TRAs
Being part of a Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) is a great way to get involved in improving your community.
What is a TRA?
TRAs are made up of local residents who get together to represent the views and interests of everyone living in a particular area. They work in partnership with the council to help make their neighbourhood a better place to live.
TRAs organise events and activities to bring local people together and deal with challenges they may be facing, including housing issues such as repairs and maintenance, or other community concerns such as the environment or crime.
Made up of residents and an elected committee, TRAs have regular meetings throughout the year. A representative from Lewisham Council also attends to give updates and look into any issues that are raised.
The committee and their roles
There are four key roles in a TRA committee:
- Chair: the Chair keeps overall control of the TRA by encouraging discussions, and ensuring everyone gets a chance to express their views and understands decisions
- Vice Chair: the Vice Chair heads up the meetings when the Chair can’t attend, and steps in when needed
- Secretary: the Secretary helps prepare and distribute the agenda for meetings, as well as taking and circulating minutes
- Treasurer: the Treasurer looks after the TRA’s finances, including reporting the bank balance along with recent transactions, completing grant applications, and distributing copies of the financial report
Who can stand for the committee or other involved positions?
Everybody who lives in the area is a member of the TRA, and anybody can choose to stand for a more involved position, such as the committee roles, or block representatives.
There is an opportunity for the Chair of the TRA to attend or nominate someone to attend, quarterly meetings with senior leaders at Lewisham Homes.
Specialist training and opportunities
There are a number of bespoke training courses in committee skills, such as chairing, secretary, and treasurer skills, available through the Lewisham Tenants Fund.
Funding
The Lewisham Tenants Fund provides grant funding for TRAs to put towards equipment, admin tools, events, activities and making improvements to the neighbourhood. There are also a number of other ways TRAs can access funding, including the community investment fund, and other local and national funding opportunities.
Joining or starting a TRA
Visit Lewisham Tenants Fund’s TRA page for detailed guidance on setting up and running a TRA. You can also view an example TRA constitution agreement.
For a new TRA to be given the go ahead, residents will need to show support from the local community through an informal survey on the estate. If there is enough appetite, we will help to elect the members of the committee at an inaugural meeting and agree the TRA constitution with you.
If you’re interested in joining or setting up a TRA, please give us a call on 0800 028 2 028 or send an email to housingmanagement@lewishamhomes.org.uk.