Agenda item

The Committee will receive a report and be given a presentation by a representative from the Tenants’ Panel.The purpose of the report is to provide the committee with a report direct from the Tenants Panel on their actions and achievements during 2020/21 and to share their future plans for 2021/22.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Committee:

i. review this report and agree any observations or comments it wishes to pass

to the Executive, and

ii. ask the Tenants Panel to share a progress report at the November Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee. 

The Chairman of the Tenants’ Panel, Terry Daubney, reported to the Committee regarding this agenda item.  He said that the group had learnt new ways to keep in touch and had been using Zoom for panel social meetings and engagement events.  The Panel had raised issues with the housing management team and helped with neighbour disputes and antisocial behaviour.  The Panel had its first Zoom AGM last year.  The Panel had met with Waverley’s Senior Living Team and had carried out an evaluation of what they had done during the Covid -19 pandemic, looking at what had gone well and so on.  The group wanted to return to face-to-face meetings when it could. 

The group noted and welcomed The Charter for Social Housing Residents - Social Housing White Paper which communicated the clear standards of what tenants could expect from their landlord with a focus on hearing tenants’ voices.  The Tenants’ Panel needed to provide tenants with the tools to be better able to influence Waverley Housing Polices.  It was emphasised that everybody had a right to mutual respect.

Tenants’ Panel Member Gillian Martin stated that Terry Daubney had been a very encouraging Chairman and encouraged other tenants to get more involved.  Younger tenants were getting involved with the Panel, including those with young families.

Councillors congratulated the Chairman of the Tenants’ Panel stating that there had been a great improvement in communication and that criticism from the Tenants’ Panel was always constructive and they were helpful and positive.  The Head of Housing Operations also thanked the Tenants’ Panel for all that they did.

Tenants Panel Chairman Terry Daubney stated that there was a new national residents panel for the Housing Ombudsman Service and two panel members had applied to join.  There was limited information about it so far.  There was a discussion around the fact that for some tenants, lack of access to technology had prevented their participation in the panel up to that point.  There was also a discussion of when there should be a review of Covid policies, just in case of another lockdown.

It was also stated that the Government had set out Covid regulations for care homes but not Senior Living Accommodation where residents are independent and some people had been isolated for months and as a result they were at risk of mental health issues such as loneliness and depression.  The committee wondered how these people could be able to socialise more.   It was stated that the people living in Senior Living Accommodation in Cranleigh had been encouraged to use digital services.  It was also stated that the Community and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee were going to look at the wellbeing of elderly people. 

RESOLVED

To highlight the committee’s concerns regarding the isolation of elderly people to the Community and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The committee endorsed the comments by the Chairman of the Tenants’ Panel.

The Chairman of the Tenants’ Panel would report to the committee again at its November 2021 meeting.