Tenants want more involvement in housing management, says new report

Date: Friday 27 March 2009     Ref: TSA 25/09

Tenants want more involvement in housing management but some barriers mean this might not happen, according to a new report published today (Friday 27 March 2009).

The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) report Understanding Tenant Involvement explores the attitudes that social housing tenants have towards involvement in housing management and decision making.

Ipsos MORI were commissioned last September to carry out extensive qualitative research, discussion groups and in-depth interviews with tenants in social housing, including those currently living in supported housing. They were asked a wide range of questions on involvement including: how much they wanted to be involved in housing management; what they wanted in terms of involvement; what method of involvement was of most interest and what were the main concerns/barriers to involvement.

Key report findings include:

• there is a tangible link between satisfaction and involvement in general

• tenants who have a good relationship with their providers are likely to feel empowered and involved

• many tenants expressed an interest in being more involved in housing management but they also questioned the influence their own involvement could have, leading some to be indifferent towards involvement opportunities

• a minority of tenants did not get involved because they were already satisfied with the service they were receiving. This represents the success of service provision and not a failure on the part of housing providers to get local tenants involved in decision making

• there is a ‘ceiling’ on how many tenants will realistically get involved.  Whilst tenants are generally interested in being involved in housing management, housing providers also need to be realistic about how involved tenants actually want to be

Phil Morgan, TSA Executive Director, Tenant Services, said, “I welcome the report and its findings as the TSA is committed to tenant involvement to ensure tenants have a greater say in how their homes are managed. This report is a valuable tool for us when looking at how we can best work on behalf of tenants. We know that most tenants want to get their voices heard, so we will need to see what we can do to encourage greater participation.”

Copies of the report are now available.

Media enquiries should be directed to the press office on 020 7393 2094/ 2118/ 2115.

Notes to editors:
1) Citizen empowerment is fast becoming a major policy area for all government departments and public services providers. This culminated in the Community Empowerment White Paper, Communities in Control (2008), and the newly reinforced Duty to Involve, Consult and Inform.
 
2) Recent research, such as that undertaken by the National Consumer Council (2006) indicates that while tenants understand the value of involvement, they are cynical about how it’s undertaken. Citizenship Survey 2008 data shows, however, that tenants want greater opportunities to participate in effective decision making and more varied ways of getting involved in decisions regarding their housing.

3) The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) is the new independent regulator for affordable housing, set to raise the standard of services through a well-governed sector that puts tenants first. It launched on 1 December 2008 and currently regulates housing associations. From spring 2010, the TSA will also regulate other providers of social housing, such as local authorities and arms-length management organisations.

4) The TSA is consulting with social housing tenants across five million households and their landlords to develop new standards to improve services for tenants.

5) The TSA is currently operating under the legal powers of the Housing Corporation while it consults on the powers set out in the 2008 Housing and Regeneration Act.