Tenant Participation Arrangements in Dundee City Council's Housing Service

What is tenant participation?

Tenant participation is about tenants and their representatives taking part in decision taking processes and influencing decisions about housing conditions and housing and housing related services. It is a two way process which involves the sharing of information, ideas and power.

We are committed to supporting and encouraging tenants and their representatives to participate effectively in every key aspect of our housing service.

This part of the web page summarises the arrangements we have put in place to put this commitment into practice.

Our Tenant Participation and Consultation Strategies, which were drawn up together with Dundee Federation of Tenant Associations, describes these arrangements in detail. Copies of the Strategy are available free of charge from the East District Housing Office, 169 Pitkerro Road, Dundee, DD4 8ES, Tel 01382 307291. These strategies can also be downloaded from this website

Resources for tenant participation

We recognise that tenants and tenant organisations need resources to help them participate effectively.

The resources we provide come in three forms:

Financial
Support and advice from tenant participation staff
Advice from independent housing advisers

We reassess how these resources should be used together with tenants' groups on an annual basis.

Sharing information with tenants

We want communications between tenants, councillors and officers to be as productive as possible. The following are the key standards which we have adopted to make sure this happens.

When a tenant or tenant group writes to the housing department a full reply will be given within 10 working days
If this proves impractical an explanation will be given within 5 working days
All replies will name the person who is dealing with the enquiry
All replies will be in clear every day language
We will keep tenants groups up-to-date with council business. For example Dundee Federation of Tenants' Associations will be provided with copies of Housing Committee reports and minutes.
These are also available at no cost to every tenant on request

Consulting with tenants

We have put in place a number of practical arrangements designed to allow every tenant and tenant group to have a say in how the housing service should be delivered and in establishing expenditure priorities. These arrangements, which are outlined below, cover the 3 key areas of the service

Repairs and improvements
Day to day services
Policy development

Repairs and Improvements

We meet with Dundee Federation of Tenant Associations/local tenant organisations each year to discuss and reach agreement on what repair/improvement projects should be implemented in the forthcoming year and what kind of participation arrangements should apply to each project.

Once a project has been identified tenants' groups have the opportunity to influence how tenants affected by the project will be given information about matters such as:

What the work entails
The level of disruption that can be expected
Start completion dates
Contract arrangements

Day to Day Services

We meet with local tenant organisations each year to discuss and to reach agreement on any proposed significant changes to day to day services, such as rent collection and maintenance of communal areas, which will affect tenants across the city and or their area of operation

Housing Policies

We meet with tenants' groups each year to discuss and agree what policies need to be developed or reviewed through out the coming year to take forward the council's aim of securing the best quality housing for people in Dundee.

We also recognise that in a limited number of complex policy areas tenants may require expert advice from an independent source.

In the case of policy development involving the possibility of transfer of stock to another social landlord, we would as a matter of course ensure that tenants had access to independent advice.

How tenant participation arrangements will be monitored

We want to be sure that the participation arrangements we have put in place are as successful as possible. We make sure this happens by monitoring them every year together with Dundee Federation of Tenant Organisations/local tenant organisations. Account would also be taken of the results of customer satisfaction surveys which we issue on a regular basis to several thousand tenants.

The tenant participation action plan

The services we intend to provide and the actions we propose to take to deal with the many housing challenges facing us are set out in the following plans.

Housing Services Plan
This plan describes the level of performance we aim to achieve in key services (e.g. rent collection) and for major projects (e.g. installation of central heating)

Section Action Plans
These plans describe the actions which each section within the department proposes to take during the forthcoming year to implement the department's aims and objectives. They are drawn up together with tenants' groups.

The housing department meets with the Dundee Federation of Tenants' Associations/tenant organisations twice a year to discuss what should be the main objectives and priorities for these plans for the forthcoming year and review performance on the current year's plans.

Rent setting

Implications on rent levels of the various proposals being developed through the action planning process begin to emerge in the second part of the year.

During October/November all tenants are given notice, through the Housing News, the services annual performance report on the following:

Where and when they can obtain sufficient information to be able to express an informed opinion on what the rent levels should be
They should submit their views on what the rent levels should be

Meetings between tenants representatives, councillors and officers

Representatives of tenants' groups meet every 3months with senior councillors and officers to discuss issues which are of concern to tenants.

Councillor's Surgeries

All elected members, including members of the housing committee have regular 'surgeries' which any tenant can go along to.

Equal opportunities

The council has in place an equal opportunities policy which applies to all departments.

In the specific field of participation we:

Promote and encourage the full and active involvement of all citizens in tenant participation and tenant organisations
Not support or recognise any tenant organisation which operates discriminatory practises
Support and advise any tenant who encounters barriers arising from ethnicity special needs language difficulties age sexual orientation or disability
Provide on request through the council's translation service, translations of all documents produced by the housing department, subject to the requirements of confidentiality and the council's standing orders
Promote good practice amongst housing staff by ensuring that there is training arrangements in place covering a range of equal opportunity issues

'Customer Satisfaction' Surveys

Every year we will issue 'customer satisfaction' surveys. We will ask a representative sample of tenants and all RTO'S to give their views on all the key services.

Getting involved

If you want to get involved in participating in any of our participation activities please contact:

Barrie Rutherford, Housing Department
Quality and Performance Unit, Tenant Participation Team
East District Housing Office, 169 Pitkerro Road
Dundee DD4 8ES
Tel: 01382 307291
Email: barrie.rutherford@dundeecity.gov.uk

or Mary Smith
Dundee Federation of Tenants' Associations
10 Constitution Road
Dundee DD1 1LL
Tel: 01382 305718
Email:dfta@number10.org
or visit their web page: dfta.co.uk

This information is provided by the Housing Department