We recently caught up with Estelle Smith, Housing Officer at Hjaltland Housing Association to find out why she decided to apply for the TP Certificate and how she found the course

Estelle joined the Hjaltland Housing Association in 2007 as a Housing Officer, drawing on her customer service experience to help deliver an excellent service to their tenants.

Estelle is responsible for organising regular tenant focus group meetings and ensuring that members are provided with relevant and any requested information in order for them to give well informed feedback.  This feedback may include consulting on any policy reviews, updating tenant handbooks or perhaps any planned maintenance they plan to carry out to benefit their communities.

The Association encourages further development and training of their staff.   Estelle said, “As well as recently gaining my TPAS qualification, I also passed the CIH Housing Diploma 4 qualification a few years ago.  This is a testament to our organisation who always strive for our staff to be best informed, thus working better for our customers.

I undertook the TPAS Certificate qualification as I work so closely with our customers on a daily basis and I feel it is important to show that we are motivated and engaged in our work.  It’s helped build on the knowledge of Tenant Participation I already had and made me think of alternative ways to involve tenants.  By providing tenants the opportunity to do the course it gives them a better insight and understanding of how they can influence our decisions and thus feel more involved and empowered.”

Estelle went on to say, “I really enjoyed the course and feel it has been of benefit to me in my role as Housing Officer by giving me more of a detailed insight into the link between tenant participation and community development.  It is important that individuals recognise the importance of their role as tenants within their communities and us, as landlords utilise their knowledge and experience in order to make their homes a better place to live”.

The next intake of the TP Certificate starts on XX April 2022.  If you, like Estelle are interested in learning more about the link between tenant participation and community development, sign up here.