Fears £1.5m government-backed tenants’ body could go under Tories
Conservative axe looms over NTV
The newly formed National Tenant Voice could face being scrapped to save public money, a report has warned.
The unpublished research, commissioned by the Communities and Local Government department, examined the role of regional and national tenants’ organisations.
Researchers received responses from 150 regional tenants’ groups as well as representatives from the Tenants and Residents Organisations of England, Tenant Participation Advisory Service, Confederation of Co-operative Housing and National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations.
The research, gathered earlier this year, found some tenants’ groups were worried that the creation of the NTV could adversely affect the future of TAROE because the government may feel there were too many tenants’ bodies.
But researchers concluded the NTV is more likely to be axed as TAROE is an independent body.
The report raises fears the £1.5 million government-funded NTV could go as a cost-cutting measure if the Conservatives win the next election.
Mark Soundie, chief executive of TAROE, said: ‘We are supportive of the development of the NTV and we don’t really see their role as a non-departmental government body is in any way similar or overlapping of TAROE’s as a representative body for tenants.’
Conservative spokesperson for housing Grant Shapps said he ‘had not thought about’ the future of the NTV yet but that he was ‘keen to engage with tenants groups closely up the election’.
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Readers' comments (10)
Carole | 04/12/2009 9:20 am
Well hopefully this comes as no surprise to tenants across the country? The NTV has the potential to become a very strong body, and we already know that the Tories have very little interest in social housing and believe everyone should own their properties. As a tenant and a housng professional we need to come together to ensure the NTV is up and running and is a real voice to be reckoned with. Come the general election next year over 5 milllion tenants should know where to put thier vote!!
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Junior | 04/12/2009 10:38 am
Keep your hands off - us Tenant's have no one and we been waiting a long time to have a voice a real voice whom will stand up to these Careless Housing Association
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Dave Hollins | 04/12/2009 12:24 pm
The NTV will be up and running by the time the election happens and it will be up to all tenants to make sure that it survives. We should note that this story is Inside Housing's take on someone's opinion in an unpublished report, the authors may not even have talked to the Tories so it may just be speculation all round, exaggerated by IH's tendency to think it's the Daily Mail.
The NTV is clearly a different type of body to TAROE, which represents its membership whereas the NTV aims to reach out to all tenants whether they are members of an organisation or not - and unfortunately, most aren't. It would be a bad mistake by Grant Shapps to think he could remove the NTV without causing a big fuss so hopefully he will look at the facts for once before coming to an opinion.
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Jim Paton | 05/12/2009 9:17 pm
Dave Hollins says "it will be up to all tenants to make sure that it survives."
No it won't! Of the small minority of tenants who've even heard of NTV, most are very strongly opposed to it. It is undemocratic, divisive and not a voice for tenants at all. It even includes so-called "experts" who're not tenants! It's not a voice for tenants, but an echo-chamber for what the present government wants to hear and can then misrespresent as the views of tenants. It has official culture and the government agenda oozing from every pore.
So, it was a sort of topsy-turvy dream to read "Conservative axe looms" and do a wee hop and a skip for joy. The problem is the headline grossly oversells the story. There is no Tory commitment to abolish this monstrosity at all. It is merely something Grant Shapps "hasn't thought about".
Well, you could fill an ocean with housing issues the supercilious Grant Shapps hasn't thought about. In most cases that's because he doesn't know about them, or thinks he does but has the wrong end of the stick altogether. There is, therefore, not a lot of material on which to exercise his so far elusive intellect. He is shaping up to be the proud impressario and ringmeister of The Great Unintended Consequences Show, otherwise known as DOH! OK, it's not an acronym, but it rhymes.
What Grant Shapps has or hasn't thought about is as irrelevant to tenants real concerns and problems as the NTV. A plague on both their houses!
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Peter | 06/12/2009 12:46 pm
Oh Jim, you so unkind to Grant Shapps! But, I like it!
I agree with all your comments concerning NTV and glad to know that are some people out there that share my thoughts too of this propaganda organization.
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Bernard Townroe | 07/12/2009 8:30 am
I don't blame anyone for being sceptical about NTV but for for it being seen as a threat to TAROE (which costs as much as it achieves, i.e., the square root of sod all) should tell us all we need to know. The NTV might be accused of paying lip service to the needs of tenants. It appears that the Tories can't even afford that!
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Terry J Edwards (MESH) | 08/12/2009 9:41 am
The TSA may have it.s faults ,but one fact is indisputable ,they have talked and listened to more residents ,than the Tories ever have ,but again is it any surprise that they don't want to listen about social housing when it was their polices of the eighties , that made local councils impotent and smashed local committees to pieces , they called it rate capping and the right to buy , remember Westminster and Lady Porter ?
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Dave Hollins | 18/12/2009 5:31 pm
Jim Paton's rather hysterical post sums up why the tenants' movement never makes much progress in this country. The NTV has had a huge positive response from tenants, I believe there were 1300 applications, which is a huge response and tells its own story that tenants really want new ways of getting their voices heard. Taroe has been heavily involved in the setting up of the NTV and sees it as complementary to their work and not a threat.
Jim never puts forward a positive option, and its time to bring to an end the decades of tenants looking on from the sidelines while the
landlords are talking to government all the time - all paid for from tenants' rents - and get their way on all the key issues.
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Ann | 10/01/2010 9:18 pm
The NTV is a shambles - the TSA although a regulatory body has at least listened to tenants. The NTV is going to be costly especially as it is recruiting its representatives via a recruiting agency (Hays) and meetings of the 50 strong council will take place 4 times a year up and down the country. The members do not represent all parts of the country nor are they representative of minority groups - Hays could not use positive discrimination. I find that the NTV assertion that tenants 'are citizens of equal worth' was unnecessary and patronising given that there are more crooks, criminals and fraudsters in politics and business than there are in social housing. I agree with Jim Paton.
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Gwen King | 25/01/2010 12:43 pm
Well – at least the NTV would be a start and a step in the right direction. The problem I have with it is – will it really have any “Clout”! It’s all very well setting something like this up, but if it has no teeth and influence, it becomes rather irrelevant. If the NTV is going to survive, the tenants who have been elected to sit on the Board etc, really do need to make sure that they have a proper say and their views are not only listened to, but also acted upon if it’s not to become just another talking shop . I don’t think that anyone would disagree that tenants do need a voice, so if the Conservatives do disband the NTV, organizations like TAROE must make sure that the voice of tenants is heard!
The problem we have here in the UK is that we are a nation seemingly obsessed with home ownership unlike many of our European counterparts who regard social housing totally differently to us. What the UK now needs more than ever, is a huge building programme to build good quality affordable social housing, so any national tenants organization needs to be pressing hard to achieve this.
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