Tenants Together is the new name for Regional Networks and will continue to do the work that Regional Networks did and exceeded at. We are established to enable tenants and service users to engage and work practically with the Scottish Government on the development of national housing policy.
Our Mission Statement
We are a national network of tenants committed to empowering the tenants of today and tomorrow, ensuring their voices are heard and influence decisions within the Scottish social housing sector, to protect tenants’ rights and make a positive difference.
The Scottish Government’s commitment to bring about effective tenant participation in Scotland has its roots in the National Strategy for Tenant Participation, ‘Partners in Participation’, which was published in 1999. For the first time, this set out key principles for good tenant participation and committed tenants, social landlords and the Scottish Government to a programme of action to achieve high-quality tenant participation and outcomes.
The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 gave tenants of social landlords a statutory right to be consulted on housing and related matters that affect them. Landlords are required to put tenant participation strategies in place, which are developed in consultation with their tenants. The Act also introduces the concept of landlords’ registration of registered tenant organisations (RTOs). RTOs are required to be both accountable to, and representative of, their members. One of their key roles is to strengthen the involvement of organised tenants groups in matters of national policy.
At the time, there was no practical way for RTOs to engage directly with each other or with the Scottish Government on matters of national policy. Ministers gave a firm commitment to setting up this engagement by establishing and supporting the Tenant Priorities Team, with a specific remit to facilitate the development of an engagement structure at a national level.
The Tenant Priorities Team carried out a period of extensive national consultation (including a national tenants conference, workshops across Scotland and a survey of RTOs) on developing a national engagement structure, overseen by a working group made up of 17 RTO representatives. The findings were reported in March 2006, and introduced the concept of establishing networks of tenants, organised on a regional basis, to build partnerships between the Scottish Government and RTOs and to formally involve the tenant movement in Scotland in the development of national housing policy.
Nine Regional Networks were set up in 2008, with elections and inaugural AGMs held the same year. In 2016 they were restructured into four Regional Networks. The Regional Networks have subsequently become a very well-established and highly regarded part of the Scottish social housing landscape.