By Harriett Bolton, Account Manager
Housing organisations must communicate with multiple stakeholders daily to bring about tangible outcomes for residents while meeting internal objectives and KPIs, as well as regulatory compliance.
Conflict is sometimes unavoidable, whether it’s unsatisfied residents, community opposition or conflicting opinions from third parties. It’s important to understand the priorities of each stakeholder when making decisions, while making sure that each organisation or group is communicated with in an effective way.
Why stakeholder engagement is a challenge in affordable housing
Housing organisations answer to multiple stakeholders: residents, local authorities, regulators, community groups and MPs/councillors. Most of these have different ideas of what ‘success’ looks like and the sector is operating in an era of ‘everything is a priority’ – meeting higher safety standards and building targets, improving resident satisfaction and managing financial pressures. This creates a communications challenge and an operational one: How do you explain difficult trade-offs to stakeholders when everyone believes their issue should come first?
What doesn’t work
- Engaging too late: Bringing stakeholders into the conversation after key decisions have been made can create frustration and a sense that consultation is merely a tick-box exercise.
- Relying on one-way communication: Sending updates isn’t the same as engaging. Stakeholders want to ask questions, challenge proposals and feel their views are being considered. Don’t treat engagement as a single event – it needs to be ongoing.
- Failing to explain the ‘why’: Stakeholders are more likely to accept decisions they disagree with if they understand the rationale behind them. Decisions without context can appear unfair.
- Using jargon and technical language: Housing, development, retrofit and regulatory programmes can be complex. If communications are overly technical, stakeholders can feel excluded from the conversation.
The biggest mistake housing organisations can make is viewing stakeholder engagement as a communications exercise. It’s a trust-building exercise, particularly when stakeholders’ priorities don’t neatly align.
How to navigate stakeholder priorities
Before engagement plans or consultation begins, housing organisations need clarity on what they’re trying to achieve and how they’ll explain the choices to stakeholders. Good engagement isn’t about making everyone happy; it’s about ensuring people understand why decisions have been made.
The temptation can be to focus on positive announcements, but the most valuable engagement often happens around issues that stakeholders disagree on. Trust is built by being open about challenges, constraints and competing priorities.
Also, make sure to tailor your comms – a common mistake is trying to communicate everything to everyone in the same way. Residents, councillors, regulators, community groups and staff don’t all need the same information. The question shouldn’t be: “How do we communicate this?” But: “What does each group need to understand and why?”
In practice
An example that demonstrates this was our work with Haringey Council on the Broadwater Farm Improvement Project, which involved a resident ballot on proposals to redevelop two housing blocks. The challenge was balancing numerous priorities, from concerned residents to council teams focused on delivery. Rather than leading with organisational objectives, the approach was shaped by what residents told us mattered most, such as better homes, safer streets, open spaces and opportunities for young people. By building messages around those priorities and creating opportunities for engagement, the campaign helped residents make informed decisions and ultimately secured support for the plans.
Bringing clarity to complex conversations
This is often where housing organisations ask for support, as decisions that affect different groups in different ways are rarely straightforward.
A message that reassures residents may not answer questions being asked by councillors, and a statement that satisfies regulators may be too technical for community groups. In these situations, the challenge is less about the decision itself and more about how it’s communicated.
Ultimately, stakeholders don’t expect housing organisations to eliminate difficult choices. What they do expect is clarity, consistency and honesty about how those choices have been made.
Striving for success
The most successful stakeholder engagement programmes aren’t built on perfect consensus. They’re built on clarity, consistency and a shared understanding of how decisions have been made and communicated. When housing organisations have confidence in those foundations, they’re much better placed to navigate competing priorities and maintain trust along the way.
If you need support communicating to stakeholders, drop us an email at hello@see-media.co.uk.
