The launch of the new scrutiny panel took place last night (Tuesday) at the
Civic Centre, with the panel consisting of residents, facilitated by tenant
engagement experts Tpas, and supported by the council’s city housing team.
It will form part of a new scrutiny process aimed at increasing engagement
with residents of council-owned housing across the city and establishing
mechanisms to enable them to hold the council to account and influence
service development and improvement.
The council is landlord to almost 22,000 homes, and holds the lease for
almost 2,500 properties, and is embracing the new proactive approach to
regulating social housing landlords laid out in the Social Housing Regulation
Act (2023).
The council is also working to deliver a new residents charter across all
providers which will be published and promoted to ensure all residents have
access to information about services. This will enable transparency and allow
individuals to hold organisations to account.
The new City Housing Oversight Panel will meet once a month and the venue
will alternate between a day meeting at Bushbury Hill Estate Management
Board and an evening meeting at the Civic Centre to ensure as many
residents, who have shown an interest in being involved, can be.
Panel Member and St Peter’s resident, Gemma Taylor, said: “We’re not here
for ourselves we’re here for the city. We want to make sure tenants and
residents’ voices are heard and to improve people’s lived experiences.”
Councillor Steve Evans, the council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for
Housing, said: “The policy and legislative landscape for social housing is
changing; increasing the emphasis on regulation, transparency, and
accountability of landlords. We welcome this change.
“We are committed to providing safe and healthy homes for all, to listening to
our residents’ voices and understanding their experiences.
“We want residents of council-owned housing to feel empowered to share
their views and experiences and feel confident that their feedback is being
listened to and acted upon.”
