HACT reports on impact made by housing associations in UK During Covid-19
During March and April, UK social housing organisations made over a quarter of a million welfare calls, and identified over 120,000 vulnerable residents.
HACT has announced that during March and April, social housing organisations, representing a quarter of the UK housing sector, made over a quarter of a million welfare calls and identified over 120,000 vulnerable residents.
Andrew van Doorn, Chief Executive, HACT, said: “The first set of impact measures we’ve received from social housing organisations demonstrates the phenomenal amount of work they made in supporting residents and communities in the first six weeks of the Covid-19 crisis.
“If we were to aggregate these figures across the sector, it would indicate that the social housing sector made over a million welfare calls to residents during this time. This is a significant and notable achievement.”
In total, 41 social housing organisations, with a combined stock of 697,801 homes – or just under 25% of the total housing association stock in the UK – sent HACT their data around the nine measures it launched in May 2020. These measures were developed by the Centre for Excellence in Community Investment, working in partnership with a coalition of social housing organisations across the UK.
Andrew van Doorn continued: “These measures demonstrate the invaluable work of community investment teams to internal colleagues and board members. They serve to evidence the essential role that social housing organisations play in place, delivering the social purpose of social housing.
“Whilst reporting on the impact we’ve had, HACT, the Centre for Excellence in Community Investment and the sector are now turning our collective attention towards the longer-term impacts of Covid-19. We need to address how we use our resources and presence in communities to be a key part of the recovery and reset that is now needed. As we move forward, the social purpose of social housing organisations and the social value we create will be even more important.
“We are currently receiving data returns from organisations for May, which will help us to evidence the continued impact of social housing organisations.”
SFHA has endorsed HACT’s impact measures.
Learn more by visiting HACT’s website.