"Solving our recruitment problems won’t solve the UK’s housing crisis, but it will allow us to move forward more effectively. There is no shortage of talented, driven, and socially conscious people out there, and it’s up to us to find them! "
- Barbara Brownlee - Soho Housing Association
We are all used to reading articles which start with terrible statistics about housing - the number of children living in temporary accommodation (164,00) and the amount of money that leaves the exchequer for housing benefit payments (projected to be £70 billion from 2021-26) rather than grants which would support new affordable housing.
But this is not one of those articles! There is another predicament in housing, and that is one of recruitment. A 2023 study by social housing data company Mobysoft has shown that 75% of housing associations find recruitment challenging. Solving this recruitment crisis will be fundamental to improving the situation of the housing sector.
To bring this closer to home, at Soho Housing, employee turnover is almost 30% and is mainly focused in our operations team. We are very small, only 24 staff, so this turnover has a huge effect on our ability to deliver the high standard of service we would like. It is also very difficult for residents to keep track of their housing officers with turnover at this level.
We always conduct exit interviews when staff leave and the recurring theme emerging from these is high workload, with challenging residents being a key point. This is despite the second most recurring statement being that Soho Housing is friendly, supportive, and offers good flexibility and workplace benefits. Our staff survey also uncovered that staff unanimously find that their line managers are supportive, caring and offer constructive feedback.
So, what is going wrong?
Well, could it be reputation? The same Mobysoft study (2023) shows that 34% of candidates decided not to pursue a career in housing because of the sector’s poor reputation.
Or maybe it’s the fact that support services, adult social care, the police, and community-based mental health providers have been forced to push their thresholds for service so high that virtually none of our residents qualify for help any more. This has left our frontline housing staff dealing with some very difficult issues with no external or specialist support.
Or perhaps it’s the fact that apprenticeships in the sector have particular challenges due to being overly bureaucratic, restrictive and unresponsive to technological advances. This means that they take too long to complete and are never updated in line with changes in the sector.
Whichever one of these issues, and there are probably more, we know that we need to do everything we can to promote the real benefits a career in housing can bring. And the pay is good!
A great opportunity
One of the major issues affecting our ability to recruit is the incorrect perception that starting salaries are low.
This could not be further from the truth - indeed, the average starting salary for a housing officer in London is actually very competitive and outperforms other roles like conveyancing, which might be considered by those looking at the property industry, and nursing, which might attract those who are more socially conscious.
As well as competitive pay, working in this industry provides the opportunity to pursue a multi-disciplinary career. Well suited to those who have a wide range of skills, being a housing officer could mean that you’re on-site lending an ear to residents, assisting and managing contractors, or reporting and collaborating with your team. No two days are the same!
A step in the right direction
Solving our recruitment problems won’t solve the UK’s housing crisis, but it will allow us to move forward more effectively. There is no shortage of talented, driven, and socially conscious people out there, and it’s up to us to find them! The issues that our sector faces are certainly serious and should be treated as such, but we must also highlight the good work that the social housing sector does.
We must be clear that reputation is not the only factor affecting housing recruitment. Fully modernising current housing apprenticeship schemes, fostering closer ties between housing associations and local educational institutions and ensuring school students have housing on their radar as a potential career are all needed.
Ultimately, the reputational difficulties that we face must be treated seriously, but any response to the recruitment challenges facing the sector must not have too narrow a focus. A lack of support, poor pathways from education to industry, and a poor reputation all affect our ability to recruit, and we must take them all into account if we are to tackle this problem.
