Objectives
This section of the toolkit focuses on building channels of communication, establishing what tenants want and acting on the findings; and working with tenants and groups to support and empower them. The section is divided into two parts, plus self-assessment questionnaire at the end:
- Listen, act, learn: cementing the dialogue with tenants
- Working with tenant groups to build empowerment: tenant scrutiny
- Self-assessment questionnaire.
Tips
- The process of engagement must build from a position of basic trust
- Providers should make specific pledges to the community and keep to them
- Providers can use a variety of approaches to empowerment, moving at the pace tenants want
- Providers should create platforms that allow tenants to hold them to account.
Listen, act, learn
Tenants in many different places have said they need to be able to trust their housing provider – and this issue has already been explored in previous sections of the Placemaking Toolkit. Having trust means
having confidence that the provider listens, takes action on what it hears, and learns. From these beginnings, tenants can begin to take pride in the place where they live, and to see ways in which they can help to bring about change for the better.
Stigma can last a long time on estates that have had a poor reputation. Part of turning round the situation on a priority estate lies in fostering pride of place, raising awareness of positive initiatives and sustaining the high level of provider involvement over time that underpins successful change. Some community
housing providers are working with local schools, colleges or a university to raise awareness and change attitudes.
Cementing the dialogue with tenants: a quick checklist
The Placemaking project sets out here five quick questions to help community housing providers gauge whether they are asking the right questions of themselves when working to build their engagement with tenants. The questions should help providers to check whether they are doing all they can to cement the
relationship and open routes to tenants’ role in decision making.
Working with tenant groups
In the UK, tenant scrutiny panels or committees have become the norm. These are structures where a group a tenants can examine particular issues in depth and hold the provider to account. The scrutiny
panel members will themselves decide which services or issues to examine. One provider has developed a pilot tenant services assessors scheme where tenants are first trained and then get to work on
scrutinising an aspect of the housing service. Many providers have developed an engagement strategy to guide their work (and see more on this type of longer term approach in the next section).
Link Wentworth piloted a Tenant Service Assessors model with CHIA NSW (supported under the Community Housing Industry Development Strategy) to create a tenant-led service improvement loop. Nineteen residents joined four workshops, selected complaints handling as the focus, and co-designed practical fixes: a clearer complaints flowchart/communications campaign, a time-limited action plan using tenant satisfaction and TSA feedback, and policy input to a complaints & feedback update. It’s a good intermediary power-sharing model—stronger than consultation, but not as onerous as full scrutiny— because tenants design, test and validate specific service changes.
Tenant scrutiny: a quick checklist
The Placemaking project sets out five quick questions below to help community housing providers gauge
whether they are asking the right questions of themselves when considering setting up a tenant scrutiny or feedback structure. The questions should help providers to check whether they are doing all they can to ensure they are accountable to tenants.
Resources
Arranging a focus group
Focus groups with residents can form a key part of performance improvement work, and this guide gives you tips on how to arrange and run one.
What is tenant scrutiny?
Tenant scrutiny is a process where a group of tenants investigate issues or topics around the housing services they receive from their landlord.
Stage 3 Self-Assessment
This is a template which you can use to manage your community’s assessment for Stage 3 Empowerment placemaking practices and track your improvement.
