Is the residents' voice heard loud and clear by the board?
‘You ponce in here expecting to be waited on hand and foot, while I’m trying to run a hotel. Have you any idea of how much there is to do? Do you ever think of that? Of course not, you’re all too busy sticking your noses into every corner, poking around for things to complain about.’
Basil Fawlty
Legendary TV hotelier Basil Fawlty started each episode with the best of intentions. Life turned against him so he took it out on his long-suffering staff and guests. This could never happen with us, could it? Surely the Housing Corporation, Housing Inspectorate and the emerging TSA and NTV guard against any loss of focus on tenants. But what happens as the credit crunch bites? Will tenants’ rents prop up speculative home ownership schemes? When were tenants ever consulted on these adventurous business plans?
‘Those [housing associations] now in trouble are those who aren’t generating enough rent income from [their] core business to cover the low-cost home ownership income that’s not coming in’
Richard McCarthy, Director of Housing and Planning at CLG quoted in Social Housing magazine, July 2008
Of course the credit crunch is an exceptional set of circumstances. But does your board instinctively talk to tenants (and leaseholders) before taking major decisions that could affect them?
- What does your organisation do differently because of the views of residents? Give examples
- What are the main concerns of residents? How do you know? Does the knowledge come from surveys and focus groups? Are they recent and did they include many people?
- Are residents involved before big decisions are taken or do they just get told afterwards? Give examples of where residents changed a big decision. Are there times when residents have just been told afterwards?
- How do the views of residents differ by tenure, age, gender, ethnicity and location? How do you know this? What difference does it make?
- What are the three most important things you must do to boost resident satisfaction? When will these happen?
- Do you have residents on the board? Were they elected by a decent turnout? If not, what is their mandate? Do they play a full role at meetings? Is the training and development programme for resident board members effective?
- Are residents encouraged to attend board meetings? Do board meetings attract an audience? Are they designed to be interesting to residents? What are you doing to increase attendances?
- How do residents’ views feed into the board? Are there area committees or panels? Have you thought about setting up a Community Gateway? What contribution do these forums make?
- Are there trained resident mystery shoppers? Does the board hear directly from them? What difference does this make?
- How will your resident profile change in the future? Will residents be older, younger, poorer, less mobile and/or more diverse? How do you know? What will your organisation do differently?
- Do residents know the board exists? What does the board do to raise its profile amongst residents? Is it working? If not, how will you do better?
