National Tenant Voice - gov't smoke & mirrors?

Sun Nov 15 22:14:17 GMT 2009

2 days before the government sponsored window-dressing exercise to
demonstrate tenants have a stake in a new national debate on housing - the
'National Tenant Engagement Conference' this Tuesday 17th in London
organised by those lovely people from Capita (details & the crass housing
association-swindling housing-policy-con-trick representation-smoke &
mirrors and social engineering agenda revealed therein pasted further
down), thought these 2 articles about the so-called new 'National Tenant
Voice' and resulting 'National Tenant Council' would be a timely reminder
of the actual situation:

1).
Local tenant groups left out
Regional groups say they have been excluded from Tenant Voice talks
by Clara Story, Inside Housing
Date: 11/07/08
Ref: http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/story.aspx?storycode=6500377

Grassroots tenants are being excluded from high level talks about how the
National Tenant Voice will function, regional tenant leaders have claimed.

Michael Hall, chair of Leeds Tenants Federation, said a 16-strong project
group set up by the government to steer the creation of the NTV had become
dominated by national tenant groups.

Although two tenant activists have been appointed to the group to
represent north and south England, established regional tenants bodies
have not been invited to take part.

This is not a fair, open, democratic process. You are handpicking people
for the National Tenant Voice, it is not tenant-led, Mr Hall said.

John Conroy, who is representing the south of England on the project
group, said he had strong ties with tenants groups but acknowledged there
were tensions between the national and regional movements.

There was animosity between the regional and the national organisations
and the regions were left out of the process, he said.

Allan Harley, chair of the North East Council of Tenants and Residents,
said the group selection process probably wasnt done correctly, but
called on the tenants movement to work as a united front.

Michael Gelling, chair of the Tenants and Residents Organisations of
England, said the government offered it three seats because its member
groups spoke for 3.7 million tenants. He said that the project group was
committed to tenant involvement and called on tenant groups to get behind
it, adding: It is much harder to create things than demolish them.

Mr Gelling admitted the consultation events were arranged in a rush
against a deadline of handing proposals to the Communities and Local
Government department in September.

A spokesperson for the CLG said: There is obviously a limit to the number
of members a board can have, but we have worked hard to ensure that the
National Tenant Voice project board is as representative as possible.

[end]
**************************************

2).
Government will help to pick national tenant representatives
by Clara Story, Inside Housing
Date: 10/10/2008
Ref: http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/story.aspx?storycode=6501380

The government will have a direct say in who controls the new body being
created to give tenants a stronger voice, under proposals seen by Inside
Housing.

The move has prompted concern from some tenants who believe that the
decision should be left solely to tenants and residents.

Under current plans the Communities and Local Government department would
help pick the members of an accountability committee for the National
Tenant Voice. Members of existing national tenant organisations would also
have a say in decisions.

The accountability committee will then help choose who makes it on to a
50-strong council of tenants and a 15-strong executive group  from
nominations that will be open to all.

The information emerged in an unpublished copy of the NTVs set-up plan.

The council would be made up of 26 independent tenants, nine
representatives from existing regional groups, 12 from national bodies
such as the Tenants and Residents Organisations of England, and three
from the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (England), the report
states.

But tenant John Conroy, a member of the project group, called for full
elections and said the national tenant organisations were closing the
door to ordinary tenants.

If the National Tenant Voice is going to be set up not with free-thinking
people but by people selected by non-tenants, it isnt a true tenants
voice, he said.

Phil Morgan, chief executive of TPAS, said: We would like to see the
majority of the people coming into the council from an open recruitment
process. We believe it is very important.

The document states the NTVs main activities will be advocacy, research
into tenant issues, communication and support for the tenant movement.

The NTV should commission independent research on strengthening the tenant
movement nationally and regionally, and consider representing private
tenants as well, it adds.

[end]
**************************************

Capitas 6th National Tenant Engagement Conference brings
together expert speakers from forward thinking organisations at
the centre of the resident involvement agenda.

Chair: Nic Bliss, Chair, Confederation of Co-operative Housing
Speakers Include:

Richard Crossley - Co-ordinator, National Tenant Voice
Jez Hall - Associate Participatory Budgeting Unit
Stephen Morgan - Head of Community Engagement Team, Royal Borough of
Kensington & Chelsea
Lynn Hanson- Customer Involvement Manager, Whitefriars Housing Group

Alan Rickman - Chair, Tenants And Council Together (TACT)
Caroline Field - Director of Community, Engagement The Riverside Group

The Governments commitment to ensuring tenants are actively engaged in
influencing housing services and shaping their communities continues to be
realised through the regulatory work of the Tenant Services Authority and
the establishment of the National Tenant Voice.
During this crucial time for the sector it is imperative local
authorities, housing associations and tenant groups come together to share
their views, identify challenges and find a common path leading to service
improvement.
This timely event addresses core issues, including:
 Developing partnership working and strengthening communication between
tenants, councils and housing providers
 Utilising resident-led self regulation and participatory budgeting to
enable tenants to scrutinise services and direct funding in their
neighbourhoods
 Empowering young tenants to mould housing services to their needs
 Promoting social inclusion and increasing resident involvement through
new technologies

From: http://www.nationaltenantvoicedebate.org.uk/

National Tenant Voice Debate

We wait to see what happens to the report from the National Tenant Voice
Project Group.

This should have gone to Dept for Communities & Local Government for
presentation to ministers during the week commencing 13th October.

An indication of its content was given by an article that appeared in
Inside Housing on 10th October 2008 entitled:-"Government will help to
pick national tenant representatives."

Well what could be better?

The Cave Review Every Tenant Matters called for:-
"the creation of a national tenant voice to be an advocate for tenants in
national debates and undertake dialogue with the government, regulators
and providers representative bodies, on more equal terms".

There can be no smoother way of handling this than to have Government
choose the tenant representatives.

The question now is to whether it is worth maintaining this web site given
that there are so many real issues upon which tenants' time could be
better spent!

Oh Well! While we are at it, note the input that the Chair of the Project
Group, Steve Hilditch, has made that follows the article as seen on the
Inside Housing Website and note from the Digest of the 8th NTV Project
Group meeting on September 30th. that:-
"CLG will be commissioning research on regional and national structures
(tenant organisations?) The remit of this will come to the Project Group".

If and when we have sight of the Project Group's report will we will find
that they failed to start by collecting all necessary information, failed
to involve all existing players, failed to attempt to ensure that they
themselves were representative and failed to address the issue of
accountability in favour of being a body that should have corporate
responsibility?

Do tenants really need a united single voice that fails to reflect the
views of anyone other than those who get to sit on the committee, council
or whatever?
Is this any better than what we have had for years?
Aren't tenants' needs better summarised as a need to have their voices
heard and to have the resources to facilitate this?

Inadvertenlty Steve Hilditch has illustrated the inherent danger that lies
within the National Tenant Voice that his group is apparently
recommending.
Each time that representatives of regional and national tenant
organisations have met together they have found many issues upon which
they agree and can work together by consensus but they lack the resources
to develop this activity further.
It would appear that the National Tenant Voice Project Group has
consciously ventured into decisons that lie beyond consensus into an area
guaranteed to be rejected by any properly constituted tenant organisation.
Just what was the intention behind this?
Is it some naive attempt to demonstrate division amongst tenants where
none exists?

But it is Steve Hilditch's reaction to John Conroy's comments that is most
unsettling for what it presages for the National Tenant Voice itself.
Clearly if the NTV is set up as currently planed and any minority on the
council or the executive group dares to speak out for some wild tenant
aspiration - such as democracy in this case - then they will be made an
example of - told that they are not playing the corporate game.
Could anything else be better designed to ensure that tenants who value
representative democracy and accountability will not apply to be
considered for the NTV Council?
Sadly it looks as if the NTV will prove to be irrelevant and we must just
hope that they do not waste too much of our rents on it.

CLICK ON THE LINK HERE AND JOIN
THE 'NATIONAL TENANT VOICE DEBATE' GOOGLE GROUP:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/national-tenant-voice-debate

16 meetings were held at 8 venues around the UK facilitated by TPAS
At the London meetings that took place on Saturday 2008 June 28th. the
following 5 part resolution was put to each session and passed by the
overwhelming majority of those present.

The following question was asked on behalf of the London Tenant Federation

"There are in existence 6 regional tenant organisations, innumerable
citywide, boroughwide, estatewide, landlordwide and more local tenants and
residents organisations that are accountable to tenants and leaseholders.
When will these organisations be formally consulted on the formation of
the National Tenant Voice?"

The answer received was that all such bodies should complete and return
the consultation document that is being forwarded to those who obtain a
seat at any of the 16 consultation meetings and available via various web
sites.

Taken from http://www.hays.com/jobs/ntv/:

At the heart of National Tenant Voice will be a National Tenant Council of
fifty tenants that will meet to debate and discuss key housing policy
issues. Twenty-four of the tenants on the National Tenant council will be
nominated by existing tenants' organisations. The remaining twenty-six
will be recruited. This web-site tells you how you can apply for one of
these twenty-six places.

The aim is for the National Tenant Council to reflect the diversity of
social housing tenants. It will have on it tenants from local authorities,
housing associations, housing co-ops, tenants managed by Arms Length
Management Organisations and Tenant Management Organisations, and
leaseholders of social landlords. To be really effective it will need to
have on it tenants  of different ages, tenants from all parts of England,
and tenants from a range of different ethnic backgrounds.
Accountability Committee

There is in place an Accountability Committee to oversee the process of
recruitment to the National Tenant Council and the Board. None of the
seven people on this committee will be eligible to stand for the National
Tenant Council or the Board. They have been chosen by tenants for their
integrity and their knowledge and understanding of tenants organisations
and issues affecting tenants.
National Tenant Voice Project Group

The proposals for the National Tenant Voice have been developed by a
project group, set up by Communities and Local Government (the government
department responsible for housing). The project group has a tenant
majority. The Accountability Committee is a sub-group of this project
group.