Tenant voices hold the key to your future

Back in 2004, it was identified that tenant involvement and engagement was very low. To remedy this, a dedicated team was built, creating the Tenants’ Forum - a space where tenants could speak out, influence decisions, and drive positive change.

Fast-forward to September 2025, and the Forum are celebrating 21 years of action and impact. 

Over the years, their dedication has been recognised nationally, earning three Exemplar accreditations from the Tenant Participatory Advise Service (Tpas). Other councils now look to Hull for advice on how to strengthen tenant engagement, and the group travels the country, sharing Hull’s successes and bringing back fresh ideas to benefit tenants here at home.

From day one, forum members have had real influence—from helping decide the location of the Wilson Centre to improving everyday services. Today, they’re still making a difference: working with customer service teams to improve call handling, ensuring holding messages are clear, and championing tenants’ voices in every corner of housing services.

The volunteers also get involved with mystery shopping exercises, digital involvement sessions, and act as Area and Block Champions who carry out patch walks in their areas, or inspections in their blocks of flats. And their influence even touches this very newsletter! It was the Forum who suggested tenants should shape the content—so don’t miss the survey later in this issue to tell us what you want to read.

The team are always looking for more volunteers to join, so if you want to find out more or get involved then get in touch by contacting them at tenant.resident@hullcc.gov.uk.