The Royal Borough of Greenwich has made improvements to how we involve and communicate with our tenants and leaseholders, by putting their voices at the front and centre of a key housing policy which affects them, their homes and their neighbourhoods.
The new Resident Engagement Policy is designed to make engagement more inclusive, transparent and responsive - and directly reflects feedback from tenants and leaseholders gathered through months of detailed engagement.
Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said: "A huge thank you to everyone who got involved and shared their views and suggestions for improvements to our housing service. We are committed to listening to residents, and making sure they feel heard, and that input has made a real difference in shaping our new Resident Engagement Policy.
“We are always open to suggestions all year round and residents can find out more by emailing YourVIEW@royalgreenwich.gov.uk or visiting www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/yourview to see how they can get more involved in improving their housing estate or community.”
Our new policy outlines how we will work with residents to improve housing services in the borough. We asked residents to feedback on specific areas including repairs; anti-social behaviour; hate crime or domestic abuse; parking management on our estates; how we collect rent, service and leaseholder charges; and how we communicate with residents.
Based on feedback, we will make some immediate improvements included in the summary below:
What you said: Hold Borough Wide Housing Panel meetings in different parts of the borough, not just in Woolwich, and use accessible venues.
What we’ll do: We’ll pilot two Borough Wide Housing Panel meetings in Woolwich and two in other areas of the borough.
Smaller panels can choose when and where to meet - online or in person - and all the venues will be accessible.
What you said: Make it clear who is responsible for taking action at each housing panel.
What we’ll do: We’ve added the name of the Senior Officer accountable for each resident panel.
What you said: Make engagement more inclusive, especially for neurodiverse residents.
What we’ll do: We’ve added neurodiversity to the policy and strengthened the section on engaging with diverse groups. We’ll carry out equality assessments to ensure our engagement is fair and inclusive.
What you said: Share updates in the Talk Housing newsletter about changes made through resident panels.
What we’ll do: We’ll include a regular section in Talk Housing to show what’s changed based on your feedback.
What you said: Review the policy more often than every three years.
What we’ll do: We’ve updated the policy and it will now be reviewed every 18 months.
Read our final Resident Engagement Policy