Coastline Housing Ltd has been awarded the TPAS Accreditation for its work involving residents in the design and delivery of services to its customers.

TPAS was particularly impressed with:

The range of methods used to encourage resident involvement so that a diverse range of views are sought, with a clear model for the routes to involvement.

Techniques have been used to increase diversity in resident involvement including a ‘Youth Voice Questionnaire’ at local events and a ‘Tenant’s Reach’ programme. The main involvement strategy makes specific reference in sections devoted to each type of resident and explains clearly how Coastline aims to work with each group.

Informal methods such as ‘Dream Cards’ have been used to give residents a direct approach to have a say.

More formally, ‘Sounding Board’ focus groups and ‘Core Groups’ enable residents to influence service provision, which report back to a strong ‘Monitoring and Review Panel’ which is resident led and reports directly to the Board of Management.

A strategy debate meeting has been introduced every 6 months with all involved tenants to make changes to the Neighbourhood Involvement Strategy Action Plan and monitor progress, therefore inviting challenge from residents.

Coastline Housing also has a strong commitment to community development with ‘Cohesion Area’ plans to help improve local accountability and there are PACT agreements for specific communities.

There is an excellent residents’ magazine ‘CoastLines’ which has a good balance of corporate feedback and community articles. Residents on the Editorial ‘Sounding Board’ have much input and influence, with residents contributing many articles to each issue of the newsletter. The website is also clear and has been subject to influence by residents.

There is an excellent publication ‘Involvement at the Heart’ which details and celebrates resident involvement initiatives.

There is an established training programme for both involved residents and staff. Frontline staff appraisals include a competency level ‘Customers at the Heart’ as a core expectation.