Engaging residents to improve home safety
Inside Housing spoke to at-home life safety specialist Aico’s Gareth Butler about the importance of building trust to maximise the potential of devices that improve the indoor environment for tenants
Inside Housing spoke to Aico’s Gareth Butler about the importance of building trust to maximise the potential of devices that improve the indoor environment for tenants (sponsored) #UkhousingIn association with:
In recent years, the sophistication and capability of home life safety technology has improved significantly. But how important is the human factor in maximising this technology’s potential – and what can landlords do to bring their residents along?
Inside Housing spoke to Gareth Butler, relationship manager for West Midlands at-home life safety specialist Aico, to find out.
Read more
What is home life safety and how has it changed?
Historically, the term was used to cover smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, but it has evolved; today it includes Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide sensors.
It has moved from responsive detection of an event, such as fire, to a more proactive model, analysing trends and looking at insights around the indoor environment as a whole in order to keep that home healthy and safe.
How much of a difference can resident engagement make to home life safety?
Residents are absolutely key. It’s each landlord’s duty to install these life safety devices and maintain them, but it’s crucial that residents understand what they’re there for, and how to operate, maintain and test them.
Without engaging with residents, sometimes they’re not aware of what the devices are. For instance, the detector in the kitchen that looks like a smoke alarm could actually contain multiple sensors.
Education is a massive part of home life safety, to ensure residents know what devices they have and how they work.
What are the most effective ways to engage with residents?
One of the most effective ways is through community events. These don’t have to be solely focused on home safety; it’s usually part of a larger event that’s trying to bring the community together to have open, honest conversations. People can seek advice on things like managing their money or how to heat their homes, and from there we can give out home life safety tips.
It’s important to make things fun, too, with activities like face painting for the kids. It helps to create that community vibe, and that’s really important. These kinds of days are really useful and we’re always glad to be a part of those conversations.
Gareth Butler, relationship manager for the West Midlands, joined Aico in 2022.
He has 24 years of experience as an electrical engineer and manager, specialising in domestic and commercial works in social housing.
Mr Butler promotes best practice, engages communities and creates safer homes through innovation and education.
What are the challenges involved in engaging with residents? How might they be overcome?
Housing providers are duty-bound to install these systems – but residents don’t want people continually coming through their doors, do they? So it’s all about communication. It’s about trying to make sure that each resident understands why we need access and what we’re there to do. We can do our best to make the installation process simpler, less time-consuming and less disruptive.
For landlords, the question is: can they be transparent with their residents? Can they work with the local community to make them more aware of the work they need to do on building safety?
How important is trust? How can landlords develop it?
For the most part, people welcome any work their landlord does to improve their homes. However, sometimes a lack of trust on the part of residents can lead to issues around gaining access to properties. A big part of this is saving people inconvenience; if they know you’re coming and what you’re there to do, and if you can build as much work as possible into one appointment, that will help to build trust.
Some people are wary of technology itself. We can bring along devices with clear tops. Residents can look inside and see what they are, while we explain clearly what the devices are there to do. That kind of engagement and transparency can help to build trust.
Ultimately, trust comes through ongoing resident engagement. The more you engage with people, the more they get used to you – and that’s how you start to win their trust.
How much of a role can residents play in designing home safety policies and procedures?
It’s fundamental. If you’ve got a resident committee or resident panel, they should be involved in all areas of the business, with the ability and oversight to challenge, ask questions and scrutinise any policies and procedures that are either current or which may be implemented in future. It brings transparency and accountability, and it develops trust. It gives residents a voice and lets them know they are being heard.
As we look now to the regulator and consumer standards, resident involvement is a key part of that. The organisations that are getting the C1 outcomes today are on that journey already.
Can you give an example of these sorts of approaches?
One of the many registered providers we work with is 23,000-home landlord WHG. They have been on a journey with their residents for several years. They brought their resident committee down to our centre of excellence; we held a residents’ day so they could look at the technology that was going to be installed in their homes, well ahead of the start of works, with the aim of building trust and support. It was about getting that buy-in. We asked residents: would you use this technology? How could it be improved? They helped us to develop products via this dialogue.
The community champion model also works really well. Recently, I was talking to one of WHG’s champions, who has been in that role for a number of years. She told me how many posts she puts on her social media platforms promoting key messaging: things like testing alarms, or allowing access for WHG to complete gas safety checks. She has become a spokesperson for the organisation as a resident. That can make a massive difference within a community.
There may be trust issues at times, but if you have a resident who’s telling her neighbours, “We need to do this, it’s for the benefit of your home and your family,” that’s a great piece of work.
Are these approaches commonplace these days?
Everybody’s on their own journey, and some organisations are further into it than others, but these approaches do work. Resident engagement helps to improve access rates, and that’s where all landlords want to be. They want to be able to get into their properties to maintain them to a good standard. It’s about how we deal with individuals rather than just generalising people.
The organisations that are a success in this landscape are all being really proactive with their residents. That’s the key takeaway. It’s the landlord’s housing stock, but it’s the resident’s home. That’s the way we need to look at things. We’ve got to come in and provide these services and life safety devices, but it’s still someone’s home, this place that they live in with their loved ones.
It’s about giving them that stake in their home and the journey – and ensuring they feel as safe as possible in it.
Related stories
