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Putting tenants first
Could what we are delivering be made better for tenants? Sinéad Butters emphasises the importance of putting tenants at the heart of the sector
In the past couple of months ‘putting tenants at the heart’ has been a topic of discussion with almost every group of sector professionals, government ministers, partners and colleagues that I’ve met. And never more so than during the recent Grenfell Tower Inquiry.
Have we lost sight of our tenants? Are we delivering what they need? Are we really listening to what they’re saying?
With reduced funding we’ve had to become more commercially minded so that we can make money to reinvest in new homes and services. Aspire Housing and others have responded well to the rent cuts, but in re-shaping our business have we gone too far?
“With reduced funding we’ve had to become more commercially minded so that we can make money to reinvest in new homes and services.”
As chair of Placeshapers I was overwhelmed by the response to our latest campaign launch #wecare, which showcases stories from hundreds of housing associations across the country demonstrating how communities have been improved and customers’ lives made better through the work they’ve done and continue to do.
However, I do think the time is right for us to take a look at our businesses and ourselves and consider if what we’re delivering could be made better for tenants. What does putting tenants at the heart actually mean?
At Aspire our business is strong financially – top decile cost per unit and 40% gross margin demonstrates that.
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We strive to be smarter, simpler, slicker to deliver efficiencies, and we’ve been careful to ensure that this hasn’t been to the detriment of our services.
Last year alone almost 6,000 customers attended well-being services events at our community living schemes and we now have almost 250 Dementia Friends within our business to help our customers stay well and living independently for longer.
Last year, our tenancy services team sustained over 300 tenancies and delivered over £757,000 in financial outcomes for our customers, reaching some of the people in our communities who need support the most and don’t have access to public services to help them due to public spending cuts. And just this week, with match funding from our Realise charity, we kitted out over 100 residents with new school uniforms for customers who otherwise couldn’t afford it.
So that’s it then, we’re all doing just great? Well no, not at all actually. Corporate indicators might be all be a sea of green ticks but we can all do more and we can all do better. Let’s face it, the future is not all rosy.
So, we’re challenging everything we do: our structures and working practices, our technology and our accommodation, our governance and scrutiny, and we’re looking objectively at ourselves to ensure we put and keep our customers truly at the heart of what we do. We’ve embarked on a massive journey, no part of the business will be untouched.
Tenants at the heart. Cheesy? Maybe. But it’s not an advertising strapline or a project initiative, it’s simply what we need to do.
Sinead Butters, chair, Placeshapers and chief executive, Aspire Housing
