A Cardiff housing and support provider has appointed a new tenant engagement officer to lead on the implementation of the organisation’s vision to provide affordable, comfortable and energy efficient homes.
The appointment of Zana Ali comes as part of Taff Housing’s broader strategy to provide affordable warmth to all its tenants, in line with the Welsh Government’s latest heat strategy and its commitment to decarbonising 1.4 million social homes across Wales.
Zana’s role is just one part of a new project team at Taff Housing who are dedicated to improving the energy efficiency of all 1,500 homes owned and managed by the housing and support provider. Zana will be working closely with the Taff Housing Development team alongside the Assets team, to individually assess every home, considering structure and age of the building, suitability of technology and the tenants themselves, to ensure that appropriate energy efficiency measures are planned for each home.
Zana will also be tasked with the role of informing, guiding and supporting tenants through the changes being made to their homes to ensure they understand the positive impact these updates will have both financially and physically.
Zana said:
“Many of our tenants are living in fuel poverty and most of those also reside in low energy efficient homes; therefore, it is hugely important to be addressing this issue to help people manage fuel costs.
“However, before we can embark on making any changes, we must ensure that our tenants are fully on board with the changes we are suggesting to their homes. It’s crucial that they understand the long-term benefits any improvements we are planning will bring, such as reduced energy bills and enhanced living comfort.”
Since starting his role, Zana has been dedicated to engaging with tenants, helping them to understand the benefits and processes of the decarbonisation initiatives. His work includes providing clear information about energy efficiency upgrades, such as the installation of solar panels, heat pumps, and other green technologies, while ensuring minimal disruption during these upgrades. He also ensures that tenants understand how the new technologies work, so they can fully benefit from the new systems.
CEO of Taff Housing, Helen White added:
“Like many other housing associations we are dedicated to improving the energy efficiency of our tenants’ homes to help them to manage their fuel costs. Without funding from the Optimised Retrofit programme from the Welsh Government, this would be very challenging to achieve. However, we are now putting plans in place to implement the roll-out of our ‘affordable warmth’ strategy, carefully considering the needs of every tenant and their home. This roll out will take several years to complete, but with our dedicated team in place, we are confident we can achieve this in line with the Welsh Governments ambitious plans.”
Wales based Taff Housing owns and manages over 1,500 homes across Cardiff, providing 4,000 people with somewhere to call home. The housing association also deliver a range of specialist support, including young people and family supported accommodation, community based floating support and specialist community relocation schemes.
It also offers tenants financial support and money advice and tenancy support services in the community where they help people to access education, training, and employment, as well as physical and mental health services to help prevent the threat of homelessness.
