Kate Tivney, Chair of Selwood Housing’s Customer Scrutiny Team has been named as one of the UK’s twenty most inspiring women leaders in housing.
Selected from over 350 nominations, the awards highlight the most influential women working in social housing who bring their passion and expertise to their communities and help to solve the UK’s housing crisis.
The middle of a pandemic is a very difficult time to maintain customers’ scrutiny of housing associations and judges commented on Kate’s ability to ensure the tenant’s voice was still heard at this time and how she found new ways to enhance the work that was done.
Kate Tivney said, “During lockdown it was even more critical that customers continued to play an important role in shaping services, albeit in a new environment and we collectively embraced all forms of digital communications to continue the essential work we do.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do any of the work through the pandemic without the help and support from Selwood staff and from my colleagues on the scrutiny team.
“No one is more delighted than me to be named among this group of amazing women doing such important work. It was one thing to be nominated, that was an honour. To be selected was just incredible!”
In her role as volunteer chair, Kate leads an independent group of customers, that review Selwood Housing’s services to ensure they are effective and consider the customers’ perspective.
All of the scrutiny team are volunteers and are part of co-regulation, where tenants are involved in decision-making and hold their landlord to account.
Barry Hughes, Selwood Housing Group chief executive said,
“It is fantastic to hear that Kate has been recognised among the top twenty women leaders in housing working across the UK. It is so very well deserved and huge congratulations to Kate come from all the team at Selwood Housing.
“It is so important for housing associations to listen to residents and be pro-active. The scrutiny team, led by Kate, helps us to ensure that our tenants are at the very heart of our services and that we respond quickly and effectively to what they tell us.
“For example, last year, the scrutiny team looked at how we manage repairs and we improved our training and our website as a result.”
The Women in Housing: Leaders 2020 is compiled by Inside Housing. The twenty women who make up the list, have been chosen for their leadership role in housing by a panel of judges that itself comprise of some of the most influential women in the sector.
