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Effective resident involvement is now recognised as a key ingredient for successful regeneration, and it needs to be at the centre of every housing provider's thinking. But, compared with many other areas of professional service delivery, the techniques, movement and evaluation of resident involvement are unsophisticated. Too much in this area relies on chance and the enthusiasm of professionals and resident activists.

Four years ago, Yorkshire Metropolitan Housing Association and B&N Group set out to discover whether planned approaches might lead to better involvement. They commissioned BOW Community Projects to undertake the Motivation Matters project, funded by a £40,000 innovation and good practice grant from the Housing Corporation and support from the National Housing Federation.

We worked with nine registered social landlords in the north of England to design a way to assess an area's potential for tenant involvement and diagnose which approach might work best in each situation. It was tested in 28 pilot areas, and the study received more than 800 responses from tenants and 200 from staff.

About 25% of residents were keen to be involved, 25% were not keen, and a "floating vote" of approximately 50% said they might get involved in certain circumstances. Associations need to think carefully about how they can tap this potential well of interest. Because involvement is a voluntary interaction, the landlord or agency needs to examine its own motivations and behaviours if it is to achieve the best possible involvement – what we call the "takes two to tango" element.

Tips for good practice
he survey found that a sizeable minority of RSL staff and board members were unconvinced of the value of resident involvement and viewed it as a requirement of the system rather than a good thing in its own right. They need convincing.

Our survey also suggested that:

• associations should be clear about their objectives in promoting resident involvement and communicate these
  
• objectives must accord with the motivations of residents, in terms of improving their life situation, neighbourhood and wider community. In the past, associations have tried to engage with residents around intangible and intractable problems that the association is trying to overcome, such as issues of corporate accountability, rather than identifying aims that are shared by the residents. The survey showed that residents' concerns also differed significantly from area to area, suggesting that approaches should be based on individual local circumstances
  
• the majority of the issues that are of most concern to residents involved other agencies. RSLs need to work to wider agendas than just those of the landlord-tenant relationship. This should be reflected in policies of partnership working and a willingness to enter into local compacts for the benefit of residents and the development of neighbourhood and estate management
  
• residents spot when they are being used. They must be given real, effective choices as customers or partners of the association, rather than simply as parties who will ratify association decisions
  
• think carefully about when and where meetings are held. More than half of tenants said family commitments were a barrier to involvement, rising to nearly 80% for the 16-24 age group
  
• residents are not necessarily patient and will be frustrated by the timescales required by associations and other agencies. Set short-term goals to demonstrate the impact and value of their involvement.

Responses from residents pointed towards informal and action-based approaches, and away from formal, governance-driven tenant involvement.

Overall, I believe "Motivation Matters" will produce more cost-effective tenant involvement. From the anecdotal evidence of associations taking part in the project, it is clear that they feel that the approach is already of significant benefit.