Getting a taste of our involvement menu

Back in 2017, we launched our new involvement menu, which gives every tenant, local resident or member of the community the chance to engage with us and help improve our services. By suggesting a range of flexible options for every lifestyle and ability, the involvement menu truly offers something for everyone.

So far, we’ve seen real enthusiasm and engagement from a whole range of our tenants. Three people have completed ‘behind-the-scenes’ tours, which gives you the chance to come and see what goes on in our head office and meet key members of staff. Our five Tenant Question Time events, which we arranged with the Gateway Membership Team, had a great turn out, and we’ve even had a new residents association begin in Woodside! Overall, hundreds of our residents have become more engaged with us over the last few months.

Two of our residents in particular have had really rewarding experiences as a result of the involvement menu. Christine Moore came in to have a behind-the-scenes tour back in February, after she attended a meeting about our involvement menu with an interest in taking part. As someone who lives a busy life, we discovered that though she was passionate, it was going to be more practical for Christine to do a tour of the offices and find out more about our services all in one day.

As a resident of social housing for the last 46 years, Christine found the tour really enlightening. She says: “The tour was really eye-opening. I was surprised there were so many departments all doing different jobs – I didn’t realise how many people worked in the office! Everyone was very friendly too. Whenever I stopped to be introduced or ask questions the staff would take a moment to really get engaged in what I was saying. The best part of the tour was definitely the reassurance that people are working hard and that if anything goes wrong there are people whose job it is to help me.”

Another resident who has experienced a positive change as a result of the involvement menu is Lucie Summers (above, centre). Lucie has taken up a position as a volunteer in our Community Engagement team, after a skills mapping session identified she had the time and abilities to take up the role. As a volunteer, Lucie helps to plan events, shadows members of the team and helps with administrative tasks.

After finishing college and working in part-time jobs for a while, Lucie decided she wanted a new job that inspired her passions, so she saw the involvement menu as a chance to find a new career. She says: “Volunteering at Watford Community Housing has really helped boost my confidence and has shown me a path into a job I could really have a passion for. I really want to do something that improves people’s lives and helps them to live better. This experience is so rewarding and I hope I can continue to work closely with the Community Engagement team.”

If you’d like to help us improve our services, boost your skills or just pay us a visit to find out more about what we do, you can choose an option from the involvement menu. Click here to download! Or visit here for more information.