Making our vision real: Happy households, living in healthy homes, as part of a cooperative community.
Webber & Quentin resident management – our strategic priorities
When a small team of residents decided to step up as volunteers to be trained to establish the Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) and their own estate based local office in 2017, it was fuelled by a sense that there was a better and more efficient way to get tailored services and support from the Council. Essentially to make the Webber and Quentin community a nicer place to live for every resident.
Southwark Council provided a grant to bring in consultants who helped set up a legal body – sub contracted to the Council – to the deliver services directly to the estate, paid for and managed by dedicated estate staff. A local resident who helped to set this up at the start said: “The Council was really happy to see our interest and encouraged us to take things into our own hands. They provided funding and access to a team of experts who helped steer us in the right direction.”
As residents themselves, this team of volunteers had their ears close to the ground and knew what neighbours wanted and needed. The local council housing offices had closed down nearby which had made it more difficult for residents to get in touch and repairs were taking longer to arrange. Residents had a deep-rooted belief that by simply caring a little bit more, bringing the local focus back with dedicated staff, controlling their own budget and building up savings, so much more could be achieved.
But it wasn’t easy. The TMO is governed by the Financial Conduct Authority and is audited every year. Resident volunteers had to take part in rigorous training sessions to understand their responsibilities and accountabilities. Board Members took time to agree on the most important priorities, determine the services the TMO would take over, and produce an annual Business Plan and Budget. This included defining responsibilities for the Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, HR Line Management and various committees to oversee activities related to HR, Events and Engagement, and Gardens and grounds. To get this right, the group had to invest in building trust and teamwork – all on their days off.
The TMO Board of 12 residents, governs and manages the team on the ground that deal with day to day enquiries from residents. Based in the Portacabin by the Quentin Estate, Sirajul Islam, the TMO manager, is on hand to speak to anyone who has a question or needs to report a building repair. Sirajul says: “The way the TMO is set up, it is important that we keep a strict confidentiality between the residents, their personal concerns and the TMO leadership. That is why our management team are not local residents, and we have strict controls over the confidential information relating to individual residents.”
The primary purpose of any TMO is to provide residents with better services than those run by the Council. The W&Q Strategy is set around four critical priorities:
Dealing with historic repairs and deliver preventative maintenance of the buildings.
Improving the communal facilities of the estate.
Building financial surplus to enable us to do more in future.
Engaging more residents to strengthen our TMO and community.
Today, the number of Board members is growing, the Sub-committees have been established, and residents are starting the see the real results and impact from their work. More importantly, through frugal financial management, the TMO has already been able to build a surplus of funds that can now be invested in foundational projects benefiting this close-knit community for the long term.