In this edition of Sustainability for Housing’s (SfH) insights series, we turn to the theme of resident voice – how the social and affordable housing sector is empowering residents and enabling them to hold their landlords to account for the services they receive.

What is resident voice?

Resident voice describes the structures, relationships and channels through which residents influence, scrutinise and shape the services delivered by their landlord. It goes beyond simple consultation: at its strongest, resident voice gives residents real power to challenge performance, sit in governance structures, and see their feedback translate into changed policy and practice. It is closely tied to the principles of co-regulation and the “Transparency, Influence and Accountability” consumer standard now embedded in UK social housing regulation.

Resident voice and the SRS criteria

Resident voice sits at the core of Theme 6 of the SRS: ‘Residents and Community’. Under Criterion 23, social housing providers are asked:

“What arrangements are in place to enable residents to hold management to account for the provision of services?”

Elements of resident voice also appear elsewhere in the SRS. Criterion 22, also under Theme 6, asks providers how they have acted upon the results of their most recent tenant satisfaction surveys. Together, these criteria build a picture of how well housing associations are embedding the resident voice across their organisations.

Why does resident voice matter?

Resident voice matters because it rebalances the relationship between landlord and tenant. Where it is done well, it turns residents from passive recipients of a service into active partners in shaping it – sitting on boards, chairing scrutiny panels, co-designing policies and holding senior leaders to account for performance. Following the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and the Tenant Satisfaction Measures, resident voice has moved from good practice to a regulatory expectation, and the SRS data shows a sector responding at pace.

The data — what does SRS data say about resident voice in the sector?

Each year, Adopters of the SRS are asked to provide a qualitative response to Criterion 23. For this piece, SfH analysed 99 providers’ responses to understand the words, themes and mechanisms that define resident voice in practice across the sector.

We identified the most frequently cited words and grouped them into four broad themes:

1. Feedback & Performance Monitoring
2. Governance & Representation
3. Engagement & Voice
4. Scrutiny & Accountability

The most prevalent theme was Feedback & Performance Monitoring, with a word association frequency of 331. Key words here were “feedback”, “complaints”, “survey”, “performance” and “satisfaction”. This reflects how central transactional and perception data – Tenant Satisfaction Measures, complaints handling data and survey responses – has become to how providers evidence accountability, particularly since the introduction of the new consumer standards.

Close behind was Governance & Representation, scoring 303, built around the words “board”, “committee” and “panel”. This theme captures the formal architecture many providers have built to embed the resident voice at the highest levels of decision-making – resident board members, customer committees and scrutiny panels reporting directly into governance structures.

Engagement & Voice followed with a score of 278, built on the words “engagement”, “voice”, “involvement” and “involved”. This theme speaks to the softer, relational side of resident voice, such as the ongoing dialogue, outreach, and participation activity that sits alongside formal governance.

The final theme, Scrutiny & Accountability, scored 260, with “scrutiny”, “review”, “hold” and “account” the most common associated words. Resident-led scrutiny panels – often trained by TPAS or similar bodies – emerged as one of the most consistently cited mechanisms across the sector for turning resident voice into service improvement.

Across all responses, the five most used words were “customer” (443), “resident” (274), “service” (272), “tenant” (192) and “group” (154). The dominance of “customer” and “resident” –  used almost interchangeably across the sector – underlines that, whatever the terminology, providers overwhelmingly frame this theme around the person receiving the service, not the organisation delivering it.

Most frequently cited words:

customer	443
resident	274
service	272
tenant	192
group	154
board	127
engagement	114
scrutiny	106
panel	106
feedback	105
review	82
complaints	72
committee	70
voice	68
performance	65
policy	65
strategy	64
opportunity	62
survey	57
involvement	51

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We spoke with Hillcrest Housing Association to gain an understanding of how the Scottish social housing provider is amplifying its residents’ voices in practice. The resulting case study is deeply insightful, offering ideas and inspiration for housing associations across the sector.

Hillcrest commenced operations in 1967 as Hillcrest Housing Association. Over the decades, it has grown into a large, diverse and continually evolving social organisation serving thousands of customers across Scotland in Dundee, Edinburgh, Angus, Perthshire, Fife, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire. Hillcrest’s mission is to help people live better lives through the delivery of housing, maintenance services, care and support, and training and employment opportunities.

A key part of this mission is ensuring residents have a strong voice in shaping the organisation. Hillcrest understands the importance of empowering residents and amplifying their voices, and in recent years has made significant progress in tenant engagement by improving how it listens to residents and uses their feedback to influence services, strategies and decision-making. This has included embracing new technology, consulting residents on key organisational priorities and performance reporting, and strengthening tenant participation through the Feedback Forum.

Learning from the pandemic, the Hillcrest Engagement Team undertook a rebrand project with two key objectives: to modernise engagement opportunities for tenants and to raise the profile of resident involvement across the organisation. New CX Feedback software has enabled the team to offer a more flexible and inclusive range of opt-in and opt-out engagement opportunities, allowing residents to provide feedback through surveys, app notifications, emails and other digital channels. These modern methods sit alongside traditional engagement options, ensuring all tenants can participate regardless of their level of digital access or confidence. The project also introduced a new brand identity, a suite of ‘How To’ guides and a dedicated e-learning module, making it easier for both residents and staff to understand how tenants can influence decisions and shape services.

The Engagement Team delivered a range of innovative projects throughout 2024/25. Estate Based Initiatives encouraged residents to play an active role in improving their outdoor spaces and neighbourhoods, while consultations on the Tackling Poverty Together Strategy and Annual Performance Report ensured tenant feedback directly influenced key organisational priorities. The Digital Scrutiny project gathered resident views on digital communications, helping Hillcrest better understand how tenants want to receive information and engage with services.

Hillcrest has also worked to increase participation in its Feedback Forum. Following consultation with tenants, the group was renamed from the Interested Tenants Register to the more accessible and relatable Feedback Forum. Through targeted phone calls and push messaging via the Hillcrest tenant app, membership increased from around 600 tenants at the start of the year to more than 900. This significant growth has strengthened tenant representation and expanded opportunities for residents to influence decisions, ensuring that their voices remain at the heart of service improvement across the organisation.

“At Hillcrest, we are committed to ensuring tenants have meaningful opportunities to influence the services they receive. By creating a range of accessible engagement opportunities and acting on the feedback we receive, we are strengthening relationships with residents and ensuring their voices remain at the heart of our decision making.” – Claire Pickthall, Head of Housing and Customer Service, Hillcrest Homes.

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Interview with Fayann Simpson OBE

In addition to your board role at Sustainability for Housing you are also a Group Board member and Chair of the Resident Services Board at L&Q and have been a highly involved L&Q resident for over 20 years. What have your experiences at L&Q – both as a board member and a resident – taught you about the importance of resident engagement?

My experience at L&Q has shown me that meaningful resident engagement can be a true game changer, both in terms of service quality and the relationship between residents and their landlord.

I’ve seen first-hand that some of the most valuable improvements come from simply asking residents for their views. Residents know what it’s really like on the ground, and their insights often highlight issues that landlords might otherwise miss.

There’ve been plenty of examples where poor communication has led to unintended consequences. Some of the things residents have told L&Q over the years have been eye-opening.

One example involved a government-funded programme offering free energy efficiency upgrades to eligible households. A group of involved residents were asked to review the letters being sent out about the scheme. Before long, they’d spotted why take-up rates were so low: the letters looked like scam mail, and the wording gave the impression that residents would be charged for the work. Following residents’ feedback, L&Q re-designed its communications approach, making the information clearer, more concise and easier to understand. As a result, confidence in the scheme increased and more residents were able to benefit from the improvements.

Making sure services are based around what residents want and need also helps build stronger relationships. In the wake of the Grenfell tragedy, the tragic death of Awaab Ishak, and the poor housing conditions exposed by the media, trust in the sector was damaged. A common thread running through these events was a failure to listen to residents, and a lack of meaningful routes for them to affect change.

To rebuild relationships, landlords needed to rebuild trust – and L&Q have found that an effective way to do this was to put residents at the heart of decisions that affect their homes. You can read more about this in the research report, A Partnership of Equals.

What are some common mistakes social landlords make with resident engagement? What are the effects of these missed opportunities?

When it comes to resident involvement, gathering opinions is only one piece of the puzzle. A familiar dilemma, and one that can contribute to involvement fatigue, is when residents don’t get to see what happens next.

Residents fill out an online survey, sit on an interview panel, or attend a focus group. Then weeks later, a decision is made, and they’re left wondering whether their input played any part at all.

For me, good engagement is a continuous loop. If we want residents to stay involved, we need to show them what decisions have been made, and where they’ve had an impact. People are much more likely to engage again if they can see that their time and contribution have been valued.

I also think we need to move away from talking about residents as “hard to reach”. The distinction matters because the phrase puts the focus on the community rather than the organisations leading the activity. It can sound as though people don’t want to get involved, without acknowledging there are barriers getting in their way. These might be practical things like geography or language, but they can also be about how opportunities are designed, communicated and delivered. Sometimes it’s a question of cultural awareness or making sure people feel the space is welcoming and relevant to them.

When these barriers go unrecognised, valuable perspectives can be missed. Every resident brings a unique viewpoint, and hearing from a wider range of voices helps landlords deliver better services.

It’s also important to recognise that residents have different preferences. Not everyone wants to sit on a board or attend a traditional committee meeting. To encourage greater involvement, we need to offer a mix of in-person and online opportunities that reflect different lifestyles, as well as one-off sessions that align with people’s interests. Hybrid formats can also help remove practical blockers such as travel, time constraints and childcare responsibilities, making it easier for more people to have their say.

In your experience, do housing associations of different sizes face different challenges with resident engagement? If so, can you discuss how housing associations of any size can take steps to improve their resident engagement?

My guess would be that ‘delivering effective resident engagement’ is a phrase you’ll find in most social landlord’s strategies. Of course, challenges vary by geography, particularly for urban landlords vs those who serve rural communities. Either way, I think the first principle should always be the same: to trust residents. There is a huge amount of talent, experience and know how in our communities, as well as people who want to make their patch of the world a better place to live.

Landlords of all shapes and sizes should start by thinking about how they can harness this at every stage. From establishing a truly representative structure that sparks discussion and debate, to ensuring there are mechanisms that lead to decisions, and follow-up actions. Whatever the challenge, my advice is the same: approach resident engagement as a real opportunity – one that brings untold benefits to an organisation.

What are some examples of good practice regarding resident engagement within the SRS Adopter community?

There are some great examples of resident engagement happening across the SRS community.

At Home Group, residents have been involved in interview panels for resident-facing roles for over a decade. In 2023, that approach was extended to all vacancies, including back-office tasks, and the landlord achieved their target of having a resident involved in 100% of interviews.

It’s been a huge success. Having residents interview potential hires signals to them that Home Group is a resident-centred organisation. Sitting on the other side of the interview process is also helping residents with their own careers, boosting their confidence and employability skills.

L&Q’s Major Works Partnership Board is another example of what can be achieved when resident involvement is taken seriously. When reviewing its Major Works Investment Programme, L&Q worked with residents to define what “quality” should mean, not just in terms of materials and workmanship, but also the overall resident experience. Using wider customer insight data, residents developed a set of criteria that are now vital to all contractor assessments and procurement evaluations. Resident priorities were built into the process, helping to ensure that investment decisions reflect what they want to see.

Can you describe the impact that resident empowerment has on the individual and community level?

This is work that stays with you – in the best possible way. You’re making a meaningful contribution, and that’s an incredibly rewarding and satisfying feeling. Not only do I feel valued through my involvement, but it’s also changed how I feel about my home.

From an individual point of view, getting involved opens up opportunities to develop new skills and build on existing experience. At the neighbourhood level, it helps create stronger, more resilient communities, with members who have the confidence and skills to engage with opportunities in work, education, and community life.

For these benefits to be realised, residents need the right support. At L&Q, involved residents take part in TPAS courses on effective questioning and constructive challenge. L&Q also provides training to help residents navigate boards and committee environments, enabling them to scrutinise performance and hold the organisation to account.

I’d say this is even more true, now that resident involvement has a higher profile across the sector. Nowadays, it’s seen as a respected and valuable practice, not something that simply looks good or is a ‘nice to have’. More landlords are recognising it as a key organisational enabler and driver of transparency and accountability.

We’ve reached the point where there’s no turning back the clock. Resident involvement isn’t something that can be scaled back when times are tough. It’s part of what we do, and increasingly, it’s part of who we are as a sector.