A National Tenant Voice: What Comes Next
Posted on 5th June 2025
The call for a National Tenant Voice is getting louder.
In 2023, Longleigh Foundation, in partnership with the G15, commissioned research to explore whether there is a need and appetite for a national tenant voice in social housing, and if so, what form it should take. The result is Tenants at the Table, a report published in April 2025, which found overwhelming support for the creation of a new, tenant-led, independent organisation to represent and amplify the voices of social housing residents at a national level.
This call for a National Tenant Voice is only getting stronger. Longleigh is stepping up to support the people living in social housing who want to make it happen.
The Housing Ombudsman’s latest Spotlight report, Repairing Trust, highlights a 474% rise in complaints from social housing residents and reinforces the need for change. Ombudsman Richard Blakeway publicly supported the creation of a national tenant body in a recent Inside Housing article. (Please note, this article sits behind a paywall).
Together with our newly published Tenants at the Table report read it here, the message is clear: social housing residents need stronger, coordinated representation at the level where decisions are made.
That’s why Longleigh has offered to act as the accountable body for a future National Tenant Voice. Our role will be to support residents to secure funding and put the necessary structure in place to build something meaningful and lasting. In short, we’re ready to help bring the recommendations from Tenants at the Table to life.
Aileen Edmunds, Longleigh’s CEO, says:
“Longleigh exists to create opportunities for people living in social housing to thrive, on their own terms. To serve tenants in their mission to establish a national tenant voice, as their accountable body, is an honour. We’ll help create the space and structure for tenants to lead, and we are ready to do the groundwork needed to make a National Tenant Voice a reality.”
Our commitment is clear: to help ensure tenants are heard, nationally, credibly, and independently.
You can read the full report below.
