Social housing for good: involving tenants in decisions
The challenge
Abri had set themselves an ambitious target: 100% customer satisfaction. Central to achieving this was a commitment to co-creation and genuine community involvement, but their existing engagement methods weren't reaching the residents who needed to be heard.
Traditional in-person focus groups attracted participants, but the demographic was narrow: predominantly older residents who had the time and confidence to attend meetings. The majority of Abri's thousands of social tenants across the south of England (younger families, working residents, people with disabilities, those less confident speaking in groups) simply weren't being heard.
This was more than an engagement problem. Abri wanted to be a force for social good, not just a landlord. They needed to consult residents on everything from changes to repairs programmes to broader issues like proposed planning legislation that would affect future social housing provision. Without truly representative input, they couldn't deliver on their principles of transparency and community involvement.
Before the merger, Yarlington had experimented with social media engagement and discovered something important: online engagement reached far more people and attracted a much broader demographic spread than in-person sessions. The challenge was finding a platform that could deliver that same reach and diversity whilst maintaining the structure, accountability and professionalism essential for a major housing provider.
The approach
Abri chose Citizen Space, a platform designed to make transparency and accessibility the default, not an afterthought.
The platform aligned perfectly with Abri's values. Built-in features like simple feedback reporting and response publishing made accountability straightforward. Abri adopted the 'We Asked, You Said, We Did' feature to provide clear, snapshot summaries showing residents exactly what actions resulted from their contributions, closing the loop and demonstrating that their voices genuinely mattered.
Critically, Citizen Space is built for inclusion. The platform is fully accessible, meeting Web Accessibility Guidelines and working seamlessly with assistive technology like screen readers. It's responsive across all device sizes (essential when many social housing residents access the internet primarily through mobile phones). Perhaps most importantly, residents didn't need to register or create an account to participate, removing a significant barrier that excludes people who are less digitally confident or concerned about privacy.
Abri used their Citizen Space hub to engage residents on issues that directly affected their daily lives (like changes to repairs programmes and service delivery) as well as broader matters that shaped their communities, such as proposed planning legislation changes that would impact social housing provision across England.
The results
The transformation in engagement was significant. By moving to Citizen Space, Abri created a consultation programme that genuinely reflected the diversity of their tenant community.
Broader, more representative participation
The platform delivered on the promise Yarlington saw in their social media experiments: online engagement through Citizen Space reached residents who would never attend an in-person focus group. Younger tenants, working families, people with caring responsibilities, those with mobility issues, and residents who simply felt more comfortable responding in their own time rather than speaking in a group setting could all participate equally.
The mobile-responsive design proved particularly important. Many Abri residents accessed consultations through smartphones rather than computers, and Citizen Space ensured they had exactly the same experience and ability to contribute as those using desktop devices.
Transparency that built trust
The 'We Asked, You Said, We Did' reporting became central to Abri's relationship with residents. For each consultation, tenants could see a clear summary of:
- What Abri consulted them about
- The range of views residents expressed
- The specific actions Abri took as a result
This transparency was particularly powerful in social housing, where residents have historically felt that consultations were tick-box exercises rather than genuine opportunities to influence decisions. By consistently demonstrating that tenant input shaped outcomes, Abri rebuilt trust and encouraged ongoing participation.
Delib is a govtech leader specialising in consultation and engagement, trusted by over 600 government organisations worldwide, including major planning projects. Since 2004, we've been building secure, accessible digital platforms to make participation simpler, fairer, and more inclusive. Our flagship product, Citizen Space, was built in collaboration with the UK government and has supported more than 11 million responses across over 110,000 democratic activities.