NHF publishes new report on ‘making every contact count’ with residents

The National Housing Federation (NHF) has today launched a new report which outlines how social landlords can make every contact with their residents count. It shows how social landlords are making the most of every engagement with their residents to drive positive change to the condition of their homes, services and health and wellbeing.

The report, Making every contact count, forms part of the NHF’s work supporting housing associations to implement the recommendations of the Better Social Housing Review (BSHR), an independent review commissioned by the NHF and Chartered Institute of Housing into the quality of social housing.

One of the BSHR’s key recommendations is for social housing providers to improve how they collect and use data about both the condition of their homes and the people living in them. To help social landlords deliver on this recommendation, the NHF started Knowing our Homes, a programme of work which aims to develop a shared approach for gathering and using information about residents and their homes.

Today’s report was commissioned to inform this work and undertaken in partnership with Campbell Tickell. It highlights how vitally important it is to gather this information and use it proactively to identify residents who have issues in their homes that the landlord should address, and who may have other support needs that the landlord could help with. It outlines a number of principles, drawn from the experiences and expertise of the sector, to help social landlords decide how to effectively make every contact count. These principles can be applied by all social landlords of different sizes, types and specialisms. 

The case studies in the report demonstrate a range of approaches that can be taken to make every contact count. These cover areas such as which routine interactions with residents can be used as opportunities to gather additional data, residents’ views on how their data is collected, how the data is stored, managed and used, and lessons learned and plans for the future. The case studies were chosen to ensure a diverse range of organisations and include: Broadacres, Golden Lane, Homes in Sedgemoor, L&Q, Lincolnshire Rural, Livewest, Onward Homes, Places for People, Progress Housing Group, Raven, and South Holland District Council.

The NHF's Tenant Advisory Panel (TAP) were also consulted during the development of the report and shared useful feedback on how landlords can help residents to feel more comfortable sharing personal information with their landlord.

The NHF, alongside other sector bodies, will share the lessons from this report and continue to develop other resources that will help the sector to continue improving the condition of residents’ homes across the country.

Alistair Smyth, Director of Research and Policy at the National Housing Federation, said:

“The invaluable contributions to this report from across the sector build on our ongoing work to support social landlords to implement the recommendations of the Better Social Housing Review. This report outlines how important it is for landlords to build a trusting relationship with their residents, and the importance of knowing our homes and knowing our residents.

“By making every contact with residents count, the sector can be confident that we’re taking every opportunity to ensure that our core offer of a good quality, safe and affordable home with good services is being delivered. By growing our understanding of the needs of both our homes and residents, it will also stand us in good stead for the future.”

Elly Hoult, Chief Operating Officer/Deputy Chief Executive at Peabody Group and Chair of the Knowing our Homes Advisory Group, said:

“As Chair of the Knowing our Homes advisory group, I’m pleased to support this report. Good quality data is a key tool for social landlords, to make sure we understand residents' needs and the condition of their homes.

“Given the wide range of competing demands on our resources, it’s important that we find the most efficient and effective ways of gathering and updating the information we need. Making every contact with residents count is vital for all social landlords – we already use it to shape our work at Peabody.

“I hope this report is useful for social landlords and would encourage them to consider how the information here could work for them, and how data can be used to shape and improve outcomes. Good data can make a huge difference to the work we do and have a positive impact on residents' health and wellbeing.”