Positive engagement across the county

It has been a productive summer, with tenants supported to join local activities and community groups. Social value funding from contracts has also helped groups deliver family events and improve shared spaces.

MD donated £100 in vouchers for garden competition winners and awarded £500 to the Bitham Walk Hall Friends Group for a family fun day.

The Making a Difference Fund awarded Hamp Community Centre £500 to buy art materials for its family art week and fun day.

These events help HIS connect with tenants, gather feedback and understand local priorities.

Somerset Council has always taken tenant engagement seriously and prior to joining with Homes in Somerset, has been working together on projects like the policy group and recruiting for the new Strategic Tenant Committee which will replace STAC and Somerset Council’s TSG group. Already we have received over 70 applications, and our tenants have been working together on the recruitment campaign and will be involved in the interviews.

The Somerset Council engagement team ran a garden competition in the summer. It was another fantastic year with entries from further afield and many more compared to 2025. 

Sharon Yarde, Tenant Engagement Lead said.  “I was really lucky to spend a few days with two of our engaged tenants, Wayne and Catherine touring the town and countryside, judging our Garden Competition entries. We were absolutely blown away by the high standard of the entries, and it was great to see how much effort had been put into growing and caring for such wonderful gardens. Everyone that took part should be very proud of themselves; it was a joy to visit all the entries and chat with our tenants.  It certainly gave me ideas of how I could improve my own garden.”

We are really looking forward to a joint garden competition in 2027!

This week Sharon Yarde and team held the last Tenants Action Group Meeting, it was a celebration of all the hard work and effort that they have put in during the years. An end of an era but are looking forward to seeing what the new tenant engagement model will look like, we know that there will be plenty of opportunities for our tenants to get involved. Not the end but new beginnings.