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We are changing the way we work to reduce stigma for our tenants
Stigma of social housing tenants is a big issue – we are listening to tenants and changing the way we work as a result, writes Alison Muir
It’s almost a year since the housing secretary launched the Social Housing Green Paper while visiting Peabody Avenue in Pimlico. While there he met residents, including our resident board member Peter Baffoe, and people using the community centre. They discussed the very real issue of stigma and ways of tackling it.
Since then, following consultation with people living in our homes, we’ve made a number of changes to the way we work. The residents told us they feel that there is a stigma attached to living in social housing, with 90% of those surveyed saying they feel like the media is especially guilty of perpetuating myths.
One of our residents living in south-east London said she felt that the language of David Cameron’s government made the problem worse. “We’re not shirkers or scroungers,” she said. “Those of us who can work damned hard to look after our families and give something back in our communities. We contribute a lot.”
She highlighted the Benefit to Society website which tells the stories of people living in social housing. Its message that “it’s time to end social housing stereotypes and see the person inside” really resonated with me.
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At Peabody, we’re on a journey, increasing security of tenure for thousands of households, converting homes to cheaper tenures on re-let, and modernising our services with a view to giving our residents an effortless experience in their interactions with us.
But we won’t achieve this if we don’t listen to what people living in our homes tell us.
And what many of our surveyed residents told us this year is that they sometimes felt patronised by us as their landlord.
One woman said our letters were like a parent telling a child what to do. Another resident said that on getting their tenancy agreement they felt like they were back at school, signing a contract of good behaviour with a rather officious teacher.
“All too often in housing we fall back on using corporate jargon, issuing orders or citing obscure regulations. We may be the landlord and have obligations to fulfil, but based on this feedback, we are reviewing all our communications to make sure they are human and kind”
A friendly resident, who is very active in his community and happy with Peabody’s service, said: “It’s like you are trying to confuse us – tripping us up deliberately with legal jargon and assuming we won’t comply with your instructions. It reinforces negative stereotypes of us.”
All too often in housing we fall back on using corporate jargon, issuing orders or citing obscure regulations. We may be the landlord and have obligations to fulfil, but based on this feedback, we are reviewing all our communications to make sure they are human and kind.
I want to change the way we communicate, treating residents as partners in our shared endeavour. It’s not about being fluffy, it’s about understanding that there’s a human being with feelings at the other end of the conversation and understanding the impact our communication has.
Tackling stigma is not only about the language we use but also the action we take. So I am pleased to say that we no longer issue tenancy agreements in their traditional form: people signing up to live with us now get a partnership agreement.
We’ve scrapped the unnecessary jargon and legalese and modernised our agreements making them simpler: changing clauses, introducing a guide to each of our rights and responsibilities, and making digital sign-ups easier to complete.
This is an important step for us to take as a landlord. We value people living in our homes and are committed to working in partnership with them to help make our places great places to live.
Alison Muir, director of resident services, Peabody
