Effective solutions in difficult times
The news in the past few months has been particularly gloomy in local government, with Nottingham City Council at the end of November joining a growing list of local authorities issuing a Section 114, effectively declaring bankruptcy. This council’s predicament, a tale of tight budgets and rising customer demand, is one that will strike a cord with many housing providers who enter the new year with a troubling set of challenges.
While this climate can seem overwhelming, it is important not to lose sight of the success stories in the housing sector that demonstrate bold innovation; in fact these examples become even more impressive when one considers the current backdrop.
Here at Just Housing Group (JHG), we have played our role in many of these examples of best practice: our case study hub shows how through expert advice, hard work and original thinking, we have been able to work with registered providers to produce better outcomes for them and their customers. I wrote in the summer about an exciting project JHG is involved in with four housing providers who have begun a successful journey towards net zero (case study here), while in other fields our expert team have worked with a rural housing provider to strengthen its in-house team and helped other large organisations prepare for the rigours of the Building Safety Act.
One case study that seems particularly relevant at the moment is our work with a large London borough: this project involved a client who wanted their housing repairs and maintenance services to be remodelled and re-procured, as their old contracts were coming to an end. The borough also wanted to reconsider their model of delivery to improve their service delivery to tenants and leaseholders. Our case study explains how we navigated this terrain.
It is a tough climate out there, but if you are a housing provider looking to improve your service, do get in touch: at Just Housing Group, we have a track record of finding effective, strong solutions despite the pressures many registered providers are currently grappling with.