Community Housing Cymru has been working hard to support housing associations through the pandemic, says Edwina O’Hart.
American journalist and naturalist, Hal Borland, once said that ‘no winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn’. While March 20 marked the first day of Spring with a bright sunny sky, it still very much feels like we are in the depths of a very bleak and never-ending January.
The Coronavirus pandemic has impacted every facet of the social housing sector. From supporting our tenants’ personal and financial wellbeing, to ensuring the safety of vital front-line workers, to mitigating the impact on our day to day work, it is omnipresent. It’s also not an issue that we can try and step away from when the working day ends; it’s ubiquitous in our own lives too.
Since the start of the pandemic, we have been supporting housing associations in Wales, working closely with chief executives, the sector’s dedicated Coronavirus teams and partners to ensure our members can continue to operate effectively.
This has possibly been one of the most difficult times any of us have ever faced in our careers, yetwe have seen examples of true community spirit and collaboration across the sector. For instance, housing associations in North Wales have come together to develop a Memorandum of Understanding to enable the sharing of key skills, equipment and services to each other to support workforce planning. This has been recognised as an example of good practice within the Welsh Government’s Social Care Coordination network, which I think we can be really proud of.
We are supporting members through our online forums, including Yammer, our webinars and virtual meetings to share knowledge, assets and information with each other. Never has Henry Ford’s famous quote ‘coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success’ been so meaningful.
We are a resilient sector that is always looking for ways to innovate and improve services for our tenants. One of the biggest challenges we are faced with at the moment is economic uncertainty, and supporting tenants through financial hardship. After discussions with ourselves and other partners, Julie James, the minister for housing and local government, has asked us to provide flexible solutions for people who will face monetary issues during this crisis. We look forward to working with our members on this issue to build a strong framework, which will ensure tenants, and our members who exist to support them, remain financially stable during this time.
Safety, and in particular gas safety, is also a significant concern for the sector. Of course safety is always our number one priority, and this now also includes protecting staff and tenants from contracting the virus.
Our job is to ensure members are well informed to make important decisions, particularly when it comes to safety. To support them, we have been working with partners and the Welsh Government to inform new guidance and flag concerns. For instance, on April 1 we ran a webinar with Devonshires Solicitors who outlined the legal and regulatory position on gas safety compliance, with members having the opportunity to ask questions about what the guidance means in practice.
Another topic that is being discussed in the sector is the change to legislation around evictions. Housing associations in Wales are already committed to preventing evictions into homelessness, and have made the commitment that nobody will lose their home as a result of the pandemic. However, we are very aware there still may be serious cases where a tenant may need to be removed from a property for their own safety and supported to find another home elsewhere. Our members are working on solutions and we’ll be supporting them with guidance on this.
The pandemic impacts every single part of our business. While I’ve outlined a few examples above, there are a whole range of other issues we are working through on behalf of our members. As this article goes to print, no doubt we’ll have moved on to the next concern rising up the agenda. One thing that does remain consistent though is the knowledge that we will come through stronger than ever, with new ideas and ways of working, to meet our goal of creating a Wales where good housing is a basic right for all.
Edwina O’Hart is assistant director of member services at Community Housing Cymru. CCHC has developed a resources page containing briefings, new guidance and webinars. Go here for more information: chcymru.org.uk/en/coronavirus-resources-for-housing-associations