Essay of Tenant Participation Assignment

The way that social landlords
involve tenants in decision
making is an ‘empty ritual’

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1 Arnstein's ladder of participation.............................................................................................1
2 Current forms of tenant participation are an 'empty rituals'.....................................................2
3 Potential advantage of tenant participation..............................................................................3
4 Disadvantage of tenant participation as currently practised by social landlords.....................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Tenant participation is when landlords take advice & consult with the tenants in making
decisions regarding social housing services but in reality landlords does not involve tenants in
decision making process. This essay explain Arnstein's ladder of participation which shows
powers held by citizens of UK. Further, this essay describes that tenant participation is an 'Empty
Ritual' . Firthermore, this essay include potential advantage of tenant participation. At last the
essay describes disadvantage of tenant participation.
1 Arnstein's ladder of participation
Arnstein's Ladder of Participation- Arnstein ladder of participation describes engagement of
citizens of United Kingdom in decision making. Arnstein describes powers held by citizens
during the decision making process through a ladder. This ladder shows power from high to low
and it shows that who has the highest power & who's non participating. Power is described
through 8 staves of ladders in which bottom two are non participating, mid three are tokenism &
top three are citizen control(Arnstein, 2016). The 8 staves of the ladder are described below-
Manipulation & Therapy- Manipulation & theory are bottom two rungs of the ladder which are
non participant but their aim is to educate the person holding the power. They give public
support to the participants by establishing public relations and interacting with the members of
the society. In the case of housing services tenants educated toward their rights.
Informing- This is the 1st stage when the individuals initiate to participate. They show their
interest in the joining the committee and handling the power. In this stage they just give
information that they are interested to participate in the decision making process. But their are no
two way communication so no feedback is given to them. In this stage tenants inform that they
are interested in the decision making process.
Consultation- In this stage individuals take surveys & do public enquiry. This also an empty
ritual individuals only interact with societies and make public relations. In the housing industry
landlords consult with the individuals.
Placation- In this stage citizens can make plans & give advice but the decision to implement that
plan remains with the power holders. In the housing services at this stage tenants take advice and
involves helps in making plans.
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Partnership- In this step authorities & powers are shared among the citizens through joint
committees. In case of housing services landlords & tenants do partnership and they share their
responsibilities with each other(Connor, 2018).
Delegation- In this stage authorities are delegated to the citizens who having majority of seats.
At these stages landlords gives powers & authorities to the tenants they have rights to take all the
information from the landlord's and they can also check the work of landlord.
Citizen Control- At this stage citizens with power controls over all decision making process.
They have to make policies, planning and manage all the programs.
2 Current forms of tenant participation are an 'empty rituals'
Tenant participation is involvement of tenants in planning & making decisions regarding
social housing. Tenant participation also gives satisfaction to the tenants whicch in turn improves
efficiency of housing services. According to Tenant participation advisory services Landlords
give opportunity to tenants to evaluate & plan housing services and also consult with tenants
about social housing services. Tenant participation include four stages such as information
giving, tenant consultation, tenant participation & tenant control. Now a days, landlord's says
that they will involve tenants and consult with then regarding housing services but its is an
'Empty Ritual'. All they do is build the houses & apartments and give them to the tenants. After
that they does not check that houses and their conditions. Tenant can do whatever they want to
do with that houses. Landlord's will not check that the conditions of the houses and there are
proper facilities of water & electricity after giving the house to the tenants. So, it is a myth that
the landlord's involve tenants and consult with them, all they do is give a contract and build
houses and give it to the tenants. The houses are not according to the requirement of the tenants
and tenants face many problems because there are no proper facilities in that social houses.
Government of UK also made policies and regulations for the tenant participation but landlord's
does not follow this policies in the current scenario(Simmons and Birchall, 2017).
Involvement of tenants in the planning & policy making is totally a myth because
landlord's are not interested in engaging the tenants they only say that they will work after
consulting with the tenants. Most of the time tenants listen to the advice of the tenants but they
will not follow the same, So its proved that tenant participation in social housing services is an
'Empty Ritual'(Tenant Participation. 2016).
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3 Potential advantage of tenant participation
Tenant participation are most required in the field of housing services. If landlord involve
tenants in decision making than it is beneficial for them in following ways-
Community Development- Involvement of tenant in decision making of social housing
apparently increases skills & social network. This also enhances confidence level of tenants and
increases their interest. It helps tenants in establishing relationship with other tenants and provide
them new ideas related to housing(Goodlad, 2017).
Improve ways of housing management- Involvement of tenants helps in decision making and
also helps housing management in identifying problems & resolving the problems. It also
manages landlords work load. Tenant participation also increases efficiency of landlords by
helping them in the process of decision making and by giving them advice regarding social
housing services. Tenant participation also improves performance of the housing management.
Greater Tenant Satisfaction- The aim of housing industry is to satisfy its tenants and if
landlords consult with tenants before making plan regarding housing services than it build trust
among tenant & landlord and the tenants get satisfied with the services provides by the housing
board or landlords.
Help Counselors & Board Members- Tenants help counselors & board members by providing
information regarding choice & expectations of tenants which in turn make them more effective
and improve services provide by them. Tenant also give details of problems faced by tenants to
the housing board so that they can improve their services(Hague, 2018).
4 Disadvantage of tenant participation as currently practised by social landlords
Despite of all the advantages of tenant participation there are few disadvantages also.
They are described below-
Time Consuming & costly Process- If landlords involve tenants in the decision making process
than it takes much time because 1st they have to take consult with the landlord's and tthey take
advice from them which much time consuming. It also get difficult & complex for the landlord's.
If landlords follow advice of the tenants than that will not according to the landlord's budget.
And it also require cost to establish committee tenants and to interact with them. It also slower
the process of social housing because 1st landlords has to consult with the tenants and than make
plans of building the house.
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Conflict- If landlords take advice from the tenants and after that they does not follow they does
not follow their advice or suggestion than their conflicts will arise among tenants &
landlords(Cairncross, Clapham and Goodlad, 2016).
CONCLUSION
This essay outlined arnstein ladder of participation. Further, this essay describe tenant
participation is an 'Empty Ritual' no landlord involve tenants in the decision making process of
social housing. Furthermore, this essay outlined advantages of tenant participation. A last this
essay concluded with potential disadvantage of tenant participation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cairncross, L.I.Z., Clapham, D. and Goodlad, R., 2016. Tenant participation and tenant power in
British council housing. Public Administration. 72(2). pp.177-200.
Hague, C., 2018. The development and politics of tenant participation in British council h
ousing. Housing Studies. 5(4). pp.242-256.
Goodlad, R., 2017. Developments in tenant participation: accounting for growth. Two Steps
Forward: housing policy into the new millennium, pp.179-197.
Simmons, R. and Birchall, J., 2017. Tenant participation and social housing in the UK: applying
a theoretical model. Housing Studies. 22(4). pp.573-595.
Connor, D.M., 2018. A new ladder of citizen participation. National Civic Review. 77(3).
pp.249-257.
Arnstein, S.R., 2016. A ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Institute of
planners. 35(4). pp.216-224.
Online
Tenant Participation, 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://teaching.shu.ac.uk/ds/housing/hnc/year_1/course_material/housing_practice
%20and_organising_service_quality/hpqs108.pdf>
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