The Dutch perspective
An outside view of the ways in which UK housing associations get resident engagement right
It is easy to find voices that are critical of how the UK housing association sector has handled tenant and customer engagement over the years – and there have been enough high-profile occasions to demonstrate what can happen when it goes wrong. But sometimes, getting a view from further afield can lend some perspective.
“I was impressed by the way English housing associations [have been] able to deal with the diversity of their customer base,” insists Gerard van Bortel, assistant professor of housing management at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, describing his experience as a researcher studying English social landlords a decade ago. “I was already surprised by the different ways [they used] to engage customers: using different languages, using local community contexts to engage customers in difficult-to-reach communities. While in the Netherlands, it was still the case that there was a one-size-fits-all kind of engagement.”
Compare and contrast
Van Bortel has studied both the English and Dutch housing sectors and is currently on the board of two associations in the Netherlands, including 40,000-home Rochdale, based in Amsterdam. He describes the Dutch method of tenant engagement as being overly “traditional” in its use of structures such as resident committees and regular surveys to gauge satisfaction, as well as being rigid around – for example – the use of non-Dutch languages in its communications.
“What I liked about the English way of involving residents was not only involving them in strategic discussions about what to do with the neighbourhoods but also how to organise your housing management services to… improve housing and management services,” he explains. “In the Netherlands, that still is quite removed from how tenant and resident engagement is organised.”
One thing that van Bortel thinks is true across both countries is that we are going through a transition period in terms of the importance housing providers attach to engagement: “I think there’s more urgency felt to engage tenants more on an operational level [and about] housing management services, but that’s also because there’s a rather deep dissatisfaction about resident participation.”
Gerard van Bortel
Assistant Professor of Housing Management, Delft University of Technology
“We have a layered structure of participation, and a lot of energy and attention goes to the higher levels, [but] my idea is that it would be more productive to also focus on the more operational levels of participation.”
Performance agreements
Van Bortel describes how Dutch housing associations are obliged by law to enter into performance agreements with local authorities and local-level tenant organisations, but says that these agreements are “often quite abstract” and do not allay resident concerns about services at the operational level.
“These are more or less two different worlds,” continues van Bortel. “You have this policy world of these performance agreements, where housing associations and local authorities and local authority level tenant organisations discuss high-level housing policies, and then you have the more operational and technical issues and often these two worlds are not very connected to each other.
“Discussions are quite far removed from the daily issues of tenants: good quality repair services; addressing mould in your home; addressing the backlog in maintenance; these kinds of things. So, we have a layered structure of participation, and a lot of energy and attention goes to the higher levels, [but] my idea is that it would be more productive to also focus on the more operational levels of participation.”
The other problem with the traditional way of engaging at what van Bortel calls “the higher level” is that it gives a distorted impression of the customer base for many landlords. “I see a kind of tiredness [in the process],” he says. “It’s always the older tenants with a Dutch background being active and that’s not representing the full tenant population in these discussions.”
“Discussions are quite far removed from the daily issues of tenants: good quality repair services; addressing mould in your home; addressing the backlog in maintenance.”
Early involvement
Van Bortel strongly feels that increasing the amount and quality of tenant engagement is a must for housing associations, particularly given the demand for more development and the push for older stock to conform to net zero standards. He believes that consulting residents at the earliest possible stage produces the best outcomes.
“I think tenants are able to support the housing associations in discussing these dilemmas,” he adds. “It’s also fine if you say there are some requirements or preconditions. Sometimes housing associations say: ‘Well, if you involve residents in an early phase, it’s like giving them a blank cheque’ but that’s not my experience.
“I think tenants are very capable in dealing with boundaries, with limitations. And I think in that way, you can have a more fruitful discussion with tenants, instead of [asking them] to support a certain solution you have developed without involving the tenants.
“Maybe I'm naïve and maybe I have a too positive view, but on the other hand, I also have some experience in hands-on tenant engagement, so I think it’s possible to do that.”
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