Member Spotlight

It’s our members that make Tpas such a great organisation to be part of and what better way to show this than with our member spotlight feature.

Each month we will invite one of our members to share their engagement achievements, tips and ambitions, allowing you to keep up to date with what others are up to across the sector.

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Member Spotlight  - Coastline Housing

We asked Cathy Hadfield from Coastline Housing to share some of the work they are currently doing.

If you’d like to contact Cathy about any of the below, click here.

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Give us a little known fact about your organisation

We are an Official Adopter of the Together with Tenants Charter

(although we need to promote and celebrate this more)!

We are ‘more than a landlord’ - we also run a ‘one stop’ homeless hub.

Coastline Housing doesn’t just provide homes — it also operates a purpose-built centre in Pool (near Redruth) that brings multiple services together for people experiencing homelessness.

At this single site, people can access:

• Emergency and overnight accommodation

• A doctor’s surgery

• Support services and partner organisations

• Community facilities

This kind of all in one support model is relatively unusual for a housing association and shows how Coastline’s role extends far beyond managing properties. Our colleagues who work with customers in this service area trained in ‘psychologically informed environments’ and ‘trauma informed care’, which is about ‘seeing the person’ and providing a person-centred approach.

Tell us about a time that engagement has made a difference to your services or communities?

When NFH first launched the ‘Make Every Contact Count’ and its focus on truly ‘knowing our customers’, Coastline was already on that journey.

We identified a significant gap: the information we held about our customers – particularly Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI), vulnerabilities and support needs -was incomplete, out of date and unreliable. This meant we weren’t always delivering the best possible service.

After cleansing our existing data, and introducing improved categories aligned to good practice, we discovered we held only around 10% of customer data in these areas.

At the same time, we were also preparing for our Regulatory inspection (summer 2025), where we achieved a C1 grading. We knew customer insight was one of our weaker areas against the Consumer Standards, so we made it a top priority – championed from the Chief Executive down throughout the organisation.

We developed a dedicated survey and communication plan, and launched an 18 month engagement campaign, encouraging customers to share more about their circumstances, needs and experiences.

As a result, we have significantly improved our insight:

• Over 72% EDI data captured

• Over 78% of vulnerability and support needs recorded.

A key shift was to not just asking what needs customers have, but also understanding the impact of these needs. This enables colleagues to make more appropriate and meaningful service adjustments.

To ensure we used this information effectively, we worked closely with our involved customers to co-create a Vulnerable Customer Policy. Instead of presenting a draft for feedback, we took a bottom up approach—asking:

• “What do you need from us?”

• “What makes it easy to access services?”

• “What matters most when you contact an organisation?”

This allowed us to build policies and procedures using customers’ own words—creating something far more authentic and meaningful.

What are you currently working on when it comes to engagement?

 

Our Community Engagement Team is excited to soon launch WhatsApp channels for both Shared Owners and under-represented groups.

This will help us reach customers who don’t typically engage through traditional methods and open up new opportunities for feedback, ideas and collaboration.

Why did you decide to join Tpas?

When I joined Coastline around 8 years ago, we were already TPAS members, and we have benefited from training, forums, good practice guides and member support – all of which have helped our approach to engagement.

What is your top engagement tip?

Know who you aren’t hearing from – focus on underrepresented voices.

Be creative, persevere and welcome feedback, in whatever form it comes.

What’s the one thing you are really proud of when it comes to engagement?

We are proud that listening to our customers isn’t something we do – it’s part of our culture. We take a creative approach, genuinely act on feedback, and ensure customer voice is embedded across the organisation.

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Previous Member Spotlights

May 2026 - Re:Gen Group

April 2026 - Wythenshawe Community Housing Group

March 2026 - Tuath Housing

February 2026 - Fortem

December 2025 - January 2026 - Lovell

October - November 2025 - GCH

August 2025 - Pembroke Estate Management Board

July 2025 - Coastline Housing

June 2025 - Colchester Borough Homes

May 2025 - Manningham HA

April 2025 - Leeds Federated HA

March 2025 - North Star Housing Group

February 2025 - Wigan Council

January 2025 - Worthing Homes

December 2024 - Lumensol

October / November 2024 - Orbit

September 2024 - Gentoo

August 2024 - Watford Community Housing

July 2024 - BFT Mastclimbing

May / June 2024 - Stonewater

April 2024 - Hull City Council

March 2024 - Partners Foundation

February 2024 - Red Kite Community Housing

January 2024 - St Leger Homes of Doncaster

December 2023 - settle

November 2023 - Flagship Group

Sept / Oct 2023 - Hinckley and Bosworth Council

August 2023 - Tenants Hub CIC

June / July 2023 - Dovecotes TMO

May 2023 - Stockport Homes

April 2023 - TPTracker

March 2023 - Metropolitan Thames Valley

February 2023 - West Kent

January 2023 - Fairhive

December 2022 - Platform Housing Group

November 2022 - Integrated Solutions - City Plumbing

September / October 2022 - Homes Plus

August 2022 - Aspire

May 2022 - Arches

April 2022 -  Acis Group

March 2022 - wdh

February 2022 - Michael Dyson Associates Ltd

January 2022 - South Yorkshire HA

December 2021 - Gateshead Council

November 2021  - LiveWest

October 2021 - YMCA Thames Gateway

September 2021 - Bernicia

August 2021 - Anglian Building Products

July 2021 - Warrington HA

June 2021 - Futr

May 2021 - Vale of Aylesbury HT

April 2021 - Aaron Services

March 2021 - Soha

February 2021 - North West Leicestershire DC

January 2021 - Vinci Facllities

 

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I'd like to be in the spotlight

If you'd like to be featured in our Member Spotlight and highlight the work you are doing, please get in touch by emailing lisa.holt@tpas.org.uk.