5 Lister Court
Halifax
HX1 5DR
01422 365281
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5 Lister Court |
The Federation is engaged in a wide variety of activities -
to find out more please click on the links below (in alphabetical order)
Click here to go to the Anti-Social Behaviour Sub-committee Page
These are meetings that are held four times in a year which bring tenants and Housing staff together to discuss a range of things which concern the tenants and officers and hopefully councillors in their own areas of Calderdale. Any tenant can attend these meetings and bring any issues that they have to the table but only those tenants who represent their individual associations have the right to vote. A tenant Rep. is elected to serve as Chair at the meetings. Issues discussed range from updates on the improvement programme to making decisions on how the fencing and landscaping money should be spent. Minutes of Area Committee meetings including any recommendations are sent to the Board for their consideration.
Whilst many Fed members attend these meetings in their own area the Fed appoints a management member to attend one of the meetings in an area not their own to act as an observer.
There is an Area committee for each of the following areas of Calderdale:
North Halifax
Central Halifax
The Upper Valley (Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Sowerby Bridge)
The Lower Valley (Brighouse Elland and Rastrick)
Awaiting details
Observers are elected to PCFTRA's management committee at the AGM. There are two observers and they are invited to attend all Board meetings and any other organisational meeting which branch out from the board i.e. Finance and Operations Committees. Their function is to report back to the Federation and to be vigilant in attending meetings and noting what new procedures are being discussed and or voted upon. The observers are invited to speak at the meetings if they wish to do so.
This group is responsible for the products which go into our homes. This covers anything from a light switch to a toilet. The government set the standards, by legislation, and it is changing all the time making this a difficult job. Pennine seem to have overcome this problem by raising the standards a lot higher than required, in comparison to some of our neighbouring towns.
Early in 2005 the Federation was invited to send a representative to meetings of the Calderdale Forward Forum. We were happy to do this but had to learn exactly what was involved.
The business of Calderdale Forward is to act the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) which has an overview of the Calderdale Futures Plan which essentially looks at the needs of the area over the next ten years. Whilst this objective is primarily the responsibility of the Council the wider representation of the LSP which includes the police, health service, education, business and the voluntary sector, for example, gives a broader view of how the future's plan can be made to work.
The Federation is pleased to be associated with the forum and believes it can make a unique contribution to its endeavours.
In the past year some of the events the Federation has organised or participated in include:
If you are holding a community event in an area where there are Pennine Housing tenants, why not invite the Federation to attend?
See the Contact Page for details of how to get in touch.
This is a group of partners that are responsible for the forward planning and carrying out any of the schemes that they are allocated. This is a long process, starting with a scale drawing of works to be carried out, meeting with tenants and showing them the options. Many lessons have been learned along the way, which has been proved by Pennine being entered for awards due to their achievements, they have even won some. This group is responsible for setting up the apprentice scheme which some young people have benefited from. The group have played a part in setting up small businesses, and ensuring that equal opportunities are given to those with a disability. It is an eye opener!
Click here to find out more about the work of the Core Group
Computer Training
We have run courses for computer training at the Federation Offices, usually on Monday mornings between 10 and 12. If there are enough people interested courses can be arranged for different times to give people who cannot manage mornings a chance to participate. We can have around five students at a time and at the moment courses run for about five week periods. you can join at any stage and learn about whatever you feel you need to improve or brush up on.
Even if you are a complete beginner you will be most welcome; the courses are for you and will cover everything you need to get you going. If you are interested and want to join us just give your name to Sheila or Iris (see Contact Page) and then we will let you know when a place is available.
PS those of us who have taken part in the courses have found them invaluable
Other Courses
Other training/courses appropriate to Tenant Involvement may be arranged for member groups - email the Fed (see Contact Page for details).
Jargon Busting |
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Before publication, certain new leaflets, booklets and standard letters to be sent to tenants and residents are first sent to our 'Fed Jargon Busters'. These members read and amend, if necessary, and return to Pennine, so that all the material with the logo above are, in their opinion, easy to read without the usual technical jargon and words we don't understand!
Pennine Housing has around 180 leaseholders who are mainly former tenants who have purchased a flat through Right To Buy or Right to Aquire. Contact with leaseholders by Pennine is maintained through the Leaseholders Forum. Whilst the Federation is not directly represented on this body a number of the Forum members do attend Federation meetings and meetings of their local tenant and residents association.
This is carried out usually by members of the management team, to ensure that Pennine maintain their promises and standards, without their knowing when and where any exercise is going to happen. Spying, really! We then report back to the Fed and to Pennine with our findings and then monitor results.
Recent exercises include: area offices, suggestion boxes, letting standards.
Conference held 2004, 2005.
Boothtown Food & Dance Festival 6th August 2005
New Year Party Jan 2006
Joseph Rowntree Foundation at Sheffield.
Awaiting further details
A spin-off effect of Calderdale's stock transfer was that a sizeable number of federation members picked up considerable expertise in the art of communicating with and negotiating with their landlord. As a result they have been happy to share their experience with other people newly embarking on the transfer process.
After the progress made by Pennine in their property re-furbishment programme they decided that to help conserve the expertise they had gained and keep the jobs they had created they needed to expand. The federation have played a part in this bid for growth by meeting tenants from interested organisations and sharing their experiences in tenant to tenant discussions and believe that this has played a significant part in the new management role that has been gained in Rossendale and parts of Sheffield.
Members of the Federation are represented when PH2K entertain visitors, usually tenants and residents from other areas, contemplating 'the switch' from council to other social landlords. We speak as tenant to tenant on how it has affected us and what we think of Pennine Housing as our landlord.
Five years ago the Egan Report made a number of recommendations about the benefits of partnership working in housing and the construction industry. This was new territory for tenants but the impending stock transfer in Calderdale gave the Federation an opportunity to get involved in the actual selection of the firms who were to get the contracts for the re-furbishment of the councils 1100 plus homes. This was a challenge that we gladly accepted and we now often give advice to tenants in other parts of the country where transfers are happening.
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