With around two and half million housing association households in England, housing associations are responsible for providing homes and support for almost six million people.

A single housing association can be responsible for managing thousands of homes, part and parcel of which involves managing communications between external suppliers, colleagues and an even greater number of tenants. Within their own organisations, housing associations encompass multiple departments and teams—from digital to customer service to finance.

With so many moving parts and organisational requirements, many housing associations are looking to digital communications solutions to improve their efficiency, streamline their communication methods, and exceed tenant expectations.

Balancing tenant engagement and operational efficiency

Probably the biggest challenge facing housing associations at the moment is maintaining and improving tenant engagement and satisfaction. Whether a tenant needs help with the payment process from the income team or wants to report a leak to the landlord, housing associations are responsible for providing the channels that tenants need to reach out to them and raise their issues.

A number of high-profile incidents, from the Grenfell fire in 2017 to the death of a young boy due to mould in 2022, have highlighted the tragic consequences associated with a breakdown in communication between tenants and housing providers.

When reporting an issue or asking for guidance, tenants don’t want to navigate complex customer support systems or repeat their problems to multiple departments before accessing the assistance they require. Housing associations, therefore, need a solution to manage a high volume of communications each day, while dealing with individual tenant concerns effectively and sensitively, as quickly as possible.

Housing 2023 showcases 8x8 capabilities

Recently, professionals from across the housing sector, including local authorities, house developers, and key suppliers, gathered in Manchester to attend Housing 2023, Europe's largest housing festival and conference.

8x8’s partner and long-term member of the Procurement for Housing (PfH) framework, Social Telecoms, attends the Housing event each year. Rob Mottram, Marketing Manager for Social Telecoms shared his experience of the event, “Housing 2023 is a must-attend event for Social Telecoms. As a leading telecommunications and data services supplier for the social housing sector, it’s a brilliant opportunity to connect with a diverse range of people across the housing industry and discuss the latest communication technologies. Each year, we’re seeing a growing interest from housing providers looking for contact centre and unified communications solutions to solve their operational challenges and improve tenant satisfaction.”

For the first time, Housing 2023 hosted a dedicated stage on tenant and resident engagement, recognising its growing importance. Some of the key themes touched on included enabling an organisational culture that values the tenant voice and experience, and the importance of digital inclusion and improving communication channels, themes that are very much aligned with 8x8’s values.

Rob added, “As people continue to face challenging times, it’s more important than ever that tenants feel their concerns are being listened to and they aren’t faced with an overly complicated process when reaching out for support. Diversifying the communication channels available is a crucial way in which housing associations can empower tenants and their staff. “While a video call may work well for one tenant who favours a face-to-face human conversation, a chatbot or (ICA) may be preferred by another who’s on the move and needs a quick and short answer. This is why we recommend 8x8 CPaaS solutions to our clients because it provides multiple communication channels, from video calls that for one housing association resulted in 39% of repairs being handled remotely, to SMS integrated on one platform on the cloud.”

What’s next for housing associations?

During the pandemic, the focus for housing providers was facilitating the ability to work from anywhere. Now, the opportunity has shifted to enabling tenants to communicate with housing providers from anywhere, at any time, and via their preferred communication method.

Rob noted, “A large housing association in Merseyside has recently conducted an Out of Hours review of their organisation where they looked at the different touchpoints from their tenants during and out of hours. They’re assessing what channels may be missing and what improvements could be implemented to deal with queries more effectively to guarantee seamless communications between staff and tenants.”

Tenant satisfaction has also recently been brought front and centre by the government’s introduction of the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures Standard in April this year. Registered housing providers are now required to regularly collect data and report on tenant satisfaction and how landlords are managing their homes. Again, facilitating frictionless communication between the housing association and the tenant plays a crucial role in boosting tenant experience and satisfaction.

Transforming tenant engagement

By using 8x8, housing associations can give their tenants multiple channels to tap into that best suit their needs, while enabling smarter and faster responses. Plus, having this all connected on one platform allows different teams within the housing association to collaborate more effectively and reduce operational costs.

Speech and text analytics offered by 8x8 Contact Centre is also particularly useful for housing associations. Real-time insights and conversation logging makes it incredibly easy for housing associations to instantly check sentiment and review performance so they can implement further changes to improve customer service.

If you’re looking to improve tenant satisfaction, while enabling effective communication between your staff and tenants, download our helpful guide.