Tenants and Residents Associations (TARA's) | Berneslai Homes

Article: Tenants and Residents Associations (TARA's)

What is a TARA?

A Tenants and Residents Association (TARA) is a group of people who work together to give a voice to their community on housing and other community issues. TARAs are non political and anyone living in the area represented by a TARA can join.  There are currently 18 TARAs in Barnsley.   A TARA can also be known as a Tenants Association (TA) or a Tenants Residents Association (TRA). 

TARAs can help to: 

• Improve the condition of their homes and estates by working with Berneslai Homes to ensure that local people can get involved in making decisions.  
• Improve local services – like a particular housing service or the street cleaning service.
• Deal with specific problems like speeding traffic or anti-social behaviour.
• Campaign or fundraise for a play area or community garden.
• Organise and encourage community and social activities such as bingo, playgroups, trips for the elderly, coffee mornings and discos.

One person alone can’t do these things. But when people get together in a Tenants and Residents Associations – they can do all that and more.  By getting together and forming a Tenants and Residents group, you can help shape the local services you want, or just find out information about the services you receive and why they are delivered the way they are.

TARA's have achieved great things within their communities from attracting major funding for play areas, to making sure everyone knows what’s going on by holding regular meetings and producing newsletters. TARAs work with councillors and officers and many other agencies to improve the areas they represent.

Getting Help!

Berneslai Homes' Community Engagement Officers Gillian Totty and Leon Sidebottom are on hand to provide help, advice, assistance and support to established TARAs and to those wishing to start a TARA. They can also provide a variety of training to individual members or groups, so that groups feel empowered and able to tackle any issues they may wish to look at.

"One aspect of our role is to support and empower TARAs and look at innovative ways of moving their groups forward and increasing membership.  Community Engagement is an active, continually changing process of developing new opportunities for involvement. This is people power at its best we really believe that TARAs are helping to shape the service we provide and are making a huge difference. The commitment and dedication from Tenants and Residents Associations is highly valuable and is very important to Berneslai Homes."

For further information on starting a TARA visit our 'Starting a TARA' section listed above. For information and advice on TARA's please contact Gillian or Leon by phone on (01226) 772727 or email: communityengagementteam@berneslaihomes.co.uk