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The Week in Housing: first tenant satisfaction measures results revealed, and sector lobbies hard ahead of Budget
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Good afternoon.
The week started with the results of the first year of tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs) based on a survey of more than 200 councils and housing associations.
TSMs are standardised sets of questions that were introduced in the overhaul of consumer regulation in England last year, and reporting for the first time this year, which the government has said it will use to “understand how well landlords are doing”.
Inside Housing’s work looked at the methods individual landlords have been using to collect the data, because the regulator did not specify the methods that should be used, and researchers have consistently said that different collection methods – such as online or in-person – have the potential to significantly impact the final scores.
The new research enables people to see the different collection methods used by the 203 landlords, along with their initial scores in three key areas.
Elsewhere, the week was dominated by the sector’s final lobbying push ahead of next week’s Budget.
The week started with reports that the Affordable Homes Programme is set to receive a £1bn top-up in the Budget.
But councils in particular outline the need for urgent help. On Tuesday we reported on councils’ plea for help to chancellor Rachel Reeves as one in four say they expect to ask the government for a bail-out.
On Thursday we reported that London boroughs’ spending on temporary accommodation has hit £4m a day. The Local Government Association also warned that if the government’s only action was to confirm a 10-year rent settlement, that would still leave councils with a £7bn funding shortfall.
In the North of England, landlords have asked for more brownfield funding and a grant top-up ahead of the Budget.
In Wales, a report from the Bevan Foundation found that one in every 215 Welsh households is now living in temporary accommodation.
And in Scotland, Wheatley Group has called for an “urgent change” over the two-child benefit cap, warning that it is pushing “many families deeper into poverty”. Steven Henderson, chief executive of Wheatley, who made a personal choice to take a 60% pay cut this year, called for a more “compassionate and supportive welfare system”. Read our interview from last year with Mr Henderson here.
We also reported the sad news that national Scottish housing charity Rural Housing Scotland, which campaigns to secure money for affordable housing in rural Scotland, is to close after more than 20 years because of “a lack of sufficient funding in recent years”.
And we ran a story on how TopHat has announced that it is winding down its modular housing operations, leading to most of its factory staff being made redundant.
If the sector is lobbying for crucial additional support in the Budget, this week also saw a new campaign launched, aimed at showcasing housing as a career of choice. New Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) president Elly Hoult launched her Choose Housing campaign this week. It’s a campaign that Inside Housing, which has also been promoting housing as a career choice this year through its Housing Hires campaign, strongly supports. To find out more about Ms Hoult, read our exclusive interview from last year here. And read all about her predecessor as CIH president Jill Murray’s fantastic campaign that helped make housing EPIC again here.
The other big piece of research out this week from Inside Housing was our annual survey of chief executive salaries – which had some interesting findings relating to gender gaps at the top of the sector.
Our contributing editor Peter Apps also took a detailed look at what the future holds for shared ownership.
And we spoke to the new chair of the Manchester Housing Providers’ Group, Nick Horne, about resident engagement and why the sector should stop labelling people as “vulnerable residents”.
And I’m delighted to round off the week with the news that Inside Housing and our sister title Social Housing have both been shortlisted for media brand of the year in the International Building Press (IBP) Journalism Awards.
Shoutout to our senior reporter James Riding, shortlisted for news journalist of the year, and deputy features editor Katharine Swindells, who along with James is shortlisted as feature journalist of the year. It was a successful week for Katharine and James, who were also named in the Press Awards and Regional Press Awards 30 Under 30 list, following hot on the heels of recognition in the PPA Next Gen awards.
Peter Apps, Chloe Stothart and Robyn Wilson are shortlisted in the housing and residential journalist categories at the IBPs, and Social Housing’s Joe Malivoire is in the new journalist category.
Best of luck to all my colleagues and thanks for all the hard work this year – and fingers crossed for the sector in next week’s Budget.
Martin Hilditch, editor, Inside Housing
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