The Co-operation in Social Housing Commission aims to understand and demonstrate how power sharing between social housing providers and resident communities can work to address key issues the sector is currently facing.
The Commission brings together major stakeholders and leaders from across social and community led housing to explore how coproduction approaches can inform new models of co-operation within the social housing sector.
With increased costs, the new Consumer Standards, lowering levels of resident satisfaction, and a growing reputational issue for the sector, our intention is to create the necessary conditions for housing providers and residents to explore new management and stewardship arrangements that are transformative, welcoming and kind. Where residents are supported to play a leading role in ways that are also realistic, beneficial, and invigorating for the landlord team.
Who’s on the Commission?
The Commission aims to represent a cross section of the social housing sector and the landlord/tenant experience. This includes representatives from housing providers, experts from the sector and specialist fields (e.g. law, insurance, training/education), tenant voice and academia. The Current commission members are:
Chair
Sir Steve Bullock
Organisational Partner Members
Tom Bremner, Chief Executive, CDS Co-operatives
Aileen Evans, Group Chief Executive, Grand Union Housing Group
Mike Judd, Director of Customer Experience, Southern Housing
Jenny Osbourne, Chief Executive, TPAS
Blase Lambert, Confederation of Co-operative Housing
Independent members
Aman Dalvi, Corporate Director, London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Kai Jackson, TPAS Associate; Tenant and Scrutiny Panel Chair, Black Country Housing Association
Lara Oyedele, Black on Board; past president, Chartered Institute of Housing; non-exec director, Housing21
Gerri Scott, Housing consultant; non-exec director, Pinnacle Affordable Homes
Andrew Cowan, Partner, Devonshires
Becky Southern, Tenant and Former Board Member, CDS Co-operatives
Research Partners
London School of Economics, Housing and Communities Team
Commission Team
Rowan Mackay, Advisor to the Commission, CLH London; PhD Candidate, Sheffield Hallam University
Mel Mills, Commission Administrator
What will the Commission do?
The Commission will run over two years and undertake activities including independent research, live projects and shared learning. The Commission’s work will be clustered under three core objectives:
1. Learning from experience (Jul-Dec 2024): The Commission will undertake research in the form of a literature review and desktop research to learn from best practice and established knowledge in co-operative and community led housing; establishing principles, practices and measures to underpin the live projects.
2. Demonstrating through live projects (Jan-Dec 2025): The Commission will support housing providers and resident communities to deliver pilot projects that demonstrate models of power sharing and co-operation in social housing, through a combination of direct project support, peer learning and funding.
3. Informing future practice (Jan-Jun 2026): Finally, the Commission will Capture and share learnings from the research and pilot projects throughout the social housing sector to inform future guidance, standards and policy.
Want to get involved?
We aim to keep people informed as the work of the Commission progresses.
In the meantime, please get in touch about specific opportunities to support the work of the Commission.
Find out about our wider support for coproduction
