Places for People National Customer Group
Introducing our resident representatives for the Places for People National Customer Group
Following a robust selection process, two of our residents recently joined the Places for People National Customer Group to work alongside the team from PfP. The national customer group is made up of representatives who sit on regional panels from across the country. They will be the voice of our customers, challenging us to ensure we make positive and meaningful change to improve the services we deliver and our customer experience.
Baz Hurrell
Baz has been a Resident Shareholder since 2000, firstly with St.Pancras HA and then with Origin. He is also a retired architect with some 20 years experience of working in social housing, 10 of which were in-house with Peabody and Newlon Housing Trust.
He has lived at the same address in London for 37 years with three
different social housing landlords. He has extensive experience of the property maintenance and repair regimes of these landlords and has witnessed the impact on the management of these regimes as the landlord changed from a small, to a medium and then a large-scale housing provider.
Baz believes that the EFFECTIVE involvement of residents is essential for any meaningful customer-focused management of their properties – their HOMES - and that residents’ long-term knowledge of their properties and estates is an invaluable resource which is sometimes only begrudgingly acknowledged by staff who’s responsibility is to manage an increasing array of works on properties of which their knowledge is sometimes no more than their presence on a spreadsheet.
He is a firm believer in the NFHA’s Together with Tenants initiative but believes that so far there has not yet been a sufficient buy-in to this initiative by departments other than Customer Services.
Baz has been impressed by the robust and constructive exchanges between the PFP residents and staff he has witnessed and is encouraged by PfP’s stated commitment to genuine resident involvement. He looks forward to being an effective voice for St.Pancras residents now that the merger is underway and hopes to make a constructive contribution to the NCG.
Baz’s previous resident-involvement roles have been:
Management Committee member and Chair of Belpark Housing Co-operative – 5 years.
Resident Shareholder at St.Pancras HA, then Origin, from 2000 to 2024.
Member of Origin’s Large Works Resident Panel 2012 to 2013.
Member of Camden HA Tenants Group from 2016 to present.
Member of London Tenants Federation from 2017 to present.
Member of Origin’s Spotlight Panel from 2019 to 2021.
Member of Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel from 2021 to 2024.
Denise Dannagher
Denise is a criminologist who has a real passion for assisting young people to live fulfilling lives and desist away from criminal behaviour. 
She has been an Origin resident for around 30 years, starting at St Pancras before the transition to Origin Housing. Having lived in both Camden council properties and two of Origin housing properties she has a good insight to both local council and housing associations approaches to housing.
Her passion for community involvement stems from a desire to ensure that people’s voices are heard and that housing associations take feedback seriously. Over the years, she has witnessed significant societal changes and the evolving needs of different communities. She is particularly committed to supporting people with disabilities, young people and older residents, ensuring they can stay in their homes and remain active members of their communities.
Building a sense of community is very important to her. One of her aims is to foster environments where neighbours look out for each other, like creating communal areas for events such as summer BBQs. This helps combat loneliness and isolation, along with integration of different nationalities, bringing people together.
Supporting young people is a passion of hers, especially since many young individuals struggle to find housing in London and are forced to move far away or find themselves homeless. She believes in prioritizing housing for young people to keep families together and use housing stock efficiently. Her goal is to advocate for those without a voice, helping them understand their rights and empowering them to act for themselves.
In her previous role as a Student Voice Leader, she worked with the board to ensure the representation of people with learning disabilities, ethnic minorities, and older individuals, promoting an inclusive and open learning environment.