ACHA holds annual tenants and members conference

Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) held its annual tenants and members conference in Inveraray.

Themes covered at the conference focused on three areas – involving young people, improving performance and investing in your home.

The session on involving young people included presentations from Iona MacDonald and Hannah Nicolson, trainees with ACHA and Argyll and Bute Council respectively. Their experiences of what worked for young people and needed to be considered was well received by attendees.

Iona MacDonald said: ‘This was my first time attending an ACHA tenants and members conference. It was a great way to interact with tenants and members. Our presentation was about ACHA involving young people. The attendees welcomed this idea and we received good suggestions and feedback. Everyone was very positive and friendly. I had a great day.’

Workshops based on the three themes were held and recommendations agreed. These will be fed into the ACHA board’s strategic planning days, due to be held on Wednesday February 26 and Thursday February 27, as priorities for consideration.

The themes for next year’s conference were agreed by this year’s attendees and will focus on how ACHA handles customer complaints, improving and maintaining estates and how to reduce household fuel costs.

Commenting at the end, Alastair MacGregor, ACHA’s chief executive, said: ‘This is a key event in ACHA’s calendar involving our tenants and members debating and setting priorities. ‘Hearing the perspective of Iona and Hannah in involving young people was extremely helpful in developing plans to include young people more within ACHA.’