Focus on London Tenants Federation

The London Tenants Federation (LTF) is an umbrella organisation bringing together London's borough wide council tenant federations and organisations. It does not aim to supersede any of its member organisations, but instead, to strengthen them through: sharing and exchanging information, making collective London-wide tenants responses to national and regional consultations and at times campaigning together.

It aims to facilitate engagement of council tenants in the regional housing agenda and has lobbied for the engagement of tenants of other tenures at that level.  It has built links with other voluntary and community sector organisations who have in interest in housing and planning and generally aims to provide a strong voice for London's council tenants. The London Tenants Federation (LTF) has representation on the Mayors Housing Forum and one of its delegates chairs the Forum's Community Engagement Sub Group.

About the London Tenants Federation.
London has its own very particular housing problems including high land and property values affecting the availability and affordability of housing in the capital. This impacts on debate amongst LTF members and its policies - regarding rent levels, the selling off of publicly owned land and property, overcrowding, housing density, availability of community, green and play spaces.

London also has its own statutory regional planning and housing strategies – the London Plan and the London Housing Strategy, which boroughs are obliged to comply with.  Much of the London Tenants Federation work this year and next will relate to consultations on new strategies published by London’s Mayor.

Representatives of LTF member federations and organisations are elected by and are accountable to their own member federations and organisations.

LTF policies are formulated through debate held at its own meetings and conferences and those of its member borough wide council tenants federations and organisations.
It holds regular member meetings, open meetings and conferences.  This year it has also held two sub regional meetings – one in SW London and one in North London.  It produces briefings on housing issues and bi-annual newsletters.  As well as responding collectively to national and regional government consultations, it encourages its members to also make individual borough responses.

Although LTF is not funded to represent tenants of other tenures, it is keen to make strong and positive links with them.  Their representatives are welcome to attend our open meetings and conferences. Some of the LTF member organisations involve tenants of other tenures. 

LTF has made strong links with other community and voluntary organisations with an interest in housing issues, particularly those based in London. It is a member of the London Civic Forum and its Just Space Planning Network and is a member of the London Voluntary Services Council.   Many of its links were made through its involvement in formal Examinations in Public of alterations to the London Plan in 2006 and 2007.

Outside London it has links with other regional and national tenants organisations, has links with tenants from other European countries, some of whom have taken part in its conferences and is a member of Habitat International Coalition

LTF believes tenants should be involved at all levels of decision making relating to our homes and communities, through democratic and accountable tenant structures. It argues strongly for more low cost publicly owned rented housing.

Sharon Hayward is the only member of staff at LTF and is part-time; she began working for LTF in 2002. With such little capacity Sharon has to be careful about her workload and with the outcomes focussed contract there is much less flexibility.

London Councils contract to deliver against service priority area 76 (Greater engagement by the voluntary and community sector in London with city-wide regional and central government bodies, non-departmental public bodies and associated partnerships) is through Camden Tenants Federation.

Camden Federation is a quite well resourced independent tenants federation with its own workers and facilities which its member tenants associations (at estate or street level) have access to – including computers, a resource room, photocopying and a large meeting room.  

It shares its offices with Camden Private Tenants and Camden Mediation Service.

Other federations (such as Hounslow) operate entirely on a voluntary basis and others (such as Hillingdon) also lack an office base that might be accessed by their members. 

Independent tenant federations don’t exist in all boroughs.  Where they don’t, most have borough-wide tenant housing panels or councils that are serviced by local authorities – such as in Lambeth or Waltham Forest.   It is a disparate movement of different organisations, but the LTF respects the diversity of its member organisations and aims to focus on tenants’ common issues and on making decisions through consensus. That said, generally the tenant movement generally is not as strong as it used to be.

Funding to LTF from London Councils has moved from the Housing Steering Group to the Grants Committee.

The project provides positive engagement of council tenants who comprise some of the most disadvantaged and excluded groups in society with high levels of worklessness, educational underachievement, child poverty, disability, new and often isolated communities in its work.  It facilitates sharing and exchanging, mutual support, joint projects and networking.  It provides positive opportunities for tenants to engage with policy makers and other voluntary and community sector members and funders at the regional and sub-regional level.  Its voluntary members are actively involved in organising and chairing its events, writing articles for its newsletters and as delegates at the Mayors Housing Forum alongside regional housing deliverers and policy makers. 

Since it operates as an umbrella organisation, chairing of its meetings and conferences is shared amongst its members – decision-making is done at general meetings – tensions are resolved through debate.   This enables both shared working where a consensus is reached, but its respect for the diversity of its member organisations also allows for differences.  Issues can be addressed at the local, borough wide level, where there is no consensus or where issues impact on tenants in some boroughs but not in all.    LTF representatives tend to be tenants and resident, often with a high level of knowledge about housing, planning and community issues from the estate, neighbourhood and borough wide level, before moving on to the wider regional agenda.

There are clear collective/regional issues which include;
· The need for more housing
· Overcrowding
· Community facilities
· Anti social behaviours
· Green space
· Planning issues more prevalent at the moment
· Houses being built in the wrong place
· Appropriateness of housing

Local issues include the management of housing

LTF punches above its weight for an organisation staffed by one person, but it punches high because it engages with tenants and federations and organisations across London. LTF pulls together collective responses to government consultations; LTF reps are elected in boroughs by tenants associations; LTF has 2 delegates on the Mayor’s Housing Forum at GLA as well as 2 deputy delegates; One of its delegates chairs the Community Engagement Sub-Group of the Mayor’s Housing Forum LTF has some links with the growing housing association sector, where they have formal tenant structures. It has good links with the London Federation of Housing Co-operative whose members often attend LTF open meetings and who spoke at its AGM last year along with officers from Homeless Link and Camden Private Tenants.

Local Authorities are legally obliged to consult with tenants and have formal structures for consultation and most LAs have some mechanism for bringing tenants together. LTF is currently working hard on the draft London Housing Strategy and has a small GLA grant to encourage a greater number of tenant responses to consultation on the draft strategy.  All LAs will be obliged to comply with this.

LTF has organised two consultation events with its member organisations, one in Newham, also engaging tenants from Barking and Dagenham and one in Hammersmith and Fulham also inviting tenants from Ealing and Kensington and Chelsea.  It is organising a third event in partnership with Shelter, Planning Aid for London and Just Space Planning Network, which is being held in Hackney.

LTF is the first and only tenants’ federation to have gained an invitation to take part in formal Examinations in Public of Alterations to the London Plan, held at City Hall.  Developers and service providers generally dominate EiP’s.  There is a difficult and technical process involved in getting to the table. However, LTF worked with other voluntary sector organisations and through provision of mutual support, around eight of its member organisations gave evidence at the EiP of Further Alterations to the London Plan alongside Age Concern London, London Civic Forum, the Women’s Design Service, Friends of the Earth and Black Londoners Forum to give evidence.

Video project
LTF is producing a video this year that attempts to challenge the negative stereotypes about council tenants.  A young filmmaker from a council housing estate in Lambeth is working on the project with a number of LTF members and other active tenants representatives.  The video aims to, question myths and demonstrate the human story and community involvement in the places where these tenants live.

 

this page last updated 27th May 2009