News Item

01-10-2007

Tenants Conference

The Hebridean Housing Partnership held its first Tenants Conference at its Head Office in Stornoway on Thursday 20th September 2007.

Fifty delegates enjoyed a varied agenda covering Tenant Participation, Repairs and Improvements, Rent Arrears, Community Warden Service and trends in Homelessness.

Anne Marie Stanley from Communities Scotland addressed HHP’s “Tenant Participation Strategy Review” and outlined the Community Grants available to tenants groups.

Workshops followed which explored how HHP can best develop its Tenant Participation Strategy to improve the level of engagement. The Workshops conclusions will be fed back to HHP’s Management Team, the Board and the Western Isles Residents Forum.

The Conference session concluded with a presentation by the Comhairle’s Homeless Services Manager, Lorraine Graham who gave a thought provoking analysis of the challenges facing the Comhairle and HHP in meeting the needs of homeless people in the Western Isles in the next five years. The Panel discussion which followed generated some passionate contributions and was well received by delegates.

HHP looks forward to holding housing conferences on an annual basis. The quality of the local and mainland contributions was extremely high and there is confidence that the success of the first Tenants Conference can be repeated in future years.