Achieving excellence in equality and diversity

Achieving excellence in equality
and diversity through resident
engagement
James Caspell
Customer Insight Officer (Diversity)
Safia Jama
THH Resident Scrutiny Panel &
Coordinator, Somali Integration Team
Introduction
Hello! Soo dhawoow!
This presentation will cover three areas:
1.Why equality and diversity is relevant
2. Identifying barriers and areas for
improvement through engagement
3. Delivering improved services through
resident engagement
Case study:
Somali Tenant Engagement Project
Introduction:
Tower Hamlets Homes
Tower Hamlets
Homes
manages
21,000+
homes – over
20% of all
homes in
Tower Hamlets.
Introduction:
Tower Hamlets Homes
Ethnicity of tenants
50%
42.0% 41.6%
Over 80% of tenants are BME
(compared to 44% across the
borough)
40%
31% of tenants are 60+
30%
20%
16.4%
10%
Ba
ng
l
ad
es
hi
O
th
er
BM
W
E
hi
te
Br
itis
h
0%
55% of tenants are women
Over 7% of tenants are
unable to speak English,
and 9% unable to read English
1
Why equality and diversity
is relevant
Is Britain still an
unequal society?
The differences in average earnings and
life expectancy between areas of the UK
are now wider than they were in 1937
(when this photograph was taken).
1
Why equality and diversity
is relevant
Do our services
meet diverse
customer needs?
Example: Disability
covers a wide range
of needs.
Not just:
But:
Why equality and diversity
is relevant
1
Is there inequality in housing services?
Example: Overcrowding in THH tenanted households
25%
of
households
overcrowded
18%
12%
Bangladeshi
Somali
White British
households
households
households
Source: London Borough of Tower Hamlets Housing Register 2012
Why equality and diversity
is relevant
1
Eth
n ic i
ty
sgen
Tran
Age
der
Demographic
ity
tern
ma
d
an
ncy
gn a
e
r
P
Gend
er
gion
Reli
f
belie
and
Who people are
e
ag
rri
a
dm
an
p
i
sh
D is
er
abil
tn
r
ity
pa
l
i
v
i
C
Behavioural
Attitudinal
What people do
What people say
Socio-ec
onomic
Sexu
al O r
ienta
tion
Identifying barriers through
resident engagement
2
Cheap
Quick
Reflective
Customer profile info
Satisfaction surveys
Sharing research and analysis
Complaints
Mystery shopping
?
Methods of insight
Externally commissioned
Resident engagement
Identifying barriers through
resident engagement
2
Is engagement a greater driver of overall satisfaction than
condition of property?
100
% residents
who rate
overall service
as "excellent"
or "good"
75
50
25
0
"Poor" or
"terrible"
"Fair"
Condition of property
"Excellent" or
"good"
Taking views into account
Source: THH Monthly satisfaction tracker, all tenures 2009-12
2
Identifying barriers through
resident engagement
How reflective is your resident engagement?
2
THH has engaged
with a number of
seldom heard
groups – or those
with specific
needs
Identifying barriers through
resident engagement
• Black and Minority Ethnic (BME)
Men
• BME Women
• Women
• Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual
residents
• Somali residents
• Disabled residents
• Young residents
• Muslim residents
3
Delivering improved services
through resident engagement
Case study:
Somali Tenant
Engagement
Project (STEP)
3
Why we engaged with Somali
residents?
In August 2010 THH found that Somali
tenants were twice as likely to be
in rent arrears compared to White
British tenants.
Somalis were also not participating in
existing engagement structures.
Over half of Somali’s felt that their
property size did not meet their
household needs (compared to an
average of 28% for all tenants).
How we engaged with Somali
residents
3
Personal interviews
Partnership with community organisations
Ocean Somali Community Organisation (OSCA)
Somali Integration Team (SIT)
Focus groups x 2 for Somali women
Revealed that illiteracy (in both Somali and English) was a
significant barrier to communication with Somali tenants
Overcrowding
Rent arrears
Recruited Somali Engagement Officers
Case work
Strategic improvements e.g. profiling, translations
3
What we learned from engaging
with Somali residents
Lan
t
Trus
Con
fid
gua
g
e ba
rrie
rs
enc
e
ployees
No Somali em
Eth
n ic i
ty n
ot r
eco
rd e
d as
s
t
“So
n
e
m
mal
t
i
m
i”
com
k
r
Wo
Overc
rowd
ing
care
Child
L it e
rac y
bar
lusion
ial exc
Financ
rier
s
3
What THH now know about our
Somali residents
- 407 Somali households – 5% of all
THH tenants.
- 54 households have asked THH to
communicate to them in Somali
- 80% of Somali tenants are in receipt
of housing benefit
- Overcrowding more significant;
there existed a lack of knowledge of
the bidding process amongst the
Somali community
3
How did STEP deliver improved
services for Somali residents?
Reduced Somali rent arrears by 30 per cent
Developed more Somali translations than any
other landlord in the UK - plus “talking leaflets”
Helped three Somali women find employment
Helped at least three households move into larger
properties - including one family that had been on
waiting list for 18 years)
Recruited a Somali tenant onto Resident Scrutiny
Panel
3
How did STEP deliver improved
services for Somali residents?
Somali residents moved from being the least satisfied
community group with our services, to the most satisfied.
59%
2009/10
82%
2011/12
The challenge
Four tests for
every housing
organisation
Do you know the equalities profile of
your customers across all strands?
Have you carried out analysis and
tested if services are accessible,
inclusive and fair for all groups of
customers?
How can you use resident
engagement to address any
barriers?
What are the outcomes? How will
you share them?
For more information or advice,
feel free to contact:
James Caspell
Customer Insight Officer (Diversity)
Tower Hamlets Homes
[email protected]
T: 020 7364 6137
http://www.towerhamletshomes.org.uk
Safia Jama
Coordinator
Somali Integration Team
[email protected]
T: 020 7790 2650