Empowering Communities Annual Report 2021-22

2022 | SUPPORTING COMMUNITIES

introduction

CHAIR'S REMARKS I’m delighted to present the fourth annual report for our social enterprise, Empowering Communities.

Empowering Communities is the trading subsidiary of Supporting Communities, an independent charitable organisation that has worked for more than 40 years to equip tenants and communities in Northern Ireland with the means to have a voice in their housing and other local services.

Established in 2017, Empowering Communities works with housing providers, large and small, who want to enhance their tenant engagement and implement effective tenant participation practices.

During the past few years, Empowering Communities has made significant strides towards establishing itself as the ‘go-to’ tenant participation expert for housing associations across Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland.

We have a proven track record of effective tenant/community engagement, delivered by an experienced, highly skilled and dedicated staff team.

After the uncertainty of the pandemic years, it is great to see that our membership is growing. We now have 20 organisational members.

We continue to show signs of recovery in terms of both existing work orders and new opportunities to tender for larger contracts which bodes well for our future.

Our directors and staff intend to be out and about as much as possible attending conferences and networking, advocating on behalf of the company, building relationships with new potential customers and consolidating our work with existing ones.

I hope you enjoy a flavour of what has been happening this past year!

Paul Armstrong, Chair, Empowering Communities Board

2020-21 ANNUAL REPORT

quick glance

NUMBERS & STATISTICS Our membership has grown this year from 17 to 20 housing providers. 16 out of the 20 housing associations in Northern Ireland are now members, and we now count four of those from the Republic of Ireland in our ranks as well.

We delivered training to a total of 238 participants (105 staff, 121 tenants and 12 board members of housing associations) across the island of Ireland and earned a 99% satisfaction rate. Twenty-five of these participants achieved an OCNNI qualification with us.

This year we rolled out an important new service to housing providers in Northern Ireland: Tenant Participation Accreditation. The award recognises landlords that demonstrate excellence in tenant participation and provides an indepth assessment of engagement practices and activities.

Radius Housing was the first to go through the accreditation process in 2021 earning a silver-level award in August. Several other housing associations in NI and RoI are commencing the process in 2022/23, and we are pleased to see that even more have included this as an explicit business objective within their Strategic Plans for coming years.

20

member organisations

99%

training satisfaction rate

238

participants received training

25

gained an OCN qualification

1

TP Accreditation awarded

It’s nice to know I’m part of something that makes a difference in people’s housing and in their lives.

It’s not just about giving someone a house. It’s about their needs and wants and helping communities get along.

It’s really good!"

- tenant participant

2021-2022 ANNUAL REPORT

our member's network

TPPN The Tenant Participation Practitioners' Network provides an opportunity for staff involved in tenant engagement work to come together to share good practice.

The group meets quarterly, and the membership’s needs drive their agenda. The group’s membership has grown since last year, with TP staff from AHBs in RoI becoming involved. Online meetings have enabled increased attendance from across the island.

“It is invaluable to our residents across all associations to have a strong support network of professionals sharing information and best practice.”

- member from Fold Housing Ireland

We continue to provide online networking and resourcesharing opportunities for member staff to help one another alongside regular meetings.

#nextleveltp

BLOG SERIES Our blog series continued the theme of taking tenant participation in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to the next level.

We featured articles from our in-house experts, noted guest bloggers such as John Hannigan and residents from Circle VHA, and a blog from The Housing Agency’s Alex Dowdall.

We are grateful to everyone who shared their thoughts, experiences and words of wisdom with us as we advanced the cause of tenant participation.

Read all of this year's #NextLevelTP blogs on our new website.

2021-2022 ANNUAL REPORT

new products

TP ACCREDIATION Radius has become the first housing association in Northern Ireland to achieve the Tenant Participation Standards Accreditation from Supporting Communities.

The TP Standards are ten criteria for tenant involvement that an organisation must meet to become accredited.

Accreditation is awarded at three levels based on the Scottish model and adapted for Northern Ireland by Supporting Communities.

We led a robust assessment of Radius’ tenant participation work to date,

highlighting good practice and making suggestions for improvement in areas.

An independent panel then individually rated the standards against a set of competencies before collectively discussing their findings and awarding an overall rating of Sliver Level 2. A remarkable achievement straight out of the gate!

working with others

NEW PARTNERSHIPS We're thrilled to be expanding our reach into the Republic of Ireland. In addition to Circle VHA, Tuath, Fold Ireland and Cluid have joined our membership.

We have also continued our relationship with The Housing Agency, an Irish government body overseeing the delivery of housing and housing services in the RoI. The Housing Agency approached Empowering Communities in 2021 to work in partnership to raise awareness of tenant engagement with social landlords via the delivery of three

online workshops which were attended by 131 participants.

We plan to repeat this success in 2022/23 with a further series of workshops that will be delivered to both AHB and Local Authority (Council) housing staff.

2021-2022 ANNUAL REPORT

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR MEMBERS FOR YOUR SUPPORT Alpha Housing (NI) Ltd Apex Housing Association ArbourHousing Association Ark Housing Association Choice Housing Circle VHA Clanmil Housing Association Cluid Housing Connswater Homes Craigowen Housing Association Extern Homes

Fold Ireland Housing Grove Housing Association Habinteg Housing Association NB Housing Newington Housing Association Radius Housing Association Rural Housing Association St Matthews Housing Association Tuath Housing Association

Siobhán ONeill with tenants from Circle VHA at the launch of their Tenant Engagement Strategy.

Contact Siobhán ONeill Tenant Participation and Community Engagement Officer siobhan@supportingcommunities.org 078 4084 9463

@SiobhnONeill1

www.tpsupport.org