Don’t sit on your hands and wait for the Social Housing White Paper – take action

We can also all think of examples of the fantastic efforts by so many frontline staff at many organisations during the pandemic.

One such example of extraordinary achievement is from the organisation I have the privilege to be on the board of, Framework Housing Association, which as part of the ‘Everyone In’ strategy has worked as a partner in the Nottingham City integrated care system, along with the local authority, Nottingham City Homes, Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust, and the wider voluntary sector.

The partnership and integrated care system has wrapped itself around rough sleepers and delivered housing and mental health services, achieving a mechanism of partnership working that has been elusive over decades of seeking joint solutions.

At its height, ‘Everyone In’ brought 63 people in to hotels in Nottingham, and the majority were signposted there by Framework’s street outreach team for rough sleepers. Many were people who had previously been refused help, either because they had no recourse to public funds or as a result of their histories of arrears and/or anti-social behaviour.

Phase two is under way, the aim being to find suitable accommodation (with or without support) for those now leaving the hotels. The Next Steps Accommodation Programme (NSAP) for rough sleepers is welcomed to support this.

‘Everyone In’ highlights acutely why we must provide more social housing along with support and related services. Housing people is the first step, and the ongoing housing and support services provided through effective partnership working are then essential.

As housing providers, in addition to contributing to effective partnerships, we must keep our own house in order and essential to doing that is managing our customer experience. Effective customer experience, and the related positive outcomes, provide significant cost benefits for housing (health and care services), increasing efficiency and releasing funds for investment in additional social housing and services, along with supporting the economy as a whole.

“Taking an external view on what we do, how we do it and what we report is an essential part of assurance for boards, councillors, executives and management”

We face the challenge as housing organisations to find the resources to increase the supply of housing and to make sure we provide high-quality services in safe communities and neighbourhoods. Managing customer experience is central to maximising outcomes.

This is backed up by the requirement for all providers in England to meet the Regulator of Social Housing’s consumer standards, and to prepare for changes following the Social Housing Green Paper. The white paper is expected later this year, and we have heard multiple times not to wait for a change in consumer standards but to take action now.

I have given some thought to some initial actions organisations may want to consider ahead of the expected changes to consumer standards.

• First, knowing what customers want and integrating customers (tenants, service users) into service and organisation development, delivery, and strategy – on their terms. Engagement and learning from top to bottom. It should be clear what the customer experience is across the organisation – not just in the customer experience team, but in all service areas.
• Second, delivering to our core purpose of providing high-quality housing and services. Focusing on the core service and integrating all other business strands to support this. Engaging in inter-agency/organisational partnerships to minimise waste and maximise impacts.
• Third, knowing how our organisation/service is performing; is the data right, do we see the right things? Who sees the data/information? Are we delivering the right outcomes? What do we do with the data/information and is it validated?
• And finally, analysing and learning from what we and others do. Continuous improvement for positive outcomes should be built into our systems and practices.

However, we do not always check thatwhat we are reporting is right. Taking an external view on what we do, how we do it and what we report is an essential part of assurance for boards, councillors, executives and management.

It is accepted practice to do this for numbers (external auditors), and we need to do it for customer experience, and consumer standards, not just finance. We need to be assured that people are safe in their homes and that they are delivered good services.

I hope my initial ideas and comments give food for thought and action. Let’s build, build, build (and acquire where suitable) more social housing with great wraparound services.

Rebecca Rance, vice chair, Framework Housing Association