As expert property managers, with a specialist hospitality background, we have a track record of maximising asset value while delivering a gold-standard of service while working in partnership with local authorities.
Leveraging this expertise, we take a solutions-driven approach in collaboration with local authorities and landlords, to help overcome some of the key challenges facing the housing market today.
By increasing operational efficiencies for councils, we are able to help individuals living in temporary accommodation to find a permanent, more stable home.
This includes support with comprehensive property and tenant auditing, enabling local authorities to better understand and rectify issues in their housing supply, in turn identifying vacant properties and improving living conditions for tenants.
The project
We were appointed to work with two separate local authorities in London to conduct a full review of tenants residing in their temporary accommodation.
Over three months, Switch Housing’s team of 10 auditors collated valuable feedback from tenants and provided in-depth property reports to the client.
By capturing current and accurate data, audit projects play an important role in informing local authority housing services, helping to ensure that all accommodation is appropriate to each household, and that any actions to improve provisions can be taken.
The Switch solution
Over the course of the project, Switch’s team made 4,000 telephone calls to tenants, following a pre-set list of 12 targeted questions that had been designed in collaboration with the local authorities to gather data across a range of key criteria.
Our connection rate (tenants who answered the questions in full) was an impressive 84%.
We also conducted 500 visits to B&Bs, hostels and hotels that were being used for temporary accommodation. By the conclusion of the project, 78% of all rooms had been fully inspected, with questionnaires completed by each tenant. The team also made 450 visits to individual homes, with 82% of all properties being successfully inspected.
The results
The project provided valuable insights to the participating local authorities, with outcomes including:
- 50% of households in temporary accommodation were identified as not having an active bidding number, whilst some of those households were placed in accommodation pending further enquiries into their housing application by the Local Authority, the lack of bidding details for those that the Local Authority had a housing duty too would contribute to further delays in moving in to permanent social housing.
- 10% of tenants said they would move out of London if accommodation could be sourced. This highlights the importance of engaging with partners outside of the capital to help relieve pressure on in-demand boroughs.
- 100 properties were found to be unoccupied, with no contact made with tenants following two separate visits from the housing team. This could present an opportunity for the Local Authority to further investigate and end the Local Authority’s housing duty to the household, resulting in significant cost savings and for those properties to be used for other households who are homeless.
- 50% of all individual properties had damp and mould, and from a total of 14 B&B and hostel visits, 8 were deemed to be a Health & Safety risk. This presented immediate welfare risks to tenants, which were then able to be remedied.
- One of the participating local authorities said the results from these audits were expected to present annual saving of £10k per family.
John Angus, Managing Director of Switch Management, said:
“The Switch Housing programme is dedicated to taking a new, solutions-driven approach to the affordable housing crisis, and an important part of this is working in partnership with local authorities across the UK – many of whom do not have the budget or in-house resource to manage the escalating demand for social housing.
“We know that there is an urgent need to raise standards in temporary accommodation while councils find stable, long-term housing solutions for families in need. By providing our consultancy and auditing services to local authorities, we can play a vital role in helping to ensure social housing provision is good quality, compliant, and appropriate to individual needs.”
To find out more about our Switch Housing services and how we can work together, contact John Angus, Managing Director : john.angus@swhm.co.uk
