Heartwarming Homes – working together to make a difference

The NHC, Placeshapers and Tpas came together to launch the Heartwarming Homes toolkit, to support housing providers to engage with residents about energy efficiency improvements. The project came about following the NHC’s Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury and Placeshapers and Tpas research Residents’ Voices in the Net Zero Journey. Both pieces of work had similar themes around importance of effective communication and engagement with residents.

Project lead Kathy Thomas explains more about Heartwarming Homes.

Tell us a bit more about the toolkit:

The Heartwarming Homes toolkit is an easy to navigate website which guides social housing providers through the process of communicating with residents about energy efficiency projects from start to finish.

There are some useful resources, such as template letters, a video tour of a retrofitted home, and template FAQs. However, it’s much more that – if you want to successfully engage with residents you need to look at your whole process, not just the materials you send them.

I worked with a group of tenants, and they were passionate about the need for tailored one-to-one engagement with residents, with someone they know and trust. Everyone has different circumstances, and you need to account for this. We looked at things from a Behaviour Change Perspective, so the toolkit identifies what potential barriers are to having work done, and how these can be overcome.

 

What do you think are the most important lessons from the toolkit?

That a ‘one size fits all’ approach to engagement doesn’t work. Having dedicated customer engagement officers and offering tenants tailored support, for example a loft clearance service for those that need it, requires additional investment but it’s well worth it. It will pay dividends in terms of customer experience, and those residents will share experience with neighbours, friends and family. It also helps avoid costly delays which come with not being able to access peoples’ homes.

 

Heartwarming Homes sounds a collaborative project, can tell us a bit more about who you worked with?

It was very collaborative – the original idea for the project came from the NHC, Placeshapers and Tpas, but a wide range of organisations and individuals were involved in the development and delivery.

As mentioned, I worked with a tenant advisory group which included people who had been involved in the other pieces of work and some new faces too. The insight they gave was invaluable. I also worked representatives from the social housing sector who shared what was working well, and lessons learnt. It was important to get input from both perspectives.

All this was overseen by a steering group, which alongside the three lead organisations included representatives from Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, the Carbon Literacy Project, Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission and West Yorkshire Housing Partnership and more.

 

Has the toolkit been a success?

The website’s had over 9,000 hits and this keeps growing which show’s it’s being used by the sector. Prior to launch we did a test and learn phase with a wider group of sector representatives and residents and the feedback was positive. The message was clear that the toolkit would be used, and the advice was realistic to implement.

What meant most though was the feedback from residents. I’ve pasted a couple of examples below.

“It makes such a refreshing changethat it’s written in ‘speak easy’ language, it’s understandable. It makes it sound totally different to most of the stuff I’ve read before that’s been put out.”

“It takes away any sense of “them and us” which people sometimes have at times of change. It allows opportunities for questions to be asked.”

 

What have been your personal highlights?

I worked with a very supportive manager and was given the freedom to take the project in the direction I felt was right.

I also stepped out my comfort zone and ended up speaking at dozens of events about the project. It was a real confidence booster and has helped me develop new skills.

 

Find out more about Heartwarming Homes at https://heartwarminghomes.org.uk