Lewisham Tenants Fund

Planning a Black History Month event? A grant of up to £1,000 is available from Lewisham Council

Grants of up to £1000 available for Black History Month events!

Have an idea for an event that tells stories from the Black community?

📅 Apply by 11.59pm Sunday 18 August
🔗 https://ow.ly/JpTi50SBqgk

The latest annual Community Investment Fund was launched on 7th May, to support local resident groups and organisations in carrying out community projects that benefit Lewisham Council housing residents. Grants of up to £5000 are available for projects and engagement activities.

The closing date for applications is Monday, 29 July 2024.
https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/CIF2024applicationform/

For any questions or application advice, please email [email protected]

Lewisham Council Housing Services’ Community Investment Fund Application 2024 Please take a few minutes to take our survey.

Residents at the Vineries Sheltered Housing Scheme attending their Windrush event, sponsored by Lewisham Tenants Fund.

Live webinars from 17 June 2024 to 17 June 2024 Jun 17 How to make an effective complaint June 17 @ 14:30 – 16:00 This webinar will cover some of the different elements to think about when you have to make a complaint to your landlord. Book a place Free Read more

Engaging with tenants at the Lewisham Housing Services, independent housing summer fair at The Vineries today.

The first full week of the general election campaign has seen the sector gear up to talk about the need for a new approach to housing policy.

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation (NHF), set out the stall for housing associations with a powerful piece calling out “15 years of housing damage” and setting out the NHF’s calls for a 10-year, index-linked rent settlement.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, spoke about its campaign to tackle social housing stigma – and talking about the need to build 90,000 social homes a year. Shelter’s analysis of government data suggests that social tenants in England on average have to pay £828 less per month in rent than their counterparts in the private sector.

Shirley Henry Stearns (LTF Chair and Kender TRA Chair) together with Kevin Stearns (LTF Treasurer and Kender TRA Treasurer), worked alongside Peabody residents & students from Kender School

& ward Counsellors

To get Hatcham Gardens reinstated. The fabulous result shows what can be achieved when stakeholders work together.

LTF Director Kevin Stearns, supported by Lewisham Tenants Fund presents at the Community & Housing Investment Consortium (CHIC), workshop on People & Building Safety, on an important question for both landlords and residents - Can we now be sure our homes are safe for tenants and leaseholders?

Congratulations to the graduates of the Phoenix Academy, level 1 CIH course on Social Housing, whose training was sponsored by Lewisham Tenants Fund.

The academy qualification empowers residents to have an informed say through an in-depth education of how the housing sector operates.

Well done to the all graduates.

Our Service and Performance Panel is made up of involved tenants and leaseholders, and is part of Lewisham Council’s Resident Engagement Framework.
Chaired by Nigel Bowness, the panel met on 14 May and 6:30pm in the Civic Suite, Catford.
The focus was on:
- Updating residents on the progress of the Council’s self-referral to the Regulator of Social Housing.
- An overview of performance, including against the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs)
- Staffing and recruitment in the Council’s Housing Services directorate
- Resident engagement including building safety resident engagement

If you are a Lewisham Council resident or leaseholder and would like to know more about getting involved and influencing how the Housing Service is run, visit https://lewisham.gov.uk/get-involved

Applications for Lewisham Housing Services Community Projects Grant is now open.

Grants up to £5,000 for community projects in Lewisham!

Our Community Investment Fund is set up to help local community projects which benefit residents of our estates and social homes. Grants of up to £5,000 are available, funded by social value contributions from our major contractors.

👉Find out more and apply https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/CIF2024applicationform/

Heaps of useful information on the Four Million Homes website

• Guidance for residents – guidance section for people who are residents of all types of social housing.
• Newsletter - sign-up for their newsletter to find out more about training, events and news.
• Webinars – sign up for their upcoming webinars or watch past events including Anti-Social Behaviour and Damp and Mould. They are running two webinars in May – Service Charges, and New standards for social housing with the Head of Engagement from the Regulator.
• Training events – sign up for their upcoming face-to-face and online training events. There are 8 separate modules covering different aspects of resident engagement, from building skills and confidence, getting involved, and to resident ownership and control of homes and assets.

Lewisham Tenants Fund a member of TPAS since 2016.

The Housing Ombudsman Service is actively looking for residents to join their national resident panel. This is an exciting opportunity for residents to be involved in the development of their service.

Find out more by looking at the link below.
https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/residents/resident-panel/join-the-housing-ombudsman-resident-panel/

LTF is supporting Ewart Road Housing Co-Operative Ltd. to attend the annual National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations.

Training session - Social housing regulatory requirements
April 24 @ 13:15 – 16:30 Free to Social Housing Tenants

The session outlines the key areas of regulation that Registered Providers need to ensure they are compliant with. This will cover changes since the Social Housing (Regulation) Act becoming law and the new standards coming into place from April 2024

Under the new standards landlords need to:

ensure tenants are safe in their homes
listen to tenants’ complaints and respond promptly to put things right
be accountable to tenants and treat them with fairness and respect
know more about the condition of every home and the needs of the people who live in them
collect and use data effectively across a range of areas, including repairs
The session will cover:

The role of the Regulator of Social Housing and the Housing Ombudsman Service
The Regulatory Framework
The standards that landlords need to comply with
The Tenant Satisfaction Measures
Session is open to all social housing residents. Tea and cakes will be the provided and there’ll be lots of opportunity to network and share experiences.

A support person is welcome to attend the training with you if needed. Please just let us know via email when you receive the confirmation.

The venue is wheelchair accessible. No parking available.

Training session 8 - Social housing regulatory requirements - Four Million Homes This session outlines the key areas of the Regulatory Framework that Registered Providers need to ensure they are compliant with. It will include changes since the Social Housing (Regulation) Act becoming law and following the planned directions to the Regulator in the coming year.

The Housing Ombudsman opens applications for next Resident Panel

The Housing Ombudsman is inviting social housing residents to apply to join its Resident Panel and contribute to the work it is doing to improve residents’ lives through landlords’ services.

The case for addressing social housing stigma is already well-made and appreciated in the Housing Sector. It is not acceptable to treat tenants like a second-class citizen.
This survey is conducted by the Stop Social Housing Stigma (SSHS) Campaign, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), TPAS, Amanze Ejiogu (Sheffield Hallam University) and Mercy Denedo (Durham University Business School).

Please provide your input - take the survey

Stigma in Social Housing

It's there, and we're one of the organisations partnered with tenant volunteer group Stop Social Housing Stigma to research and tackle it.

We need the help of all housing providers, tenants, contractors and housing professionals to pledge to address social housing stigma locally and take part in this survey:
https://stopsocialhousingstigma.org/social-housing-stigma-survey/

Your help means we can have tools in place to foster effective policies, procedures and plans that address stigma.

Partnered with:

Sheffield Hallam University

Durham University

YD Consultants

Chartered Institute of Housing

Stop Social Housing Stigma

LTF staff are going

I've registered for Tenant and Resident Engagement Conference 2024, join me Book now

Residents at Whitehouse Independent Living Scheme were treated to a fun Elvis night, sponsored by LTF.

We would urge all our members to read carefully the consultation and proposals that have been shared today on reforms to social housing allocations.
This is our response to the consultation.

Access the full consultation here:
https://gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-reforms-to-social-housing-allocations/consultation-on-reforms-to-social-housing-allocations -information

Keep on top of your New Year resolutions!
Free seated exercises for seniors in the borough.
Interested? email [email protected]

Focus group on Awaab's Law - have your say!
The government is now seeking opinions on how this law will be implemented. Tpas England is seeking your thoughts on the governments proposals, to enable them to create a submission to the consultation.
Led by their Policy team, they will be running 2-focus groups on Thursday 15th Feb, one for housing staff and one for tenants. Your voice matters, so please sign up to a session and have your say on this vitally important law.
Staff session
https://www.tpas.org.uk/tpas-events/show/932
Tenant session
https://www.tpas.org.uk/tpas-events/show/933

Join our Focus groups to share your views on how the law will be implemented.

The government is now seeking opinions on how this law will be implemented. We want to know your thoughts on the governments proposals, to enable us to create a Tpas submission to the consultation.

Led by our Policy team, we will be running 2 focus groups on Thursday 15th Feb, one for housing staff and one for tenants. Your voice matters, so please sign up to a session and have your say on this vitally important law.

Staff session
https://www.tpas.org.uk/tpas-events/show/932

Tenant session
https://www.tpas.org.uk/tpas-events/show/933

Lunch at the Vineries Independent Housing, prepared by chef Leslie, whats not to like!
Open to residents of Independent Housing within the borough. Numbers are limited - pre-registration by the 15th January is essential email: [email protected].

Lunch - 17th January 2024, from 1pm.

Arts & Crafts Workshop, Wednesday, 17th January 2024 | 2-4 PM
at The Vineries, 9 Riverview Park, SE6 4PG

Interested? email [email protected]

This event is supported by LTF.