Get youngsters more involved, say ACHA tenants

Involving young people, improving performance and investing in homes were the themes for this year’s Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) annual Tenants and Members Conference.

The conference was held in Inveraray last week.

The session on involving young people included presentations from Iona MacDonald and Hannah Nicolson, trainees with ACHA and Argyll and Bute Council respectively.

Well received

Their experiences of what worked for young people and needed to be considered were well received by the conference.

Workshops based around the three themes were discussed, with recommendations agreed.

These were sent to the ACHA board’s strategic planning days on Wednesday and Thursday this week as priorities to consider as ACHA moves forward.

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

Alastair MacGregor, ACHA’s chief executive, said at the end of the conference: ‘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 for our work to include young people more within ACHA.’

First time

Iona added: ‘This was my first time attending an ACHA Tenants and Members Conference and my first time presenting.

‘I thought 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 some really good suggestions and feedback.

‘Everyone was very positive and friendly. I had a great day.’