Resident Involvement Review - Have Your Say!

Overview

This consultation is aimed at all those living in a council-owned or managed home e.g. council tenants, council leaseholders or freeholders paying a service charge to the council, etc.

We're committed to finding better ways to listen and respond to all our residents and the things that matter most to them.  In early 2017 the council commissioned an independent review of the existing housing engagement structure.  Well over 1,000 people across the borough took part in that review.

The review identified a number of challenges that include:

• limited coverage of Tenants and Residents Associations (TRAs);
• how to involve diverse residents who reflect the makeup of the borough;
• the representativeness of members of existing bodies such as Area Housing Forums, Tenants and Homeowner Councils;
• low awareness of residents of the resources available; and
• a preference for funding to be directed towards estate-based/local community projects.

Following this, the council set up an independently chaired Co-Design Panel of Residents in August 2018 in order to gather further evidence and make recommendations on the future of resident engagement in Southwark.  The panel met eight times between August and December 2018 producing a report  with its findings and recommendations. 

The co-design panel report:

• proposes a more flexible and inclusive structure that promotes both local community development and meaningful resident scrutiny of housing services.
• recommends greater funding and more IT and training support for TRAs, as well as opportunities for residents to have their say where there is no TRA;
• and envisages a new form of area level engagement that combines an online resident community with quarterly meetings, and proposes more ways for more residents to be involved in shaping and scrutinising borough-wide housing services.

You can find more information on the resident involvement review on this link:

https://www.southwark.gov.uk/housing/housing-community-involvement/resident-involvement-review-co-design-project

You can find a copy of the report at the bottom of this page.

Why your views matter

We want to hear what you think about the proposals set out in the report. Your feedback is very important to us as it will be used to shape the final proposals.

This consultation closes Thursday 31st January 2019. 

The final proposals will be presented to the council's Cabinet of councillors, for their approval in March 2019.