Letters to the Editor, Housing Today.   Published: 19th April 2001.   Dear Sir, Sauce for the goose Your correspondent, Anthony Lee, shoots wide of the mark in his piece "Why must we defend the indefensible?" (Housing Today, 22 March). He says that "while a councillor has several thousand constituents, a tenant board member typically represents just 500 tenants". Where does this figure actually come from? How many housing associations appoint tenant members rather than risk having to deal with unpredictable elected representatives? When I was elected by tenants to the board of West Hampstead Housing Association, I was required to observe total secrecy. How many tenant board members work under this preposterous restraint? What then, is the point of a tenant board member? Associations are not all the same, but I suggest that all Mr. Lee's criticisms of councils apply equally to most housing associations. Yours sincerely,   Peter Rutherford.   Chair, WHHA Tenants' Association.    Back to the Web Site