Resident Involvement

No. As a tenant, leaseholder or resident you are our eyes and ears for your community. The most important thing that you can bring is an interest in improving our services. We will try to help you to gain the confidence and knowledge to be able to make meaningful decisions about your housing services.

I'm too shy to talk in a meeting. What else can I do?

There are lots of ways that you can get involved. Some of these activities only take up a little of your time, and many of these take place inside your own home. Examples include surveys by post, telephone or email, mystery shopping, conferences and events.

Other activities take longer or happen more frequently and involve meetings and events. Getting involved at this level gives you an even greater say in the changes we make to our services and offers a chance to meet new people. Examples include focus groups, Housing Liaison Boards (HLBs), Constituency Tenant Groups, Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) and residents’ associations.

Our menu of resident involvement explains the options in more detail. To express an interest in getting involved in any of these activities, please speak to your tenant participation officer.

A Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) is set up by residents to manage the homes in a specific area on behalf of the council. As a member of a TMO you will have a say in the way your housing service is run and you will still be a tenant of the council.

A Housing Liaison Board is made up of a group of tenants, leaseholders, local residents, Councillors and housing staff who monitor and improve housing services in their local area. You can find out more by visiting the Housing Liaison Board web page.

It’s a group made up of residents who meet regularly and who work together to improve housing services for the people of Birmingham. There is a CTG in each of the ten constituencies across the city. To find out more, visit our CTG page.

A residents’ association is a group of local residents that works to tackle issues of concern in a specified area. If they meet certain criteria, they can then apply for an annual administration grant from Birmingham City Council.

There are a number of activities that you can do in your own home. For example, email and telephone surveys, telephone interviews and online questionnaires. You can also share your views with your tenant participation officer over the telephone. If this is difficult for you, we can also arrange for someone to visit you at home.

Our menu of resident involvement lists all of the activities we offer.

Your views are important to us, so if you are unable to attend any meetings, please let your tenant participation officer know. They may ask you to complete a questionnaire or send an email with your comments and they will then arrange for your views to be put forward.

We want to hear from anyone who accesses our housing services so you do not necessarily have to be a council tenant to get involved. However, some of the formal groups (such as Housing Liaison Boards, residents’ associations and Constituency Tenant Groups) may have limitations on what you can vote on. Your local tenant participation officer can tell you more.

If you prefer, you can begin by trying some of our resident involvement activities from home, such as surveys and telephone conferences.

We want you to be able to participate in any way you wish so we can support you to take part in resident involvement activities that take place outside the home. We will pay for your travelling expenses (bus fare, taxi provided by us or mileage for using your own vehicle) and childcare. Your local tenant participation officer can tell you more.

There is an annual training plan that is agreed in partnership with tenant-led groups. The training is designed to help members to extend their knowledge, develop their skills and build their confidence.

We can provide interpreters or written information in your preferred language upon request. Please speak to your local tenant participation officer to find out more.

If you wish to attend any events or meetings, we will ensure that the venues are fully accessible. We also provide hearing loops for those with hearing loss and large print documents or audio CDs for those who are visually impaired.

You also have the option of participating in resident involvement activities from home.

You are welcome to come to a number of meetings as an observer to get a feel of how our customers work with us. To arrange this, speak to your local tenant participation officer.

To find out more about getting involved with us, you can telephone your local tenant participation officer on one of the numbers below:

Erdington: 0121 675 0314
Sutton Coldfield: 0121 303 1952
Perry Barr: 0121 303 3074
Ladywood: 0121 464 1614
Edgbaston: 0121 303 5359
Yardley: 0121 303 7128
Hodge Hill: 0121 464 1615
Northfield: 0121 464 3492
Selly Oak: 0121 464 3626
Hall Green: 0121 675 6098

You can also email the central resident involvement team on: residentinvolvement@birmingham.gov.uk or telephone 0121 675 4881.