A 2022 overview of The Social Housing Round Table

It feels like 2022 was years ago rather than days however it is definitely time to look back over the nearly 50 episodes of The Social Housing Round Table that were run last year, all backed up by my Social Housing Recruitment business.

On nearly every single Tuesday between 11-12, I was honoured to co-host the best part of 50 discussions which focused on some part of Social Housing.

This article is an overview, a thank you, and, most importantly, just another stepping stone in the journey.

Ironically, January began us talking about the impact of communities with Emily Orme, CIHCM , a real trailblazer in the sector, followed by a discussion on embracing complaints with Jo Leckie ?? (Assoc CIPD, Cert CIH) and the excellent team from Big Picture Training .

It set the tone for the whole year, showcasing that Housing Associations, Local Authorities and anyone involved in #SocialHousing needed to desperately build better relationships and truly start listening to tenants' issues before it all got too late.

Unfortunately, as we found out, for some it really was but, as terrible news always does, it appears to finally be the urgent catalyst for needed change.

February brought Jim Nixon online to talk about Community Safety, Hannah Harvey CIHCM to showcase how Saffron Housing Trust Limited has made massive inroads by embedding tenants into their decision-making processes, Lara Oyedele ??? ?? to discuss why we need more diverse Boards in Social Housing (prior to the presidential announcement!) and Kelly Henderson to look at furniture and fuel poverty and the amazing services that are out there and available.

March started with an always brilliant speaker in Hannah Harvey CIHCM bringing forward the conversation of LGBTQ+ acceptance in Social Housing before Natalie-Rose Joseph brought forth a discussion on the issues of stigma. The following week this was backed up by Jo Simcox highlighting the whole customer experience journey and the areas that can be improved. Then it was the turn of Sadie Jones of She Beasts C.I.C , highlighting the relationship between domestic violence, homelessness, and Social Housing and the urgent desire to do better.

Then, one of my proudest moments of the year, as we held a brilliant episode with Natalie Quilter talking about the need to build a Carers Network in your Social Housing business, and this has led to real change. Since this episode Natalie has been a panel member and guest-speaker at essential meetings to make that change. I couldn’t be prouder of her!

Our three episodes in April were co-hosted by Mal Sagoo , Rachel Honey-Jones , Marie Plant and Nyasha Gwatidzo , who discussed flexible working, corporate social responsibility and fostering respectively. All of them gave some truly excellent and easy-to-start takeaways so go check them out if you haven’t done so already!

May gave us the prequel to our in-person event that we held in June where Sarah Onions and Sandwell College joined us to look at Apprenticeships and how successful they could be with more momentum from Social Housing providers. We then had a specialist in cuckooing, the brilliant Nikki Holmes , come to discuss the latest issues in the sector, before the team from Vuabl , Akash Chopra and Blair Stirling came online to discuss how innovation could be the key to reducing void times and improving tenant services.

We were then delighted to be joined by Emma Morris and the team from bdht ltd. to discuss the menstruation policy they have introduced and the vital need to stop the conversation from being so taboo. May wrapped up with Paul Powell bringing the conversation of Exempt Accommodation to the table, showcasing the managing agents who want to stop the rogue landlords more than anyone else!

In June we discussed the energy crisis before Jim Nixon and Nick Buckley MBE brought forth a conversation on rough sleeping, before Emma Morris and the team at BDHT brought forth their second Round Table of the year to hold a conversation about the amazing EDI networks that already exist and how Housing providers can really start to harness those relationships.

Our halfway point of the year was the amazing event we held at #Housing2022 with more than 25 of us discussing apprenticeships, employment, and the future workforce. This was a real career highlight for me and certainly showed the momentum of what was to come.

And so onto July – ? Dan Horne ?? and the team from Recite Me showed just how amazing having a truly inclusive website could be; Natalie-Rose Joseph showed the impact that her work on branding had delivered and Simon Bernstein asked how we could be even more customer-centric.

I recall asking whether to keep running the Round Tables over the summer and I’m very glad that you voted with a definitive yes as they brought with them some of the busiest events of the year overall!

Our busiest? The always superb Emily Orme, CIHCM returned to ask the question: Does Social Housing need a mandatory qualification? We had nearly 60 people join and, whilst the answer wasn’t definitive, it was certainly clear there was a desire to introduce something to make the industry more professional and more accountable.

By this time Clare Paterson had become a brilliant regular on the Round Tables and led an event which highlighted the importance of data – what we hold, what we shouldn’t, and why it was being kept. Jo Leckie ?? (Assoc CIPD, Cert CIH) then returned to ask a question about whether we can really deliver better customer service before Jo Simcox asked what truly makes a good leader.

September continued to be really popular as we brought a really wide range of questions to the table - Ben Jenkins came online to discuss the tenant perspective from a tenant perspective; Michelle Hocknull and Amelie Treppass discussed the future of heat; Dr. Halima Sacranie asked whether there is a link between gambling and those living and working in Social Housing; Mercy Denedo and her team showcased their research into stigma in Social Housing and Sarah Gee brought forth another really busy event by asking what we can truly do about Cannabis issues in Social Housing.

From October to December we still ran a further 12 events, kick-started by Lara Oyedele ??? ?? launching her Chartered Institute of Housing Presidential campaign on anti-racism in the Board Room. I was proud to be asked to do?this with her and certainly back her campaign each and every day.

The rest of the year flew by with new guest speakers and some who returned. In the returning camp, Hannah Harvey CIHCM discussed the challenges of #recruitment in Social Housing after I’d recently worked with her to secure new talent and Clare Paterson discussed data in relation to menopause.

Our new guest speakers were equally fantastic - Rosie Mai Iredale providing insight into the amazing work she’d done with children's services as part of a Social Housing pilot; Claire Fouracre CertCIH discussed whether mergers were damaging the sector; Laura Bryan talked us through nutrition and it’s relationship with mental health; Dr. Maame Nikabs (and her daughter!) highlighted the need to improve cultural diversity; Judy Hart and Investors in Excellence discussed and questioned exactly what excellent means; Judith Vickress informed us why domestic violence providers and social housing services need to work better in partnership and Katy Bird showcased the resources Social Housing truly has open to it.

Finally, Jennie Blake brought an end to the year by challenging us to have real, honest conversations about burnout to stop us all doing what I did at the end of the year and completely crashing out!

A final honourable mention to Janine Green who I co-hosted an event with regarding ASB Case Reviews and can be found on her pages.

In 2021 the Round Tables got enough momentum that I thought they were worth carrying into 2022.

In 2022, they’ve shown just how important it is to bring people in the Social Housing world together for as many discussions as possible if change is to be made. And change is being made, so here’s to 2023.

I cannot give enough thanks to every single guest speaker, attendee, promotor and person who liked, shared or commented on any of the discussion pieces. I’d also like to give quick shout-outs to Sanni Oladimeji Salisu and Clare Lawrance FCIH who attended more events than anyone else in 2022!

The Social Housing Round Table starts again on the 10th January with? Becky Tucker , who will be talking about the recent sector risk report before Grant Hyatt asks us about the community effect of Supported Housing ASB.

If you want to watch any of 2022 back, the YouTube Channel has all of the prior recordings that we have made public on it (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRSwmzuX_Zom4A2N-hHIALA)

To keep up to date with everything coming up in 2023 and to get a copy of any recordings, you can sign up for the mailing list here: https://eepurl.com/hVxaVH

And if you have any interest in bringing a conversation to the table this year, I promise it’s not as scary as you think and I’d love to hear from you!

When I started my own Social Housing Recruitment business, I wanted to ensure I did more than just hire staff and using a significant portion of my time and funds to run these for free each week has certainly shown that it is possible to do this - I'd love to see more events like them out there!

Happy New Year one and all – let’s see what this year brings us!