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Themes for Christmas: looking ahead to 2022
As the year draws to a close, Nick Atkin, chief executive of Yorkshire Housing, looks ahead to the challenges and opportunities the sector faces in 2022
Carbon reduction
We need to look at what investment is needed to decarbonise our existing homes, through phasing out gas, planning for retrofit and setting net-zero targets. It’s important that we stress test the impact of this on our business plans. We must also learn from and implement the recommendations from the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury report.
Housing supply and market
We must continue to keep a close eye on the housing market. This includes managing any potential slowdown or increase in interest rates alongside pressures on household income.
Reputation
We need to rebuild the sector’s reputation, looking at how we manage repairs and ensure that the customer’s voice is heard. We can do this by taking a proactive stance and responding positively to the select committee inquiry. We must use the findings from the Housing Ombudsman’s report into damp and mould as a springboard to an approach that places increased emphasis on landlords to deliver the solutions.
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Investment
To help address the housing crisis, we must continue to invest in our existing homes as well as new supply. We must make sure we can continue to make sustainable investment decisions at a time when there are more competing pressures than ever before.
Satisfaction
We must review and respond to the consultation on the proposed Tenant Satisfaction Measures to make sure these reflect the priorities of our customers. We need to build on our existing success in incorporating the customer voice in our decision-making so we have comprehensive processes that enable us to fully capture our customers’ views and in-depth data about the homes they live in.
We mustn’t forget colleague satisfaction either, ensuring we support them through changes in how, when and where they work. This will allow us to recruit and retain the very best people.
Tackling inequality
We must provide more support for customers who are facing an increase in the cost of living and the choice between eating and heating. Key to this will be building on the NHF survey, enhancing our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion, not only across our workforce, but also by ensuring different customer groups can easily access services that meet their needs.
Modern homes
We need to support ambitious growth plans by committing to building modern, sustainable and energy efficient homes at scale. By using modular and other innovative construction methods, we’ll be able to provide customers with cost-effective places to live. We need to embrace the use of smart technology to improve the customer experience and make managing our homes more efficient.
A different approach
We must adapt to a shift in how we work post-COVID, moving to hybrid models and embracing innovation as an enabler for change. We must rethink how we use data, smart technologies and customer insight to move us from providing a reactive customer service to one that is pre-emptive.
Safety
We must maintain a focus on building and fire safety, supporting residents who continue to be affected by the cladding crisis. We must learn lessons from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, applying a principle of collaboration across all of the ‘Christmas’ actions. This should involve housing associations, councils, Homes England, combined authorities and the knowledge of the private sector, to make better use of our combined resources and drive innovation forward.
Nick Atkin, chief executive, Yorkshire Housing
