I was inspired to run for housing and community officer after struggling my way through two years of a less than perfect landlord. Having lived without an oven for 3 months (microwave meals get old fast) and having been reduced from eight kitchen chairs to one due to their sheer poor quality, I want to help students in similar situations just as the guild helped my housemates and I. Whilst the guild already does a sterling job of looking after its’ students in the community and providing fantastic advice when it comes to housing, I feel with a few changes, these services could be improved exponentially.
My overarching focus with almost all of my policies is a process of modernisation and an increase in the Guild’s web presence. With a wealth of resources and expertise in this department I believe the guild could be far further reaching to the student body and local community through the usage of these technologies. The first way in which I’d like to do this is to re-vamp and re-launch ‘Selly Watch’ as an online neighbourhood watch service. Whilst there is an old Facebook page for ‘Selly Watch’ I would like it to become your first port of call for community matters in the Selly area. It would also provide crucial information to everyone about crime in the local area, a prevalent and worrying issue at the moment.
In line with this overarching theme I would like to introduce a ‘Room Finder’ style online forum for students. This would aid those who are looking to find a house with other like-minded people, find a room for those joining the university or to advertise spare rooms in your houses. I feel like this would be of great benefit to many students not least to those who are moving to the city for the first time and have little idea of where to start looking. In addition to this I aim to re-frame the processes that are outlined on the Guild website through ‘Education, Information and Clarification’. I want to make it clearer for students to understand their rights through publications on the legality of private renting, an FAQs page for housing and I’d like to explore the feasibility of a housing live chat similar to the one used on the University’s library page.
I also believe that the Guild can be utilised more as a venue for events that can bring people together. Whether you want a cup of tea and some live music, a pint of ice cold coke after a tough session in the gym or just a pint and a chat, I believe open-mic nights and pub quiz nights at the guild would provide a great night for friends to get together without casting off the next day as a write-off. Something I think I, and many others who are studying hard at the moment would really appreciate.