Placemaking Case Studies

Asset-based approaches

The asset-based approach represents a significant shift in ForHousing’s operational ethos. It transcends the traditional tenant-landlord dynamic, fostering a culture of mutual respect and collaboration. This transformation is underpinned by the belief that by using strengths-based approaches, understanding what the assets are in a community and building on what works, and what is important to people, solutions to issues can be found in the most unusual of places. By building trust and forming relationships, tenants feel safe to talk about what’s important to them and have the assurance that landlord, partners and communities will work together. This is pivotal in building sustainable communities and delivering equitable services.

The approach was about shifting the power dynamics that had gone before and embedding a culture of co-producing solutions.

As part of this approach ForHousing invested in asset based community development mapping, which was part funded by the Fusion 21 Foundation. Working alongside Unlimited Potential, We Make Places and Action Together, detailed asset maps of neighbourhoods in Salford, Stockbridge Village and Fitton Hill were produced that were not only based on traditional ‘assets’ such as community centres, but also areas and events that are important to communities.  This began with understanding the gaps in existing engagement data alongside wider data, such as census information, to help understand the groups in neighbourhoods not currently involved. Following this, ‘community connectors’ were identified – those people in the areas who know more people than anybody else and are at the heart of the community. Engagement with these connectors was an important first step in building relationships and trust and really understanding the assets in local communities and what is important to people. 

This approach has helped explore what community means to residents, what is an asset to them, what is happening in local communities, and what is missing from the community’s point of view. This helps develop maps of “community ecosystems” from the community’s point of view. So, although assets may have been mapped before, they haven’t been community led, so this leads to asking and understanding how we work together.

This work is an important first step in changing the way ForHousing works, recording the ‘informal’ tenant voice and actively engaging those communities who have previously chosen not to engage. A key message is that while the work might be telling ForHousing things that they ‘already know’, it’s about how this interpreted, yes, communities might have already said this before, but the question is, ‘why are they still telling us this?’ Is it because previous ‘solutions’ haven’t been effective? or things have changed? If it is, a new approach to co-producing solutions needs to be tested, which will drive the culture change of embedding co-production.

Community Voice

An important part of ForHousing’s formal involvement framework is the community voice, which was reviewed in 2022. The Voice is a group tenants and community members who come together with ForHousing staff and partners to: raise issues and concerns, make decisions about community funding and coproduce solutions. There is one panel in each key neighbourhood that provides a regional voice for residents and communities to understand not only issues but opportunities and priorities for the whole neighbourhood. Rather than attempting to resolve all issues singularly ForHousing becomes the connector linking the community into other providers, agencies and stakeholders, exploring who has the capacity, assets and ideas to co-create solutions to the issues that are important. This has helped ForHousing understand what their responsibility as a landlord and work with an asset-based approach that understands that “solutions are often within the neighbourhood” which enables co-creation. 

As part of this approach, ForHousing also works with the Community Voice group to deliver the Community Fund and Local Area Improvement Grants which support the community in delivering projects. The Community Fund is for community-based projects of up to £500, for example a community uniform recycling project. The Local Area Improvement Grants are wider grants of up to £3,000 to deliver improvements to neighbourhoods, for example, it has created benches in a local woodland and supported the development of a community allotment for local veterans.

The relationships and trust developed through the Community Voice have enabled a more informal flow of feedback from the local community, encouraging the reporting of local concerns. It helps with more informal feedback, which can lead to early intervention to improve services or help nip community problems in the bud.  The forum has also helped improve the way in which ForHousing communicates with all its residents, for example, the Community Voice helped design resident-friendly communication around damp and mould.

It was also through the recognition of the importance of regional-based offices and face-to-face engagement that the forums encouraged the re-opening of two key regional offices.

Metrics

Satisfaction surveys and performance data are used, however analysis of these are a good way of identifying gaps – who doesn’t respond to surveys against wider data such as census information to explore who are the groups not previously engaged.

Testing performance data – after improvement on call centre services performance figures showed quicker response times – this was tested in real time by a live call in a Community Voice meeting.