Young residents’ research sets out recommendations to embed youth voice in housing decisions
Group of young residents from Clarion Housing Group, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH), and Hyde Housing.
Partnership for Young London has launched a new impact report and video, produced by a group of young residents from Clarion Housing Group, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH), and Hyde Housing.
Building on previous research, the report sets out six recommendations for housing providers and the wider sector to strengthen youth participation in housing policy and practice.
Young Residents in Partnership is a three-year initiative that supports young people aged 16-25 to design and carry out research based on lived experience, with the aim of strengthening youth voice and leadership within housing associations and across the wider housing sector.
Young people are often overlooked in housing decision making, particularly because they are rarely lead tenants or leaseholders which means that they are not consistently recognised as stakeholders in policy and governance. This project aims to address that gap and ensure young residents’ voices are better represented in decisions that shape housing services, neighbourhoods and futures.
“Young people have long been an invisible group in housing policy, and we’re determined to change that. Through our charitable foundation, Clarion Futures, we’re proud to support this important project, which strengthens youth voice and ensures young residents play a meaningful role in shaping our services, policies and future direction.”
The impact report sets out six priority recommendations for housing providers and the wider sector, focused on making youth participation consistent, practical and properly resourced:
- Define young people as a separate stakeholder in housing policy.
- Create a youth voice representation structure, implementing clear goals and ambitions.
- Train housing association colleagues to be more inclusive of young people.
- Use housing associations’ influence across the sector to embed youth voice into practice and policy.
- Improve communications with young people through an age-specific communications strategy.
- Work with other organisations to educate young people on their housing options and rights.
The programme uses peer research, where people with lived experience design and conduct research themselves. This approach helps to reduce power imbalances and build a clearer understanding of what needs to change across the housing sector.
Young Residents in Partnership
Ohemaa Agyekum-Koranchie, a young Clarion resident and peer researcher, said:
“Being a part of the Young Residents in Partnership project has given me the opportunity to make a meaningful change in how the voices of young people are represented. From speaking at panels to writing blogs, it has given me the ability to advocate for young residents like me.”
Iris Bos, Youth Research Officer at Partnership for Young London, said:
“From our wider experience, we know that peer research is powerful as a method for youth voice representation. Seeing this co-production and collaboration in action with partners MTVH, Hyde Group and Clarion has been a very rich experience and sets a real example of how we can all collectively and meaningfully amplify young people’s voices.”
The partners have also set out practical next steps to support delivery of the recommendations. These include developing examples of youth representation models, working with communications teams to improve how information reaches young residents, and designing workshops to help colleagues be more inclusive in their language and approach.