By engaging with residents you can
- increase environmental awareness
- help them to understand how to heat their homes efficiently and save money on fuels bills
- encourage more 'green' behaviours and foster a sense of community
- gain buy-in and support for your initiatives
- build trust and respect between you and your most important customer
How we can assist
Due to our unique and trusted position, particularly amongst affordable housing providers, we are often called upon to convene and facilitate dialogue between residents, staff and stakeholders. Most notably, Sustainable Homes is convening an extensive piece of engagement on behalf of Sanctuary Housing Group.
With 70,000 homes Sanctuary Housing Group is the largest housing association in England. We are developing Sanctuary’s sustainability strategy that will oversee how they manage their work over the next three to five years. To ensure maximum buy-in we have facilitated a six-month engagement process with Sanctuary’s staff, their residents and other key organisations with a vested interest in the future of Sanctuary. We use a variety of facilitation methods for gathering and prioritising ideas – these will inform the strategy – to reflect the different interests and nature of the different groups of people involved. The output from each workshop is captured in both transcribed and summary reports. Actions will be incorporated in the strategy.
We were commissioned by the Housing Corporation to research and produce a report of residents’ views of environmental housing & lifestyles: Green Voices and Choices. The research asked residents living in both standard and environmental housing to speak in-depth about their environmental concerns, and their likes or dislikes of the environmental features that they live with – or may live with in the future. This guide, based on the research, explores what residents really think and want from sustainable housing.
Other useful resources
Sustainable Community Initiative Toolkit
Community Planning Handbook
Resident engagement
Assembly Hall, Church House, Westminster, London
Tuesday, 15th June 2010
We are improving our homes. Do residents know how to use them? Are we engaging in a way that works?
How do our brains process the issue of climate change? See leading case studies. Hear national experts.
9 30: Arrivals and registration
10:00: Welcome – Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive, Homes and Communities Agency (to be invited)
Icebreaker – assessing our personal environmental impacts
Expert case study: engaging rural and urban communities in developing and implementing environmental action plans
Julie Robinson, Director, Blooming Green
Case Study – Resident experience of helping his association go green
Robin Feeley, Sustainability Manager, London and Quadrant and X X, Resident, London and Quadrant.
Workshop - What sort of engagement do residents want?
12:15: LUNCH
1:00: Resident engagement – Worthing Homes experience
Robin Roberts, Property Services Director, Worthing Homes XX, Resident, Worthing Homes
How our brains work – engaging on climate change
Tim Baster, Executive Director, Climate Outreach and Information Network
Workshop - Planning engagement, key messages
COFFEE
Best practise case studies clear dynamic communication - DVD,s pamphlet’s and engagement
4:00: CLOSE