Are customers really being put first? A challenge to the social housing sector

We have also been on a journey of self-improvement. Since I joined One Housing, we have said we want to put our residents at the heart of everything we do – as in truth we haven’t always delivered on this in the past.

These are not weasel words. Over this past year, we have challenged ourselves to change in direct response to feedback from our customers. We couldn’t meet residents in person, but we have learned the value of virtual meetings to enable our residents to see and speak to us directly. We now hold around 12 virtual meetings with residents every month – before the pandemic the number of resident engagement meetings was below five.

Since we have increased our engagement with residents and worked more closely with them to develop new strategies for the business, there has been a real step change in the organisation. Not only have we seen residents who are much happier with our service, they are starting to feel part of the One Housing community. As a result, their relationships with our team are much more positive. They see them delivering on their promises and this has resulted in a change for the better internally, too. Our teams on the frontline who work with our customers on a daily basis have become energised and re-motivated. Indeed, they are now the ones holding the business leaders (like myself) to account and making sure that the organisation delivers on the promises it makes to residents.

“Since we have increased our engagement with residents and worked more closely with them to develop new strategies for the business, there has been a real step change in the organisation”

Our excellent staff have taken ownership of their relationships and, despite some tough conversations, have seen the benefits of a more open and honest dialogue with our customers this year. There are many positive outcomes from this step change and I feel very optimistic as a result about the position we are now in as we head into the next financial year.

We know there remain challenging times ahead, but we believe we are on a positive path to improve our customer relations.

We have also invested in our systems to accelerate the delivery of our digital strategy and improved our service delivery for residents.

By investing in a new CRM system, we have been able to better capture customer complaints so these can be managed more effectively. In addition, One Housing also introduced a new repairs app to enable quicker reporting and to give residents the opportunity to provide real-time feedback about the service they receive so that we can act ‘in the moment’ and identify areas where we need to improve.

Putting residents first is also about the work we are doing behind the scenes, too. Building safety has been hugely concerning and upsetting for our residents and as well as improving the way we communicate, we are also continuing, through the G15 and on our own, to press the government for more support for remediation. We won’t give up fighting for our residents who find themselves in this unenviable position through absolutely no fault of their own.

“Just when we think we have got on top of one challenge, another one pops up to keep us on our toes”

The Social Housing White Paper, published last year, also has significant implications for us as a business, as well as the wider sector. While not directly impacting residents, any proposals that alter our ability to deliver new affordable homes for those who need them most has a knock-on effect for our wider business model. This inevitably could have an impact on how we deliver our services. A vital part of our work is therefore working with government and MPs, as well as our local authority partners, to ensure our concerns about the white paper proposals are represented.

It’s been interesting to see how multi-layered our roles now are – more so than ever before. Just when we think we have got on top of one challenge, another one pops up to keep us on our toes. It is important to plan for the future so we can predict those moments and be well placed to deal with them. We were disappointed to be downgraded by the regulator on governance during the pandemic. While we remain compliant, we know we have more work to do to improve and we are committed to working with the regulator. Nevertheless, I am confident in the work we have already carried out to implement the changes needed and I know our improvements are now delivering a better standard of service.

Criticism is hard to swallow – but turning a blind eye will never help our sector improve.

As we emerge from the pandemic, just think for a minute about how much we have gained. Now is the moment to look at everything with fresh eyes. This is an amazing opportunity. Do we carry on doing things just because we have always done them the same way, or do we take this moment to change for good? Taking the industry disrupter approach within my own organisation has been tough but for me personally it has been hugely rewarding.

There is still so much more to do – and it won’t be easy – but until we embrace this approach, we will not be able to say we are truly putting the customer first. I challenge others within the sector to do the same.

Chyrel Brown, chief operating officer, One Housing