We can and must raise the bar on tenant engagement

In recent years, I’ve witnessed a recommitment to prioritising tenant engagement and improving how it is done.

At a governance level, this has been recognised by the new regulatory landscape we are in, with the launch of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and the consumer standards.

We’re extremely proud of the fact that some of the good practice we have worked with our members to champion now forms part of the framework to which all social housing providers must adhere.

But these rules should be our baseline, our bare minimum. And no one in the sector should be content to just meet a bare minimum.

We’re moving towards practices which rightly place transparency, openness and accountability as essential alongside the likes of finance and governance.

“We’re moving towards practices which rightly place transparency, openness and accountability as essential alongside the likes of finance and governance”

It’s been reassuring to hear that there is a will to do better and we all need to aim higher. This is what our updated national engagement standards invite the social housing sector to do.

Collectively, we need to demand more of our sector.

Now in their fourth edition, the new standards go beyond the regulatory requirements and set out clear principles and actions social landlords need to take to continuously improve how residents are involved in shaping and improving services.

We don’t need any more evidence or research studies to show that when tenants are influential, empowered and involved, they receive better outcomes and landlords perform better.

In many ways, these standards have required imagination. They invite us to dream about how things can be done differently, not just how we can tinker with existing approaches.

Our recommendations are built on the back of decades of work with hundreds of landlords and thousands of residents. They deliver against what tenants and communities rightly expect.

Together with expert tenants and staff, we have worked to make them ambitious but deliverable, while remaining progressive, inclusive and fair.

I hope you’ll agree that these are standards that we can all get behind and feel proud to deliver on. I am privileged in my role to see the energy and inspirational work of tenants and engagement specialists across the country and I am extremely grateful to everyone, both within and beyond our membership, who has been involved in creating them.

“I really believe that effective tenant engagement and empowerment are critical to restoring the reputation of our sector and will be the foundation upon which our future success is built”

Our standards reflect the operating environment of social housing and have woven through them the higher expectations of the Regulator of Social Housing, the Housing Ombudsman, the National Housing Federation’s Code of Governance, as well as the Building Safety Regulator.

With culture sitting at the heart of everything, they cover governance, scrutiny, strategy, complaints, communication, resources for engagement and wider community engagement.

They require ongoing work and consistency – there are no tick boxes here.

Most importantly, our standards recognise that excellent tenant engagement is a journey, not an outcome.

I really believe that effective tenant engagement and empowerment are critical to restoring the reputation of our sector and will be the foundation upon which our future success is built.

These standards are about setting the sector on a path to achieving genuine tenant inclusion in every community for every resident.

As tenants, landlords and contractors, we have a real opportunity to deliver a legacy of change and a brighter future.

The aim is that these standards drive our work to ensure that best practice on influence and empowerment becomes common practice.

If we deliver on these, then no tenant should ever feel overlooked or ignored.

Jenny Osbourne, chief executive, Tpas