What motivates us to work in social housing? Inside Housing’s annual housing association chief executive salary survey (25 September) might lead some people to believe the answer is money.

But I don’t think that is true at any level of our organisations. Most of us have a passion for the positive difference we can make to people’s lives.
In a previous comment piece, I urged pay restraint at the senior level because I think we need to publically uphold our values and demonstrate that we are ethical leaders. Not doing so is like shooting yourself in the foot: it detracts from what we do.

Reality bites

This summer I spent some time going ‘back to the floor’. I shadowed our neighbourhood housing officers; took an estate walkabout with a tenant representative; visited tenants in their own homes; and sat on the front desk dealing with the many different queries that come through our doors and doing a tenancy sign-up.

I also spent a day with our supported housing team, seeing how we assess supported housing need and visiting clients who receive our support.
Several things struck me about my frontline experiences.

First, how difficult life is for many of our clients and residents. When you go into people’s homes you realise just how little of the wealth generated in recent times has trickled down to the bottom 10 per cent of the population.

The grind of long-term poverty is deeply apparent. Yes, some people have large TVs and they may smoke - but they have little else. And it is a good reminder that, without economic power, people have few choices.

Second, I was struck by the prevalence of mental health problems among supported housing clients - many of whom had other problems as well - including drug addiction, alcohol abuse and homelessness. Very few presented with just one problem.

Mental illness can strike any one of us: one in four will suffer some form of mental health problems at some point in our lives.

The saddest case I saw on my day out with the team was that of a young man, whose mother wanted him sectioned because of his erratic, violent behaviour.

This young man, who had a pregnant girlfriend, was involved in a very serious car crash earlier this year, which resulted in a complete personality change. He turned from a pleasant, responsible young adult who could hold down a job to a ‘child’ in a man’s body, with behaviour that had recently become so much more difficult because he’d become addicted to skunk, a potent form of marijuana.

His mother and his girlfriend were standing by him but my heart went out to them, and I had great admiration for our supported housing officer who kept her cool when emotions and strong language between son and mother ran high.

Valuable lessons

And that is the third lesson from my back to the floor experiences. What dedication, what enormous value to both the individual and the community comes from the work of our frontline staff.

I know so many of them go the extra mile to help the people they provide services to, and they do this because they care, not because they are looking to receive a bonus.

So let’s celebrate and publicise the value of what we do. Society in 21st century Britain is far from perfect and social housing is such an important safety net.

It provides a decent home for people who have very little money. No longer do we split up families and send people to the workhouse and, for the most part, we have removed the hovels and the slums.

Social housing is a success story. According to a recently published Tenant Services Authority survey, 81 per cent of tenants are satisfied with their landlords, homes and neighbourhoods.

This is an increase on 10 years ago and perhaps reflects both the major investment we’ve made to achieve the decent homes standards and the current economic climate. Certainly fewer tenants - only 12 per cent - aspire to homeownership.

A desirable option

Indeed, many more people are now ‘aspiring’ to social housing as a safe, affordable housing option - as demonstrated by longer waiting lists - so we need to ensure their voice is also heard.

As for support services, it is estimated that the support we provide people to enable them to remain living independently in their own homes saves the Treasury £2.77 billion, money that would otherwise have to be spent on crisis services - police, social services and the NHS.

Prevention is so much more cost effective than ‘cure’. I liken what we do to catching the plate before it falls off the edge of the table rather than sweeping up the broken pieces and trying to stick them back together again.

In the coming months, as parties of all political persuasions decide what will have to be cut and what is core, we need to raise the profile of social housing.

The people we serve are the least likely to stand up and articulate this for themselves, but the cost of failing to deliver for them impacts on us all.

Barbara Thorndick is chief executive of West Kent Housing Association

Have your say

You must sign in to make a comment