Giving Residents Their Voice Will Raise the Bar in Service Improvements

The Social Housing White Paper aims to redefine the relationship between social landlords and their resident customers. Jo Fletcher, Head of Engagement at Osborne, looks at the main points in the White Paper and the possible implications for the way that repair and maintenance services are procured and managed.

If the measures in the White Paper pass into law, the impact on some social landlords will be significant. Residents will have a much stronger voice and will be supported by a regulator with bigger and sharper teeth.

Jo comments that at Grenfell, residents’ concerns were not taken seriously enough, and they felt powerless to influence the decisions made by their landlord. This is the fundamental reality that the Social Housing White Paper document seeks to redress.

For some landlords the requirements will be a case of formalising many areas of existing good practice. For others there will be significant changes needed to bring practices up to the required standards. Jo goes on to highlight some of the principal aims of the white paper.

Feeling safe in your own home, the important emphasis here is on residents feeling safe as well as being safe. This isn’t just about compliance, it’s also about communication. It may be worth landlords working with their property services partners to produce a charter or similar document to explain ‘How We Keep You Safe and What to Do if You Don’t Feel Safe’.

Knowing how your landlord is performing needs robust KPIs. These should already be part of the contractual relationship between landlords and property service providers. These may need to be revised and updated to ensure they reflect the entire resident experience and offer genuine accountability. The regulator will define what KPIs landlords are expected to track and report to residents.

Jo adds that complaints must be dealt with promptly and fairly. The Housing Ombudsman’s new complaints handling code has come into force. The White Paper sets out how the relationship between the Ombudsman and the regulator will be strengthened and streamlined. The emphasis is on removing any obstacles to residents feeling that their voices are heard and being acted upon.

Residents quite rightly should feel they are treated with respect and backed by a strong consumer regulator for tenants and current consumer standards will be rewritten by the regulator. A new code of practice is likely to include requirements for greater transparency, improved tenant engagement and policies on tackling domestic abuse.

All residents must have their voice heard by their landlord. The regulator will look for evidence that landlords have “sought out best practice” in the way they engage and involve residents. Behind this is a drive to make consultation meaningful. A Government-led learning and support programme will be available to all social housing residents who want to be more involved in formal scrutiny and decision making.

All residents should expect to have a good quality home and neighbourhood to live in. Jo comments the question here, is what does a good home mean and how should landlords tackle neighbourhood issues? The scope is broadened to include energy efficiency, decarbonisation, and access to green space to improve wellbeing. Good design and tackling community issues such as anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse are identified as important for social cohesion.

Finally, Jo adds that supporting residents to take their first steps to home ownership is picked up in the final chapter of the white paper. This focuses on redesigning the shared ownership model. It introduces the ‘Right to Shared Ownership’. The minimum initial stake will be reduced from 25% to 10%, allowing owners to staircase in increments of 1%. Landlords will have to cover repairs for homeowners for the first 10 years, which could have implications for contracts for repair and maintenance services.

Whatever detailed form social housing legislation finally takes, it’s clear that resident customers will have a much stronger voice and greater rights. Osborne welcomes this. A key principle in all our social housing property services contracts is to place the resident experience at the heart of what we do, and we look forward to this becoming the expectation across the sector.

If you would like more information on how Jo and her team work to engage, understand and act on residents’ views please visit our website, resource centre or contact [email protected]