GRENFELL, TICK-BOX THINGS AND THE EXCLUDED

Govt.`s `kit`
to give voice to the voiceless

The  housing minister Mr Kit Malthouse MP has  been  talking about  the struggles of voiceless tenants and  the failures of their  landlords to give them a proper say in how their homes are run.

Mr Malthouse seems very understanding of the plight of these people. He seems determined to do something to help.

Three hundred miles away an identical debate has been going on in Carlisle, but on a local acale

The city council like Mr Malthouse has been trying hard to give 6,000  city tenants a democratic voice in the way their homes are run by their giant landlord, Riverside Housing Association of Liverpool. Riverside bought the 6,000 former council houses 16 years ago.

Kit Malthouse... issues in Whitehall and  Carlisle

Mr Mr.Malthouse`s talk is in an interview he gave in a current issue of the social housing journal, Inside Housing. The Carlisle council debate has been reported in previous posts on this blog, Community Voice Carlisle

Not surprisingly, the same issues emerged in both debates: out-of touch landlords and frustrated tenants who are  unable to get their voices heard in a jungle of landlord-run tenant organisations. These organisations apparently were designed to create bafflement upon bafflement for the tenants.

This is what Mr Malthouse said:

“It became clear after the awful Grenfell tragedy that quite a lot of people in social housing didn’t feel that they were being listened to.

 “That either they were screaming into the void and not being responded to or that politicians over the last couple of decades have stopped caring.”

Mr Malthouse  sees a similarity with those MP`s  who have constiuents who may not be listened to.

He said: “Most MP`s try and maintain a constant conversation with their constituents. You do that through letters and emails and surgeries and all the rest of it. It’s very important that you are responsive to and sensitive to your constituency.

“But collectively, maybe government itself had stopped doing that with  a particular section of the community – a huge section with four point something million homes – namely social housing tenants. These tenants felt  that they were not being listened to  and now, hopefully, we are correcting that.”

Mr Malthouse was asked what the plan was for those landlords who are “barely complying with the [English regulator’s] tenant involvement and empowerment standard”.

Mr.Malthouse said that a theme that has emerged from some of his meetings with tenants so far is a feeling that “they were being excluded at the highest level”.

 “They felt as if particular boards were hiving them off into sub-committees”, or that tenant participation was an “afterthought, tick-the-box thing”.

“It’s very important that you are responsive to and sensitive to your constituency whether that is a parliamentary constituency or is a section of the community.

“There is however, a `democratic challenge` for social landlords to address about how tenants are selected to sit on boards or senior governance positions.

“A common complaint from some residents is that tenant positions on boards and committees are often unelected – meaning that even when there are resident board members, many other tenants can be left feeling disenfranchised and powerless”.

Mr Malthouse was asked about the possibility of a national organisation for tenants- a tenants` voice.The governments`s recent green paper acknowledged that a number of tenant and resident organisations were keen on an independent platform for tenants.

Mr Malthouse said: “What the government wants from a tenants’ voice is “something that is raw and real” .

“Real time” feedback on issues was important,. The government was open to ideas about whether there should be a national or regional structure or whether an annual conference – along the lines of the annual party conferences – might work,

He said: “I don’t know – I’m open to ideas”.

Those ideas for Kit Malthouse may provide a "kit" to give voice to the voiceless.

 Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803