The terms of the reference for the Charnwood Housing Residents Forum (CHRF) can be found in full below.

What is the CHRF?

  • The CHRF is a monthly forum for council house tenants and leaseholders of Charnwood Borough Council (CBC)  
  • The CHRF includes representatives from groups actively involved in other customer engagement activities
  • The CHRF is recognised by CBC as the foremost consultative and representative body of CBC tenants.

Purpose of the CHRF

  • To provide a forum for tenants and CBC to work in partnership to discuss the services received by tenants and identify areas where services can be improved to achieve an ‘excellent’ standard.
  • To encourage tenants to be engaged with CBC and able to make recommendations and directly influence housing.
  • To gather information and feed back to their respective group members and our tenants.
  • To share and benchmark the good practices and learning experiences of the groups, individuals and forums represented.
  • To provide a safe environment for tenants to discuss concerns or issues with the services provided
  • To enable customers to actively participate in the activities which include the following:
    • Scrutinise the services provided
    • CHRF will set up focus groups to support current projects
    • To enable tenants to actively inform and feedback to the members of their groups and our tenants the outcomes and key messages of the CHRF and also to invite wider input into the decision making process.
  • Consultation could cover areas such as:
    •  Influencing key housing decisions on policy and procedure
    • Influencing budget allocations
    • Influencing the level and type of services provided
    • Establishing sub groups with a specialist focus (i.e. ASB, Annual Report, Tenant Networking event, etc)
    • Influencing Contractor procurement
    • Determine contract specification
    • Tenant Bids funding allocation and procedure review
    • Influencing key CBC strategies
    • Influencing the Training Programme for council house tenants and leaseholders
    • Anti-social behaviour (ASB) procedures
    • Voids procedures
    • Service delivery plan 

Main Activities of the Forum

  • To debate and discuss a broad spectrum of housing matters affecting the customers of CBC and make recommendations.
  • To influence and inform decisions and decision-making processes within CBC
  • To review, prioritise and approve allocation of the Tenant Bid scheme fund for tenants’ environmental improvement proposals
  • To provide an opportunity for each Tenants and Residents Association and Task/Focus group to update the forum of the progress, activities and events of their individual groups
  • To discuss and decide future CHRF agenda items
  • To contribute articles, information and to provide contact details for publication in the quarterly Housing newsletter
  • To encourage tenants to be involved in providing feedback and influencing service delivery.

CHRF Attendance

  • All council house tenants and leaseholders may attend the meetings of the CHRF
  • Any tenant attending the CHRF must agree to abide by the Code of Conduct
  • The Code of Conduct applies to all customers involved in tenant involvement activities
  • Tenants & Residents groups may select representatives from their group to attend the CHRF
  • Landlord services service managers and team leaders may attend by invitation or by making a request through the Chair
  • Invitation for attendance can be requested from other departments within the council.

Frequency of Meetings

  • The forum will meet on a monthly basis.
  • Meetings will usually run between 2-3 hours, dependent on the agenda items.
  • Where the agenda for meetings are longer than 3 hours, CBC will provide appropriate refreshments.
  • Council house tenants, leaseholders and officers must submit items for the agenda to the Chair or Customer Engagement team at least 10 days before the meeting.
  • Council house tenants and leaseholder questions must also be submitted at least 2 weeks prior to the meeting to ensure a response
  • After the main meeting there will be an opportunity for customers to raise their own personal concerns or questions by completing the form provided.

Administration of the CHRF

  • Administration support for the CHRF will be provided by the Customer Engagement Team at CBC. Minutes are sent out within 10 days after the CHRF meeting. Agendas and documents for the meeting are sent at least 5 days prior to the meeting
  • Any council house tenants or leaseholders may submit a question to the CHRF for a response at the meeting. Questions must be received by the Chair or the Customer Engagement team at least 2 weeks prior to the date of the meeting
  • Meetings are chaired by a tenant or leaseholder
  • The Chair will be elected by CHRF annually
  • Elections will take place in January each year
  • The Chair can only serve for 1 year at a time but may stand for re-election for as many terms as they wish
  • All customers attending the CHRF at the January meeting will be eligible to vote
  • Council house tenants and leaseholders wishing to be considered for the position of Chair need to submit their notice to the Customer Engagement team by January 10 each year. Voting will take place at the CHRF meeting or in advance or the meeting (postal vote) to the Customer Engagement team.

Amendments to the Terms of Reference of the CHRF

  • The terms of reference may be amended with the agreement of the CHRF as required. They will be reviewed annually
  • These terms of reference were agreed by the CHRF at their meeting in May 2022.

Last updated: Tue 17th May, 2022 @ 09:42