Consumer standards report highlights social housing challenges

The UK’s leading housing data specialist is now urging housing providers to improve service delivery, tenant satisfaction and asset management performance.

This morning, on Monday 9^th September, Housemark – the UK’s leading housing data specialist -published their new report titled: ‘Raising the Bar’, which has revealed a number of challenges within the social housing sector.

Common themes for improvement that frequently crop up in the research include record-keeping, safety compliance and the use of IT systems for analysis such as embedded approaches to data quality for assets and tenants, and reporting systems.

Experts discovered that up to one million tenant complaints have gone unrecorded in the past year – eight times the number reported by landlords. Damp and mould issues remain the top cause for concern in social homes, but the research found one in five cases resurface within a year.

Likewise, the report emphasises the risks that are likely to crystallise with the upcoming Decent Homes Standard 2 (DHS2), predicting a sharp decline in compliance rates. Based on recent experience in Scotland, when more stringent decency standards were introduced from 2020, nearly 600,000 additional properties in England could fail to meet the new standards within the first year.

Jonathan Cox

‘The findings from this report show how far the sector has to go,’ Jonathan Cox, chief data officer at Housemark, said. ‘Housing providers must act now to ensure that they meet the new regulatory standards and provide a positive tenant experience. We know from our exclusive analysis that it takes 18 months to see service improvement actions reflected in satisfaction metrics.’

Cox added: ‘Accurate data and proactive engagement are key to identifying issues before they become crises. At Housemark, we’re committed to supporting the sector with the insights and tools needed to navigate these changes successfully.’

To conduct the research, Housemark reviewed the first 23 consumer standards inspections by the Regulator of Social Housing and augmented trends with its own unique data. Therehave been 15 compliant C1 and C2 grades, with eight non-compliant C3 grades where improvement is needed.

Other key findings from the report include:

• Only one in three residents were satisfied with the way their landlord was handling complaints – this is the lowest score of all Tenant Satisfaction Measures
• 3% of tenants reported being treated fairly and with respect by their landlords
• Three in 10 landlords improved their satisfaction scores in 2023/24
• More than half of landlords recorded full compliance for four out of the five building safety measures in 2023/24

Feature image: Chromatograph

More on this topic:

All change for consumer regulation: The launch of new social housing rules

‘Mission impossible’: Boroughs warn of social housing struggles amid budget cuts