20 new projects will receive a share of £2 million from the government's Social Housing Innovation Fund.
Social housing residents are being put firmly centre stage in a major new government drive to get landlords to listen and involve tenants in important decisions.
By the end of April, 20 new digital and on the ground projects will have launched across the country, providing real-world fixes to issues tenants are most concerned about – ignored repairs, poor updates, slow responses and being bounced between services.
Each project will run for 12 months to road-test bold new ideas that give tenants clearer and faster ways to talk to and influence their landlords.
Thousands of tenants will be involved in the trials, which will involve testing interventions in targeted areas to see which are most successful so that the learnings from the projects can be rolled out nationwide.
Specialised help will boost their voices, including tenants who face challenges like disabilities, trauma or low digital access, so their needs are heard and met.
Strong digital and creative face to face projects will also be tested in neighbourhoods, with programmes to strengthen the presence of tenants on boards – giving residents of all ages and backgrounds the chance to lead and shape matters affecting them.
Lords Minister for Housing and Local Government Baroness Taylor said:
“We’ve doubled this fund to £2 million so we can ramp up practical, real-world interventions that strengthen tenants’ voices and ensure they are respected and taken seriously.
“The best ideas will be rolled out nationwide and tenants will shape every step, so what we take forward genuinely works to transforms tenants’ experiences.”
Thanks to the government’s Social Housing Innovation Fund, announced last October, organisations who competed for new funding will now each receive a share of £2 million to get going on their projects over the next 12 months.
They will work directly with tenants to ensure projects meet real needs and reach clear goals that prove their scalability.
The fund supports the government’s wider objective to turn around tenants’ experiences in social housing and empower them to speak up when things go wrong, with new legislation like Awaab’s Law already holding landlords to account on tenant safety.
This is alongside the government’s £39 billion Social and Affordable Housing Programme, now open for business, which is delivering the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation.
Further information
The Social Housing Innovation Fund has awarded 20 projects across the country. This includes:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-2m-backed-pilots-to-put-more-power-in-the-hands-of-tenants