Resident involvement - Hyde Housing Association

Resident involvement in social housing in the UK and Europe
Achieving systematic change
In other cases the actions were initiated by the landlord and were more
systematic or policy-driven in nature. Sometimes landlords were working to
ensure that consultation with residents before a piece of work was carried out
became routine. This helped to drive ‘right first time’ policies, avoided negative
feedback and promoted organisational efficiencies by reducing the need for
remedial works. One study landlord involved in building both for sale and for
social renting used comparative exercises to survey people before and after they
moved in to a new development (the exercise continuing until one year from
first occupation). Residents were asked about their home, neighbourhood and
community. The information from these exercises was used to inform other new
developments and to aid best practice on regeneration of existing estates.
D1 had developed a tool for use in researching and developing social capital
among residents. Local organisations could buy the package which measures
the strength or weakness of ‘social glue’, or the bonds between communities,
and develop capacity building responses from it. An organisation could buy the
complete package with staff carrying out all of the work but a preferred option
was for volunteers from the local organisation to conduct the surveys,
themselves. As well as minimising costs, the act of carrying out the surveys
brought people together and generated ideas. Staff would analyse the findings
and make recommendations, which the now more empowered community
could take forward. The tool had proved highly successful, particularly in
generating the ‘simple stuff’ such as Saturday clubs for children.
N2 was in the process of developing a ‘toolbox’ for staff in support of the menu
of involvement. The digital online resource was intended to enable staff to
select the most appropriate idea or technique in particular situations, to
stimulate involvement and ensure different options were considered. The
association was working on the development with organised resident groups,
giving them a role in deciding which instruments to use and agreeing a
resulting programme of action.
A critical factor influencing the extent to which resident views feed through into
operational practice is the way that involvement forums interface with an
organisation’s corporate governance and managerial structures. As noted in
Chapter 3, there is a range of approaches to enabling organisation-wide
residents panels to feed into decision-making by an organisation’s main
governing body or senior management team. Also emphasized as important at
E3 was the organisation’s model for regional residents forums mirroring the
regional corporate structure so that each panel interfaced directly with the
relevant regional manager.
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