Tenant Wellbeing Feature
Safety & Security
How housing providers can support tenants effectively
Martin Brown of FM Outsource, explores how housing providers can develop tailored customer service strategies that tackle sensitive concerns and meet tenants’ needs effectively
S
ocial housing has been cast into the spotlight in recent years, with tragic stories of those living in poor conditions catapulting the sector up the public and political agendas.
Of course, many housing associations and registered social landlords
are already doing a great job when it comes to accommodating tenant needs. Where improvements are needed, a series of encouraging interventions and efforts have been made to tackle wider issues across the industry, from introducing Awaab’s law to taking steps to improve housing quality and giving a greater voice to tenants. Going forward, developing, and maintaining positive tenant-landlord
relationships will be key to creating a better future for social housing residents. Of course, tenants are the customers of housing providers and the fundamentals of a good customer service strategy remain important. However, the diverse, sensitive, and oſten emotive nature of tenant queries, concerns, and complaints require tailored care and more considered communication than in the cases of some other sectors. Here are three principles to help landlords – from social housing to private
rental sector providers – create effective customer service strategies that support their tenants effectively.
COMMUNICATIONS TO ACCOMMODATE DIFFERENT TENANT NEEDS While customer service strategies in many other industries are targeted to specific customer demographics, the housing tenant population is diverse and there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. Social tenants come from a wide range of backgrounds and their needs
differ depending on circumstances, meaning customer service requires a more tailored approach. For example, a greater proportion of social tenants are from a Black and
Minority Ethnic (BME) background compared to all households, meaning that English may not be the first language of some customers. To avoid excluding tenants, housing providers should offer multilingual communications, and outsourcing this type of support can be a more viable option to accommodate the breadth of tenant languages. Having an agent who can speak fluently and understand the nuances of the conversation helps to ensure that customers feel that their concerns are heard and – crucially - not misinterpreted. Meanwhile, the data shows that a greater percentage of social renters are
disabled, compared to the total population. Disability comes in many forms, and therefore different tenants may have different communication needs. Providing a range of different ways to contact the housing provider enables as
www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMMApril/May 2024 | 47
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