Government announces training and support programme for social housing residents

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has announced that social housing residents will be able to get training and support to speak up and raise issues with their landlord.

The Resident Opportunities and Empowerment programme aims to empower social housing residents in England to hold their landlord to account and will run from Autumn 2022 to Spring 2025.

The programme will include opportunities for residents to learn how to influence landlord decisions that affect tenants and their community including advice on how to form a residents panel.

The programme is part of the government’s promise on re-balancing the relationship between tenants and landlords, set out in the Social Housing White Paper.

Bidding has opened for a £500,000 government grant to provide training, boost confidence and offer toolkits for residents on a range of social housing issues.

The grant is open to bids from organisations or partnerships in England with relevant expertise in the social housing sector. Those applying should be able to demonstrate experience in providing training, capacity building and access to independent information, within the social housing sector; working collaboratively with landlords to deliver outcomes beneficial to residents and their communities; and establishing significant and appropriate sector links and networks, to reach social housing residents, including underrepresented demographics and new audiences.

Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing Eddie Hughes MP said: "Tenants have a right for their voices to be heard - and we want to ensure they have the tools and resources to do this.

"We committed to rebalancing the relationship between social housing tenants and landlords as part of our Social Housing White Paper.

"This new grant will enable an organisation with expertise in the sector to help tenants take an active role in how their home is managed.”

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