Jahedur Rahman

Operational Director, Housing and Building Safety, Haringey Council

It’s been said that ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’. For Haringey’s housing service, building an open and positive team culture has been at the core of service transformation.

Last year wasn’t easy. We took our ALMO, Homes for Haringey, back inhouse in June 2022. In January 2023, we self-referred to the Regulator of Social Housing and were found in breach of safety standards. We also had a paragraph 49 Investigation by the Housing Ombudsman. In response, we published a 180-point improvement plan in April 2023, with a two-year deadline to get back on track.

“In developing the plan, I was determined that we addressed all the issues we were facing head on. The plan provides the blueprint for our improved service and sets out in detail how we will deliver the changes, improvements and benefits that our residents need and deserve to see,” said David Joyce, Haringey’s Director of Placemaking and Housing.

“And having open and honest conversations – at every level of our organisation and externally – have played a vital role in helping us move towards the goals we’ve set ourselves,” he added.

Since self-referring, we’ve met regularly with the regulator. Not all the conversations have been comfortable, of course, but we’ve welcomed – and benefited from – external scrutiny.

Our chief executive chairs a housing services improvement board, which includes representation from both the council administration and opposition councillors, and residents have provided a sounding board throughout. A new engagement structure is now in place to ensure their voices influence all our key strategic and operational decisions in future. And, of course, we’ve needed to bring our service with us, too.

“Creating a positive team culture is central to our journey of improvement and has been a challenge when staff are adjusting to new ways of working and integrating into the wider organisation at the same time,” David continues.

Despite the challenges, things are turning round. For example, in the last 11 months we’ve reduced the number of homes without a valid electrical certificate (EICR) from 8,282 to just 650.  We’ve invested £12 million in compliance, including a new system to support our processes going forward. We’ve reduced the outstanding fire risk actions by 50% and brought 1,000 homes up to the Decent Homes Standard.

Since I joined Haringey Council 12 months ago, I’ve been mindful not to endorse a blame culture on past failures. The new governance process has enabled me to create a safe space for managers to share where they are, draw a line under the legacy issues and focus on where we need to be.

Whilst the guiding principle is implementing our housing improvement plan, we’re on a journey to fundamentally change and improve the way we work. This means having honest conversations.

I hold quarterly leadership forums so that managers can hear from me and my leadership team and external speakers. (Guests have included Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway, the Regulator of Social Housing and HQN’s own Alistair McIntosh.)

Because good work isn’t always recognised and mistakes are held up as evidence, I also use these forums to reward and celebrate good practice and staff who have gone the extra mile.

The Housing Service was also well represented at the council’s corporate staff awards recently, gaining staff further recognition. Support Officer Qasim Qureshi, who won the Courageous Award and Officer of the Year Awards, commented:

“I’ve been working for five years in Haringey Council and as a person with a learning disability, I’m very happy with what I’m doing … What I do love about my job is working with residents and being in the community, and I have a great team to work with as well. It’s a positive foundation on which to build.”

We’re still nearer the start of our journey than the end and there’s a lot of hard work to do to achieve a culture of excellence. But every day I meet staff who are more responsive and working hard to improve performance. We’ll continue to hold ourselves accountable and make sure staff feel involved, so we can build the culture of excellence we want to be known for.