Resident involvement - Hyde Housing Association

Resident involvement in social housing in the UK and Europe
this cause. This has been compensated over a number of years by a growing
industry commitment to achieve such ends through self-regulation. Given the
ingrained nature of England’s centralised political and administrative culture it
remains to be seen whether a similar trend will be triggered by the radical reorientation
of official regulation seen here in recent years.
Structures for involvement
Governing body resident membership is the main structural vehicle for resident
involvement in Denmark, where resident-controlled housing is the norm.
Minority resident representation on main boards of English and Dutch housing
associations is also typical (although not universal in England). While a Dutch
landlord must, by law, designate resident seats on its supervisory body,
concerns over possible ‘conflicts of interest’ underlie the rule that nominees
cannot be tenants of the association concerned.
As a crucial component within the broader architecture of resident involvement,
case study landlords typically attached more significance to organisation-wide
tenant councils, panels or advisory boards or customer services committees
than to main board resident membership. Such forums, set up to input a
resident perspective to corporate decision-making, were found in Belgium,
England and the Netherlands.
All case study landlords in the low countries worked with organisation-wide
panels established as freestanding resident forums to articulate resident views.
Under a somewhat distinct approach found in England vehicles for resident
views were more incorporated within the corporate governance structure.
These took the form of governing body subcommittees with a service delivery
remit and with residents not (necessarily) the only members.
In addition to organisation-wide resident meetings, the English case study
landlords all involved residents through both regional and function-specific
forums. This did not appear to be replicated in other case study countries where,
below the organisational level, the main focus of resident involvement tended
to be at the estate level.
Consumerist and citizenship models
Case study organisations in all four study countries have recently been going
through a process of change reflecting wider social and political movements. In
particular, consumerist thinking is influencing the ongoing evolution of
governance structures and service delivery procedures. All of the case study
landlords were moving toward a more individualised approach combining the
rights of individuals and the consumer power of choice. In recognition of many
residents’ wish to limit their involvement, they were creating time- and
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