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How many tenants actually trust their landlord?

As trust in institutions erodes, grassroots movements around the world are provoking change like never before. How can the sector learn and react to this situation? Paul Taylor explains

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Picture: Getty
Picture: Getty
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How many of our tenants actually trust us? asks @PaulBromford #ukhousing

“People are looking for big, bold change that delivers a discernible improvement in their lives,” says @PaulBromford #ukhousing

“All around the world it’s the grassroots organisations that are driving change, rather than governments and institutions,” says @PaulBromford #ukhousing

The Edelman Trust Barometer has polled tens of thousands of people across the world about their trust and credibility in key institutions for the past 20 years. The latest edition of the survey delivers a large portion of food for thought. 

The UK now finds itself in its lowest-ever position on the trust index, just one place from the bottom, with only Russia below it.

We have reached almost full employment. War and violence are at all-time lows. Extreme poverty is in retreat. With a few notable exceptions a child born almost anywhere today can expect to grow up healthier, wealthier and smarter than at any other time in history.

And yet, for a lot of people it just doesn’t feel like that. 

Globally, no institution – be it part of the government, the business industry, the non-profit sector or the media – is trusted. Institutions are variously described as remote. Too slow. Too bureaucratic. Not agile enough.

This distrust is being driven by a growing sense of inequity and unfairness in the system. The perception is that institutions increasingly serve the interests of the few. One in five say the system isn’t working for them. 


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There’s a lack of faith that the government can address society’s problems. Two-thirds of respondents said they do not have confidence that “our current leaders will be able to successfully address our country’s challenges”.

It would be easy to leap to the conclusion that nobody trusts anyone anymore.

Amid the grey and gloom, though, there is hope – and a huge opportunity for housing associations. 

Three-quarters of people want to see much greater collaboration from institutions, with each other and involving citizens. Indeed, across the board, collaboration is seen as key to regaining trust. 

Many more people place their trust in local communities. Around seven out of 10 respondents said they trust “people in my local community” and 65% said they trust “citizens of my country”. These two figures show that you have something to build from.

“People are looking for big, bold change that delivers a discernible improvement in their lives”

The other positive is that far from being resigned to the present situation, our communities want change. Indeed, incremental change is no longer enough. People are looking for big, bold change that delivers a discernible improvement in their lives.

How can we as a sector grasp this opportunity?

The first question is: how many of our tenants actually trust us? 

“Do you, as a tenant, believe that your landlord is trustworthy and credible?”

I wonder who would top a #ukhousing trust index?

Trust is built through people feeling that organisations are competent and have the ability to fulfil their commitments.

We need to believe they have the right motives, are benevolent, and act fairly and honestly. 

We need to see that they are transparent, and that they are learning from mistakes.

For many of us in housing this probably means adopting something of a back-to-basics approach. Not in a retrogressive sense, but one that reignites the values of the grassroots community-based movements from which the sector began. 

All around the world it’s the grassroots organisations that are driving change, rather than governments and institutions. They’re showing that when people with intimate knowledge of communities come together, great things can be accomplished.

“Trust is built through people feeling that organisations are competent and have the ability to fulfil their commitments”

Last year I was on the Indonesian island of Bali and I noticed that you couldn’t see any plastic bags in shops.  

Forget charging people for them, the government has cut to the chase and simply banned them. 

The change wasn’t driven top down. Instead, it came through a campaign by two sisters who initiated the youth-driven movement when they were just 13 and 15 years old. 

It’s these kind of local-led initiatives that excite me and give me hope. Because they’re driven by people, ground-up efforts tend to spread more quickly and more sustainably. 

As I’ve written before for Inside Housing, being open to community-led change requires a very different mindset and behaviour from us.

It means being open to ideas and encouraging early stage initiatives. It means believing in communities to do the right thing without the paternalistic hand of the landlord. It means developing equal partnerships where some power is devolved. 

People want change on a scale like we’ve never seen before. 

Whether we are up for it, or even capable of it, remains to be seen. 

Paul Taylor, innovation coach, Bromford

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