Jaqueline Norwood

Earlier this year, Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) Scotland carried out research, on behalf of the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR), which looked at tenant participation in general as well as Gypsy/Traveller tenant/resident participation specifically. The research involved issuing a survey to all social landlords which asked them about the types of tenant participation activities they offer; how tenants can access these activities; as well as any changes they have made to tenant participation in recent years. The survey also included questions about Gypsy/Traveller tenant/resident participation. As well as the social landlords’ survey, we carried out focus groups with tenants, including members of the Gypsy/Traveller community, to learn about their participation experiences. This research fed into the findings and recommendations in the SHR’s thematic review of tenant and Gypsy/Traveller participation in social housing in Scotland, which was published last month.

With the review representing 65% (111) of social landlords in Scotland, it provides a useful picture of where tenant participation currently stands. However, in order for social landlords to ensure they are engaging with all of their tenants, I’d like to highlight the findings and recommendations regarding Gypsy/Traveller tenant/resident participation.

Barriers to participation for Gypsy/Traveller tenants/residents

Most Gypsy/Travellers live on sites, with others living in permanent properties and in temporary properties due to site refurbishment. One of the key barriers to participation, identified in the review, is that, currently, there is not an accurate figure regarding how many Gypsy/Travellers are living in social landlords’ settled homes.

While the majority (88%) of the social landlord survey participants said, when collecting equality data, they offered an option for tenants/residents to select Gypsy/Traveller as an ethnicity, all RSLs and local authorities should ensure they are providing this option. However, this alone will likely not address the issue as our research also found that members of the Gypsy/Traveller community may be reluctant to identify as such due to fear of discrimination. Therefore, it’s vital that social landlords take on board the review’s full recommendations.

Social landlords identified the following further possible barriers to Gypsy/Traveller tenant/resident participation:

• Literacy issues
• Difficulty with the use of technology, for example, online meetings or events
• The timing of meetings and consultations due to work commitments as well as the time of year they are held due to the nomadic nature of the Gypsy/Traveller community
• One landlord said their Gypsy/Traveller community had become discouraged because a high level of involvement and consultations had not resulted in site improvements due to a lack of funding.

To address these barriers, some respondents said they work with the Gypsy/Traveller community to understand their culture and participation preferences and visit sites to build trust. They also said that meetings are held face-to-face, where possible, and at a time that’s suitable for tenants/residents.

However, 38% of social landlords who were aware of Gypsy/Travellers within their tenant base said they were unaware of any specific barriers, or did not respond to the survey question. In contrast, the Gypsy/Traveller tenants/residents in the focus group identified several other important barriers to participation that were not identified by social landlords:

• Social landlords continue to give most information in written form, rather than offering more suitable, alternative options such as verbal communication
• Some sites are too far out and on busy roads, which makes getting to meetings difficult
• Social landlords’ use of jargon
• Poor internet connections make online meetings difficult to access.

The Gypsy/Traveller focus group and questionnaire participants said that increased visibility of social landlords’ staff on sites would help to improve their relationship with them.

The majority of the Gypsy/Traveller tenants/residents also said they believed they were treated differently by their social landlord depending on where they live. Others said they felt it was simply for being a member of the Gypsy/Traveller community. Addressing this perceived discrimination was identified by the Gypsy/Traveller tenants/residents as a barrier to participation that needs to be removed.

A greater understanding among social landlords’ staff of Gypsy/Travellers’ culture may help to build trust between them and their tenants/residents, and a way to do this would be by providing specific training. The survey found that only 27% of the social landlords that said they were aware of Gypsy/Travellers within their tenant/resident base had provided their staff with specific Gypsy/Traveller cultural awareness training.

Current good practice to addressing barriers

The review highlighted some examples of good practice that social landlords have implemented that others may be able to replicate, including:

• Engaging with specialist external agencies to help remove barriers and increase Gypsy/Traveller participation
• Creating a community hub on the Gypsy/Traveller site and running weekly events to engage with residents
• Involving Gypsy/Traveller site residents in digital inclusion activities, therefore enabling digital engagement and virtual and in-person meetings
• Working together with Gypsy/Traveller site residents to write a regular site newsletter
• Establishing a registered tenant organisation at a Gypsy/Traveller site, governed by an elected committee
• Involving Gypsy/Traveller residents in the design and development of plans for site improvements, and giving residents the opportunity to deliver presentations on these plans
• Giving all staff access to online training on culture awareness to help them engage better with the Gypsy/Traveller community
• Rolling out information sessions, encouraging Gypsy/Traveller tenants/residents’ engagement with other services, including financial advice.

Recommendations for increasing participation with Gypsy/Traveller tenants/residents

While our research found some excellent examples of good practice that have helped to increase participation with Gypsy/Traveller tenants/residents, the review makes the following recommendations for all social landlords:

• It is important for social landlords to deliver further and improved cultural awareness and equalities training to staff to support their work with Gypsy/Travellers and to consider cultural sensitivities in their promotion of participation to Gypsy/Travellers.
• While the accurate number of Gypsy/Travellers within social landlords’ tenant/resident base is unknown, social landlords should ensure they are actively promoting participation and seeking feedback from Gypsy/Travellers, whether living on sites or in properties. This ensures suitable participation opportunities are available.
• Social landlords must understand barriers to involving Gypsy/Travellers in participation and, in response, offer a range of accessible options to address them.
• Social landlords should consider what their individual organisation needs to do in order to increase Gypsy/Traveller participation. Methods should include the use of regular face-to-face engagement and use of plain English. Social landlords should consider the level of staff training and expertise needed to achieve this and work with external agencies, where appropriate.
• Social landlords should measure the impact of their approach to involving Gypsy/Travellers to determine if the approaches they use are successful and introduce different, tailored approaches, where necessary, which will benefit social landlords and tenants/residents alike.

TPAS Scotland was pleased to carry out this important research on behalf of the SHR. While we know that overall tenant satisfaction levels regarding opportunities to participate are very high across the country, the review shows there is some work to be done, particularly to improve Gypsy/Traveller tenants/residents’ participation experience. 

It is our hope that social landlords will review their strategies and working practices for Gypsy/Traveller tenant/resident participation by addressing the identified barriers and implementing the review’s recommendations.