Southern rolls out new housing management model

Southern Housing is moving away from traditional patch-based housing management and introducing a new approach which it said will increase efficiency while still ensuring local accountability.

The 80,000-home social landlord under its new model appoints a staff member called a ‘local link’ to take ownership of each area and oversee services in a particular region, block, estate, or scheme.

The ’local link’ manages a team of housing officers operating on a patchless basis to target resources in line with demand.

The model is also intended to square the circle of Southern’s predecessor organisations having different approaches to housing management. 

In 2022, Southern merged with Optivo to form Southern Housing, with one legacy organisation operating a patch-based approach, with the other having a patchless system.

Troy Francis, corporate director of operations, is spearheading the implementation of the new model. Francis will step up to the role of executive director of operations in the spring when Jane Porter retires. 

In a comment piece for Housing Today, he wrote: “This approach combines the efficiency of patchless working (matching resources to demand) with the local accountability and connection to place of traditional patch-based housing management.”

>>See also: In search of a magic patch size: How social landlords are rethinking their housing management approaches

Southern has trialled the model within its independent living and home ownership team and the results are “promising, with early signs of improved resident satisfaction”, said Francis.

It now has 38 local link team leaders responsible for a portfolio of around 2,000 to 3,000 homes in place. As well as being able to deploy housing officers flexibly, they can also make use of other operational resources including special ASB, lettings, tenancy sustainment, customer accounts and community investment services.

According to Francis, the launch of the new approach will continue incrementally due to dependencies on the company’s IT integration, with a full implementation expected by 1 April 2025.

He added that a “strong communication campaign” will accompany the launch to “ensure our residents are aware of our new approach and the positive difference it will make to our services.”