Ways to get involved
Getting involved is not all about attending meetings. Take a look at the different levels of involvement that suit you best.
You can give your views without even leaving your home, you can join neighbours to benefit your community or you can help us make decisions affecting the area where you live.
Volunteering to get involved can be a rewarding experience with benefits to you and your community. You may also learn new skills, make friends and have fun!
Our
getting involved DVD gives a great introduction to the various ways you can help us improve the services we provide. Click
here for more information
You can also get more information by viewing our
getting involved leaflet. Click on the leaflet or
contact us for more information.
1. Getting involved at home
There are lots of ways you can get involved at home. Listed below are examples of how you can do this.
Homeview is a tenant mailing list register whereby tenants are sent information to give their views on new housing policies or answer short surveys from their own home. This enables tenants who have limited time or have difficulty leaving their home, the opportunity to become involved.
Youngview is the same as Homeview but for our 16 to 25 year old tenants. When we need the views of our younger tenants we will send short surveys to ask for your views to help improve our services and offer incentives as a thank you.
BME View is the same as Youngview and Homeview but for our black and minority ethnic (BME) tenants. We recognise that not everyone wants to attend events, but still want to give their views. BME View is a database of our BME customers who would like to be consulted through the post.
We may ask you your views about the service we provide over the telephone or through a survey.
- Make a suggestion or complaint
Tell us what we’ve got right and where we may have gone wrong. You can give your complaints, suggestions, comments and compliments. Click
here for more information.
2. Getting involved in your community
There are loads of ways you can get involved in your local community and help improve your estate. Listed below are examples of how you can do this.
- Set up a Tenants and Residents Association (TRA)
A TRA is a group of local people who get together to make a difference in their community. They campaign for better services, improvements to the environment and tenants' homes. Some also often organise activities and events that bring people closer together. A TRA can cover a specific estate, neighbourhood or sheltered housing scheme.
There’s lots of help and support to get new groups off the ground. Click
here for more information on TRAs and how to set one up.
Action groups are a group of local tenants and residents who meet when the need arises with housing staff, ward councillors and other relevant agencies (e.g. police, youth services) to share information, raise local issues of concern and work together to solve them.
- Attend an estate walkabout
Estate walkabouts are carried out throughout the year on all our estates. They are an opportunity for staff and tenants to inspect an estate to identify any improvements and to improve the appearance of the neighbourhood. If you’d like to come along, click
here for more information about our estate walkabouts.
- Be a ‘STARR’ for your estate (Single Tenant and Resident Representative)
In areas where we have been unable to establish a tenants and residents association, there may be a single tenant that is still interested in being involved. We have introduced our STARR scheme to enable just this!
We will work with you to resolve community-based issues and give full support and expenses. If you live on an estate of no more than 200 properties and you would like to be the STARR for your estate, then please get in touch.
3. Getting involved with the bigger picture
There are loads of ways you can get involved in helping us make decisions and improve services. Listed below are just a few examples.
- Tenant and Resident Associations Consultative Committee (TRACC)
The committee is made up of representatives from Tenant and Resident Associations throughout the borough and individual tenants who do not have an association in their area. They help to shape and improve services delivered by Six Town Housing in response to the needs of tenants and communities.
If you would like to attend TRACC meetings to talk about housing and community issues,
contact us.
- Becoming a Services Inspector to carry out mystery shopping
You could take part in 'mystery shopping exercises' which include carrying out spot checks on the services we provide. This can include visiting our housing office, making telephone call and visiting our estate. Click
here for more information (this will take you to Bury Council's website).
- Attending a Focus Group or Working Group
Focus groups bring together tenants and residents for discussion and to gather views and suggestions on specific housing topics. Over the last few years, a number of focus groups have been set up to cover different sections of the housing services.
- REACH Group (Resident Empowerment and Challenge)
REACH gives tenants the opportunity to challenge us on our performance and how we can improve and make our services even better. Click
here for more information on the work of REACH.
- Attend the Annual Customer Conference
Once a year we hold a conference for tenants and leaseholders, to give an overview of the past year at Six Town Housing and to find out the priorities for the coming year. Featured at the themed event are guest speakers, discussion workshops, exhibition stands, free goodies, lunch, refreshments and prize draws.
- Get on board - become a tenant member on Six Town Housing’s board
This is the highest level of involvement where tenants can contribute to the running and management of Six Town Housing. Click
here for more information on the work of our board.
- Join Bury's leaseholders' forum
The Bury Leaseholders’ Forum is an opportunity for all leaseholders in the borough to meet as a collective group and give their views on the services that affect them. Click
here for the leaseholder section of our website.
4. Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Talkabout Forum
The BME forum is a consultation event held twice a year for our BME tenants. Each forum concentrates on a specific topic highlighted as important to our BME customers.
The forum looks at and discusses how services are run, any proposed changes and most importantly, if any difficulties are faced in accessing our services.
Contact us for more information about the forum or if you would like to attend.
5. Involving our younger tenants
If you’re aged 16 to 25 and are a Six Town Housing tenant, leaseholder or member of a tenant household then there are lots of ways you can give your views on housing or community issues.
You can attend a snack 'n chat event where we chat about issues specific to our young tenants over a delicious snack! A £5 shopping voucher is also given to everyone who attends, as a thank you.
You can text us with any issues or questions to 07797 800 730.
Training courses are organised that will help tenants maintain their homes better and improve their lifestyle, for example gardening, healthy eating on a budget, basic DIY and parenting support.
Watch out for courses advertised on our website and 'News from Six'.
For more ways to get involved click on our poster.
Contact us for more information on how to get involved.
We are currently producing web pages for our young tenants which will be crammed packed full of useful information to help young people get a good start in life from managing your finances, how to report problems and much more. Watch this space!
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