Melony Gallagher, an engaged Plymouth Community Homes (PCH) resident, is now a member of the national Social Housing Resident Panel, giving her the opportunity to share her views with the Government and Ministers as policy on social housing is developed and reforms are implemented.
The Panel brings together up to 250 social housing residents from across the country, making sure they can have their voices heard, with members contributing their ideas through focus groups, online communities and meetings.
They vote on their priority topics within social housing policy, with suggestions put forward by Panel members. Officials then look for opportunities for the Panel to influence policy as it is developed, reflecting those priorities.
All residents of social housing across England are given the opportunity to apply when applications are open and are not required to have any experience of taking part in resident engagement prior to their application.
Melony has worked with PCH as an engaged resident for many years, working with us as a Customer Focus Committee (CFC) co-optee, also supporting resident involvement groups including Resident Communications Advisors (RCA), voids inspectors and more.
She was delighted to be selected and invited to an introductory session earlier this month. She said: “Earlier this year I was sent details of the Social Housing Resident Panel by Maja Jorgenson, Board Member, Chair of the Customer Focus Committee and member of the Capital Investment Committee at PCH encouraging me to apply.
“Applications closed on 7 September, and in amongst my other work as an engaged resident, I completely forgot and found the invite as I was clearing out my emails.
“I was delighted to accept the invite to join, and I attended the introductory session where we met the panel leads, heard an explanation about what to expect and the topics covered last year.
“I’m delighted to be involved, as I know that it will help with my own education and knowledge base of social housing. It will also be great to have my voice heard at a national level, really benefitting my role as an engaged resident.
“There have been so many changes to regulatory frameworks and there’s more to come, so being able to influence this as a resident is an exciting prospect.
“When applications open again, I really encourage other residents to apply, as it’s a very important way for us to get our views across to the government and the regulator, and will give us a chance to make an impact at this high level.”
If you’d like to help shape and improve our services and tell us what it’s really like to be a PCH resident, find out how to get involved here.
