SOCIAL HOUSING: TURNING THE TIDE

The social housing sector started with a clear purpose to give those in need the quality and dignity that insecure and unaffordable private renting could not. We’ve been fortunate to work with several social housing organisations recently and experienced first-hand how employees and managers can get caught up in internal process and procedure, losing sight of the core purpose of the organisation. For the last 12 years the English social housing sector has seen little scrutiny in the services it provides to residents. However, significant regulation changes are coming in from 1 April this year.

This required culture shift is insightfully highlighted by Housemark’s 2023 Tenant Satisfaction Measures report, aimed at helping housing providers get ready for these regulation changes, based on input from over 100 Landlords. For example:

Overall tenant satisfaction has decreased by around five percentage points since 2020 to 79% today.

- The average time to complete repairs has increased by 40% since 2020.

- Encouragingly 83% of tenants say their landlord treats them fairly and with respect, but fewer than two thirds feel their views are listened to and acted upon.

Essentially it all comes down to putting the resident at the heart of decision making and it’s a real opportunity for social housing providers to build a true ‘service culture’. In a recent training kick-off session for a new social housing client, we left feeling really encouraged by the participants’ enthusiasm for the training. There seems to be a real acceptance of the problems within the sector and it’s clear that employees feel optimistic that their employers now see this too. This untapped potential in teams and managers is the vital ingredient to turning the tide.

To read the full HouseMark Report head to https://lnkd.in/eek3uiFS

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