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From the frontline - Tom Forster

Tom Forster, neighbourhood investment officer at Metropolitan, writes about the need to combat stigma of social housing tenants

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In From the frontline this week - Tom Forster of @MetropolitanOrg #ukhousing

Tell us about your job

My job is varied, but the overall focus is working with residents to help make things better for them and their communities.

That’s everything from promoting employment and training opportunities to setting up community cafes on our estates with resident volunteers or organising community events.

How did you get into housing?

I worked in telesales before, but wanted to have conversations with people where I didn’t have to try to sell them things – so I applied for a job with the customer services team at Metropolitan.

While I was there, I began to volunteer at community events from time to time. I much preferred being out of the office, working face-to-face with people – so when this role came up, I went for it.


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What is the best part of your job?

The best part is the knowledge that you’ve made a tangible difference to somebody’s life.

What’s the worst part?

I work with many different organisations – for example, delivering money management workshops with local social enterprises.

In some cases, partners don’t have the same resources as you do to achieve what you have in mind for a project – so it can be tough to come to a compromise that works for everyone.

What’s your dream job?

A record store owner, I’m a big vinyl junkie.

What would you change about the housing sector?

I think there’s still a lot of work to be done to combat the negative stigma associated with social housing – as reinforced by TV shows such as Benefits Street.

Really great people live in our properties, and social housing is essential for fair and decent communities.

The sector needs to do more to shine a light on its important contribution to society.

If you could be prime minister for the day, what would you do?

Some people are under a lot of pressure because of the introduction of new benefits like Personal Independence Payments and Universal Credit – so I would overhaul the system to make sure it had more empathy and compassion for people. And I would reverse Brexit.

What’s the most private thing you’re willing to admit to your colleagues?

I have a pretty wide-ranging musical taste. Alongside all my Radiohead and Bruce Springsteen records, I’ve got lots of Taylor Swift and a Carly-Rae Jepsen album! I’m not embarrassed though, they’re all good tunes.

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