Voice of the people

Opportunity knocks for social tenants to have real influence over housing policy and the practice of their landlords.

The key themes of Hazel Blears’ white paper Communities in Control – power, influence and control – mirror the agenda set by tenants across the country. The remit of the new Tenant Services Authority puts the experiences and views of tenants at the heart of regulation for the first time. And the proposal for a National Tenant Voice is the best opportunity in a generation to build the tenants’ movement into an effective force for change.

The tenants’ movement has always run on a shoestring. Dedicated people in national and regional organisations struggle to link thousands of local tenants’ groups together so they can collectively influence national agendas. It is a hard and often thankless task, and the structure is fragmented and vulnerable. The miracle is that so much has been achieved already. In future the NTV will offer resources, expertise, research and support so they can have much greater impact.

The NTV project group – which has a tenant majority – was tasked by the government to recommend detailed proposals. It has published a consultation paper on its initial ideas and 16 regional consultation events have involved over 1,000 tenant representatives. The consultation will run until mid-September, after which the plans will be revised to go to ministers, and possibly to parliament if legislation is required.

The vision for the NTV is that it should be:

• an independent, securely funded and professional organisation for tenants, making the case for change based on the views of tenants and top class research;
• accountable to and rooted in the tenants’ movement as a whole and not owned by any one group;
• an effective advocate with a core belief that tenants are citizens of equal worth who should not face discrimination, social exclusion or prejudice because of their tenure;
• an inclusive organisation that works for all social tenants, ensuring that those not involved in organisations are also heard, for example through opinion research;
• a partnership organisation that complements, supports and promotes the existing representative tenants’ movement at national and regional level and works effectively with other housing organisations, including the ombudsman, the regulator, government and social landlords.

A lot is said about social tenants, both publicly and in the media, much of it based on ignorance. By grasping the opportunity presented by the NTV, there is a chance that the authentic voice of social tenants may at last be heard.

Steve Hilditch is a housing consultant and independent chair of the NTV Project Group. The consultation paper is available at http://www.housing corp.gov.uk/server/show/ ConWebDoc.14589

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