Little comfort from being in the big society

Scarcely a day seems to go by without someone mentioning the big society. Regardless of whether you think it's a cloak for cutting public spending or a panacea for improving community services, David Cameron's project is virtually impossible to ignore as politicians and others vie to declare themselves true believers.

This week housing minister Grant Shapps declared that some of the best examples of people being part of the big society can be found on council estates. But before social landlords get too excited, he wasn't exactly praising them.

Instead, Shapps seemed to be doing the precise opposite, as he bemoaned the fact that just 2% of council homes are managed directly by tenants. An otherwise cashstrapped government has found £8m so that tenants panels can be set up to hold landlords to account by demanding faster repairs and other service improvements. If necessary, they could demand to take over the running of their homes under what in future will be called the 'right to manage'.

Council tenants have had the right to take over local housing services since 2008. The fact that there are so few tenant management organisations suggests that either tenants are generally happy with the service they receive or, in all likelihood, they can't be bothered taking on a direct role in improving things.

At the same time, councils and housing associations have been falling over themselves to show they believe in proper tenant consultation and empowerment. Not all achieve it, that's true. But surely there are better ways of spending £8m, particularly in the current spending climate?

Prior to last year's comprehensive spending review, housing associations claimed they were examples of the big society in action through the work they do at community level - not all of it directly related to housing. But now the National Housing Federation is warning that the £435m housing associations spend each year on education, health and other community projects, many delivered through voluntary groups, may be a victim of budget cuts.

So where does that leave households that depend on social housing and associated services? It is all very well being able to set up a panel and even sit on a management committee, but ultimately most people would probably prefer that what little money is about was spent on better homes and services.