Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Housing Matters at special showcase
New homes ‘should be a priority’
The council held a special event in Airdrie to allow tenants and residents from across Monklands the opportunity to find out more about housing services.
Dozens of people attended the Housing Matters showcase at Gartlea community centre.
This year’s gathering marked a change in format from the usual tenant conference and was “very well received”.
Councillor Allan Graham, convener of enterprise and housing, opened the event and said afterwards: “It’s always great to speak directly with tenants and residents using our services.
“To gauge first- hand the positives, and sometimes negatives, gives us valuable feedback that allows us to further develop services or shape them differently to improve these.
“I was really excited by the new format and look forward to reading the event evaluation in detail and being part of future tenant participation events.
“I would urge tenants to find out more about getting involved in housing services.”
Initial feedback from the event revealed that building new homes was the top priority for additional rent spend.
Networking NL was also mentioned as one of the highlights, as well as the input from the council’s new chief executive, Des Murray, who outlined the vision for North Lanarkshire’s communities, and tenant participation manager Tracy Lennon with her details of the opportunities available for tenants to get involved.
Tracy said: “There are exciting times ahead for North Lanarkshire’s tenants and those attending our events were really keen to engage and be part of discussions. Involving tenants is key to everything we do and there are so many ways to do this either through tenant-led walkabouts, surveys and social media. Find out more and get involved.”
The council would like to thank event sponsors Mears and Saltire who also provided prize hampers to the garden award winners.
Residents can contact the local authority’s tenant participation team on 01698 302565.