Recently, we sat down with Southway tenant, and member of the Customer Voice committee, Karlet Manning.
In our conversation, Karlet shared her experience in joining the board as a tenant, as well as sharing valuable insights into the importance of all voices being represented at the highest levels.
Could you tell me a bit about how you’ve been getting involved with Southway, and the kind of work you’ve been doing with us?
I’m the Vice-Chair of the Customer Voice committee. We’ve been looking over policies and strategies and how we want to see Southway serve its communities.
So, it involves looking at how we sit in Manchester, the things that we’re actually doing with our tenants, does it fit in with the issues our communities are facing and addressing what they need.
Why did you want to get involved?
I got involved because I was having some repairs done in my home that I wasn’t happy with at the time. But the way I dealt with the Customer Hub and the way we worked together to get this resolved was really good.
At the end of this, someone from the Hub said to me ‘Oh I bet you’d be great on this committee! Would you go on a board…?’, she was adamant! So, I was like, ‘Yeah! Why not?’
'I’m always thinking of who’s coming behind me. Who are the next tenants to live in these houses?'
- Karlet Manning
What was your experience like joining the committee?
Sitting on boards where you’re listening and reading a lot is difficult for me, because I have dyslexia and I’m neurodiverse.
But it was about me adapting. And I’ve had some things adapted for me as well. Matthew has adapted the documents we have to read to be dyslexia friendly. He’s done a lot of work around making them more spacious and using different fonts to make them read better (for the whole team too!).
It’s helped me show up more and not let the fear of my dyslexia or neurodiversity make me sit in the back.
Also, there were so many professionals sat around the table, so meeting all these new people and thinking about how I fit in was a lot! I thought about how I was perceived at first. Was I really contributing enough? That was my personal thing.
Now that you’re settled in, what do you think you bring to the table?
As a tenant I think I bring the realistic view of our community. Sometimes if you’re not part of a community it’s hard to understand it, how it really sits.
You can look from the outside, but on the evenings and the weekends do you see the kids? Do you sit at your window and watch how the community displays?
I’m always thinking of who’s coming behind me. Who are the next tenants to live in these houses? And also, who are the next generation to sit on these boards? So, it’s about making sure our voices are heard now and we have that consistency coming through.
From your perspective, what are Southway doing well? And what could we be doing better at?
I think Southway do really well, and I’m not just saying that because I’m sat on the board!
Sometimes you sit on boards or committees and organisations can be defensive, you can see it. They’re not doing that.
From the time I’ve been sat in the meetings, we’ve spoken about things that are causing tenants issues and we’ve not ignored them. We’ve put ourselves straight in and looked at them.
Southway have taken our criticism and they’ve turned it around. It’s not always been easy, because when we started doing a lot of the work and looking at these things it was during Covid. So, we’ve had to deal with the aftermath of that and the knock-on effects.
Now I’m actually seeing from some of the reports and surveys that we’re getting there. We might not be exactly where we want to be, but I can see that we’re getting there.
When I read through the reports I’m like ‘yeah, this has changed’. I even said it the other day, I see more happiness.
In terms of what we could be doing better, I feel like there’s an age group of young people that we’re missing.
Whether that’s career development, life-skills, help and support – I see we do a lot for other age groups and that’s beautiful, but we’ve also got to think of the next generation.
They need that help and support, they’re going to be the people who run and shape our communities. These people have so much to say, but I feel society doesn’t give them time. We could be leading the way and giving them that opportunity.
'It’s about listening and asking questions. No question is a stupid question, because you’re learning...'
- Karlet Manning
What would you say to any tenants who might be thinking of getting involved and making their voice heard?
Get involved!
Because we can’t make changes in our community if we’re not involved. If we weren’t involved, decisions would just get made without us.
Before being sat on this committee, I’d had nothing to do with social housing or the housing industry, and now I’ve learned a lot.
It’s not hard either, sometimes it’s just about sitting down and listening and asking questions. No question is a stupid question, because you’re learning.
Plus, everyone’s really nice! They’re not scary people who are going to judge you, they’re happy to bring you up to the level you need to be at to get involved and change things. They’ll help you get there.
And they’re all learning too! They have lots to learn from us, so we’re all learning together.
