Complexity, change and the stark reality facing stock retained public sector landlords

The #PlanForHousing is widely acknowledged by all political persuasions and the recent launch of the @nationalhousingfederationcampaign is galvanising the housing sector to come together. ?With daily breaking news of record numbers of Housing Ombudsman Maladministration cases, Regulator for Social Housing self referrals and downgrades - on the eve of Consumer Regulation going live, my thoughts are drawn to two areas.

Firstly I enjoyed Chairing the Annual Chief Officers conference, delivered in partnership with Housemark , Association of Retained Council Housing and the National Federation of ALMOs , bringing together stock retained landlords, stimulating debate with experts from the Department for Levelling Up Homes and Communities (DLUHC), Regulator for Social Housing, (RSH)National Housebuilding Council (NHBC) and Housemark - secondly I’ve been reflecting on the data, exclusively revealed by Housemarks Jonathan Cox , which paints a stark reality of challenges and a manifestation of performance out turns.

Local authorities have an amplification of the challenges all landlords are facing, as they also grapple with the same capacity, imminent consumer regulation and declining metrics across core operational areas - satisfaction, repairs, costs as other providers but are also facing the trade off decisions and financial balancing act as local authorities face unprecedented pressure to meet the demands of adult and children’s services and temporary accommodation needs. ? In effect this is squeezing the already squeezed and without the capacity in the system and robust data to drive trade off and risk based decision making, channel resources and investment in new and existing homes to deliver best bang for buck and streamline services to deliver an efficient, positive tenant experience, stock retained providers are shooting for the stars.?

Our unique, exclusive data reveals that core operational metrics have failed to recover from a the pandemic years, with satisfaction in particular hovering well below expectations and several percentage points lower than pre pandemic levels. ?Only one in five landlords have reported an increase in satisfaction ahead of last year. With cost inflation, supply chain pressure, repairs volumes up with a higher price tag and depleted labour pool it’s little wonder that contact centres are in crisis and voids and lettings performance is lagging.?

The Regulator for Social Housing has forewarned the impact of economic headwinds but it’s not too late to pivot and consider how to use data and insight to create capacity and improve tenant experience. ?We know that data maturity, digital adoption and staffing structures all hamper an optimal model, and understandably fear of disruption is stalling large scale transformation programmes but if we start with the data and combine that with what our insight and sentiment is telling us we can see where the opportunities are, unpack the key dilemmas and use robust evidence and data to channel scarce resources and investment and make the call on those key decisions.

I really enjoyed hearing from our members, the experts ,ARCH and NFA about how we are tackling challenges together and all the capacity that is being created by the stock retained sector, but I do want to spare a thought for the added dimensions and complexity they are facing.?

If you want to hear more about how you can create capacity and improve tenant experience through data, we'd love to hear from you - www.housemark.co.uk

Rob Griffiths?

CEO, Housemark