Healthy Homes Forum Workshop 3

Healthy Homes Forum Workshop 3

On Saturday 18^th October, the Healthy Homes Forum came back together for its third workshop.

This session focused on residents' experiences and expectations of the 'home upgrade journey' - exploring the barriers experienced at each stage, and generating ideas for reducing or removing barriers to upgrading homes in Queens Park Avenues.

Overview of the day

• The workshop began with a recap of the Forum's progress and how its work will guide future action and change.

• Participants identified the barriers and motivators faced when upgrading their homes, drawing on past experiences to highlight key challenges.

• We identified 'showstopper' barriers, noting differences between homeowners and renters, as well as shared issues.

• In small groups, residents developed practical solutions to overcome these barriers, and explored how their ideas could help at each stage of the upgrade journey - from initial awareness to installation.

• Participants also reviewed home retrofit guides from other communities, and discussed what they liked and what they wanted to see included in the Avenues-specific Healthy Homes Guide.

• The session ended with a summary of the ideas generated and a look ahead to the next workshop.
  
  

What we heard

• Residents face many challenges when trying to improve their homes. Some issues – like not having clear information or trusted advice – are common to almost everyone. Others are specific to different groups.
• Homeowners often struggle with high upfront costs and uncertainty about planning rules.
• Renters have limited control and often don’t trust their landlords, including the Council, to make the right decisions. This lack of trust comes from past experiences of poor service and short-term fixes instead of lasting improvements.
• Fixing just one problem isn’t enough if another barrier appears at the next stage of the process. Real change means improving the whole system that supports home upgrades, not just one part of it.

Next steps

• A draft Healthy Homes Guide, bespoke to the Avenues, will be presented for the Forum’s review at the next workshop, ahead of being published early in the new year.
• The emerging ideas for change will be developed further in the next workshop, and the Forum will recommend how their ideas should be taken forward.
• At our fourth and final workshop we'll explore next steps, including how the council and the Avenues community can continue collaborating and move into action.