The Chairman of the new social housing regulator, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA), delivered a firm message to housing associations yesterday when he said that the social housing sector had "fallen off the pace".

Anthony Mayer, delivering his first speech as Chair of the TSA at the National Housing Federation Conference in Birmingham said: "There is far too big a gap between the best and worst performing housing associations in terms of the deal they give to their tenants and their engagement with their tenants. And compared with private sector service providers the sector as a whole has fallen off the pace in terms of consumer focus."

The TSA has been established to champion the needs of tenants across England, giving protection in time to some ten million people.


Mr Mayer told delegates: "It is not my job here today and it will not be the job of the Tenant Services Authority to tell you how to do your job in respect of your tenants. In practice you will need to use a variety of approaches to the engagement of your tenants, including the harder to engage groups whose main wish is just to get on with their own lives.

"The priorities of the tenants as to what needs fixing will vary hugely both between neighbourhoods and between housing stock profiles. Tenants in older stock might want a greater focus on maintenance. But tenants in a high crime rate area might want a greater focus on 24/7 high visibility management. The key is to listen to tenants and not to tell them.

"The TSA, as the new regulator, marks a clean break from the Housing Corporation and will have a much greater and clearer focus on tenants and the deal they get from their landlords.

"The TSA will not be a reincarnation of the Housing Corporation. In everything we do, we will think what does this mean for tenants and potential tenants. We will be a sole purpose regulator and not an investor as well. We will be an independent regulator. We'll focus our interfaces with housing associations on problem areas and not across the piste. And finally, we will be regulating all providers of affordable housing - homes owned by both housing associations and local authorities."

(CD/JM)