Tag Archives: Resident

Why I hate community and resident involvement!

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Well, not per se. It’s the words and what they imply.

I was walking past a well respected community building last night and noticed a sign saying ‘Council Community Involvement unit’. This made me realise how much the word involvement implies a really unbalanced power relationship.

Don’t think so? Can you imagine a Community or Resident Control Unit? No council or housing association would countenance  that combination of words because they imply either residents in charge or more likely being controlled. A very wise man once said that language structures reality. The use of the tepid ‘involvement’ real suggests that any organisation is being rather gracious and letting you  be ‘involved’. Given that residents of a council or housing association,  by the fact they live there, are already involved this seems  just a wee bit paternal (or possibly patronising).

Of course, this is being simplistic because what most organisations probably intend with the word involvement  is involvement in decision making and shaping services. However, this still does not signpost a more equal relationship. For quite awhile organisations played with the idea of  a ‘menu’ of involvement. Maybe we should take this further  with a little chilli like warning symbol to imply how much power you are given:

Resident Survey – 1 Chilli (you maybe listened to)

Mystery Shopping – 2 Chilli (they can’t really ignore the comments)

Scrutiny Panel-  3 Chilli ( you get to ask the awkward questions)

So what’s the suggestion for a better approach. Well, it would help if your landlord or service provider could be honest about what you really can have power over, what you can have a say on and what you can comment on. By being upfront this can at least open the dialogue on where the influence / control line sits. Are you viewed as a customer, a shareholder or an owner? See language does imply different power levels!

And yes I know we use involvement on the website, it’s the current jargon. Let’s change it.

 

Building strength

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2016-07-16 12.42.35I heard on the grapevine of a relatively new TMO where an investigation is underway because of suspected fraud by the Manager and contractors. Whilst this could happen to a Council and to a Housing Association it is much more upsetting where residents have put their trust in a new resident led vision for their estate.

Tenant Management is one of the most underused yet most successful tools. At this time, we are seeing a very low number of projects going through the ‘Right to Manage’ route, which is a real pity given that many of the traditional avenues for resident control are closing down. In a universe where funds for resident involvement are being hit by Local Authority cuts and residents of Housing Associations are looking at their landlords becoming ever bigger via mergers, giving residents more control is looking less likely.

Tenant Management offers the opportunity for residents to set the standards for the services they receive, to spend their rent and service charges in the way they want and to build a truly local vision. To get to the point where your landlord and the Government agrees that you are competent residents have to go through nearly 2 years of planning and development and be subject to external assessment. However, things can still go wrong.

There are a number of key things that residents can do with support from there advisor to minimise the chances of this type of thing happening:

  • Way before going live, agree the exact report arrangements that you expect your TMO manager to adhere to. Set these up and do trial runs with the advisor to check on the data
  • During your recruitment make sure you take up all references, that you set clear probationary targets and you appoint against a JD that is clear about experience required
  • Once a quarter board members should undertake a ‘verification’ exercise to look at the raw information behind the reports. By setting up a scrutiny sub group who can focus on specific areas you pick up on any concerns
  • When agreeing your procurement policy and procedure make sure you put in place checks and balances. Residents should be involved at all stages, agree clear schedules of work with clear prices and have a system in place to agree an variations in cost that involves board sign off
  • Verify: before and after pictures from contractors Joint spot checks with the board and the staff of works completed
  • Once a year do a 100% doorknock to pick up on any issues

As board members of a TMO residents should not be sitting looking over a managers shoulder, this is not good for either party. Instead, put in place procedures and checks and make sure they are carried out!