Update from the Engagement Panel meeting on 18 March 2025. The next meeting is on 16 April 2025.

Housing Officer Overview

Marie Luigi, Housing Officer for over 20 years, came to the Panel to share about her work at Brighter Places, including the variety of tasks and the challenges her team encounters daily. Six housing officers each work individually on a patch of 600 properties. She recognised more capacity is needed. Multiple panel members shared how difficult it is to speak with or hear back from their housing officer. The website, described as “impenetrable”, could be redesigned so it helps any residents to easily and clearly understand who to contact depending on their requests. Sara Bennett, Head of Housing, highlighted that a recent restructure will help redistribute tasks across teams, such as Customer Service and ASB teams, and allocate resources where needed.

Feedback from NHF conference

Pete Kennedy-Watson, Panel Chair, attended a day conference organised by the National Housing Federation (NHF) in February. It focused on Customer Experience and Resident Engagement. One of his highlights was how transparency was emphasised throughout the sessions.

Other main takeaways Pete shared from the conference were:

• Home is the foundation of our lives, and housing associations must see residents as experts.
• The lessons from Grenfell and Rochdale were clear: Residents need to be heard and given the opportunity to challenge decisions.
• Housing associations must not hide bad news, especially regarding home maintenance. Good data is also essential to better understand customers’ needs, considering EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) and cultural differences.
• Resident panels should not be seen as a tick-box exercise. They should be empowered to influence policy and feel safe to agree and disagree. The customer must remain at the heart of the organisation.

Town hall: next steps

We returned to our idea of organising an online ‘Town hall’ event. We agreed this will require time to do and we will dedicate the next meeting for brainstorming on the format. We also discussed what could be the best approach to get the message out, invite residents and stay cost-efficient.

Danielle Jones, Senior Customer Engagement Officer, shared that she was moving from Engagement to Complaints/Feedback. Panel members wished her the best in her new role and expressed gratitude for all the work she has done with the Panel since its creation.

If any Brighter Places resident is interested in the panel meetings and would like to attend a meeting as an observer, please email the Engagement team at engagement@brighterplaces.co.uk. All residents are welcome.

Mike Sheppard – Panel Member