A Resident Association (RA) is a formal group of people who live in a neighbourhood, and decide that they want to get together to deal with concerns that affect their local community.
Why are they worth having?
A collective voice is a powerful voice. Being united with other people who share your living environment, means that you have the opportunity to influence and shape the quality of the services to your local community and improve residents’ quality of life.
How to Set Up a Residents Association.
Setting up a residents’ association
Setting up a residents’ association can make a real difference to your community. It can give you the opportunity to address issues of community concern and be the ‘voice’ for the residents within your local area.
The first thing you need to consider when setting up a residents’ association is what the group hopes to achieve. The following questions may assist you in this process.
What issues do you want to tackle?
Consider whether the group will tackle one specific issue or tackle a range of issues.
How big an area will the group cover?
Research other residents’ associations and what areas are already covered.
How to make your group grow?
Any group of three or more people can set up a group. For most groups, membership is open to anyone over the age of 18. Consider the options to recruit members. Talking to residents in your area to see who would like to get involved. Leafleting, put up posters in community areas. You can create a website, WhatsApp Group. Twitter page, Facebook Page or other social media platforms.
What skills do members in your group have?
Consider the skills required to help the group to achieve its goals.
What help might the group need and where can you get it?
Research available funding streams, contact your local council, and speak to local businesses.
Type of residents’ association
Once you have a good idea of the group’s goals, you need to consider how you want the residents’ association to be set-up and run – as an informal or formal group. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. You do not necessarily have to make this decision now.
Setting up an informal residents’ association is ideal if you want to improve the local area, as an example. They are particularly suitable if you are working to a low budget, as they cost little to nothing to set-up and run.
A formal residents’ association is more suited to groups that tackle serious issues, as they have certain rights. For example, a formal residents’ association that represents home owners living in a certain area should be consulted when the council want to spend money on improvements or change how they run the area. These groups are more difficult to set-up, as there are more criteria to meet
To establish a residents association, you will need to:
- Form a committee, with an elected Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer and committee members.
- Adopt a constitution.
- Keep certain records and documents, like an up-to-date list of members, any other rules of the association.
- Setting up the initial meeting
Once you are confident that there is an interest within your local area and residents are committed to get involved, you will need to plan the first meeting. The key points to consider are listed below.
The purpose of the meeting?
Be clear about why the meeting is being held and what it aims to accomplish.
Once you have had an initial meeting it’s time to plan your first public meeting and invite the rest of your community to come along. You can plan your first public meeting in a relatively informal way. Someone will need to chair this planning meeting to ensure it meets it aims.
Setting the date and time.
It is important to consider timings when setting up the meetings, consider conducting a questionnaire to find what date and time suit the majority.
You should give people adequate notice of the meeting.
Some people may be afraid to come to meetings alone, particularly at night. You may want to consider offering a service to accompany people to and from the venue.
Invite representatives.
If you have decided to invite representatives from other bodies e.g. the council, contact them and check they can attend.
Find a suitable venue for the meeting.
Contact your local venue or find a room to hire. Venues should be wheelchair accessible. You may want to consider hiring a venue that has a children’s play area to enable parents to attend the meetings.
Advertise the meeting.
Make posters, flyers or advertise by word of mouth. Contact your local councillor or other relevant association to assist.
Financial support
Before setting up a residents association, you should consider the ways you can publicise and inform people of events and issues.
Do you have the financial support to produce leaflets, posters, newsletters, hire a meeting room?
If you are working to a low budget, it is worth checking the ways you are able to raise money, such as holding fundraising events, accessing available funding streams.
Source – Do Something Good UK