Welcome to Housing Matters

2020 will probably always be remembered as the ‘Coronavirus Year’. By March we had begun to make good progress on projects to deliver our new Corporate Strategy (see last issue). After lockdown, however, our priorities had to change very quickly.

Our most immediate concern was tenant and employee safety – what work could we undertake to ensure that our tenants’ homes remained safe and decent places to spend lockdown in, without exposing either tenants or our workforce to increased health risks?

We prioritised emergency and urgent repairs, suspending our routine repair services. We continued to look after our communal gardens, recognising that the work could be done safely, but also that the appearance of schemes has an impact on our tenants’ sense of wellbeing.

Our office-based staff transitioned overnight to working from home and attending meetings with tenants, colleagues, partners and stakeholders on video rather than face to face.

Staff recognised that we all had to lend a hand to do what needed to be done and there was a really strong ‘we’re all in this together’ feeling, and a real desire to keep everybody safe and well. I joined other members of Broadland’s senior team, redeployed repairs operatives and staff from across the organisation on a rota of intensive sanitisation duty at our sheltered housing schemes to protect our most vulnerable tenants.

Our staff also stepped up to provide practical and emotional support for tenants. Those at most risk were phoned regularly to ensure they had what they needed, or simply to have a chat to relieve the isolation. Staff volunteers collected and delivered shopping and prescriptions to tenants who were self-isolating or needed extra support.

The Broadland Board maintained consistent oversight of what was happening, meeting by video initially weekly, before settling into fortnightly meetings in May. The Board approved an interim corporate strategy and revised budget in April, reflecting the reality of the Coronavirus restrictions and prioritising projects that had a direct impact during the pandemic.

Eight months later, and with a second national lockdown recently announced, there remains considerable uncertainty on when the pandemic might be behind us, but we have established a new normal.

After consulting extensively with tenants about reintroducing our routine repair service, we were delighted to resume this at the start of July, and we have already cleared a large proportion of delayed work. We were also able to fully resume lettings to people nominated by our local authority partners, and we are working extensively with local authority and other housing association partners to tackle homelessness in our region.

Overall we can be pleased by how we responded to probably the most significant business continuity event in our history. I am hugely grateful to our tenants for their patience and understanding. I am also exceptionally proud of the Broadland staff team for the commitment they have shown to our tenants, to each other and to the Association.