How More Effective IT Improves Social Housing Stock Condition
Housing condition claims by social housing residents are on the increase. The Homes (Fit for Human Habitation) Act has made it easier for residents to make claims, which may explain some of the increase. But, this shouldn’t mask the reality that behind the vast majority of claims there are residents who feel that their home doesn’t come up to an acceptable standard.
According to the English Housing Survey (EHS), the proportion of homes considered ‘non-decent’ in the social housing sector is 12.3%. Across England that’s getting on for half a million homes.
Behind statistics there are always stories, and that story is rarely one where a social landlord is indifferent to the standard of housing it provides. More probable is a story where vital information gets lost in the system.
The demands placed on social housing providers are ever-increasing, both from new legislation and higher customer expectations. Net zero carbon and the drive to make homes more affordable to heat will add to the pressure.
Efficient IT for Social Housing Maintenance
What all of this means is that highly efficient IT systems are indispensable in modern social housing repairs and maintenance services. Everything from the initial customer contact through to creating, completing and quality checking each repair needs to be streamlined and trackable.
Efficient information sharing is one of the key expectations of the new Housing Safety Bill. Cloud-based technology allows all stakeholders including supply chain partners to access and update real-time data securely.
Effective asset management must be underpinned by a comprehensive and reliable database of stock condition data. Ideally, this should be easy to interrogate to enable preventative maintenance and highlight trends and risks.
Contract Mobilisation
Specifying the IT infrastructure and interfaces to business systems is a critical aspect during mobilisation. Any shortcuts taken at this stage will inevitably cause problems later that could result in unhappy resident customers and a damaged reputation.
Osborne has implemented multiple robust IT systems for social housing repairs maintenance based around Microsoft Dynamics 365 (MD365) and a suite of synchronised applications. These solutions play a vital role in helping us to maintain high first time fix rates, 100% safety compliance and high customer satisfaction ratings.
For more information about how Osborne uses IT to enable efficient and customer-focused delivery of social housing property services, contact Jo Fletcher ([email protected]).
