How you can get involved
ACHA is a community based housing association and welcomes anyone who is keen to be involved. There are various ways you can do this both formal and informal.
Board of Management
ACHA’s Board of Management is tenant led (it has a majority of tenants) and is responsible for making strategic decisions across all the functions of ACHA including service improvements, investment in ACHA homes and future planning. The Board meet once a month and hold their AGM in September each year. There are also places on the Board held by Councillors and by ‘independents’ who are people in the community with an interest in housing. There are 20 Board member places and all are volunteers.
If you would like more information on becoming a Board member please contact Lesley Higgins on 01546 604086 or lesley.higgins@acha.co.uk
Area Committees
There are four area committees:
- Bute and Cowal
- Helensburgh and Lomond
- Oban, Lorn and Isles
- Mid Argyll and Kintyre
These area committees are also tenant led but with a couple of independent members and one for a local Councillor. The business of area committees is much more locally focussed and ACHA staff from area offices attend area committee meetings. The Chairperson from each Area Committee also sits on the Board of Management.
If you would like more information on becoming an Area Committee member please contact your local area office - Contact Us.
Tenant Involvement
(tenant participation)
ACHA wants to offer as many options for involvement as possible to tenants but also respects the rights of tenants who many not want to be involved. We will continue to remind tenants that they not only have the right to get involved but would be welcomed by ACHA. Tenants Associations throughout Argyll and Bute are encouraged and supported by ACHA and there is also a Tenants Panel which represents all groups and meets once a month - see the Tenants' Panel website at www.argylltenants.org.uk for details.
The Tenants Consultation Register is a less formal method of involvement. Any tenant can be a member of this register and receive postal questionnaires on the development of new policies and improvements to services.
If you would like more information on any form of tenant participation please contact your local area office - Contact Us.
Become a Member of ACHA
Membership of ACHA is open to all and the ‘£1 for life’ membership means that you will have the right to vote at Annual General Meetings on elections to the Board of Management (and put yourself forward for election) and other major issues. You will also receive a copy of the ACHA Annual Report.
There are also Membership Application Forms at all ACHA offices.
Satisfaction Questionnaires
ACHA aims to deliver the highest quality of services to its tenants and the communities of Argyll. In order to do this ACHA must gather information and opinion from tenants and the wider community on a range of subjects and use this to improve services and plan for the future.
ACHA gives all tenants who have had repair work carried out, the opportunity to comment through the Repairs Satisfaction card which is sent to them. This enables us to rectify any problems quickly and report on our repairs performance to the Board of Management for their consideration. A percentage of ACHA’s repairs are also followed up by a telephone survey.
All new tenants are given a questionnaire to complete asking them for their comments on the quality of service delivered by ACHA staff at the point of tenancy sign up.
An annual Tenant Participation Questionnaire is completed by the Tenants Panel to ensure that ACHA provide the highest quality of tenant participation.
A comprehensive Tenant Satisfaction Survey is carried out every three years by ACHA. The purpose of this survey is to gather in depth information from tenants about the range and quality of services they receive. It also aims to gather information about tenants circumstances and their aspirations to enable ACHA to tailor future services.