Adapting through Covid and beyond
The housing sector was rocked by the coronavirus pandemic back in March 2020 and it is still experiencing the knock-on effects of the lockdown over a year on. From the outset, HYELM – we are a housing provider and registered charity which aims to address the shortage of affordable housing for young people and key workers in London – sought to continue offering support to its residents without interruption. I want to explain here how being both a charity and a housing association affected our response to the pandemic and what the key learnings have been throughout.
During the past year our focus has of course been on protecting both our residents and staff, ensuring they all have a safe and harmonious place to reside and work, and that no one is unfairly left without a home due to the pandemic and consequent lockdowns. For us, there is no question that this ethos and the way in which we have adapted over the past 18 months have predominantly been driven by the fact that we are a charity.
Our focus is on our residents, not profit. The choices we make are all about our residents and very early on we realised how serious an impact the lockdown were likely to have on those that live with us - key workers and those in entry level employment with no other means of financial support. So accepting our responsibility as not just a housing association but also a charity, we developed and deployed a bespoke Welfare Package.
Financial hardship
The package provided residents who were experiencing financial hardship with up to £50,000 worth of support, as well as rent deferments, detailed financial and employment advice, and access to an independent benefits adviser who was on hand to guide anyone that needed help navigating the benefits application process.
If eligible, a proportion of a resident’s rent would also be paid for by Universal Credit, with additional money to be lent through a repayment programme or - in some cases - granted by HYELM to provide extra financial support for purchasing essentials.
Due to our status, we’re able to reinvest the money we generate through rent and our commercial spaces into providing better facilities and services to support our residents. As part of our commitment to protecting the wellbeing of our residents, we explored offering a service that provides complimentary personal development training to those who had been furloughed, made redundant or had their hours changed. This was in order to ensure that the period of uncertainty in their lives could be used for personal and career growth.
We believe we’re more than just a place to stay. We’re a tight knit community and one where everyone looks out for one another. That’s why we also explored employment opportunities within our Old Street development for residents who lost their jobs due to the pandemic. This resulted in two residents joining part of the team and learning valuable, transferrable skills in the process.
At a time when it was reported that key workers were being refused rental agreements during the pandemic, our charitable ethos enabled us to offer convenient accommodation to those working on the frontline the result being that we rehomed three of London’s key workers in our Old Street development during the height of the crisis.
Dedicated page
Our management team aims to be as transparent as possible. It’s what we owe our residents as not only a housing association but also a charity. So, throughout the unsettling and worrying periods of lockdown and the ever-changing restrictions, we introduced a dedicated page on our website to keep both staff and residents up to date with the latest government guidelines. We also trialled offering a Resident Assistance Support Programme - a counselling service line that residents could use free of charge.
Whilst we have fantastic relationships with all our residents and always communicate that we’re here to listen, we appreciated that some residents would prefer speaking to a professional in the field, hence why we implemented the programme. The soft trial was a success, with positive feedback received, so as a result we’ll be rolling this offering out to our wider community.
A key learning from our experience navigating the effects of Covid has been how much investing in technology can improve your offering as a housing association. The past lockdowns severely pushed forward our agenda to move into the digital sphere and as a result we will now be launching a new housing management system.
Residents will be able to access all aspects of their account with us on the dedicated app, be it checking in on their rent statements, logging maintenance requests or communicating with the operations team. Not only does this improve the turnaround time on any requests or issues, but it also makes it incredibly convenient for our residents, many of whom will be using similar apps for other aspects of their life, for example banking.
Safer place
Another major benefit of investing in this technology - and one that sped the implementation process along - was that it makes our residence a safer place to live and work in whilst we’re all still at risk of infection. Residents and staff can all access a wealth of information remotely, meaning we can still provide our outstanding, personalised service, despite having reduced teams in the office on site.
As part of our investment in technology, a door entry intercom system was also rolled out earlier this year, meaning residents could talk to anyone who had rung the bell for them at the entrance on their phone anywhere in the world rather than only from their room. Adapting to suit the on-the-go lifestyle of our residents is helping to improve the overall experience of those living with us and there is no question that the implementation of these positive changes was hastened by the challenges of the pandemic
Whilst the last 18 months have been incredibly unsettling – it has shone a light on just how important the service we provide really is. Our ethos of being a charity and not just a housing association has meant we have always put our residents above anything else and as a result, our extremely passionate and dedicated management team has played a vital role in implementing a series of fantastic initiatives that have helped to bring both our team and our residents closer together.
