Posts – Blogs
Join us in Forres at our May Conversation Café
Interested in finding out more about tenant participation and how you can get involved with NETRALT?
Come along to our friendly drop-in event and chat informally with social landlord staff and tenant/resident reps about tenant participation and the variety of ways you can get involved.
Thursday 22 May
Drop in any time between 11am and 1pm
Forres House Community Centre
Hope to see you there!
Connecting at the Bon Accord Centre – see you again soon!
A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by our drop-in event at the Vaccination & Wellbeing Hub in the Bon Accord Centre! Lewis, a tenant with Aberdeen City Council, and Catherine, Castlehill Housing Association’s’ tenant participation officer, were on hand to spread the word about NETRALT. It was great to chat with tenants, residents and visitors about tenant participation, NETRALT and how to get involved in shaping your social housing.
We had some fantastic conversations and were delighted to see so much interest in having a say in housing services. Whether you came along to ask questions, share your thoughts or just find out more—your voices matter and we appreciate your time.
If you missed us this time, don’t worry—we’ll be back! Keep an eye out for future events, and in the meantime, feel free to reach out if you’d like to know more.
See you soon
Share your views – Moray Local Housing Strategy survey
Moray Council are developing a new Local Housing Strategy to set out how the Council and partners deliver housing and housing services over the next five years. A survey has been launched to find out about the housing issues that matter most to residents in Moray.
How you can help
- Please fill in the survey – We need your input to make sure that the strategy reflects the needs of our communities. It only takes 5 minutes and responses are anonymous.
- Please share it with others – Every response matters! Please share with family members, friends, and colleagues and encourage them to take part. If possible, help us reach more people by sharing it within your networks and on social media.
Re-energising NETRALT for 2025
In December, NETRALT members came together to review and revitalise our group. It was fantastic to see such enthusiasm in the room (and online!) as tenants and landlords united to reflect on the group’s progress, challenges, and aspirations.
We brainstormed fresh ideas, based on what we thought worked and what we needed to improve on. From hearing tenants’ perspectives to landlords sharing insights, the collaboration was both honest and constructive.
We came up with actionable ideas we look forward to developing as a group and started laying the groundwork to reinvigorate NETRALT for 2025 and beyond.
We rounded off the session with a buffet lunch and Christmas goodie bags. Special thanks to Aberdeen City Council who organised Greyhope Community Hub as our venue, as well as providing catering.
Here’s to a dynamic year ahead! We’re excited to put our ideas into action and grow stronger as a group. Stay tuned for updates and opportunities to get involved!
NETRALT are TIS Finalists!
We are excited to share that NETRALT is a Finalist in the Tenants Information Service National Excellence Awards 2024 in the Excellence in Digital Engagement category!
The Excellence in Digital Engagement award recognises creativity in developing meaningful digital engagement opportunities. NETRALT’s nomination focused on our first collaboration with Northern Tenants Partnership (NTP) to bring tenants, residents and communities together to broaden the reach of engagement by offering innovative, digital engagement opportunities.
The second NETRALT/NTP collaboration is happening on Fri 13 September and is free to attend. Sign up here https://ntp.netralt.org.uk/virtual-event-2024/
The TIS National Excellence Awards 2024 will take place in November. We can’t wait!
NTP & NETRALT joint online session
You’re invited
Friday 13th September
via zoom
Click on this link for more details and to book your place
NETRALT and NTP working together
North East Tenants, Residents and Landlords Together (NETRALT) and the newly established Northern Tenants Partnership (NTP), joined forces to host their first interactive virtual session centred around the theme of “Working in Partnership.” The event targeted tenants, residents, community groups and staff across Scotland, bringing together a diverse range of voices and experiences.
The virtual gathering showcased good practice and insights on tenant and community involvement through a series of engaging presentations, videos, and discussions. The spirit of partnership echoed throughout the event, with tenants and staff both contributing to its success. Colin Stewart, a Castlehill tenant and NETRALT member, acted as the event’s host and provided the technical know-how to provide a digital platform for the event to take place.
The event commenced with a keynote speech by George Walker, Chairperson of the Board of the Scottish Housing Regulator, setting the tone for the day. A selection of topics was covered during the session, including youth involvement, scrutiny, community growing initiatives, participatory budgeting and Regional Networks.
With NETRALT ‘s membership covering Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, and Moray, and NTP spanning the Highlands & Islands, Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides, the collaboration provided attendees with insights from a wide array of tenants, community groups, and landlords.
The event concluded with an interactive online quiz, with a tenant delegate from Aberdeen City Council winning the star prize of £100 in vouchers.
Catherine Coutts, Co-Chair of NETRALT and Castlehill’s Tenant Participation Officer, explained,
“We were thrilled to partner with Northern Tenants Partnership to share the amazing work taking place in our communities. This event provided a unique opportunity for tenants to inspire one another, furthering our aims of sharing good practice, creating a valuable support network, and promoting tenant engagement far and wide.”
Suzy Boardman, Principal Tenant & Customer Engagement Officer at Highland Council, said,
“Friday’s event really highlighted what can be achieved when we pool our resources and work collaboratively. It was inspiring to hear about the great work happening all across our region and come away with lots of ideas for future partnership projects.’
The success of this collaborative event highlights the commitment of tenant participation groups to foster meaningful partnerships, share knowledge and enhance the tenant experience across Scotland.
Tenant and social landlord group celebrates TPAS award wins
A North East tenant and social landlord group celebrated success last month at the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) National Good Practice Awards ceremony in Clydebank.
North East Tenants, Residents and Landlords Together (NETRALT) won Best Practice in Developing Communities award for its groundbreaking work involving young people from across Aberdeen, while NETRALT member and Castlehill Housing Association tenant Colin Stewart won the coveted Alan Ferguson Tenant Champion of the Year award.
NETRALT embarked upon an innovative city-wide project to engage and collaborate with young people via research aimed at exploring youth knowledge and aspirations.
The project involved staff from Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen Foyer, Castlehill, Grampian and Langstane Housing Associations, as well as young people from Aberdeen City Youth Council (now Aberdeen City Youth Movement) and the Scottish Youth Parliament.
The report will be used in Aberdeen’s Local Housing Strategy, as well as being a link to a child-friendly city and will make an impact on services and the resources that young people are reliant on.
NETRALT’s co-chairs Katie Taylor and Catherine Coutts were delighted to accept this prestigious award on behalf of the group and were joined by one of the young people involved, Rebecca Cuthbert.
Catherine Coutts said: “We engaged with young people, not just as a demographic to fill a quota; this went way beyond youth involvement and co-production. Young people designed, distributed, compiled and launched the survey to ensure that captured views were authentic. The survey achieved its aims, with 595 responses forming the basis of a report authored entirely by young people themselves.”
Katie Taylor added: “Housing is such an important topic; it has a direct impact on young people and they should have a say in what happens. It is vital that they feel their voice is listened to and this project is step towards establishing a city youth housing network to ensure this happens.”
Aberdeen City Council Communities, Housing and Public Protection convener, Councillor Miranda Radley, said: “It’s fantastic news that North East Tenants, Residents and Landlords Together have received national recognition by winning the Best Practice in Developing Communities award at the Tenant Participation Advisory Service National Good Practice Awards. “My congratulations go out to everyone involved and I am pleased their hard work has been recognised nationally.”
Colin Stewart receiving the Alan Ferguson Tenant Champion of the Year award
Castlehill Registered Tenants Organisation (CaRTO) chair Colin Stewart has helped support the organisation to get involved with scheme inspections and to support communities via CaRTO’s funding scheme.
Colin is always a friendly face when he meets tenants and is able to help with his knowledge and lived experience of being a social housing tenant.
An active member of NETRALT and a well-kent face throughout not just the North East, but nationally, due to his role as chair of the North of Scotland Regional Network, he is also the only tenant member of the Housing to 2040 Strategic Board.
Colin has spoken in parliament to communicate tenant comments and evidence to the Local Government, Housing & Planning Committee to inform its consideration of the first report to Parliament on the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act.
Tenant participation officer Catherine, who nominated Colin for this award, explained: “Colin is a force of nature and a worthy winner of this award because of his unfailing enthusiasm and dedication to the social housing sector and the wider community, from grassroots level to national strategic board level. His voluntary work has resulted in positive changes and improvements to many people’s lives across Scotland.”
More winners from the event can be found here.