Independent Tenant Organisation Progress Report 2021

The Independent Tenant Organisation for Northern Ireland

Reporting on our Progress and Milestones

Foreward Supporting Communities exists to empower grassroots society and support the voice of communities, which is why tenant participation is so key to our mission. Since being officially appointed as the Independent Tenant Organisation (ITO) for Northern Ireland in 2017, we have delivered the main objectives of the Tenant Participation Strategy for NI (2015-2020), including developing TP Guidance and establishing a Housing Policy Panel made up of tenants from 50% of Northern Ireland's social landlords. We are currently contributing to the Department for Communities' review of the existing strategy and look forward to strengthening and improving what has already been accomplished.

In our role as ITO, Supporting Communities has expanded its scope to help other social landlords set up structures that work for their businesses and their tenants. Tenant participation is thriving in Northern Ireland, but we cannot and will not rest on these laurels. I have laid out a 5 point plan to take tenant participation to the next level, which we look forward to implementing with our partners in the housing sector.

Supporting Communities | ITO Report 2021 Colm McDaid, CEO

Introduction The Tenant Participation Strategy for NI (2015-2020) called for the establishment of an Independent Tenant Organisation. Supporting Communities won the tender for this contract in 2017 and has since taken on responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the Strategy and supporting all social housing tenants and staff to develop the skills needed for effective participation.

As we look forward to a new strategy for 2021 and beyond, we are pleased to report on the progress we have made to date.

Supporting Communities | ITO Report 2021

Goals

Guidance Notes Develop guidance to support the Tenant Participation Strategy for Northern Ireland

There were four main aims included in the 2015 TP Strategy. This report details the progress to date in achieving these goals.

Policy Panel

Run a Housing Policy Panel to act as a social housing consultant to the Department for Communities

Tenant Advocate

Establish and support a Tenant Advocate role to speak up for tenants' interests

Sector Support

To promote, develop, provide and maintain tenant services within the social housing sector.

Guidance Notes Our initial task was to develop written guidance to spell out what a tenant participation strategy might look like for social housing providers.

There is a wide range of housing associations in Northern Ireland, from the very large to the very small, with all sorts of experience and capacity for tenant participation.

We set out to establish the core elements needed for effective participation and provide information, methods, and further references available to all.

Guidance Notes were produced and published in June 2017.

Read the Guidance Document

Supporting Communities | ITO Report 2021

Milestone A Tenant Participation guidance document was produced and published online in June 2017.

Housing Policy Panel Achievements Supporting Communities created and regularly convenes a Housing Policy Panel (HPP) made up of tenant representatives from the social housing sector.

This panel, currently consisting of 12 tenant representatives, acts in a consultative function to the Department for Communities (DfC), focusing on the development and scrutiny of departmental policies that are relevant to their interests.

The Panel has developed its own action plan that forms the basis of its development and enables the Panel to reflect on achievements year on year.

Read the HPP's Annual Report for 2019-2021

Supporting Communities | ITO Report 2021

The first meeting was held in Sept 2017 25 meetings since 5 consultation responses 2 research contributions 5 good practice visits 1 DfC Key Performance Report

Tenant Advocate We aim to support and train an advocate from within the membership of the Housing Policy Panel to act as a consultant to the Department for Communities representing the interests of social housing tenants in Northern Ireland.

The HPP initially decided that they needed time to get to know their role as panel members and get to know each other before electing an Advocate from within their ranks.

In the autumn of 2019, Panel members were asked to submit their expressions of interest for the role.

Unfortunately due to Covid 19, the meeting that would have included voting by secret ballot was postponed.

Advocate job description Supporting Communities | ITO Report 2021

In Progress An election to appoint a tenant advocate will take place when in-person meetings are able to take place.

Support for Housing Associations To fulfill our role as the ITO, Supporting Communities established a trading arm, known as Empowering Communities, officially launched in April 2017.

Empowering Communities employed a Tenant Engagement and Participation Officer to work directly with social housing landlords to set up and maintain tenant panels and community groups, advise on developing tenant participation strategies and activities, and encourage and develop effective tenant involvement in governance and board membership.

Empowering Communities now has 17 housing association members, an active peer network of tenant participation practitioners, and regularly delivers training and practical support to the sector.

We also created a set of standards for tenant participation in Northern Ireland and launched a TP Accreditation, which housing associations can earn at the Gold, Silver, and Bronze level.

Read Empowering Communities Annual Report 2021

Milestones Empowering Communities launched April 2017 TPPN established 15 TP Strategies developed TP Standards TP Support website created

TP Strategy Pre-Consulation

Zoom life! Despite the hardships of this past year, the rapid adaption of technology across the board allowed us to reach and involve many more tenants in a short space of time.

Pictured above are members of the Housing Policy Panel, Supporting Communities, and the Dept for Communities at a recent online meeting.

Supporting Communities facilitated 27 online events between November 2020 to February 2021 involving 319 tenants and housing professionals across the country. This was part of the pre-consultation stage to create the next Tenant Participation Strategy for Northern Ireland.

Shane Clements, Tenant Participation Lead for the Department for Communities, presented the core principles and commitments that the previous strategy was based on to over 300 tenants and staff of social landlords to seek their views as to their relevance and appropriateness going forward.

Supporting Communities | ITO Report 2021

Next Steps As the ITO, we have delivered the main objectives of the Tenant Participation Strategy for NI (2015-2020). We are now contributing to the Department for Communities' review of their TP Strategy to strengthen and improve what has already been accomplished.

As we build on the success of the first TP Strategy and continue to address the elements that are still in progress, five further ingredients will take us to the 'next level' of tenant participation in Northern Ireland.

TP Standards & Accreditation We recommend that the Department for Communities (DfC) support our TP Standards and Accreditation scheme providing a baseline level of tenant participation across Northern Ireland. Awarding a level of accreditation will provide support to the DfC's Regulatory Body and help meet the Consumer Standard for housing providers.

Empowerment Models Supporting Communities will further explore 'empowerment models' of tenant participation to forge a path from tenants being informed and consulted to being given more power that may mean more tenants sitting on their respective landlord's board or fulfilling some form of arm's length or management function.

Learn and Grow This is a key moment to take stock. A significant amount of work has taken place over the past five years, and we need to ensure the outcomes are measured and captured to inform the next phase of tenant participation in Northern Ireland.

A baseline of attitudinal change will help inform a path forward with a clear theory of change and a demonstrable method of measuring the impact of tenant participation.

Establish Baseline Data We need to establish a baseline of tenants' views to better measure our progress to date. DfC, landlords, and tenants should reflect on the impact that the first TP Strategy has had on attitudes towards tenant participation.

Build on the Theory of Change The baseline of attitudinal change will help inform the next TP Strategy and develop a new phase of tenant engagement and empowerment for Northern Ireland over the next 5-10 years.

Measure and Value We want to commission primary research, locally based, to enable the social value of tenant engagement in Northern Ireland to be measured and valued.

Prove Return on Investment We need to establish Northern Irish-specific proxies to help measure the value of tenant participation. Showing the social return on investment in meaningful engagement will further cement the practice in the social housing sector.

Such research would allow for Northern Ireland-centric social value proxies to be developed and used to measure the social value of tenant engagement for any landlord who wishes to show the value for money of engaging tenants and customers.

Supporting Communities | ITO Report 2021

Acknowledgements We thank the Department for Communities, the Housing Policy Panel members, our board, and our staff for supporting us as the Independent Tenant Organisation.

We also thank the social housing sector for going on this journey with us, especially the tenants and staff of our member organisations: Alpha Housing (NI) Ltd Apex Housing Association Ark Housing Association Choice Housing Circle VHA Clanmil Housing Association Connswater Homes Craigowen Housing Association Supporting Communities | ITO Report 2021

Extern Homes Grove Housing Association Habinteg Housing Association NB Housing Newington Housing Association Radius Housing Association Rural Housing Association South Ulster Housing Association St Matthews Housing Association

Contact Us The Independent Tenant Organisation for Northern Ireland

Supporting Communities 34-36 Henry Street Ballymena, BT42 3AH

tpsupport@supportingcommunities.org @SuppCommunities supportingcommunities.org | tpsupport.org