Tenant Voice 2025: Two Days of Insight, Innovation and Impact 

The Northern Housing Consortium’s 15th Annual Tenant Voice Conference brought together sector leaders and housing professionals with tenants for two days of discussion, learning, and collaboration all focused on one central theme: strong and impactful tenant engagement. 

Across both days, one message came through loud and clear: meaningful tenant voice is essential for building trust, tackling stigma, and driving the culture change our sector needs. 

Day One: Setting the Scene and Driving Standards 

The conference opened with Paul Fiddaman, Chief Executive of Karbon Homes, who set the tone by reflecting on the significant changes that are currently shaping social housing. Paul shared how Karbon embeds their values into everyday behaviours, with staff appraisals linked to demonstrating customer-centric service – a practical example of putting tenants at the heart of organisational culture. 

Tenants were active from the start, asking insightful questions about training and qualifications for housing staff and emphasising the importance of high standards in how tenants are treated. 

Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at the Regulator of Social Housing, followed with an update on the regulator’s new powers and priorities. She stressed the importance of transparency, accountability, and tenant engagement in improving standards. Kate highlighted how tenant satisfaction measures can act as an early warning system for landlords and repeated her call for tenants to share their views as the regulator moves forward with its four-year programme. 

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, then shared trends from the past year, including how complaints are now better resourced and recognised as vital for learning and culture change. His message was clear: complaints aren’t something to fear; they’re an opportunity to improve. Richard also addressed stigma in language and the Ombudsman’s outreach work, which now includes one explainer document that has been translated in 300 languages! 

The morning continued with Chloe Tilford from Housing Diversity Network, who led an interactive session on unconscious bias and how misinformation can derail community efforts. Her practical tips for spotting loaded language and challenging assumptions resonated strongly with delegates. 

Luke Baptiste from South Liverpool Homes showcased how they embed tenant voice through their Customer Committee and Scrutiny Panel, visiting hundreds of homes each month to understand residents’ needs and offer support. Their #LetsTalkFacts campaign to tackle misinformation around allocations was a standout example of transparency and two-way dialogue. 

The day closed with Andy McGrory from the Building Safety Regulator, who reinforced the importance of involving residents in decisions, not doing things to them, echoing lessons from Grenfell. 

Day One highlighted the importance of restoring trust, challenging stigma, fixing bias, and ensuring safety – all underpinned by the power of tenant voice. 

 

Day Two: Collaboration and Innovation 

Day Two began with our own Liam Gregson, Senior Engagement Manager at the NHC, introducing RENEW, our housing-led regeneration inquiry. Liam outlined why this work matters; learning from the past; sharing knowledge across power structures; and securing investment for social housing in the North. 

He was followed by representatives from Magenta Living, including Adam Costello, Customer Committee Member, who gave an inspiring talk on meeting tenants where they are – not just in town halls – and Mark Armstrong, Regeneration and Public Affairs Director, who reminded us that housing is about more than bricks and mortar. Magenta Living’s JobsPlus scheme is a great example of going beyond legal requirements to empower communities. 

Next, Amy Broadley from Sir Josiah Trust shared how they bring residents into the boardroom to ensure decisions reflect real voices. Working with Emma Wilson at YD Consultants, they’ve collaborated across six landlords to tackle complaints and co-create 17 practical recommendations – from clearer communication to valuing older residents’ skills. 

We then heard from Colchester Borough Homes, who challenged us to rethink language: it’s customers, not tenants, and it is housing first, not social housing. 

A quick-fire session followed, with six landlords showcasing innovative approaches to customer involvement. Huge thanks to Cobalt Housing, North Star, Berneslai Homes, Arches Housing, and Progress Housing for sharing their work. Big or small, every organisation acknowledged this is a continuous journey – and the destination is always evolving. Each landlord acknowledged that enacting culture change must be front and centre throughout. 

 

Looking Ahead 

Across both days, delegates asked great questions and engaged in lively discussions, reinforcing that tenant voice is not a tick-box exercise – it’s a long road of culture change. From tackling stigma and bias to embedding trust and safety, the sector is committed to making this journey together. 

A huge thank you to all our speakers, delegates, and partners – especially Yvonne Davies of YD Consultants – for making this year’s conference such a success. The all the conversations across the conference have been eye-opening, inspiring, and a powerful reminder of why tenant voice matters.