06 March 2025
Summary:
Pamela Newman lives in a MTVH shared ownership flat in Brixton. As a member of our Customer Services Committee, she is working with us to put residents at the heart of decision-making.
“As well as being a member of the Customer Services Committee, I now represent MTVH on the new G15 Residents’ Group, which is fantastic. Together, I think we will have some real sway and it will be really good for everybody living in social housing.
As a committee, we want to give residents an equal voice at the table. We encourage them to give us feedback so they are part of MTVH’s development and their voice is heard on any changes we make, from customer services to influencing national policy.
I was honoured to be involved in the recruitment of new senior leadership at MTVH, including the Chief Executive. It’s lovely for us to have a say in who will run the organisation going forward, and for MTVH to get a customer perspective on recruitment. This way of doing things feels really new and exciting and should be how it’s done everywhere.
I have also been helping to implement and develop the Back-to-Basics approach, which provides residents with a formal feedback loop that ensures everybody is listened to. The approach is perfectly named because you’ve got to get the basics right before trying to do innovative work, and people really value having a decent service as standard.
The approach is powerful because it’s not just a tick box exercise – MTVH really listens to our feedback, makes improvements based on that information and actually make things better for people.
Never before have resident voices been needed more. Our lived experience is very powerful because we have knowledge of what decisions are needed to make places and homes better.
We know change takes time but I can honestly say that we are definitely feeling improvements. I look forward to continuing to have a positive influence, providing residents with a voice and ensuring decisions make a real difference to people’s lives.”