Milton Keynes City Council is strengthening how it works with tenants and leaseholders, giving residents more opportunities to help shape the future of housing services across the city.
As the largest landlord in Milton Keynes, with more than 11,000 council homes, the city council wants to build on the relationships it’s developed through recent engagement work, including last year’s Big Conversation where colleagues visited neighbourhoods across the city, knocking on doors and speaking directly with tenants, shared owners and leaseholders. Their feedback is already influencing major improvements, such as a new repairs and maintenance contract that brought in evening appointments, faster urgent repairs and higher standards.
The new strategy has been co-produced with residents and was formally approved on Tuesday 13 January, following extensive engagement with tenants, leaseholders and shared owners.
With the help of residents, the City Council is developing a series of actions to build trust, improve communication and ensure every resident can have a voice in shaping the services they receive. It will work with residents to co-create a new Tenant Charter that clearly sets out what residents can expect from the council and what’s needed from residents in return. Resident-led scrutiny groups and engagement panels will be established to give tenants a direct role in reviewing services and helping drive improvements. The city council will also publish tenant satisfaction measures every year so that progress is openly shared.
Housing Officers for each neighbourhood will work with residents and local partners to create a plan that focuses on local priorities such as safety, cleanliness, tackling anti-social behaviour or improving community spaces. This will be supported by more regular walkabouts and a bigger presence on estates.
There will also be new funding and practical help for resident-led projects such as creating community gardens, noticeboards, shared planters, or neighbourhood clean-up days.
The city council aims to increase tenant satisfaction, reduce complaints and help residents feel more connected to the decisions that affect their homes and communities. It also supports wider work to transform housing services and meet the requirements of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and new Consumer Standards.
“We are keen to keep building stronger and more meaningful relationships with our residents so that everyone knows we’re listening and acting on what’s most important. Having more tenants, leaseholders and shared owners involved means we can deliver a service that everyone can be proud of. I’d like to thank residents and colleagues for the work they’ve done so far; we’re always looking to improve, and this is an important step forward."