Tenants getting left out

Tenants have been sold short by the work done to prepare regional housing strategies ("Tenant groups fight for say in regional strategies", 17 October, page 13).

Earlier this year the London Tenants Federation requested a seat on the London Housing Board. Our request was turned down and the Government Office for London redirected us to two of the policy sub-groups of the Housing Forum for London. Despite the rationale that within these sub-groups there is representation from a wider group of stakeholders, they are actually dominated by the same organisations already represented on the London Housing Board.

Timescales for preparation of the regional strategies were impossible and provided little time for genuine consultation with tenants. London Tenants Federation representatives have expressed concern that there was little opportunity to engage, other than within a pre-set government agenda.

Listening to tenants is not just democratic good practice, it taps into a valuable source of knowledge without which the grandest designs often fail. Tenant activists are generally committed people with a deeper understanding of the needs of their communities than professionals who, however professional, remain outsiders.

If the government is genuine in its stated desire for tenants to have a "sufficiently direct voice with policymakers", tenants must be involved in a democratic and accountable fashion within the new regional structures. This must involve tenants in agenda-setting.