This year’s event, with the theme of ‘Working Together’, is taking place on Saturday 16th November at Riverbank Community Hub, Coatbridge. The conference not only looks to the exciting future ahead for housing services but also highlights the key achievements and impact that tenants, working alongside staff, have made across communities over the past year. 

Key topics being covered include the launch of a new Tenant Participation Strategy – ‘For Tenants, By Tenants’ and changes which now see housing and property come together as one service to benefit tenants. 

The council will also be providing advice to tenants about the Rent Assistance Fund and rents online, together with raising awareness of changes, particularly impacting on pensioners, including winter fuel payments and Winter Heating Payment Scotland. To support tenants, advice will be provided in interview rooms with appointments on offer following the conference.  

Kicking off with registration from 9am, the conference starts at 10am and is packed with housing news, consultations, question and answer sessions and opportunities for tenants to come together and share their own ideas. There will also be a range of stalls at the popular marketplace including Police Scotland, the council’s making life easier team, home energy team and Citizens Advice. Conference attendees will have time to visit the marketplace, gather information and chat to staff.  

With raffles, lunch and so much more, tenants are encouraged to sign up today to secure their free place.

Councillor Michael McPake, housing convener, is opening the conference and looking forward to another well-attended event.

He said: “Our Tenants’ Conference is always a fantastic event and the number of tenants participating grows year-on-year. There really is something for everyone and I’d encourage tenants who’ve never attended before to come along and be part of a fantastic day. One of the event highlights for me is having an opportunity to speak to tenants first-hand and hear how our services make a difference across our local communities.” 

Tenant participation manager, Tracy Lennon, added: “This year has been a great year for tenant participation, and we’ve seen more and more tenants getting involved in the range of participation opportunities we offer. For someone maybe wanting to find out a bit more, our conference is the perfect place to do this. We’ll outline our services, improvements, how we work with other organisations and our role supporting tenants. We’re highlighting changes ‘You said, We did’ and the influence tenants have had in shaping and improving services. 

“Come along and meet with other tenants, organisations and staff and feel part of your housing community.”