Kathy Hine, the co-chair of our customer scrutiny panel VIVID Impact, and Martin Littleboy, Customer Engagement Officer attended the Ministry of Homes, Communities and Local Government’s event in Hastings last week alongside Housing Minister, Kit Malthouse.

The event was the third of 8 events planned to allow social housing customers to provide feedback on the government’s recent green paper. 

The housing minister kicked of the event by introducing himself and outlining the key headlines of the green paper before customers discussed different topics on their tables. The discussions were really interesting and touched upon housing supply and how we can effectively build more homes, tenant empowerment and giving customers a bigger voice, and how we can tackle the stigma around social housing. The minister then concluded the event, thanking attendees for their frank discussions.

Kathy said: “The discussions have moved on since the last Housing Minister event that VIVID hosted earlier this year. As there were fewer topics to consider, the discussions were more focused. It was interesting that stigma of social housing was a key theme raised by the resident delegates, with tenant empowerment also highlighted as a key topic of focus. I hope that the discussions will translate into meaningful outcomes for the sector.”

Feedback from the 8 consultation sessions around the country will feed into a ‘new product’ that’s due to be launched in spring.