Through focus groups with residents and interviews with front line staff, Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) has identified some early steps for lifting up the voice and agency of residents of affordable housing properties in a new report and blog post, such as sharing information about data collection and encouraging a wider range of resident leaders. SAHF urges providers to not only take these early steps, but also to do the hard work of examining how their policies and practices can be improved to elevate the voice and agency of residents.
The focus groups and analysis summarized in this report are early steps in SAHF’s journey to understand how they can better lift up the voices of residents and give them more choices and control in the communities they call home. From the design and development process to ongoing operations issues like house rules, physical inspection and energy retrofits, SAHF is working with its members to identify strategies that support the agency of residents and reflect their voice and operations in the properties where they live.
