AT HOME WITH... Grant Shapps MP

Grant Shapps has scrapped the TSA, but before his keynote speech to delegates in Harrogate, the minister briefed the housing press on his decision. Mark Cantrell went along to find out why he thinks this is good for tenants – and for local democracy

“The TSA is toast,” said Grant Shapps, with a certain degree of relish, ending the ‘will he or won’t he’ uncertainty that had gripped the sector since the new government took office.

It’s no secret that the new housing minister has savoured the prospect of the organisation’s demise, regarding it as a “quango too far”, but while his soundbites evidently have teeth, the TSA won’t vanish overnight.

The legislative process means that there is “quite a lead time” before the TSA finally closes its doors, but in the meantime the organisation’s economic regulatory role is to be reviewed to ascertain where best to put it, with the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) – having survived the cull of the quangos – seen as one potential candidate to take it on board.

When it comes to tenant regulation, however, things become rather more interesting, though whether in terms of inspiring creative ways of doing business, or in the ominous sense of the Chinese proverb, is something that only time and experience will ascertain. Intriguing his ideas may be, but it is understandably a source of much apprehension for the sector – and for tenants.

So, how does Shapps see the future of tenant regulation and empowerment? I n essence, it links into the Government’s current leitmotif of localism, localism, localism. This will, in Shapps’ alternative model of regulation, not only invigorate tenants’ relationships with their landlords, but also reinvigorate a moribund local democracy.

“The tenant regulation could just be done so much better,” he said. “We have perfectly good democratic structures set up in this country which are under-used and under-utilised and these have been suffering, almost falling apart in some cases, with very low voter turnout. One of the reasons is that low-level democracy is not trusted to work.”

As many have lamented over the years, of course, this lack of trust can be partly accounted for by the imbalance between local authorities and Whitehall when it comes to decisionmaking freedoms, but also – especially further down the rung of elected bodies – a lack of clout to back intent with deed. Action and accountability is the underlying ethos. Again, it all falls into the Government’s decentralising localism agenda – and Shapps says he wants to give these bodies the teeth they need to hold social landlords to account.

“The first thing a tenant should do if they have a problem is to complain to the landlord,” Shapps said. “Most of the time that will resolve the problem – job done – but if the problem isn’t resolved, then you should be able to go to your councillor, MP or your properly constituted tenant panel who will then ask the landlord to sort the problem out. Now, if the landlord still doesn’t fix the problem, then I think at that stage the councillor, MP or tenant panel need some real teeth – and I intend to give them those teeth by allowing them to refer cases to the Housing Ombudsman, for example.”

The advantage to this approach, Shapps says, is that the local democratic structure is effectively serving in the TSA’s capacity of enforcing self-regulation on social landlords. He added: “You will find that whoever is running the housing – councils, housing associations – will start to become more responsive to the tenants’ needs, not because the TSA or the Audit Commission is sending in auditors to tick boxes, but because they have to be focused on their customer – their tenants – a lot more.”

Shapps took pains to point out that the regulatory framework developed out of the TSA’s National Conversation is good work and will be retained; a national framework will help provide over-arching guidance to local empowerment. As well as making social landlords more responsive to tenants through the process outlined above, he also suggests that it will allow councils to make decisions on prospective housing association partners. By choosing RS Ls who score better with tenants – fewer complaints – it will, he claims, further encourage the sector to raise its game in providing for tenants’ needs.

All well and good. Even so some observers might wonder at a certain utopian idealism not traditionally associated with Conservative thinking. That said, it’s a nifty card to play – who, after all, will decry a little democracy?

As for Shapps, the man himself is clearly at ease with his brief, and with the sector, and presents an enthusiasm for the job and the challenges. Governments and ministers typically arrive full of vim and vigour, with promises and caveats aplenty, and Shapps is no different in that regard. The sector has suffered a string of short-term ministers, of course, and he is keen to break that run of revolving-door succession to provide the longevity the portfolio – and the industry – needs.

To emphasise that commitment, he became the first housing minister in 13 years to make more than just a flying visit, he said, so that he could “take the temperature” and “taste the atmosphere” at the conference.

“It’s helpful if the housing minister spends a little time to meet people, which is what I’ve been doing: breakfast, lunch, dinner, the whole thing,” Shapps added. “The thing I have noticed, contrary to what you might have thought, or even feared, is that people are actually quite positive. People have
a spirit of getting things done, despite the huge economic crisis that we face and the Budget we’ve just had, so I really feel enthused by their enthusiasm.”