Eastlight resident and Customer Influence Committee Chair, Michelle Baker, on Resident Engagement Conference: "Remember the people in your homes"
Inside Housing

Eastlight resident and Customer Influence Committee Chair, Michelle Baker, on Resident Engagement Conference: "Remember the people in your homes"

Our Customer Influence Committee Chair, Michelle Baker, shares her highlights as a guest speaker at Inside Housing’s resident engagement conference.

"On Tuesday, 16 May, I attended the Inside Housing Tenant & Resident Engagement Conference in London.

The day opened with Kwajo Tweneboa talking about his experience as a social housing tenant and how, even after high-profile incidents, things don’t appear to really change. The thing that struck me most when he was talking, which actually come up in a few conversations I had that day, was how even engaged tenants don’t fully understand governance and decision-making in housing associations.

In the morning, I was part of a panel that discussed ‘Damp and mould: from blame to responsibility’. In this session, I was able to encourage housing associations to not get wrapped up in the cases and categories, but to remember the people living in their homes.

When asked how we can facilitate that culture change, I highlighted Eastlight’s dedication to employing people based on their attitude and how we’ve hired a large proportion of our tenants.

Another panel member explained how their organisation teaches empathy; however, that received a mixed response.

My second session after lunch was on ‘Diversity, inclusion and engaging under-represented groups’. I was nervous for this one; the panel consisted of four, very strong women.

I shared how we have adapted our recruitment process for our Customer Influence Committee (CIC) and how we, as an organisation, celebrate equality and diversity, including disabilities and Pride.

The highlight for me in this session was listening to Anna Kear from Tonic Housing talk about their work in securing older LGBT+ housing schemes. Some of the challenges the older LGBT+ community face was eye-opening to me.

Anna reminded us that these people grew up in a time when their relationships were illegal and that they had to find security in numbers against hate crime and discrimination. Therefore, living together as a group felt natural – having a safe space where you don’t have to explain yourself to your neighbour and where nobody asks you when your grandchildren are coming to visit – they all just understand each other.

Overall, the conference was brilliant. CIC Member Cedric Selvadorai and Ryan Doggett, Eastlight's Customer Engagement Officer, came with me and we had a great time. I’m looking forward to touching base with some of my new connections and seeing how we can learn and grow from each other."

Emma Palmer

Chief Executive Officer at Eastlight Community Homes

1 年

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