L&Q commits to clear and ambitious plan to tackle social housing stigma
L&Q has set out a bold plan of action to help tackle the stigma faced by social housing residents, developed through our role as Pioneer Traveller in the Stop Social Housing campaign.
As one of 12 early adopters of the new Tackling Stigma Journey Planner, we took part in a resident-led project designed to help landlords build trust, improve relationships and support cultural change.
As part of the pilot, we hosted a resident-led workshop in November 2024. Residents, frontline and senior colleagues – including Governance and Maintenance Directors – came together to share honest views on stigma, repairs, and how we work as an organisation.
The ideas and feedback from that session directly shaped an action plan, aligned with the Journey Planner’s framework. Our commitments include:
- delivering specialist training to repairs operatives
- reviewing and improving frontline training materials
- updating contractor code of conduct agreements
- improving how we keep residents informed about repair progress
- enhancing how we communicate residents’ additional needs across teams
- running a survey and focus groups on residents’ language preferences, and using the findings to guide an internal communications campaign
- establishing a staff stigma champion network
One resident, who took part in the workshop, said:
“As a resident, I have pride in where I live, but I understand that L&Q can’t do it without our help. I wanted to see things from both sides and find out how L&Q are going to take forward our suggestions.”
These actions are now featured as a case study in the new Stop Social Housing Stigma campaign report, launched today in Parliament.
The report introduces the Tackling Stigma Journey Planner – a practical, resident-led tool developed in partnership with Durham University, Sheffield Hallam University, CIH, TPAS, and YD Consultants.
Designed to help landlords meet Tenant Satisfaction Measures and new consumer standards, the planner offers structured, practical ways to build better relationships with residents.
The new tool is built around a series of stages (called "train tickets"), which focus on themes such as trust, culture, service delivery, and resident-led change.
Each of these includes a set of flexible options designed to help landlords understand where they are, where they need to go, and how to get there in partnership with residents.
The report was launched at a parliamentary event sponsored by Ben Coleman, MP for Chelsea and Fulham on 19 May.
Steve Moseley, Executive Director of Governance and Transformation at L&Q said:
“We’re proud to be an early adopter of the Journey Planner and to feature as a case study in the report. More than just a framework, it builds residents’ confidence in us and shows our commitment to listening, partnership, and change.
"Stigma is a wider societal issue, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. The only way forward is to ensure residents have influence at every level of our decisions.”
Our involvement in the Pioneer Traveller programme builds on our existing work to improve our services and culture and tackle social housing stigma
In 2023, we published Partnership of Equals, a report that emphasised the need to move away from a top-down approach and give residents greater influence over how services are delivered.
The report also highlighted how meaningful resident involvement can help challenge the negative stereotypes often associated with social housing.
We also carried out research for the G15 – a group of major London housing associations – to understand what stigma feels like for people living in social housing.
Based on feedback from over 2,800 residents, the results show that 45% felt judged or looked down on because of where they live. Of those, 43% said stigma came from how they were treated by their landlord.