What’s to come in 2023?

This year is a very significant one in social housing, based on high profile sector issues such as mould and damp, impending regulatory changes, and the managing of both rent caps. At the same time tenants are struggling with the cost of living, in particular to adequately hear their homes.

At Alertacall we have developed a number of innovations that help you meet the needs that are likely to be high on your agenda.

Before looking at these, here are a few of the things that made 2022 an incredibly positive year for Alertacall:

• More housing providers started working with Alertacall for the first time than any other single year in our 18 year history.
• We deployed our Digital Switchover ready solutions that replace the need for hard wired systems – to amazing feedback (click here to see one example)
• We won many awards, with surely the most prestigious being the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for our services to social housing

It has made us very proud as a team, and it comes in the same year when we also passed the milestone of having donated over £2 million pounds of our service, to people who otherwise might not be able to afford it. That has certainly helped many people feeling the pinch.

So, what about 2023?

The tragic cases of Sheila Seleoane in London and Awaab Ishak in Rochdale have highlighted the importance of identifying the most critical repairs, and ensuring regular contact with tenants.  In fact, the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) has identified the need to offer multiple methods of communication that are appropriate to different tenant groups.  This will be reflected in the forthcoming Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs). With TSMs being introduced this year there is a need to not just ensure these are strictly measured and made publicly available, but also show real improvements in tenant involvement and engagement.

We can help landlords of both General Needs and Supported Housing meet these challenges in several ways:

• Our touchscreens will offer up to EIGHT different methods of communication between tenant and landlord, including image, voice, text, and video messaging.  This improves contact and for our clients has significantly reduced demand on their own contact centres. Available now.
• A new resident survey app allows you to collect TSMs quickly, cheaply and easily (and can be used to collect any other feedback you are seeking).  Available later this quarter.
• Our environmental sensors offer a low cost solution to monitoring temperature and humidity.  These are plug and play devices that take readings hourly. Available later this quarter.
• Our touchscreen devices have the option of a repairs app to make 24/7 reporting easy and later this year we’re building in the capacity to take photos and snapshots of repairs with that app.

We have also produced new versions of our popular guides:

• Digital Engagement: 8 challenges and how to overcome them
• Digital Switchover: Transitioning to digital services in older person’s accommodation

If you would like either of these guides or would like to know about any of the details mentioned above please contact your Client Manager or you can reach us on 0808 208 1234.