Why we are launching a sector-wide discussion with tenants

Some is about improving and revitalising existing homes and neighbourhoods by large-scale regeneration and community investment.

“Do we know as individual organisations and as a sector whether our residents think they live in great places?”

Some is about economic impact. But who decides what constitutes a great place to live? Pretty obviously, it’s the people who live there.

So do we know as individual organisations and as a sector whether our residents think they live in great places?

How can they contribute to the life of their communities and help to shape them? How do we ensure that those who would love to live in our homes can access them and contribute in their turn to shaping those communities?

The simple answer is to ask them.

Of course, housing associations already have sophisticated mechanisms in place to do this.

Most surveys suggest that 85% or more of housing association tenants are satisfied with their homes and the service they receive.

But we don’t have a collective view, an overall national perspective, not just on the quality of the home but more generally on the wider community.

In 2006 we carried out a huge exercise with tenants and published a report entitled What Tenants Want. It’s time to revisit that conversation.

“We don’t have an overall national perspective on the wider community.”

We want to learn from the experience of other industries who talk to their customers at significant scale.

We want to consider the potential that a digital world offers to collect views in real time and through something close to mass participation.

We need to know whether our residents are getting what they want and whether we are meeting their reasonable expectations.

Read our interview with David Orr

Are housing associations transparent about the decisions they make and accountable when things go wrong? Are the services that are delivered and the neighbourhoods that are built properly informed by the views of the people who live there?

“We want to learn from the experience of other industries who talk to their customers at significant scale.”

We will manage this conversation through our members, creating a member steering group and talking to regional networks before opening this up into a sector-wide discussion next year.

We are considering setting up a standing resident panel, not to discuss individual housing associations but to ensure that the experience of residents is heard as part of the national conversation.

The final decision on whether or not we do this will be dependent on what our customers say and the views of our members.

Why now? There is to be a Social Housing Green Paper, and the Labour Party has committed to a review of social housing.

We want to contribute to these and this conversation will help to ensure our contribution is relevant.

There is also a moment of national reflection on our housing offer following the horrific loss of life at Grenfell.

All these factors contribute.

But mainly we are doing it now because it’s more than 10 years since we last had a focused national conversation with housing association residents.

“We have seen a national narrative develop which wholly unreasonably demonises social housing tenants.”

It’s time to do it again and to consider how best the voices of existing and prospective customers are heard.

Our nation has paid far too little attention to housing policy for far too long.

We have seen a national narrative develop which wholly unreasonably demonises social housing tenants.

We have to change this.

We really do want to ensure that if you live in a home provided by a housing association, you have a great place to live.

David Orr, chief executive, National Housing Federation