Too many
fail the empathy
test
More evidence of the ducking and diving in the housing sector came at the recent Housing 21 Conference in Manchester
The chief executive of a sector-wide tenant engagement body said the housing sector has lost “empathy” during a discussion about the poor conditions of some social housing properties.
Jenny Osbourne(pictured) chief executive of the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (Tpas England), also told the conference that over the past decade the sector employed “some of the wrong people with the wrong values”.
She was speaking during a panel discussion about the new consumer regulation arm of the Regulator of Social Housing which is being introduced following the Social Housing White Paper and will see the regulator given more power to intervene on disrepair issues.
All members of the panel said they were not surprised by the recent investigation by ITV News that highlighted the terrible conditions within properties owned by a number of councils and major housing associations.
In response to a question on the matter, Ms Osbourne said: “That’s what we’ve lost a little bit along the way, some empathy.”
She added: “When a phone rings from a tenant to report a repair, are our staff handling it with empathy by saying ‘how can I help this tenant? I hear what they are saying’. Not ‘how can I get them off the phone? I don’t believe them’. That’s the question we have to ask ourselves.”
Over the summer ITV News has exposed issues such as mould, damp and disrepair within properties owned by local authority n housing associationlandlords
Kate Dodsworth, who was appointed as the first ever director of consumer regulation at the RSH earlier this year, said that she was not necessarily surprised by the conditions revealed in the ITV investigation, but that she did not think the issues were “universal”.
“There are pockets of poor practice and poor stock, which is leading to those problems,” she said.
Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 52227
