TCHA Tenants Association

The TCHA Tenants Association was set up in 1999 as a partnership between TCHA’s tenants, staff and management. The aim of the Tenants Association is to help ensure that TCHA delivers the best and most suitable services to its tenants by increasing tenant involvement, and to help TCHA grow so that it can afford to provide greater benefits to its tenants in the future.

The Tenants Association has a committee, comprising a President, a Secretary and other posts. The Tenants Association is involved in the production of the TCHA Tenants Association newsletter, 'Tenants News', which aims to keep our tenants informed of the various community and cultural events and the activities of other Tamil organisations operating in their area. 

The Housing Corporation has been encouraging social landlords to develop strategies of tenant involvement and participation in management of their own accommodation and local environment/community. As a community organisation, TCHA has been working closely with tenants since its inception in 1986. Though there was no specific policy at that time, TCHA was able to form and maintain a strong and healthy relationship with its tenants.

TCHA has developed strategies which encourage tenants to participate and become actively involved in the decision-making process at a higher level. TCHA carry out surveys from time to time on tenants' needs, service in general, maintenance services, tenancy management, rent levels etc and the last of which was carried out in February/March 2005. Eight years ago, TCHA initiated its first series of tenant consultation meetings. On the strength of these meetings ever since then and the outcomes of the survey, TCHA has created a highly effective structure, with the "Block Representatives" and the tenant Board members playing a key role. 

The "Block Representative" is a person elected by the TCHA residents of a certain road or shared house to represent them in dealing with TCHA. We extended the concept two years ago where we managed to identify representatives for every TCHA residence (road or shared house), so that each TCHA tenant has a Block Rep at his/her disposal.

It is proposed to have Block Reps as indicated in the following table for the year 2006/07. Name and contact details can be provided on request:

The main role of the Block Representatives is in bridging the gap between TCHA’s management and our tenants. Each Block Rep also maintains a rota for day-to-day cleaning of his/her block, and acts as the main point of contact with TCHA’s maintenance team in resolving repairs issues at his/her block.

The Block Reps also liaise with TCHA Housing Officers in arranging at least three consultation meetings each year. These are meetings at which TCHA housing management staff visit the block/road to answer any questions and deal with any problems affecting the tenants of the block.

Furthermore, there are the two tenant representatives who sit on the full Management Board,  who represent the interests of the tenants, and are again, actively participating and involved in the decision-making processes.

Tenants News - the newsletter for tenants of Tamil Community Housing Association Ltd.

'Tenants News' provides our tenants with news and service updates throughout the year, and is published in English and Tamil. To view recent editions, please click on the links below.

The TCHA Tenants Association is looking to step-up its activities over the coming 12 months and to strengthen its overall structure. A constitution approved in 2005 is now in place setting out clear guidelines on how the Association will operate, and it's also looking to generate its own finances to fund future planned activities and events.

Tenants Newsletter Dec 05.pdf

Tenants Newsletter May 05.pdf

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