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The school of social housing
When a south London community landlord wanted to get more tenants involved at board level, it launched its very own housing academy. Rhiannon Curry dusts off her satchel and enters the classroom. Photography by Dan Joseph
Going back into education to begin a new qualification is not what Sharon O’Connor expected to be doing in her sixties.
“I only did secondary school – and that was a long time ago,” she says with a smile.
But Ms O’Connor, a leaseholder at London housing association Phoenix Community Housing, has stepped back into the classroom as part of a unique project to empower and equip tenants and residents so they can help run the organisation themselves.
The Phoenix Academy was set up in 2014 to encourage more residents to become involved with Phoenix and potentially take up future positions on the provider’s board and committees. It bills itself as a “school of social housing” – teaching people about the sector from top to bottom.
The Level 1 course – which is delivered by Phoenix staff and residents – focuses on the history of social housing, asset management, housing finance, models of governance and more. Its aim is to demystify the housing system – challenging people on everything from how you prioritise repairs to how landlords manage risk. It is free for Phoenix tenants to attend.
The academy is the brainchild of Jim Ripley, the softly spoken chief executive of Phoenix, who realised that the association’s resident-led model was only going to be sustained into the future if it actively recruited switched-on tenants who knew about the housing system to lead it.
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Phoenix, which owns and manages more than 6,000 homes in Lewisham, south-east London, is a ‘community gateway’ landlord, and its rules stipulate that its chair and vice-chair must be residents.
“We’re always thinking about succession, and it’s very challenging,” Mr Ripley explains. “Our board does not pay, so you need skills and motivation to be involved.”
He realised that setting up a course, running on consecutive Tuesday evenings, would increase people’s confidence and convince them of the value of getting involved in life at Phoenix.
“The most important thing about the academy is that people ask a lot of questions – they are very challenging,” Mr Ripley says. “That’s a thing that boards need.”
The course proved extremely popular – so much so that the landlord set up a Level 2 course and, this month, a Level 3 course. It is now accredited by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), making Phoenix the only housing association to run a course of its kind aimed specifically at tenants.
The first day of the Level 3 course starts with an introductory session with tutor Sarah Whitelaw; while the Level 1 course is taught by residents and staff, for Levels 2 and 3, an external teacher is brought in.
Ms O’Connor is looking forward to adding to her qualifications and increasing the ways she can serve a community she is passionate about. “I’ve been a leaseholder here for many years,” she says. “I want to gain the knowledge to put it back out there.”
She is already Phoenix’s energy champion and holds a weekly drop-in for people wanting a better deal on their bills or to use less energy. The fact that she lives in a Phoenix home is what has made this successful, she says. “If it’s coming from a resident it’s not ‘us and them’ any more,” she points out.
Doing the Level 3 course will mean she will understand more about what it takes to run a housing association and what can be done to improve the lives of those who live in its homes. The course features modules on the housing system, customer service and occupancy, among other things.
“I’m already finding that people are coming to me for advice with their rent or for other problems. I’m hoping to get more knowledge to give out by doing this,” she adds.
The academy is achieving its aims: of the nearly 180 previous graduates of the academy, three have become Phoenix board members, others have joined the resident-led scrutiny committee, and still more are involved at all levels of governance.
“It’s nice to feel that as a resident we can look at some of the decisions that have been made at a senior level and how they impact on the frontline”
Simon Barlow, Phoenix tenant and board member
When Inside Housing visits, Deirdre Kennedy, Gwen Smith and Eileen Davies are enjoying a coffee in Phoenix’s headquarters and community centre, The Green Man. All three of them attended the Level 1 course at the Phoenix Academy, which they feel has strengthened their involvement in the organisation’s scrutiny committee.
“It shows Phoenix is trying to do something to make tenants aware of the situation within social housing,” Ms Kennedy says. Phoenix has begun to build its own homes, and the course has helped residents understand the implications of this, she says.
“It’s really useful to have more information behind you – to know the ways social housing is being battered and what we can do to help,” Ms Davies adds.
She says doing the course gave her a better sense of the internal workings of the organisation.
“Part of the course was informing you how to look after your property, when to report a repair and how to explain it. It helps people to take part in looking after their own homes,” she says.
Participants also get to visit City Hall and the Houses of Parliament during their time on the course. “We want to encourage people to see themselves as citizens,” Mr Ripley explains. It has proved to be an eye-opening experience each time a group goes in – many of whom have never considered how local and national democracy works.
Mr Ripley is obviously thrilled that the courses are producing tangible results and genuinely affecting the way that the organisation functions. “I’m really proud that the three newest members of the board went through the academy,” he says.
Simon Barlow is one of those new board members. A communications professional by day and a Phoenix tenant, he felt being part of the organisation’s leadership was a good way of giving back to his community.
He first joined the Phoenix Academy two years ago, and has since completed the Level 1 and 2 courses.
“I found the management side really interesting,” he says. “[Running a housing association] is not just about collecting the rent – it’s about repairing the homes and supporting people if they are out of work and so on.
“There is so much going on that we, as tenants, aren’t aware of, such as tackling anti-social behaviour or helping people who are being housed here who are refugees. It’s not just a home, it’s a 360° thing.”
Having been a member of Phoenix’s scrutiny panel, earlier this year he took up a place on the board. He is keen to encourage more young people to get involved, so that the make-up remains diverse.
“It’s nice to feel that as a resident we can look at some of the decisions that have been made at quite a senior level and how they impact on the frontline,” he says.
Since the academy launched, other housing providers have begun to send their members of staff on the courses and Phoenix has altered the content slightly to fit. By paying, they effectively cross-subsidise Phoenix’s tenants’ involvement, which continues to grow: bookings are already being taken for a course that begins next April.
At the end of each course, people who have completed it are invited to a graduation ceremony, where they receive a certificate. For some, it is one of the few formal qualifications they have ever achieved.
Level 3 tutor Sarah Whitelaw
“It is lovely,” Mr Ripley says, with a huge smile. “People really dress up, they bring their families. We lay on food and we always get someone important to hand out the certificates.” CIH presidents Jim Strang and Alison Inman have done the honours in previous years, and staff members graduate alongside residents.
Mr Ripley is keen to namecheck the staff who give up their time to teach modules on the course: Say Leddington, Phoenix’s head of performance and quality, and Jonathan Lawn, head of people services and communications, teach tenants about finance and branding respectively.
Marie Porter, the course manager, handles all the paperwork to get CIH accreditation.
“Without them this just wouldn’t work,” Mr Ripley says.
Setting it up five years ago was a gamble, he explains. “When we started we didn’t think anyone would come, but now we don’t even need to advertise it,” he adds.
Its success has given him more confidence about the future of the housing association.
“We need people who are inspirational to run this,” he says. “And that’s what we’re getting.”
