contact Iwan on [email protected] or 01492 563232.

Children’s Christmas Art Competition winners announced

We called on all our young tenants and asked them to enter our Christmas Art Competition.

What did Christmas mean to them? Creative juices have been flowing and the festive creations landed on our desks (not delivered by Santa unfortunately!).

The judges have been busy deliberating the artistic entries and have selected the winners.

  • Abbey Ellen Davies, aged 5, Y Gilan, Llysfaen
  • Mark Hodgson aged 7, Llain Cytir, Holyhead
  • Hellen Yesil aged 13, Maes Derw, Llandudno Junction
  • Denise Yesil aged 14, Maes Derw, Llandudno Junction
  • Shannon Mercer aged 16, Ffordd Bugail, Colwyn Bay

Iwan Evans, Tenant Participation Co-ordinator said:

“A big thank you to everyone who participated. The standard of entries were high and it’s been very enjoyable looking at all the artwork sent in. Congratulations to all the winners!”

Festive fun at first Christmas fair

North Wales Housing’s first Christmas Fair was a great success, raising over £740 for local charity St David’s Hospice.

Adults and children came along to enjoy the festive day at Tŷ Hapus Community Centre in Llandudno, taking the time to browse the many beautiful craft stalls and playing the many games on offer.

Santa and Elsa from Frozen also made a guest appearance and enjoyed talking to all the children about their long list for Santa!

Emma Williams, Chair of NWH Charity panel said:

“Thank you everyone who helped make the day happen; a lot of hard work went on behind the scenes. Thank you also to everyone who came along and spent their money! All the proceeds from the day will be going to St David’s Hospice, our charity for this year.”

Kathryn Morgan-Jones, St David’s Hospice: 

“I am absolutely delighted that the North Wales Housing’s first Christmas Fair was a great success. The many stalls with crafts, games and Christmas gifts attracted so many supporters and raised such an impressive sum for St David’s Hospice.”

“Having the support of the North Wales Housing makes an enormous difference, enabling us to help many more patients and families from Conwy, Gwynedd and Anglesey who are affected by advanced illnesses.”

“I look forward to continuing to support the North Wales Housing staff with their fundraising efforts and, on behalf of all the patients, families, volunteers and staff; I would like to extend a massive thank you.”

Resident group up for two awards at industry award

North Wales Housing resident group, the Residents’ Advisory Panel have been shortlisted for the Tenant Scrutiny category for this year’s TPAS Cymru Participation Awards.

Recognised as the “Oscars” of the Participation World, the annual TPAS Cymru Participation Awards celebrate community involvement in their neighbourhoods, recognising their hard work as well as sharing best practice across Wales.

Iwan Evans, Tenant Participation Co-ordinator, explains:

“I’m extremely proud of the panel for being shortlisted. They have grown from strength to strength since they were set up in 2013. We now have 9 members and they regularly actively contribute and shape services at North Wales Housing.”

North Wales Housing have also been shortlisted for the Digital First Project in the Improving Services category; an exciting ongoing project which aims to increase the number of services that they can offer tenants digitally and online in the future.

A number of the Panel members were part of this project, their involvement a crucial part of the projects success so far according to Brett Sadler, Assistant Director – Neighbourhoods and Project Manager: 

“I can honestly say that our Digital First project would not have been as successful without the involvement of four of the Residents’ Advisory Panel members on the Project Team; never afraid to voice their views, challenge the norm and suggest new ideas. They were a breath of fresh air.” 

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony that will take place on 14th July 2016 at Venue Cymru, Llandudno.

Satisfaction Survey winner revealed

Thank you everyone who took the time to complete our Tenant Satisfaction Survey in October to December 2015.

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Blundell from Bangor who won the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. Here’s a photo of Mr Blundell accepting the winning tablet from Iwan Evans, North Wales Housing Tenant Participation Co-ordinator.

The results of this survey, which will be shared to everyone soon, is essential help shape and improve the services offered by North Wales Housing. Thank you again everyone.

 

Attention residents aged 16-25!

Natural Resources Wales (formerly the Environment Agency) are currently running a flooding awareness project across North Wales.

The project is aimed at those between the ages of 16-15 with an interest in the environment and/or have had some direct or indirect experience of flooding.

They have two upcoming focus groups sessions to allow participants to provide their input on flooding awareness and how Natural Resources Wales could improve their services in this area.

Anyone who takes part in one of the 2 available sessions will receive a £40 Amazon voucher as a thank you for helping with the project. The two sessions are taking place:

  • Wednesday 24th February at Rhyl Community Fire Station (6pm – 7:30pm)
  • Thursday 3rd March at Llanrwst Business Centre (6pm – 7:30pm)

If you would like to register your interest please contact Iwan on 01492 563232 or [email protected]

The North Wales Housing Gardening competition!

**This competition has now closed**

Next Spring we will be launching our Gardening Competition, with some great prizes to be won.

The competition will be split into categories

  •  Best Garden
  •  Most improved garden Open to tenants who have improved their garden (before photos will be required)
  •  Best container garden Pots, baskets, window boxes etc.
  •  Best kept communal space/garden
  •  Best young tenant’s garden Class especially for tenants aged 18-25
  •  Children’s biggest and best sunflower For our tenant’s children who are under 12 years of age

If you are not a keen gardener you will be able to nominate a friend, relative or neighbour. All entrants must be tenants of North Wales Housing.

Entry forms will be available from next Spring and judging is estimated to take place in July 2016.

If you would like more information about the competition please contact Iwan Evans on 01492 563232 or [email protected]

Download Poster

Young Housing Network Recruitment event

Are you aged between 16 and 25? Do you have something to say about housing issues that affect young people? Would you be interested in working on a project with other young people to tackle these issues? If you do, then why not join our new Young Housing Network group? We will be meeting at Ty Hapus in Llandudno on Tuesday the 14th July at 5pm.

Don’t worry about getting there, we can help you with that.

Download flyer

If you’re interested, get in touch with Gemma on 07717 543198 or [email protected].

Going it alone – new board game mirrors real life issues facing young people

A brand new board game has been launched which highlights the realities of independent living for young people in North Wales. The game has been developed by young people who have had real life experience of the difficulties of independent living and homelessness.

The creation of the board game called ‘Going It Alone’, supported by North Wales Housing, Grŵp Cynefin, Cartrefi Conwy and the Bus Stop Project, stemmed from a leaflet that was made to help young people learn about life skills such as budget management and living costs.

The young people behind its development felt that the interactive nature of a board game would be a fun way of getting people to talk about the issues whilst at the same time learning about the realities of potential homelessness.

Bringing these issues to life, research was carried out and found that the interaction of playing a board game was more beneficial to young people than the more obvious route of creating a digital game.

Developed by the Young Housing Network, the game will be available for schools and community groups in Conwy and Denbighshire to access and use as a learning tool.

Gemma Closs-Davies, Youth Homelessness Project Co-ordinator explains:

Going it Alone is similar to the Monopoly board game in many ways. You travel around the board and interact depending on what scenario card you pick up. You have four pay days and four bill days throughout the game, and you need to manage your money to ensure you have enough to get you around the board.

Prior to the launch, we’ve tested the game at a number of pilot sessions, and we’ve had very positive feedback from young people and practitioners alike.

As the game has been developed by young people who have had real life experiences of these problems it includes realistic scenarios that can be used as discussion points. These events created within the game mirror what can happen in real life.”

Iwan Evans, Tenant Participation Co-ordinator at North Wales Housing, who’s been involved in the project said:

North Wales Housing is proud to be part of this project. Our tenants really enjoyed taking part, using their personal experience to help develop the game. We hope the board game will go on to benefit many young people. The young people involved, members of the Young Housing Network, are also developing a website that provides essential information to young people that are thinking about living independently.”

The game was launched at TAPE, Colwyn Bay where a giant floor game of the Going it Alone board game was unveiled.

If you require more information regarding the ‘Going it Alone’ board game, or for details of support for young people facing homelessness, contact Iwan Evans on 01492 563232.

The Young Housing Network are currently recruiting for new members and are meeting at Ty Hapus in Llandudno on Tuesday the 14th July at 5pm. Download flyer here

Big Win for BIG Community Voice Initiative

A community engagement initiative backed by three local housing associations has won a national ‘Tenant Participation’ Award, presented in Cardiff.

Cartrefi Conwy, Clwyd Alyn Housing Association and North Wales Housing Association have been working in partnership since May 2013, as part of the ‘Conwy Together’ Project and last week their Conwy BIG Community Voice initiative won the prestigious award for annual Tenant Participation covering the whole of Wales awarded by TPAS Cymru, the Tenant Participation and Advisory.

The ‘Conwy BIG Community Voice’ initiative is coordinated by Conwy Voluntary Services Council, (CVSC) and funded by Big Lottery Funding.

Under the scheme the three housing associations have worked together providing a wide variety of events and activities to creatively to engage residents with Conwy empowering them to have a great say on services and issues affecting their daily lives.

Events ranged from family fun days and silent-cinema events to a regular community a forum with a wide range of visiting speakers.

I really enjoyed meeting councillors and politicians at the forums – I think they were surprised how much we had to say!” said Anne Rothwell, a resident at Pentre Mawr in Abergele.

Mr S. (Mitch) Mitchell also praised the forum events, saying that the relaxed atmosphere really encouraged residents’ participation in discussions.

Iwan Evans, Tenant Participation Co-ordinator at North Wales Housing said:

North Wales Housing is extremely pleased that the project has won this important award. The project has undoubtedly been a success; it has been instrumental in ensuring hard to reach tenants a voice and opinion regarding public body activity and services. North Wales Housing tenants have enjoyed the many activities and found them useful.”

David Lloyd, Director of TPAS Cymru said:

Our annual Participation Awards give us an opportunity to recognise that tenant participation changes housing services and communities for the better. The awards provide a showcase for best practice across Wales in ensuring that tenants are at the heart of housing services. It’s been great to celebrate the achievements of participation and we’ve seen some inspiring and motivational winning entries once again this year.”