CIH responds to Housing Ombudsman’s Repairing Trust spotlight report

The Housing Ombudsman has today released its new spotlight report on Repairing Trust. 

The report shows how negative experiences of repairs and maintenance significantly undermine residents’ trust in their landlords. It demonstrates the continuing importance of work ongoing across the social housing sector to improve culture, tackle stigma, and develop collaborative approaches to service design that centre the voice and expertise of residents, as well as contractors. 

Published two years on from the release of our action plan in response to the Better Social Housing Review, the report shows that while issues with repairs and maintenance are still too frequent, there are also examples of good practice that the sector can learn from and replicate.   

Commenting on the publication of the report, Gavin Smart, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: 

“CIH welcomes the Housing Ombudsman’s spotlight report on repairing trust. Underpinned by a range of evidence, it reinforces what we know from our work on the Better Social Housing Review – that poor repairs, communication, and complaints handling can undermine trust between landlords, residents, and contractors.

“The report describes examples of good practice, showing what’s possible when repairs and maintenance services are resident focused and underpinned by a culture that is open, responsive, and empathetic. The good practice highlighted in the report mirrors that gathered in our Rethinking Repairs and Maintenance project, which found that working collaboratively with residents and contractors is the surest route to service improvement. 

“The report acknowledges that the challenging financial environment facing landlords is exacerbating issues with the delivery of repairs and maintenance services. Its calls for an independent funding review and a statutory resident advocacy body are timely. CIH continues to call for the long-term investment that is needed to make all homes warm and safe to be released at the upcoming Spending Review. We are committed to supporting the sector to deliver excellent repairs and maintenance services, drawing from our own good practice work as well as the insights in this report.”

We encourage eligible CIH members to sign up for the Housing Ombudsman’s webinar about the report, taking place on 24 June.