Upskilling residents in the Northern Rivers
05/07/2024
By Eloise Parrab, Land Lease Communities Officer at the Tenants’ Union of NSW
Paul and Eloise from the Tenants’ Union recently travelled to Pottsville in Northern NSW to provide training for resident advocates. The participants were residents living in land lease communities who have stepped into the role of advocate to try and resolve disputes with the operator of their communities. The Tweed Residents Parks Home Owners Association and the local Northern Rivers Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service (NORTAAS) helped us to organise the training.
It was a great couple of days training where we took the residents through the role of an advocate, negotiating disputes and the NCAT process from lodging an application through to a hearing. “Always keen to learn more about land lease legislation and this training will assist me to support others through the NCAT process” was the feedback from one of the attendees.
It was also a good opportunity to run two community education sessions for residents in Ballina and Lismore with the local tenants advice service NORTAAS. Those sessions covered rights and responsibilities of residents and operators and there were lots of questions from residents who are currently dealing with a range of issues in the community but the biggest issue was poor operator conduct.
We also popped into the Chinderah Donation Hub and met with some of the volunteers. The Hub is providing assistance to residents in Chinderah and the surrounding area who have been impacted by the floods in March 2022. The Hub was initially located in old shipping containers at the old Cudgen Leagues Club and with the help of funding grants they were able to relocate to a unit in the Chinderah Industrial Estate. They are providing an essential service for many residents who are trying to get back on their feet after the devastating floods.
Pictured: Volunteers Sandy (left) and Bob (centre), with Eloise (right), at the Chinderah Donation Hub.
This article was published in Outasite magazine issue 11. Outasite is published once or twice annually. Outasite Lite email newsletter is sent several times a year – subscribe subscribe here. All past issues are available in the archive.