
We welcomed six residents to our support services office in Seaford on Wednesday 29 January for the first meeting of our residents’ sounding board.
The sounding board is an opportunity for residents to feedback, discuss, scrutinise and shape our housing service to leaseholders and tenants. Any resident can be involved, as much or a little as they would like to be. The main group will meet twice a year to discuss key projects and some residents may get involved in smaller projects depending on their interest.
What was discussed?
At the meeting residents led an open discussion about what they like about living in sheltered housing, as well as what they think is missing, or they would like to see included in the service.
How can residents get involved?
The sounding board discussed opportunities to get involved in the future including;
Reviewing our performance in key areas
Contract monitoring
Reviewing key policies and strategies
Updating the Resident Engagement Strategy
Being part of an editorial group for scheme newsletters
What did residents think about the meeting?
Ken Bentall, a leaseholder from Bourne Court in Hastings attended along with his wife Sandra and said: “It was a relaxed meeting style and everyone was interested in everything everyone said. The beautiful thing was everyone contributed to the meeting and their voices were heard. It's encouraging to be asked for an opinion.
I'm interested in helping to procure and monitor contracts and overall management. Sussex Housing & Care are offering me the opportunity to bring back some of my work experiences despite being retired, for which I'm very grateful.”
Sandra Bentall said: “The sounding board was well conducted, it was well planned and everyone was respectful of each other. I'm interested in the contract monitoring and will help in any way I can with the newsletter.”
Chris Naylor-Smith, a tenant from Nevill Court in Crowborough said: “I think it was a very constructive meeting and was a good idea that people from many schemes can get together. We will have face to face meetings again and also video calls which is marvelous for me.
I think it's important to have resident involvement because things develop so much better. We see and experience things that managers can't, and we can help shape the service. There are lots of little things that are important to us that aren't so obvious to others, and we can help communicate these.”
How can residents get involved?
Carl Lewis, Head of Housing said: “Thank you to everyone who came along to our first sounding board. We’re keen to develop opportunities for residents to get involved and encourage you to get in touch if you have any spare time and are interested in developing our service. Residents can participate in virtual or face to face meetings, reviewing documents, answering surveys, whatever their preference, there’s something for everyone!”
Ken Bentall shared a message to residents who may be interested in joining the sounding board: “If you're thinking about taking part, I'd say don't be afraid to volunteer for things like this because your voice will be heard. You're welcome to disagree and challenge perspectives. You can't be right or wrong, you can't pass and you can't fail! The idea is to have an exchange of opinions and ideas!”
If you are a resident of Sussex Housing & Care and are interested to find out more about the sounding board please contact your scheme manager for more information or email Emily Oliver, Resident Engagement Officer on Emily.oliver@sussexhousing.org.uk