| In this issue: – SHAC Article: Don’t Fence Us In – Service Charge Abuse Legal Project: Responses from MPs – Antisocial Behaviour: Meeting the Victims Commissioner – National Tenants and Residents Union Meeting |
 Read it Here SHAC Article: Don’t Fence Us In – The True Cost of Siloing Social Housing Tenants and Residents Alicia Mortlock’s excellent, thoughtful and thought-provoking article looks both backwards and forwards. She tracks changing attitudes toward social housing and offers ideas on how we can break through the practices that divide different groups of tenants and residents. Our ultimate aim is to get a better deal on housing for all and Alicia argues that we already have some tools to get more immediate improvements. Larger scale and more fundamental changes will be achieved through a housing movement and grass roots pressure. Please like and share: Bluesky – Twitter – Facebook – Instagram |
 Antisocial Behaviour (ASB) Project – Meeting the Victims’ Commissioner In 2024, SHAC published two reports on the devastating impact of antisocial behaviour (ASB) written by Jacqueline Parkes, our ASB and Disability Visibility lead. Earlier this year, we met with the Victim Support Service about working jointly to improve the support for victims of ASB, specifically within the context of social housing. We also sent our research to Baroness Newlove, the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, seeking a discussion on our findings. We will meet her in early March. We will be discussing the measures suggested by members that government needs to introduce so that landlords stop perpetrating ASB and handle complaints much better. For more information, see our ASB and Disability Visibility campaign pages. See our ASB reports: Social Landlords Response to Antisocial Behaviour Spotlight on Antisocial Landlords |
 End Service Charge AbuseLegal Project – MPs’ Letter As part of our legal project working with the Public Interest Law Centre, we have written to all MPs asking them to sign a letter supporting our call for the National Audit Office (NAO) to investigate the issue. The NAO is the government body tasked with checking that public money is legitimately spent. We know that when welfare benefits cover service charges that are riddled with inaccuracies, this is not the case. At the moment, there is no system for checking payments made to landlords, creating a charter for abuse. So far, twelve MPs have signed the letter: – Andy McDonald MP (Middlesbrough/Thornaby East) – Daisy Cooper MP (St Albans) – Ellie Chowns MP (North Herefordshire) – Ian Sollom MP (St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire) – John McDonnell MP (Hayes and Harlington) – Kim Johnson MP (Liverpool Riverside) – Lee Dillon MP (Newbury) – Mike Amesbury MP (Runcorn and Helsby) – Neil Duncan Jordan MP (Poole) – Sean Woodcock MP (Banbury) – Simon Opher MP (Stroud) – Vikki Slade MP (Mid Dorset & North Poole) If your MP is not listed, please email them giving your address (so that they know you are a constituent), attach our letter, and ask them to add their name. You can find your MP here. |
| 2025 Meeting Dates |
 Meeting: 6.30pm ~ Wednesday 19th FebA National Tenants and Residents Union This meeting is for those who want to give time to the project, rather than just hold a discussion on the union. The aim is to agree action points for everyone to follow up. Please register here. Please also ask your tenants and residents association (TRA) to add their name as supporters of the project. The TRA doesn’t have to be formally set up or recognised by a landlord, and can cover multiple landlords. If the TRA has a name, it can be added here. |
 | SHAC Campaign Update Meeting Our monthly SHAC meetings report on progress across all campaigns and allow members to share actions and events: 6.30pm, Thursday 27th February 2025Zoom link ~ ID: 823 4952 0596 ~ Passcode: 656982Add to calendar The times and dates for all 2025 monthly meetings are all available on our Events page. |
| Join our themed and landlord WhatsApp groups SHAC Campaigns | Tribunals Support | SHAC Leaseholders & Shared OwnersClarion | Hyde | MTVHA | Notting Hill Genesis | Riverside / One Housing | L&Q Southern | Peabody | Guinness | Home Group | Councils | THCH | A2 Dominion Housing Ombudsman Discussion |
 Join Nextdoor Nextdoor Network Posting a message on the Nextdoor app is one great way to encourage tenants and residents from your landlord (or other housing associations) to join SHAC and build critical strength. Nextdoor is a Facebook-style social networking site that links people in the same locality. You can find out more and get set up here. Some of our members have been very successful in using it to raise awareness of SHAC’s work, in one case getting 1,800 views for a single post, and recruiting neighbours who are also residents of her landlord. |