The Social Housing White Paper - should it be welcomed?

Viewpoint has done plenty of work in the social housing sector over the years, helping housing associations and councils capture feedback from their tenants, (‘customers’) so they can act upon that feedback and improve the services they provide.

Following the impact of Grenfell, the long-awaited white paper on social housing has a strong focus on giving residents a stronger, more impactful voice in decision making.

Our MD, Alistair Ponton got to speak with Gareth Parkin, Housing Services Director at South Yorkshire Housing Association, to get his views on the paper and the potential benefits for organisations and customers of a stronger resident voice.

Gareth Parkin, Housing Services Director at SYHA

(A summary of the White Paper is available here on the Inside Housing Website or you can download the NHF’s summary of the social housing white paper here

A: Should the white paper be welcomed?

G: We welcome anything that gives our customers a louder voice and a reach into our organisation.

We already operate a customer-centric way of delivering our services and this amplifies that voice.

This direction is needed when something like Grenfell could happen - how could this happen?

The report states that the concerns and issues were well known, so there was an obvious disconnect between what was known, and customers knowing who they needed to go to, and who would take responsibility for it.

A: What is the White Paper going to improve for housing associations and customers?

G: It should provide greater transparency about the things that drive change in housing associations.

What the white paper adds very well an expectation of a different level of insight.

For many years we have been reliant on KPIs, for example, how many things are done on time - very quantitative focussed. The white paper really celebrates a qualitative element and using that data to drive improvement in a tangible and transparent way.

Customers want to be able to see the results. So: “OK I told you this, but what has that done? What difference does that make to me?”

It is aspiring to a process where people can connect the dots in a tangible and clear way. There is an emphasis on collecting continuous data, and a feedback loop that should drive improvement that is so overt for people to see.

A: What will be the impact of greater communication and feedback?

G: It will absolutely create greater trust between landlords and customers. It closes the loop.

They will see that whatever they are telling their landlord, a tangible change will follow.

If people are feeding back into a black hole of an organisation, it creates a sense of apathy, and people become reluctant to say anything, and nothing happens about it.

There is a sense that housing customers are not seen as consumers compared to how you are viewed or treated in other such relationships - if you go to John Lewis or something.

It’s about changing that balance, re-balancing that relationship. This is what customers want to see, and as a consequence, will also drive further inclusion.

A: Is this the future for the landlord/tenant relationship?

G: I think the end point is that housing associations will deliver services with the customers' influence all over it.

The customer will be influencing our services at each stage of the way, in an active way, rather than being a passive recipient.

Co-design and coproduction are terms that are bandied around, but when I see it done really well, it is so overt, that you can see the customer voice and stamp all over it.

There is real alignment in the sector in how much we harness the customer voice, and in how we deliver our business.

A: Does the white paper give you any concerns?

G: Many of our customers tell us that there is still a real stigma attached to social housing. It is viewed as seemingly a secondary offer, not something that should be aspired to, and just taken in the absence of something else you can’t have. But for many, many people it is their primary choice. It’s not a poor relation.

But the wording and tone of the white paper suggests it is still seen as a second rate choice. The relationship was much better expressed in the green paper where it was clear that this is a choice for many people. But the white paper has a different sentiment, which is unfortunate.

I think people will rally against the tone of the paper, in how things are implemented. Providers are really conscious of it and I don’t think they’ll be any dilution in the ambition of housing associations because of this.

The risk comes with customers who want to engage closely with the white paper, as it fulfils a negative perception about being a social housing tenant. This is very unfortunate as it builds that perception that people have done something wrong for not wanting to own their own home.

A: How will SYHA prepare for this legislation?

G: What we won’t do is stay still. We aren’t going to wait for legislation around customer satisfaction, we are always looking how we can improve this, continually. Indeed, the view from the regulator is to crack on with some of this, don’t wait for the legislation.

We are looking at how we can get insight from everyone. Finding out who doesn’t engage? Who is harder to reach? We are looking at all methods to get a broader range of people and capture their voice.

It’s really timely for us, as a key element of our five year strategy is a piece of customer co-design called ‘Doing the Basics Brilliantly’.

We are asking customers what are the key services and functions that as a consumer, people expect from us to deliver really well?

Whilst our ambition is to deliver lots of wonderful, aspirational services, we should not lose sight of the consumers’ point of view on the things that they can expect to be delivered really, really well.