What the Tenants Movement Wants

Over the last three years, Quintin Bradley, a lecturer from Leeds Metropolitan University working with Leeds Tenants Federation, has been researching the beliefs of the tenants’ movement in England. More than 140 tenant representatives have taken part in the research through discussions in focus groups and giving their views in interviews.  This report gives a brief summary of the main findings of the research. It may not reflect the views of all social housing tenants but it represents the views of 80% of the research sample.

The aim of the research was to find what it is that unites all the tenants’ federations, local associations, tenant management organisations, tenant panels and focus groups, and all the tenant directors and tenant inspectors and other individuals who participate in their housing service. Although there are four national tenants’ organisations, with regional and sub-regional tenants’ organisations, as well as thousands of federations and residents’ associations, there is little sense of a united movement, and most residents concentrate on activities in their local area and their local housing service. This research, however, shows that residents involved in housing and community issues share the same strong set of beliefs about public services, public space, and democracy. These beliefs represent the unwritten manifesto of the tenants’ movement.

The first thing residents care passionately about is social housing itself. As well as the quality of social housing, and the support it offers, residents believe that it encourages a spirit of co-operation and mutual aid among neighbours. This is shown in the willingness of social housing residents to work together in community associations and to defend their community and public services.  Many social housing residents have a strong sense of belonging and sense of place, almost a sense of common ownership of public space.  They want to widen the safe public spaces available for people to meet and work together. 

The second main belief shared by residents is that their direct experience of living in social housing makes them better able than housing professionals to make decisions about their housing service. They want locally-based housing services, local staff with whom they can work in partnership, and they want a local housing office and more democratic involvement in decision making than presently allowed for by most housing organisations.

This leads to the third central belief which is in the value of direct democracy, or the belief that everyone should be involved in decision-making and that decisions should be delegated to the local level.  The tenants’ movement wants democratic public services that are sensitive to individual and community needs and are not run by distant ‘we-know-best’ professionals. They want a housing service that can be shaped by locally elected and directly accountable tenant representatives, that enables the participation of as many people as possible, and values the contribution of everyone in the community.

This is a distinctive set of beliefs that makes the tenants’ movement unique, and means it has something clear and contentious to say about the way public services and public space in this country are run.  The tenants’ movement celebrates co-operation, mutual aid and direct democracy and is opposed to privatised individualism.  Its members are proud to be tenants and proud of public services, and they think the forces of privatisation have had a destructive effect on our communities.

The tenants’ movement draws its strength from its local concerns and its identification with local places. While most people see the benefits of networking between tenants across the country, support for national organisations is limited.  To win support a national tenants’ organisation needs to organise in a very democratic way that will enable the local groups to make their own decisions, and that will ensure the leadership stays with the grass-roots. This is very difficult to achieve, not least because tenants’ organisations are liable to in-fighting and feuding, and many tenants do not have confidence in their own abilities. This self-doubt shows itself in a lack of clarity about what unites social housing tenants and what they want to achieve.

Although many residents may not see themselves as part of a movement, this research shows that they share a manifesto of beliefs that needs to be championed, not only in local communities but nationally and internationally.  By being clear about what we all believe in, we take the first step in setting out the aims and strategy of a united tenants’ movement.