How much have things changed over the last six years (not so much in housing policy and practice, where there have been an enormous set of changes in government policy, at government departments and to some extent across landlords in the housing sector) but just for us, as people, as tenants?

The last in-person Residents’ Network Conference was in 2019. Seven years ago – in the ‘before times’. Like a lot of organisations, we changed the format to provide virtual conferences in the intervening years of the pandemic, and after it. These were functional and it was still good to see and speak to people, but clearly it’s not the same. Not only were the famously tasty lunch spreads absent, but it’s harder to engage in the gently subversive, necessary conversations about what landlords and tenant groups are doing wrong…and right…when everything is being recorded and there are no quiet corners you can escape to, to share a joke or a plot over a coffee.

Change can be a difficult thing to measure in policies and protocols but trickier still for the effects it has on our lives. For many people, the pandemic feels like a distant memory, in a welcome way – the upset and disruption and loss it caused wasn’t something most people would look back on fondly. For groups representing families of the bereaved and trying to learn something to make the next pandemic less devastating, it must feel much less like it’s over.

So, in housing it’s been something of a traumatic time, full of change over this period. Conversations and policy change didn’t stop because of the pandemic, and the weight of change from national politics and the things directed by government and the civil servants working in its departments has been huge over that time. Whether it’s the Tenant Satisfaction Measures, big changes to how the Housing Ombudsman and the Regulator of Social Housing work, key policies like Awaab’s Law and emerging work on ‘no access’, nothing has stood still.

Daniel Hewitt’s investigation into squalor in social housing finally started to shine a light on who’s really responsible for disrepair – usually landlords, as new work from the Housing Ombudsman made clear, as it changed the way it deals with complaints. There’s a way to make things better, and the point of things like the Residents’ Network Annual Conference has always, at least in part, been to share good works between providers and tenants alike. I’m delighted to say that Daniel is chairing a panel event at the conference, where we’ll be taking a light-hearted look at some serious issues.

Much of this year’s conference is about attendees getting involved in doing things. We’ve all experienced events where the format has become familiar: panels of staff, often with a token involved resident thrown in, discussing issues which might be interesting but sometimes feel a bit like lectures. It can be easy to understand the issues but harder to know what to do with the learning from them. So, while some presentations naturally follow this format, we’ve worked hard to make sure we’ve got more breakout rooms with more things you can get your teeth into.

These include – I can’t believe I’m saying this – Lego Serious Play. Charlotte Bailey, Tenant Participation manager at Winchester City Council, will be sharing how physically building things can be used to help build things you can’t make with plastic, like professional and effective relationships between tenants and staff. Lorna Biddell, winner of this year’s HQN’s Housing’s Next Generation competition, is running a breakout room on the effective co-creation methods she’s been instrumental in implementing at the London Borough of Redbridge.

As is often the case these days, there’ll be a representative from the MHCLG at the event – but this time running a workshop about current and upcoming policy and practice stuff, rather than a stuffy old lecture. We’re trying to make more time for questions and answers so that your ideas can feed directly into what’s happening in the policies that affect you.

Did I mention lunch? Perhaps it’s a little unfair to say that this can often be some attendees favourite part of the day, but there’s a whole hour set aside for lunch at the delightful venue – The Exchange in Birmingham. It’s not London, but being central in England we’re hoping it makes it a bit easier for more people to access the event, which will be taking place on 15 October. And Residents’ Network members can take advantage of a 3 for 2 tickets offer!

A lot has changed in my life over the last seven years; I’m sure a lot has changed in yours, too, and I’m really looking forward to catching up with you or meeting you for the first time so we can use that stuff to make things better for tenants and staff, as policy and procedure keep changing what each group’s responsibilities and rights are. Hopefully see you there.

To read all about the event and book your place, click here.