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Landlord defends merger consultation process after discrimination complaints
A landlord has defended the conduct of its proposed merger consultation after residents complained that its process was discriminatory.
Tower Hamlets Community Housing (THCH) said it made “considerable effort” to involve and inform all residents of its planned tie-up with fellow housing association Poplar Harca.
THCH added that responses to its 12-week consultation, which closed on 12 September 2023, were “highly encouraging”.
Last month, residents of 3,200-home landlord formally complained to its board with the support of the Social Housing Action Campaign, claiming the consultation process indirectly discriminated on race or ethnic grounds and against disabled residents.
Resident Jakia Begum told Inside Housing: “They’ve excluded people who don’t have access to internet. They’ve excluded people whose first language is not English.
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“The consultation was online via email. Not everyone has access to email and not everyone understands what is written [in English]. They haven’t done any door-knocking.”
“From speaking to the residents in my building, we haven’t received any paper consultations,” she added.
The residents also alleged that THCH failed to produce consultation materials in Tower Hamlets’ dominant languages of Bangla and Somali. Local organisations are required to accommodate different cultural backgrounds under the Equality Act 2010.
The association’s consultation in December had a total of 1,098 residents from both landlords responding to a survey on the proposed merger, with 74% of Poplar Harca and 62% of THCH respondents expressing positive or neutral sentiments about the plans.
This followed a petition against the merger with Poplar Harca, which attracted signatures from 1,275 THCH residents across 852 households.
A THCH spokesperson told Inside Housing: “We recognise the concerns some residents have raised regarding the consultation on our merger with Poplar Harca.
“We fully understand the importance of thorough and inclusive consultation and made considerable effort to involve and inform all residents.”
The landlord said it offered a “multi-channel approach” where “digital channels” were employed for residents who demonstrated a preference for email and text messages, while those without this received a notification and invitation to participate via paper mail.
The spokesperson continued: “Over 90% of our residents have provided their mobile numbers and/or email addresses, which suggests a strong preference for digital engagement due to its widespread access and familiar platforms.
“We know that more people are using digital communication from data in 2020 that said that 95% of adults in London used the internet and the proportion of those aged 75 and over had nearly doubled from 2019 from 29% to 54%.”
The 12-week consultation was “frequently promoted” through other channels including e-bulletins, website pages, digital noticeboards, posters, social media, face-to-face interactions and engagement with resident groups, they claimed.
Feedback was sought from residents and the Regulator of Social Housing, THCH said.
It added: “The feedback we received confirmed our that our process followed the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard.
“Additionally, the engagement rate and overall consultation response were highly encouraging. They indicated a broad and diverse participation across our resident community, suggesting that our efforts to reach a wide audience were successful.”
THCH added: “We take any concerns about race and disability discrimination very seriously and are committed to actively reviewing and continuously improving our processes.”
In March last year, THCH was downgraded for its governance and financial viability to non-compliant grades of G3/V3.
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