Tenant Communication and Engagement Strategy
Shaping Services, Together
At Circle VHA, we believe tenants should have a real say in shaping the services they receive. That’s why we’re excited to launch our new Tenant Communication and Engagement Strategy (TCES). A strategy designed by Circle tenants, for tenants.
Over the past three years, more than 10% of tenants have actively engaged with us, helping to drive real improvements. Now, we’re building on that progress. This new strategy is about putting your voice at the centre, ensuring our services reflect what matters most to you.
Read the Strategy to see how tenant input has shaped our plans.
Get involved and help shape the future of Circle’s services.
Find a way to participate that works for you—email tes@circlevha.ie or call 01-4072110 to get started.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Tenant Engagement
Tenant engagement is about tenants playing a role in helping us to improve our services and performance. We want to encourage all tenants to get involved in shaping our services, by sharing their experience and telling us where we can improve or make changes.
These are some of the many ways you can get involved.
- TAG
- Tenant First Link
- Mystery Shoppers
- Policy Review Group
- Community Walkabout
- Tenant Project Group
- Tenant Surveys
- Editorial Group
Tenant Advisory Group (TAG)
- Meet 6 times a year for 2 hours. Mostly online via Zoom. Occationally meet in person.
- A group of tenants who work with Circle to improve services and make sure tenants’ voices are heard.
- Tenants who want a say in how Circle is run and like sharing views.
- Training and meeting support provided.
Tenant First Link (TFL)
- Meet 6 times a year for 2 hours, plus meeting preparation.
- A tenant–board committee where members work closely on major decisions, service performance, and community-focused priorities.
- Tenants who want to influence Circle’s direction and see their voice reflected at the highest level.
- Training and support provided.
Tenant Mystery Shoppers
- Flexible – a few hours when asked to take part.
- Tenants are trained as “mystery shoppers” to test Circle’s services, for example, making a request or complaint by phone. Their feedback helps improve how services are delivered
- Tenants who like trying things out and giving honest feedback.
- Training and guidance provided before you take part.
Tenant Policy Review Group
- Flexible – usually a few meetings spread over 2–3 months.
- A group of tenants who work with Circle to look at housing policies and give feedback on drafts or changes. This helps make sure policies are fair and reflect tenants’ needs.
- Tenants who want to influence how Circle’s policies are written and updated.
- Training provided.
Community Walkabout
- 1–2 hours, a few times a year.
- Tenants, Staff and local partners walk around a scheme together to spot issues like repairs, safety, or upkeep and agree on possible solutions.
- Tenants who want to see improvements in their neighbourhood and work with staff directly.
- Support provided.
Tenant Project Group
- Flexible – usually a few meetings spread over 2–3 months.
- A short-term group of tenants who work with Circle on a specific project (for example, repairs, maintenance). Once the project is complete, the group finishes.
- Tenants who like problem-solving, sharing ideas, and seeing quick results
- Training, meeting support, and updates on progress provided
Tenant Surveys
- 5–10 minutes per survey
- Short questionnaires that let tenants share their views on services, repairs, and community projects. The results help Circle make improvements.
- Tenants who want to give feedback but don’t have time for meetings
- We share the results and explain how feedback is used.
Tenant Editorial Group
- A few hours, 3–4 times a year
- Tenants and staff work together to create the tenant newsletter and other publications, making sure they are clear, useful, and reflect tenants’ voices.
- Tenants who enjoy writing, editing, or sharing creative ideas.
- Training and support provided.
If you’d like to learn more, get involved, or chat about how we can work together, please click the ‘Get Involved’ button below or reach out to me directly at tes@circlevha.ie.
Meet Our Tenant Engagement Officer
Hello, I’m Ken Cullen, the Tenant Engagement Coordinator at Circle VHA. My goal is to ensure that you, our tenants, have a strong voice in shaping your community.
In 2021, Circle VHA introduced the Tenant Communication and Engagement Strategy. This Strategy was built on the ideas and feedback from tenants like you, ensuring it truly reflects what’s important to our communities. Although I’ve recently joined the team, I’m fully committed to ensuring this Strategy is carried out effectively. I’m working in partnership with the Tenant Advisory Group (TAG) to keep this Strategy on track, ensuring that we’re delivering on our commitments and putting tenants at the heart of everything we do.
Looking ahead, I’m also involved in developing the next three-year Strategy, where your continued input will be essential in guiding our future steps. This is a collaborative process, and I’m excited to work with you to create a thriving community.
If you’d like to learn more, get involved, or chat about how we can work together, please click the ‘Get Involved’ button below or reach out to me directly at tes@circlevha.ie.
Intercultural Diversity
Hi all, my name is Marie Corr, and I am Circle VHA’s first Intercultural and Diversity Coordinator. I am working on an exciting new project for Circle VHA, along with two other Approved Housing Bodies (AHB’s), Clúid and Respond, to ensure that we have strong quality standards in our cultural diversity work.
Circle VHA is committed to building inclusive and welcoming communities for people of all backgrounds and we want everyone, no matter what their cultural background, to feel welcome and supported in their tenancy and their community. The Intercultural Diversity Standard Project is a process whereby Circle VHA will achieve a Quality Mark for its work in building sustainable intercultural communities.
As Maya Angelou once said, “In diversity there is beauty and there is strength”, and we are trying to build on that beauty and strength, and we will definitely need your help to do this! We will be reaching out to tenants to get involved and to give us their insights, ideas and perspectives on how we can achieve better standards in all areas intercultural.
If you would like to know more, to get involved or to talk to me about this work, it would be lovely to hear from you. I can be contacted by email: mcorr@circlevha.ie or text/WhatsApp 086 107 5089, or alternatively you can contact your Tenancy Services Officer.
Tenant Support Services
HSE Services
Public Health, GP, Mental Health, Addiction services.
Call local HSE office or GP for referral.
Safetynet Primary Care
Free healthcare for homeless individuals, mobile clinics.
Email: info@primarycaresafetynet.ie
Samaritans
Emotional support 24/7.
Freephone: 116 123
Email: jo@samaritans.ie
50808 Text Service
Free, confidential 24/7 mental health support via text message.
Text “HELLO” to 50808
Shine
Supports individuals and families affected by mental ill-health, offering counselling, recovery groups, information, advocacy, and educational resources.
Tel: 01 541 3715
Email: info@shine.ie
Turn2Me
Free, confidential online mental health support, including counselling and peer-support groups for adults and young people experiencing mental health difficulties.
Online support available directly via website turn2me.ie
Peer Advocacy in Mental Health (PAiMH)
Provides peer-led advocacy services to people experiencing mental health difficulties, helping them navigate services and make informed choices.
Tel: 01 860 1610
Email: info@peeradvocacyinmentalhealth.ie
Fr. Patsy Carolan Education Bursary
Designed to support tenants and their household members in starting or continuing their journey in education, training, or personal development.
Tenant Newsletter
Every three months we look for your input into our Tenant Newsletter. There are a number of great articles and features, and you can download a digital copy of our previous newsletters from this page.
Do you have content for the next issue?
We are always interested in new ideas for articles and features in our tenant newsletter. If you have a story you would like to see in the next issue, please let us know. This could be what’s going on in your community, any charity fundraising events or special achievements. We will try to include as many contributions as possible. If there are any other topics you would like us to feature in a future issue, please let us know.
You can contact us by email, phone or using our contact form here.
Feedback and Satisfaction
To better understand what is important to you and where we need to focus energy and resources, we have commissioned Acuity, an independent research company, to carry out surveys on our behalf. Since July 2021 Acuity have been contacting tenants to ask about your experience of being a Circle tenant. They have also been contacting new tenants, those who have had a repair recently completed, and those who have raised a complaint with us.
We want to thank everyone who has taken part so far for their time and feedback. These surveys allow us to review and improve the services we offer you. You can take a closer look at this data clicking the reports below.
The surveys will be continuing, and we would encourage all our tenants, to please take part.
If you have call display on your phone, the call display will show a UK number with a Brighton area code (01273 093939). There is no cost to you for accepting this call.
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