Smaller is better

What's the point in rattling around in a three or four-bedroom home when there are just the two of you?
Perhaps your personal circumstances have changed and you would find it easier to afford to run a smaller property? As the years have gone by, your household may have grown smaller, but with increasing fuel costs, the bills have grown bigger.

Have you considered downsizing?

HomeSearch is offering tenants incentives to move to a smaller home, freeing up larger properties for families with children.
Two 'empty-nesters' who successfully downsized to a two-bedroom home are council tenants Carole and Don Southren of west Hull.
"It was the first house we saw and we knew it was right for us," says Carole. "It's more modern, close to everything we need and it all happened quickly and easily. "
Don added: "I'd recommend downsizing to anyone. A couple doesn't need a big house. What's more, with this new scheme from the council, you get to choose what area you want to be in and with a smaller house your bills go down too."
If you are interested in moving to somewhere smaller, contact 300300 for more information about the tenant incentive scheme.

tenant news in brief

Tenants' Forum The next Tenants' Forum on Thursday 17 September, 1.30pm - 4.30pm at the Guildhall, is the Annual General Meeting. For more details ring 300300 and ask to speak to the tenant participation team. New members are always welcome. Competition winners The winner of the Publicity Monitoring Service Improvement Group's Lord Mayor's Gala competition is Mr D Clater, of Ings Road estate. Mr Clater wins £10 worth of shopping vouchers for a store of his choosing. The lucky prize draw winner for the Nintendo Wii is Mr Rajjinder Singh Kapoor from Riverside. The winner was chosen from all those who had completed a survey questionnaire at either the 'Dude, where's my future?' or 'Gig in the Garden' events. Congratulations and celebrations! Congratulations to Hull tenant Penny Rodmell. Penny was elected to be a director on the national board of the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) at June's Northern Regional Focus meeting in Huddersfield, by her fellow North East Regional Focus members. Read more about Penny's new challenges in March's tenant news. Transforming Orchard Park The government has awarded Hull City Council £156m of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) credits to transform the Orchard Park neighbourhood. This includes building 680 new council homes and 1,020 homes for sale. Hull beat off very strong competition from other councils for the funding, which will ultimately result in £750m of new investment in Orchard Park over the next 30 years. The council is contacting local residents in late autumn giving dates and venues where they can find out more about the proposals and talk to the council about their views, ideas and hopes for the future of Orchard Park. Tenant News Arcon Drive and Lindsey Place Residents' Association The Association's next bi-monthly meeting is at White Lees Court, Arcon Drive, 2pm, on Friday 25 September. Everyone welcome.

Involvement at a local level with Area Housing Boards

Elections for a number of Area Housing Board tenant member vacancies are due in November 2009.

This is an opportunity for all interested council tenants to get hands-on experience with shaping the future of their local Housing Service.
The information on this page will help you understand and learn more about Area Housing Boards, where and what they are and what they do. It will also help you make your mind up about standing for election.

What is an Area Housing Board?

It is a group of elected tenants, ward councillors and co-opted independent people in the community. The board monitors and challenges Housing Service performances and advises on housing related issues in their area. So the boards are an important way for you to have a say in influencing local services.

What do they do?

The boards consider, monitor and make decisions on matters to do with the delivery of local housing services. They oversee the standards, quality, performance and management of the services, agree local housing investment priorities and oversee housing investment projects in their area. Each board holds local service managers to account for the delivery of their service by comparing it against agreed service standards. They also manage any agreed budgets in their area, in consultation with the interim Head of Housing. The boards also identify efficiency savings for possible reinvestment into local services, to improve them further and promote and support local tenant participation, helping to change the Housing Service into the Service they want.

Where are the boards?

There are seven boards, one in each area of the city

• East: Ings, Longhill,Sutton
• North Carr: King's Park, Bransholme East and West
• Northern: Orchard Park, Greenwood, University, Beverley
• Park: Marfleet, Holderness, Southcoates East and West
• Riverside: Newington, Myton, Drypool, St Andrew's
• West: Derringham, Boothferry, Pickering
• Wyke: Avenues, Newland, Bricknell

When and where do the boards meet?

Every four to six weeks, the boards hold formal meetings in the locality of the area they serve. The agenda and minutes of their meetings are published on the council's website so anyone can see them.
Members of the public can submit written questions to the boards, with unwritten questions being taken at the meeting itself, at the discretion of the chair.

The election process

Council tenants elect the council tenant board members for their area. An independent agency will manage the November elections. They will

• produce and distribute ballot papers along with candidate information
• collate and count ballot papers
• produce a report to identify successful/unsuccessful candidates

Voting in the tenant elections will be by 'Single Transferable Voting' (STV). This gives the voting tenants a list of candidates for their area from which to choose by putting them in order of preference.

Want to get involved?

If you think you have something to offer your Area Board and would like more information about getting involved, call 300300, leave your name and contact details and we will contact you.

Other ways to get involved

If being a member of an Area Housing Board is not for you, there are many other ways in which you can get involved.
There is a 'menu' of involvement opportunities to choose from – different ways in which Hull tenants and residents can, and do, change the service and make it better.
We invite everyone to have a say and work with us.
Call 300300 and ask for the tenant participation team, or email tenant.residents@hullcc.gov.uk
The choice is yours!

Aids and adaptations – Have your say In October, a team of tenant inspectors is checking out the housing aids and adaptations service. The inspection team which consists solely of council tenant volunteers, will check that the council provided services are up to standard. Looking behind the scenes at procedures, legislation and the delivery of services, they will measure them against specific Audit Commission standards, before writing a report about their findings. STAR is providing support to the team of volunteers carrying out the inspection. "If you want to have a say about this service, this is your chance to make sure your voice is heard," says James Russell, STAR Service co-ordinator. "The final inspection report will take everyone's views into account and will make recommendations to improve the services you receive." For more information about tenant inspection and how to get involved contact STAR on 485918 or email star@goodwin-centre.org