This week, I spent some time catching up on the outcomes from the government’s Social Housing Quality Residents Panel. The reports are great and show a real commitment to reaching a wide range of audiences. Social Housing Quality Resident Panel – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
At the inception of the panel, Michael Gove made three bold statements:
“This government will not stand for any tenant being mistreated and we are acting to ensure they get the safe and decent homes they deserve.”
“For too long, tenants have been denied a proper voice – this ends today. Our new Residents Panel will ensure that tenants are at the heart of reforms to social housing.”
“I look forward to working with the Panel to drastically raise the standard of social housing across the country.”
I agree whole heartedly with the sentiment of the statements and the residents panel is a huge step forward. The work they are doing is truly valuable, but I fail to see how the panel, or indeed the government, can ‘drastically raise the standard of social housing’ without genuine input from landlords and their communities.
Key themes
The same old issues run throughout all the reports from the panel to date:
- Disrespectful conduct
- Lack of communication
- Social Housing stigma
All these issues have a direct impact on the self-esteem, confidence, and level of collaboration in our communities. But they are all issues that are difficult to legislate for. They are cultural issues and until we change the culture both in and around the sector, including the government perspective, we will never move forward.
Let’s use it!
I believe it is the responsibility of social housing landlords to use the findings from the Residents Panel, in addition to their own panels and data, to have a long hard look at why the same issues repeatedly rear their ugly heads. We need to acknowledge these issues and take responsibility for them. Too often, I have heard colleagues in the sector say they have communication under control, or they have minimised stigma, but if that were truly the case, we would surely be starting to see the impact of those changes by now?
Let’s solve the problem, not just treat the symptoms
To effectively utilise the wisdom of the Resident Panel, and other forms of engagement, we need to take a Root Cause Analysis approach. Let’s not put a sticking plaster over the issue to make it feel better in the moment.
It will take some hard conversations, and we will all have to look closely at our own values and the times we have allowed unconscious biases to affect our communication and behaviour. This is not a country that has respect for the social housing offer, so to pretend we are not affected by the constant negative messaging is only adding to the problem.
As a consultant offering support with engagement and eradication of social housing stigma, I am happy to discuss these issues and look at how we can work together to enhance the culture at your organisation. Let’s use the Resident Panel findings to bring about genuine change!
