Fixing the mistakes of the past
Issues around standards and repairs in the sector have received more attention after falling into the national media’s spotlight. But, as Mark Lawrence reveals, the problems are nothing new. So, why have the problems been allowed to build up, and how does the sector fix things? “I feel like I’ve been treated like an […]
The culture club
After two years of pandemic, rising living costs, looming targets for decarbonisation and many other pressing issues, how does a housing association keep all the plates spinning? Mark Lawrence speaks to Tony Stacey, Chief Executive at South Yorkshire Housing Association, about his organisation’s approach. Based in the Sheffield city region with 6,000 homes, from […]
Housing’s Next Generation 2022
Top 20 Back for its third year, our Housing’s Next Generation competition attracted entries from all over the sector, from housing associations and local authorities to supply chain partners and housing co-operatives. The judges looked at several criteria when shortlisting, including showing leadership, having a commitment to diversity and inclusion, wanting to make the next […]
Why investing and taking aftercare seriously can prevent a whole host of future issues
By Connie Garrett, Aftersales Manager, Sovereign Having started my housing career as a homelessness support worker, supporting men and women with mental health, drug and alcohol problems, I saw first hand what the offer of a permanent home meant and how life changing it could be – it’s no different for home […]
Why we’re bringing our repairs in-house
By Mark Earle, Head of In-House Maintenance Service, bpha At bpha we’re in the process of bringing our repairs and maintenance service in-house. We believe doing so will improve the repairs and maintenance service for our customers. One of the things I love about being part of bpha is that we don’t […]
Addressing repairs challenges with better tech
By Colin Judd, Solutions Architect, MRI Software After 20 years working in the sector, I’m looking at what providers can adopt to improve repairs and future gazing at the technology set to shake up the sector. In the early days, the technology wasn’t up to scratch. Unthinkable things could happen, like if […]
Ombudsman Corner
By Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman Residents shouldn’t face a postcode lottery when making a complaint. This means our Complaint Handling Code performs a crucial role in driving consistent, fairer and higher standards across the social housing sector. It’s also an important tool for landlords to assess whether they’re delivering a […]
Resident’s view
Going ‘above and beyond’ to help customers By Mary Telford, Resident, Karbon Homes With close to 30,000 homes across the North East and Yorkshire, Karbon Homes’ in-house repairs and maintenance service carried out 83,000 repairs. Living in a one-bed bungalow in County Durham, I’ve nothing but praise for the repairs service, with every […]
From the Chief Executive…Brief encounter
Back in the day, Camden Council was in The Sun newspaper all the time. Rightly or wrongly, we were a laughingstock to them. In the 80s, The Sun sold about four million copies a day. So, everywhere I went folk poked fun at me for working in housing at Camden. I avoided telling people what […]
A life in 15 questions
Jenny Neville Group Executive Director at ForHousing 1 Tell us about your career and how you ended up in your current role My career is completely random! I started work as soon as I turned 16 at McDonalds. I became a manager at 17 which was a great experience, although I probably worked […]