Drawn up by the National Federation of Housing and the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Better Social Housing Review sets out seven key recommendations. Several address issues that ALMOs, because of their governance structures, inbuilt tenant engagement and specialist housing focus, should be well placed to meet. These include a refocus among landlords on core purpose, making sure tenants have a voice and influence in the management of their homes, and development by landlords of a proactive local community presence.

The NFA ‘s formal response suggests members use the BSHR recommendations to review their performance and is supporting them through regular best practice webinars, events and subject-specific officer group meetings.

Recent NFA reports with partners from the local authority sector have showcased various aspects of sound housing management: our ‘state of the sector’ publications include Excellence in Partnership and Management (updated 2022) and Critical Friends: What tenant scrutiny brings to better landlord performance (2023).

The core focus of the bespoke NFA action plan has been to support members on two key aspects of the BSHR findings: the need for full and up-to-date audit of social housing stock  that can accurately inform maintenance programmes; and the development of new standards to define what an excellent repairs and maintenance service looks like.  

We are supporting the NHF’s Knowing our Homes project which aims to establish a shared, standardised approach across the social housing sector for gathering and using information about property condition and residents, so that data from any part of the sector is comparable with the rest. We have surveyed stock-retaining local authorities and those with ALMOs to understand their approach to stock and tenant data, and get a baseline for the sector.

It reveals how ALMOs monitor the quality of their homes through regular stock condition surveys and proactive gathering of data. This is reflected in results from the first half-year of Tenant Satisfaction Measures performance data gathering showing, on average, ALMO tenants are highly satisfied with the way their landlord maintains their homes, and with repairs response times.

ALMOs have also been preparing for the new Consumer Standards, making sure they can produce evidence that shows their services are tailored to the needs of tenants and equitably delivered. This work has also included reviews of data gathering and systems.

The NFA is a partner in the CIH-led Rethinking Repairs initiative to develop and apply new standards defining what an excellent maintenance and repairs process looks like, which will report in the new year.