The Four Million Homes programme – being delivered by the Confederation of Co-operative Housing (CCH) to help empower social tenants – is releasing a series of online training videos.
CCH, which is partnered on the scheme with sector consultant Public Participation, Consultation and Research (PPCR), says the online delivery will allow as many tenants as possible to access the programme, which “is intended to be a catalyst for change in social housing; providing free knowledge, guidance and training on resident rights and how to stand up for them”.
Funded by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the programme includes a series of eight training sessions focusing on different aspects of resident empowerment: from entry-level skills, through engaging in formal structures such as scrutiny panels to options for resident management and control of landlord services. To date these have been run online and in various cities across England.
Now, Four Million Homes is releasing each session as an individual training video. The first three were launched yesterday (11 December), focusing on entry-level skills, resident panels and how to run an effective residents’ association. The remaining modules will be released in the first half of 2024. The idea is to reach out to as many residents as possible and to break down some of the barriers around participation such as time, travel, health or other commitments.
Social housing minister Baroness Scott said: “Tenants across the country deserve to live in safe and decent homes and social landlords who fail to fulfil their responsibilities must be held to account.
“The next chapter of our Four Million Homes programme empowers residents to challenge their landlord when things go wrong and builds on our ambitious reforms to drive up the quality of social housing through our landmark Social Housing Regulation Act.”
CCH chief executive Blase Lambert, said: “Our fundamental belief for the Four Million Homes programme is that it needs to empower the many and not just the few, as can be the case with traditional training and engagement methods. Having our training available as videos online will mean that any resident can watch them from their computers, laptops, mobile phones, at the times and in the places that suit them best.
“We want to democratise access to information and resources for social housing residents.”
Sarah Davis, senior policy and practice officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “The Four Million Homes programme provides invaluable training and support to social housing tenants to understand their rights, what they can expect of their landlords and how to hold them to account on the homes and services they provide.
“It is great that as part of the free offer to tenants, these online training sessions are available. We would encourage all landlords to signpost to these resources, so tenants don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn more.”
The videos can be viewed free at the project website: fourmillionhomes.org
