Residents help shape new toolkit for strategic influence at TPAS 2026

On 14th July the Model for Strategic Resident Involvement project went on tour, hosting a workshop at the Tpas National Tenant Conference 2026. We brought residents and housing sector colleagues together to help shape a practical toolkit for influencing beyond a single landlord.

By the end of the project, we’ll have created a toolkit sharing how the G15RG model could be adapted and replicated by others seeking to establish cross-organisational resident voice. The workshop at Tpas helped us hear from a range of residents and we asked what they expect from a toolkit for resident influence.

“The TPAS Tenant Conference was a fantastic opportunity to engage with involved tenants and residents who are passionate about shaping the future of housing. 
Speaking to a room full of residents about expanding the G15 Residents’ Group model through the development of a toolkit was both inspiring and rewarding.
The discussions and feedback highlighted the appetite for practical tools that help residents turn their voices into influence and create lasting change across the housing sector. Thank you to everyone who attended and took part.”

- Gossica Anichebe, G15 Resident Group member

We used the workshop to test what content, format and tone would make the toolkit useful across different audiences and encourage repeated use. We asked:

What they thought it should contain
Who they thought it should be for
What someone should be able to do after using it

A key principle was that every element should have a clear reason for being there.

What did TPAS conference attendees tell us?

We took every single piece of paper residents wrote on back with us to analyse. Participants’ feedback shows a clear appetite for a toolkit that is practical and accessible. They want it to explain, in plain English, how residents can influence decisions, why strategic resident involvement matters in the first place, and what resident groups can realistically achieve.

Participants felt the toolkit should support residents to form and sustain groups with fair representation from the outset, understanding roles and responsibilities, with clarity on who can be involved — including leaseholders and shared owners. What also came through the feedback is advice on how to set agendas, manage meetings, resolve conflict, and collaborate across different landlords.

A strong theme was the need to demonstrate purpose: improving residents’ lives, ensuring homes are fit for the future, reducing stigma around social housing, and showing the value of residents working together across landlords.

Participants also want the toolkit to outline how setting up a multi-landlord residents group could improve residents’ collaboration with housing associations, senior leaders, boards, and other tenant groups.

What happens next?

Feedback will be analysed in full as part of Cambell Tickell’s research process. Not every suggestion from the day will be included, but it'll guide decision-making. The insights will support us to create a toolkit that doesn’t just describe resident involvement, but give residents the confidence, evidence, and practical tools to influence change collectively and see the difference their involvement makes.

We’ll share interim learning later in 2026 with the project running until March 2027. The toolkit is due to be published in November.

About the project

Funded by the Government’s Social Housing Innovation Fund, Southern Housing is coordinating ‘A Model for Strategic Resident Involvement’ on behalf of the G15 Residents’ Group (G15RG), which brings together residents from London’s largest housing associations.