Supporting tenant Understanding of Housing Finance www.tis.org.uk Understanding People – Unlocking Potential Supporting tenant Understanding of Housing Finance Alistair Reid Development Manager TIS Housing & Community Engagement Staff Residential 2017 Thursday 23 – Friday 24 March 2017 www.tis.org.uk

Supporting tenant understanding of housing finance Purpose of session Look at tips and techniques for making housing budgets easy to understand for tenants and other customers Explore other methods that you can use to engage with tenants on rent levels Identify other methods you can use to keep your tenants informed about the housing budget on an ongoing basis

Supporting tenant understanding of housing finance Why do you need to do it? Charter .. ..’get information they need about their landlord, how and why it makes decisions ..’ ..’easy to participate in and influence landlord’s decisions …’ ..’receive services that provide continually improving value for money ..’ ..’balance between level of service, cost, affordability ..’ ..’clear information on how rent is spent, including expenditure limits ..’

Supporting tenant understanding of housing finance Why do you need to do it? Customer expectations SHR focus on affordability of rents going forward But what is affordable (20 – 30%) – should there be an agreed level? New Build Programmes across the country Housing benefit – what the future holds .. 56% of social landlord income .. Is it secure?

Supporting tenant understanding of housing finance Some key principles Difference between already active tenants and others Different approaches required to each Existing engagement follow structures agreed For other tenants you need to consider different approaches – more later Whatever approach you use – building trust is important

Supporting tenant understanding of housing finance Some key principles Agree your consultation and engagement methods in advance with your tenants, regularly review these methods, and publicise the approaches used Be open and transparent – information will come out eventually and you want to build trust (but be clear how you present this) Encourage questions from tenants and others about your budget No proposal should come as a shock to tenants

Supporting tenant understanding of housing finance How should you present information Keep it simple Provide contextual information … where it helps inform (not to make you look better) Provide valid comparisons .. benchamrking Break it down into sections .. Ideally agree these with tenants Don’t be afraid to try new approaches .. Link to individuals household budget Use diagrams/ graphs/ images where possible Where every £ is spent … Glossaries/ Jargon Buster?

Supporting tenant understanding of housing finance Group exercise Choose three different elements of the housing budget and come up with a simple explanation that would explain to tenants what each meant eg void rent loss/ CFCR/ interest/ grounds maintenance/ business plan/ inflationary uplift/ response repairs/ environmental improvements

Supporting tenant understanding of housing finance Methods of engagement Annual rent consultation or ongoing budget discussions? One off events .. Conference .. Seminars ..road shows ..give clear information .. Present options (real) .. Scrutiny groups .. Spend a few meetings going over rents/ budgets etc Existing engagement opportunities .. RTOs / panels / interested tenants Surveys .. How to target? Balance ..

Supporting tenant understanding of housing finance Methods of engagement Newsletters (tenant report circa October each year) Other interaction – housing officer visits .. Phone calls Be accessible .. Where tenants want to meet Ongoing discussions about budget Existing groups One off events Newsletters Other interested tenants (or potential tenants)

Supporting tenant understanding of housing finance Key Tips Do .. Be open and provide real choice Be demonstrate that you will listen .. And actually do it Don’t .. Ask leading questions Extend effort if you aren’t going to listen

Supporting tenant understanding of housing finance Next steps Autumn TIS rent setting event Guide to involving tenants in rent setting Any questions