Following the Grenfell Tower fire, the government’s Social Housing Green Paper highlighted the need to rebalance the relationship between social landlords and their customers and give customers a stronger voice.
The National Housing Federation responded by holding a series of events across the country, to create Together with Tenants. As an official adopter of the Together with Tenants campaign, we have been working closely with customers, and other social landlords, to deliver the four point action plan, and the Together with Tenants Charter.
What's in the plan?
- A new requirement in the National Housing Federation Code of Governance for boards to be accountable to residents.
- A new Together with Tenants Charter.
- Resident oversight and reporting of progress against the charter.
- Giving residents a stronger collective voice with the regulator.
The Charter sets out six commitments to our customers.
The six commitments
Communication
Tenants and residents will receive clear, accessible and timely information from their housing association on the issues that matter to them, including important information about their homes and local community, how the organisation is working to address problems, how the organisation is run, and information about performance on key issues.
Relationships
Housing associations will treat all tenants and residents with respect in all of their interactions. Relationships between tenants, residents and housing associations will be based on openness, honesty and transparency.
Voice and influence
Views from tenants and residents will be sought and valued and this information will be used to inform decisions. Every individual tenant and resident will feel listened to by their housing association on the issues that matter to them and can speak without fear.
Accountability
Collectively, tenants and residents will work in partnership with their housing association to independently scrutinise and hold their housing association to account for the decisions that affect their homes and services and the quality of the homes and services they provide.
When things go wrong
Tenants and residents will have simple and accessible routes for raising issues, making complaints and seeking redress. Tenants and residents will receive timely advice and support when things go wrong.
Quality
Tenants and residents can expect their homes to be good quality, well maintained, safe and well managed.
Each year we will:
- Carry out an annual survey asking you how you think we are doing against the commitments set out in the charter.
- Report the results of the survey to InFocus our customer scrutiny group.
- Ask InFocus to review and grade our performance against the Together with Tenants charter.
- Share the gradings and a full annual report with all customers using a variety of different methods:
- Newsletters
- Website
- Social media
- Provide an annual update to our board
Together with Tenants reviews
Get involved
Take part in our exciting campaigns for you to give your views on our different services, strategies and policies.
You said, we did
We listen to our customers and work together to deliver positive change for our communities.
