Going local

Local standards are one of social housing’s success stories. Nowhere is this more true than in securing the co-regulatory settlement.

Drawing on work at Tenant Participation Advisory Service events, the concept of tenants deciding priorities, setting standards and monitoring performance became ‘tenant tests’ of the robustness of the Tenant Services Authority’s new regulatory framework.

Local standards helped resolve issues with the local performance framework for councils, landlord concerns about getting on with delivery and tenant concerns about transparency and accountability of that delivery. The co-regulatory settlement has created an arena for landlords and tenants to fill.

The local standard pilots are a good example of this. First, ‘local’ is defined by place or community, by landlords alone or working in partnership with others, especially on anti-social behaviour.

Second, tenant-involvement structures evolve to respond to a challenge that genuinely empowers them, and the staff they work with, to create ways of working that reflect where they live and who they are.

Third, tenant scrutiny, supported by external challenge, creates real accountability on performance, allowing benchmarking with other landlord’s performance.

For some time, I and others have been arguing for performance and involvement supporting each other. Based on my visits to pilots, local standards are now making that case by producing real improvements on services linked to tenant involvement.

Challenges remain, with more to be shared about the experiences of the pilots; especially where they create a positive landlord culture and sustained improvements in value for money. However, through local standards, landlords and tenants are well ahead of the rhetoric on localism, empowerment and creating communities with oomph.

Phil Morgan is a consultant, commentator and speaker on housing