Resident associations

Why do residents associations exist?

They are set up to:

• meet the needs of the community
• have a clear purpose to tackle issues and problems collectively rather than individually.

What do residents associations do?

In Brent these include:

• dealing with crime and anti-social behaviour working with Police and BHP staff.
• organising inclusive social activities for all communities on the estate  (age, race, etc)
• working in partnership with BHP to deliver services for example estate walkabouts.
• arranging general and annual meetings for all residents on the estate to discuss issues affecting the area.

• regular contact with BHP staff.
• campaigning on issues where they do not see eye-to-eye with us
• helping to create a greater community spirit and trust.
• providing access to the local BHP community halls for hire on estates

Associations must be registered every year to receive an annual grant from BHP. 

Resident associations also have:

• regular contact with us
• residents views fed into their decision-making processes
• campaigns on issues where they do not see eye-to-eye with us
• a greater community spirit and trust.

Setting up a residents association

This takes a lot of time and voluntary effort and to be effective the following points need to explore:

• main reasons for setting up a residents association. Speak to our Resident Involvement Team so that they can provide assistance, advice and resources
• set up a small group that represents the community (i.e. ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities) and discuss the ideas
• plan a public meeting to explain ideas and elect a committee
• agree a constitution
• elect a Chair, secretary and treasurer.

Help and assistance

We have put together a number of guidance documents that residents associations should find useful to help them manage their own associations.

These documents are available to download in portable document format (pdf).

• Financial control guidance (.pdf, 267Kb)
• Fundraising and events guidance (.pdf, 197Kb)
• Newsletters guidance (.pdf, 205Kb)
• Resident halls guidance (.pdf, 212Kb)

Find your nearest

To find your nearest Resident Association please download our spreadsheet in either MS Excel or as a pdf.

• Resident association list - September 2011 (.xls, 67Kb)
• Resident association list - September 2011 (.pdf, 96Kb)

Contact details

If you would like to set up a new Residents Association or have any questions about the current associations within the borough please contact the Resident Involvement Team:

• Telephone: 020 8937 2579
• Email: resident.involvement@bhphousing.co.uk

You may need Adobe Reader software to view the pdf files on this page, which is available as a free download from the Adobe website.