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Eamon McGoldrick |
We need a new way to discover your opinions
The decision to close down the Federation of Islington Tenants’ Association (FITA) has caused a storm of protest. Here, Homes for Islington chief executive Eamon McGoldrick explains the reasons behind it
MANY of you will have read about the decision taken at the last meeting of the Homes for Islington board to absorb services provided by FITA.
This decision was taken following an efficiency review of our resident involvement services including those delivered by FITA. HFI (Homes for Islington) undertakes a complete review of its services at least every five years looking at value for money and quality of service for residents. These efficiency reviews look at every aspect of our service and look at the best practice being provided across the country.
The review found that only 50 per cent of residents have a tenants and residents’ association (TRA) in their area. Of the 50 per cent that do, only 38 per cent collect their annual grant, which suggests that many TRAs are not very active. There was also a lack of involvement from young people and black and minority ethnic residents.
We also looked at how other housing authorities supported residents and many did not have representative bodies for their TRAs, preferring to work directly with them.
FITA receive a grant of over £112,000 each year. This is a significant sum of public money and we have to justify that it is well spent and delivering maximum value for residents. Our review could only find limited evidence of the benefits provided by FITA.
We have also spoken to residents about the ways they would like to be consulted, and, whilst TRAs are an important part of this, many residents wanted others ways of engaging with us such as focus groups, surveys and mystery shopping.
A modern strategy for involving residents must be flexible and include a broad range of ways for residents to get involved. Just after Easter we will start a comprehensive consultation with TRAs and residents on the way forward. We will be looking to improve resident-involvement services and we also want to find new ways of making sure that TRAs still have an independent voice so that they can let the council and HFI know their views on the important issues that affect them.
It has been suggested that this decision could mean the end of TRAs.
I would like to reassure everyone that nothing could be further from the truth.
We value TRAs; we want to work closer with them and we want to see all residents have access to a well supported, active, vibrant TRA.
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