Southwark (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Southwark Council has approved a new engagement strategy, but critics warn the proposed changes may fall short of addressing community concerns.
The council will provide residents with updates on repairs and opportunity to hold the housing department responsible, according to the new resident engagement plan.
Residents can apply to serve on five boards that address building safety, repairs, and large projects.
Additionally, a board will examine how the council manages its relationships with tenants and leaseholders.
It occurs a year after a report by the Regulator of Social Housing found that the council had “serious failings” in the management of its housing portfolio, with 50% of its dwellings having not had an electrical status test in five years and more than half lacking smoke alarms.
“Weaknesses in how Southwark Council takes tenants’ views into account in its decision making and communicates how tenants’ views have been considered”
were identified in the same evaluation.
Although there were official channels for renters to voice their issues to the municipality, the regulator stated that these were
“not consistently led by tenants.”
The Cabinet adopted the new plan on Tuesday, December 2. According to its introduction, it would “make it easier to hold our services to account” and “empower tenants and leaseholders to shape, influence, and direct the design and delivery of landlord services.”
However, a report commissioned by the Southwark Homeowners Forum, a group of residents, questioned whether the proposed changes would have much of an impact and stated that there had not been enough opportunity for residents to engage during the consultation to the new strategy.
The review, authored by Dr John McCormack, a former council officer, said:
“The absence of any acknowledgement of the challenge of workplace culture (let alone how such challenges will be addressed) in the proposed new strategy, represents a significant oversight and a clear risk.”
It alleged that residents were “gaslit” into contributing to the consultation:
“Their critical insights into the day- to-day operations of the council’s existing resident participation structures (and the challenges associated with embedding a culture of resident engagement across the council), seem to count for very little, in terms of the making of this document.”
Jerry Hewitt, a member of the North East Housing Forum in Southwark, said he did not feel that the new boards would enable residents to hold the council to account:
“The council’s five new boards will not be genuinely resident-led. The council will control when and where the boards meet, the information, minutes and agenda…Residents holding the council to account will be severely curtailed by the new strategy.”
The council emphasized that people may attend at least six comment meetings and that the approach had been reviewed by two independent agencies.
They also mentioned that the Regulator of Social Housing had called it a “step in the right direction.”
The independent group Social Life, which examined the draft plan, provided recommendations that are included in the final version, such as the necessity for the council to demonstrate that it was paying attention to the problems of its citizens.
Cllr Portia Mwangangye, Southwark Council’s Cabinet Member for Council Homes, said:
“We’re giving a stronger voice to our residents as we work to become a good landlord, with more ways for people to have their say in a way that suits them, their lifestyle and the time they have available.
We want to hear from as wide a range of voices as possible among our 57,500 tenants, leaseholders and freeholders, including from people and communities who perhaps haven’t spoken or engaged with us in the past, so everyone is heard.
Our resident engagement strategy, which was independently reviewed, sets out our work for the next four years.
All engagement in the strategy is led by residents- including our Tenant and Residents Associations, tenant, homeowner and local housing forums, and our five proposed new boards.
We’d like to hear from anyone who wants to get involved or find out more – you can contact resident.participation@southwark.gov.uk.”
What specific shortfalls did the regulator identify in housing management?
Southwark Council faced Regulator of Social Housing scrutiny for serious shortcomings in casing operation, graded C3 overall. Specific faults included inaccurate reporting on bank and carbon monoxide sensors, untracked faults from electrical safety checks, and over 800 overdue fire safety conduct, utmost delayed beyond a time.
The controller stressed no substantiation of tenant views impacting opinions, with under- represented groups barred from participation. Damp and mould cases demanded active shadowing or monitoring, despite effective follow- up on reports.
Council leaders accepted the findings, launching a £250m five- time refurbishment program and the new engagement strategy to address data operation, safety compliance, and resident input faults.