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Panel Achievements (Last 8 Sessions)

Thomas Broad welcomed the panel and highlighted their accomplishments over the past eight sessions, including:

• Visit to the Contact Centre: Panel members toured the contact centre to gain a better understanding of resident service operations.
• Mystery Shopping: The panel conducted "mystery shopping" exercises to assess the quality of resident interactions with council staff.
• DIY Video Suggestions: The panel proposed the creation of DIY video tutorials to empower residents with minor repair skills.
• Feedback to Head of Neighbourhoods: Extensive feedback was provided to the Head of Neighbourhoods on various resident concerns.
• Highlighting Repair Imperfections: The panel is actively engaged in improving the council's repair service.
• Testing New Online System: Residents participated in testing a new online system for improved efficiency.
• Text Message Updates: The panel advocated for increased use of text message updates to keep residents informed.
• Valuable Resident Input: Key figures within the council acknowledged the valuable insights provided by the resident panel.

Introducing the DMC (District Management Committee)

• Toyin, Chair of the DMC, introduced herself and explained the committee's role.
• DMC Responsibilities and functions: The District Management Committees (DMCs) meet four times a year to discuss local issues and housing committee reports. Once a year there is a joint meeting of all DMCs to discuss setting new rents. They also have funds available for residents’ groups to apply for. 

There are five DMCs:

• Camden Town
• Gospel Oak
• Hampstead
• Holborn
• Kentish Town

Understanding TRAs (Tenant and Resident Associations)

Toyin provided a clear breakdown of the roles of DMCs and TRAs:

• DMC Focus: DMCs address broader borough-wide issues and manage budgets allocated for resident-focused projects.
• TRA Focus: TRAs represent residents within specific estates, fostering communication and collaboration.
• Collaboration: TRAs collaborate with DMCs to bridge the gap between residents and the council.

Resident Participation

Toyin encouraged residents to join DMCs and TRAs to actively contribute to their communities.

Introducing the Good Life Project

Dom and his colleague presented the "Good Life Project" and Camden's well-being framework.

Good Life Framework:

• Focus: The framework emphasises safety, equality, and health as core principles for resident well-being.
• Community Building: The project aims to foster stronger communities through resident participation.
• Resident Input: A group of 20 residents actively contributed to developing the framework.

Request: The panel requested access to the Good Life Framework slides for future reference.

ASB Task Force – Beatrice McGuire

Beatrice presented on the Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Task Force, sparking a discussion on resident concerns.

Resident Queries:

• Policy Awareness: Residents sought information on how they would be informed about the new ASB policy.
• Policy Comparison: The difference between the new policy and the existing tenancy agreement was clarified.
• Resident Expectations: The panel outlined what residents could expect from the council when reporting ASB.
• Source of ASB: Residents inquired about the origin of ASB issues on estates.
• Education and Prevention: The importance of educating children about ASB from a young age was emphasised.
• Resident Input: The panel requested resident input to shape the ASB policy effectively.
• Mental Health Support: Residents inquired if the policy offered mental health support mechanisms.
• Estate Structure and Security: Discussions included the layout of estates, CCTV cameras, and parking concerns.

The Panel opened with a welcome and short presentation from the Mayor of Camden, Councillor Nazma Rahman. 

 Councillor Rahman spoke about her role as Mayor, how she was elected, and her chosen charities. After introductions, Panel Members had an opportunity to ask Councillor Rahman questions.

 The focus of the session was on the ‘Repairs Citizen Project’. Panel Members heard from Alice Black, Senior Project & Policy Officer, and Tony Castle, Head of Repairs & Operations, who gave an overview of their roles and an introduction to the project.

 The Repairs Citizen Project is a trial initiative developed by the Repairs and Policy teams. The idea is that Camden residents are supported to perform their own minor repairs and to help friends and neighbours. Camden would support residents to do this with funding, expertise and resources. This initiative is based on the belief that supporting residents to run some services that will be accessed by more people earlier and take pressure off council services. 

Housing Ombudsman

 Tony Castle, Head of Repairs & Operations, presented two recent complaint cases which had been escalated to the Housing Ombudsman Service.  This shows that the Housing Ombudsman have found maladministration on Camden’s part. Tony explained some of the details surrounding these cases, and we discussed where things went wrong, in each case as well as what actions Camden are putting in place, to ensure the same problems do not happen again.

We started off the new year with the 1st anniversary of the Housing & Property Residents Panel and celebrated in style with a fantastic cake from a local baker based in Camden. 

 The Panel has come a long way in its first year and has helped us take a more proactive approach, on many various topics relating to residents, their homes and the environment they live in.  

We are incredibly grateful to every member of the panel for sharing their take on these matters including issues relating to the cost of living.  This feedback included information on how we supported our residents through these challenging times.   

The information from the Panel, also provided by the panel, has helped us to come up with the idea of a ‘DIY tutorial video’ for repairs to show tenants, which repairs they are responsible for completing themselves.  It also explains how the enhanced repairs service works and what, if anything, it will hopefully achieve, going forward.   

Fire safety in the community, has also been addressed and based on the success and excellent engagement we’ve had throughout the first year of the Panel, we have increased the number of panel members and number of panel member sessions per year.  

Gillian Marston Executive Director of Supporting Communities

Gillian attended session 5 and gave a presentation about the work her team carry out regularly to help support communities. She covered the new “Neighbourhoods” scheme which is bringing together a range of departments across Camden council to develop working relationships between different teams so they can help each other support residents, including teams such as Green Spaces, welfare advice, caretakers, housing officers, mental health, community safety, housing repairs, social services and more. This will help create a seamless process for residents and make sure wires are not being crossed between Camden teams. Helping to build the community by listening to the residents of Camden and creating a stronger unit.

Another project underway within Gillian’s directorate is to include residents in budget allocation decisions, so they can decide where they wish to make improvements to the community and for them to have a voice on where the money is spent within different services that Camden council provide. All crucial and safety related work will continue to be funded, but this participatory approach to budget allocations will mean residents can have more of a say in what’s important to them around their homes.

Dominic Johnson Head of Resident & Building Safety

Dominic Johnson provided an overview on the work his team carries out post Grenfell and information on the idea of landscape works. He spoke about the building safety regulations and the new laws and how the regulator for social housing works. He spoke about the work we do as landlords to keep all residents safe.

Dominic Johnson spoke about the fire safety act and the new building safety bill. Dominic and the team have been focusing on the resident safety program which involves renewing residents fire safety door in Camden and carrying out annual front door inspections. He explained the challenges and how his team work to find solutions.

Residents Panel key views and ideas

During session 5, panel members discussed different aspects of feeling safe in their homes. They suggested different ideas which could help make residents safer including offering training to residents around fire safety. They discussed the role local resident groups can play including by facilitating local communication between residents, and how connecting people can improve safety.

The panel highlighted the importance of clearly communicating fire safety information, including making Fire Risk Assessments easily available, like at Camden.gov.uk/FRA, and how emergency exit plans could be displayed. They discussed the dangers of having flammable items stored in communal areas and especially along fire escape routes, as well as the critical importance of CCTV in keeping everyone as safe as possible.

Last month we had four members of the residents panel attend one of the council buildings to gain an insight into how the repairs team works. They looked at the statistics, how data is collected and how we deal with the complaints process.

The panel members provided great feedback and found the experience very useful in understanding the process.