Resident Engagement in Social Housing: Navigating New Legislation and Building Stronger Communities

By · 28 July 2025

Tenant Engagement In Social Housing

We understand that tenants are the most important part of what we do in the housing sector. With new legislation reshaping regulatory frameworks and decarbonisation goals driving major retrofit programmes, ensuring tenants understand these changes is vital. The challenge for housing providers is ensuring every tenant feels informed, involved and empowered in decisions affecting their homes.

New Legislative Requirements

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, which came into force in April 2024, fundamentally changes how social housing providers must engage with tenants. Key changes include routine inspections of social landlords, new consumer standards requiring demonstration of appropriate skills and behaviours and enhanced regulatory powers to investigate and take action where necessary.

Most significantly for tenant engagement, the legislation introduces Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) requiring landlords to regularly collect and publish tenant satisfaction data. From October 2025, social landlords must address damp and mould hazards within fixed timescales, emphasising the importance of proactive communication with tenants about their rights and available support. For more information, you can read our blog: Awaab’s Law – Draft Guidance Issued for Social Landlords.

The Diversity Challenge

Social housing tenants are incredibly diverse. Government statistics show 44% of households with new social housing lettings include at least one person with a physical disability. In addition, many tenants face various life circumstances that require different types of support. This diversity extends to language, digital literacy, communication preferences, and personal situations.

Each tenant brings unique needs and ways of engaging with information. Some prefer face-to-face interactions, others digital communication. Some need information in different languages or formats, while others have specific accessibility requirements. Housing providers must develop truly inclusive engagement strategies that reach every tenant effectively.

The Multi-Channel Solution

The answer lies in comprehensive multi-channel communication strategy. This approach recognises that no single engagement method works for everyone, requiring housing providers to deploy multiple communication tools and techniques.

Effective multi-channel engagement includes traditional methods like door-to-door visits and community meetings, digital platforms such as websites and social media, community partnerships with local organisations and charities and targeted outreach for tenants requiring additional support.

Case Study: Birmingham City Council’s Tenant Engagement Success

Birmingham City Council’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) project exemplifies effective multi-channel tenant engagement. Our work with the council needed to engage tenants across 2,076 homes undergoing retrofit work, requiring them to understand complex energy efficiency measures and potential disruption.

ARK Consultants Zainib Akhtar and Tracey O’Brien took on a thorough approach to the project:

• Community Partnerships: They established connections with voluntary agencies including Citizens Advice Bureau, The Active Wellbeing Society, and Act on Energy, reaching tenants who might not normally engage with the council directly.
• Grassroots Engagement: Multiple community events across Tile Cross, Ward End, Bromford, and Sheldon provided face-to-face opportunities for residents to ask questions and receive personalised support.
• Comprehensive Communications: The strategy included over 340 surveys, targeted text messaging, letters, events, newsletters, information guides, postcards, social media outreach, focus groups, online webinars and website updates, resulting in over 600 website visits and real-time FAQ updates addressing tenant concerns.
• Inclusive Outreach: Recognising that not all residents could attend events, the team when outdoor knocking and made targeted telephone calls to hard-to-reach tenants, ensuring everyone received support and information.

This resulted in successful community engagement, crucial energy efficiency guidance, and identification of over 45 individuals interested in retrofit sector training and employment opportunities. However, we know that the tenant engagement needs to continue in order for the project to remain successful and for tenants’ voices to be heard.

You can read our full case study here.

Building Trust Through Transparency

The Birmingham case study demonstrates that effective tenant engagement goes beyond information distribution to building genuine relationships based on trust and mutual respect. The new legislative framework reinforces this approach, with consumer standards requiring landlords to demonstrate they are listening to tenants and acting on feedback.

This means being transparent about challenges, honest about timescales, and responsive to concerns. It means acknowledging problems and demonstrating how feedback improves services. Most importantly, it recognises that engagement is an ongoing process, not a one-time activity.

You can find out more about our tenant engagement services or you can contact us directly to see how we can help your organisation.