Talking to Social Landlord/Housing Association Expert: James Tickell
If you work in the private property sector, your perception of social housing may be skewed. Whether it’s through lack of experience, misinformation from the press or outdated beliefs, what you think happens and what actually happens are probably two very different things.
With a background in private sales and lettings, Viewber’s Co-founder, Ed Mead, is on a journey of discovery to understand how the social housing sector really runs. Through a series of working relationships and in-depth conversations with key social housing figures, Ed is getting to the heart of today’s challenges and hearing about exciting developments.
His interview with James Tickell – a Partner and Co-founder at Campbell Tickell – was a real eye opener, especially for its insights and myth busting. James’s role at Campbell Tickell – a multi-disciplinary management and recruitment consultancy focusing primarily on the public and not-for-profit sectors – allowed him to speak to Ed with both compassion and candour.
James was keen to highlight the size of the social housing sector, saying that it is much larger than people imagine – a scale that he feels those in the private rental sector (PRS) especially underestimate. The millions of homes under the management remit of housing associations (HAs) and a growing need for more social housing units is where James identifies the first of many challenges.
To illustrate, James says several years ago, a large HA may have had an allocation of 5,000 properties. Now, a large HA may be responsible for managing 100,000 homes. What will not have changed is the people running the HA and the mindset of those working within. Positively, James says the sector is beginning to accept that organisations need a different approach when their growth is exponential. He expects new management styles, fresh governance and upgraded IT systems to transition large HAs away from small-company thinking.
James says the increasing volume of social properties that are managed by one entity is the result of recent merger behaviour, with smaller HAs amalgamating and larger HAs incorporating others. One of the common issues of such activity is a legacy of systems and processes that have to be absorbed, and the resulting lack of data integrity can be the root of many issues.
One of those is the handling of sub-standard stock and it is such a sensitive issue that it can become the elephant in the room. Contrary to what the media report, James says the majority of social housing stock is in good condition. Some poor standards, however, do slip through the cracks as a result of adjusting to the aforementioned mergers and legacy systems. For James, the solution is better data sharing and systems that can talk efficiently to each other.
Encouragingly, James comments that HAs are beginning to invest large sums of money into new IT systems, and this will quickly pay off in the shape of a more responsive approach to tenants and their concerns.
The geographical spread of stock can also be an issue when it comes to monitoring standards and some properties are sometimes overlooked purely due to the distance between them and the HA’s company office. Thankfully Viewber is proud to be assisting HAs in this area. With HAs able to book a Viewber to visit and inspect any UK property on its behalf, a whole-portfolio inventory is possible and issues quantified in KPI-beating timeframes.
Maintaining existing stock isn’t the only agenda-topping issue for HAs, and there is equal emphasis on the creation of more social housing. Worryingly, James says the sector could probably let another million social housing homes in if they were available and with the threat of tenants finding it increasingly untenable to rent in the PRS, thoughts are turning to where additional social housing will come from.
James is keen to shed light on new social housing enterprises and partnerships that will boost future supply. In contrast to popular belief, HAs no longer rely on Section 106 housing from private housebuilders as an exclusive supply chain. Nor are HAs outbid on parcels of land to build their own homes in some sort of two-tier property society.
Of importance in this equation is profit. If you are less driven by profit, you will have more money to buy sites and James says in many instances, HAs are outbidding private housebuilders for land and paying more than they need to because they can.
Some HA funds also come from profit-making subsidiaries within the parent company, with many HAs offering properties in the PRS at market rate and building homes to sell on the open market. Others own factories that specialise in the modern method of construction or modular building to provide additional income streams and boost pipelines.
The picture is being helped along by a growing number of registered ‘for profit’ housing providers. Big investment companies and pension funds are piling in (in 2015, there were 25 registered ‘for profit’ providers – today, there are more than 50), with familiar names including McCarthy Stone and L&G diversifying into the social housing sector. In many cases, not-for-profit HAs are also registering ‘for profit’ subsidiaries so they can work with investment partners to build more homes than they could on their own.
So, where does James think the future of social housing lies? He feels there’s every reason to be optimistic with a number of positive trends emerging. The mixed economy of ‘for profit’ and ‘not for profit’ providers should help address the lack of stock, while social landlords are aware they need to be more in tune with needs and aspirations of their tenants. Of immediate concern will be the role of HAs in tackling poverty and taking up a more active role in the community.
