Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury Heads to London for the Inside Housing Retrofit Challenge Summit

Visitors to March’s Inside Housing Retrofit Challenge Summit didn’t have to wait very long to see the impact of the Social Housing Tenant’s Climate Jury. Indeed, Inside Housing Editor Martin Hilditch used his welcome programme notes to describe the Jury as “absolutely recommended reading” and pledged the publications support to “pick up on some of the issues flagged as of critical importance” to the Jury.

Jury member Steve Mackenzie represented the Jury on the day, speaking as part of a panel on “What does good resident engagement look like?”. Steve was keen to hit home the importance involving tenants in the retrofit process, speaking to Inside Housing as part of the conference, he said:

“No-one likes change very much, especially the major changes needed to combat climate change and more so having them imposed on us. By engaging with customers, landlords have the opportunity to explain, discuss and outline what climate change means to the tenants and what opportunities there are to combat it and how tenants can contribute with ideas and practical solutions.”

Discussing the Jury’s recommendations, Steve highlighted the need for information to be presented in a transparent, accessible way:

“the level of information available varied considerably from zero to very little. It is almost as if the housing associations are unsure of what they should say and how to say it… What disruption will tenants endure during retrofit? Will it mean temporary relocation? How much will retrofit cost? Who pays? What financial impact will it have on tenants? So many questions surrounding this point that need explanation. Maybe they cannot be answered now but will need to be at some time in the future.”

Overall, Steve hoped the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury will begin bringing tenants and landlords together to develop “a mutually beneficial understanding of the works involved, both practically and financially”.

Echoing the Jury’s words of “let’s take action, and act together”, Steve ended the interview by stating “We have one chance, and one only, to get this right and it is in all our interests to do so, for now and for the future.”

Steve’s interview, and other interviews with speakers from the Retrofit Challenge Summit, can be reads in full here:

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/retrofit-challenge-speaker-interviews