Between March and October 2020, nearly half of UK social housing organisations provided c.£1.9m in financial assistance, over 215,000 residents with advice and guidance, and made just under one million welfare calls.
That’s according to the latest collation of impact measures by innovation agency HACT, which were collected and shared by housing associations that together comprise 42% of the social housing sector.
This month’s release of impact measures is broken into two sections, with the first featuring four cumulative measures from March to October.
The second shows the first set of responses to HACT’s broadened set of impact measures. They include more detail about the advice provided to residents, the numbers of residents on Universal Credit and in arrears, as well as the numbers of residents supported into employment, training, and volunteering.
“The social value of supporting 1,285 residents into either employment, training, and volunteering is over £3m in just one month,” said HACT CEO Andrew van Doorn.
“As we reach the end of the year, the commitment and dedication of the sector continues.
“If we aggregate these figures, it would indicate that the sector has provided over £4.5m in financial assistance, made over 2.3m welfare calls, and provided over half a million residents with advice and guidance sessions, and over 350,000 food interventions since the COVID-19 pandemic began.”
Van Doorn added: “The sector, together, continues to deliver on its social purpose, creating huge impact for people and their communities.
“We are proud to be playing a pioneering role in evidencing, measuring, and promoting the social impact of the social housing sector.”
- First investors revealed for HACT social value roadmap
- HACT launches latest version of UK Housing Data Standards
- HACT confirms second group of investors for social value roadmap
HACT’s impact measures
The impact measures were developed by HACT and the Centre for Excellence in Community Investment, working in partnership with a coalition of social housing organisations across the UK.
The measures were recently added to HACT’s A Sector Together report, an anthology of stories, statistics, and viewpoints capturing how how social housing organisations responded to the COVID-19 pandemic across the UK.
The nine measures HACT is asking social housing organisations to collect and share are:
- Number of welfare calls to residents in the past month
- Number of residents on Universal Credit
- Financial support provided to residents
- Number of food interventions made in the past month
- Number of residents supported with advice and guidance, around money and debt, welfare advice, digital, employment and training, and mental wellbeing
- Total number of residents at risk of arrears
- Number of residents suppored into employment and training
- Number of young people supported
- Number of residents who feel in control
The impact measures were originally endorsed by:
- NHF
- Placeshapers
- SFHA
- Tpas
- NIFHA
- Community Housing Cymru
- Communities that work
- Northern Housing Consortium
- Clarion
- L&Q
- Sovereign
- Peabody
- Orbit
- MTVH
- Newydd HA
- Longhurst
- Irwell Valley Homes
Read next: Jo’s story: How Ongo saved my life
Are you a social housing professional? Sign up for a FREE MEMBERSHIP to upload news stories, post job vacancies, and connect with colleagues on our secure social feed.
