OUR SHARED

VOICEhousing.org.uk/sharedvoice

Why we need a shared voice

WHY?

The public are confused about who we are, what we do, and why. Even politicians are unclear about our collective contribution.

Here’s the rub. Many of our communications about ourselves as organisations are great. But they should build a picture of a sector which the nation cannot do without. Instead, the national perception is hazy.

We can best engage people about the national role of housing associations where there is a basic grasp of what we do. The first step is to ensure that we are all talking about ourselves in a similar way.

Our shared messagesIn late 2012, a group of chief executives and senior communications staff came together to consider whether we could create a simple, clear narrative about housing associations. We wanted to create a story which over a thousand diverse organisations could get behind.

It’s simpleThis is not a complex campaign or communications strategy. It’s three messages we can all build into our work, and a shared body of evidence we can all collect to back them up.

We want people to hear those messages, in different places and different ways, again and again. Before too long, we want to hear them echoed back when we ask people what they know about housing associations.

1 WE DELIVER HOMES THAT

PEOPLE CAN AFFORD

OURMESSAGES

3 WE ARE IN IT FOR THE LONG-TERM

2 WE INVEST IN PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES

Using them

FROM SMALL ACORNS…

Build these forms of words into your everyday messaging. They might appear as bullet points or you might simply use phrases to describe your organisation and or the sector as a whole.

Ideas:• Press releases – include them in your

notes to editors

• Speeches and presentations – use the three areas as a structure or drop the phrases into your scripts (eg “We don’t build and run – we’re in it for the long-term, so we need to build communities that will work”)

• Newsletters – these phrases can appear in lots of ways through your articles and editorials (eg “We are helping to build a new neighbourhood centre because we are in it for the long-term”)

• About us – most organisations have an ‘about us’ section on their website and in corporate literature, ensure these phrases appear

Spread the wordDo please build these into your own messaging strategy. Ensure that all staff incorporate the phrases into what they say and write.

The National Housing Federation has committed to using these messages in its own communications, helping to stitch our story together nationally.

The evidence THE FACTSAs well as getting the three basic

messages out there, we would like housing associations to start using shared metrics. We want everyone to back up the messages with similar statistics.

Choose relevant measures from the list below and use them to evidence what you are saying.

“ Last year, we helped 250 of your constituents to find a job”

is a powerful piece of information. Imagine every politician hearing something similar from every housing association. The effect would be enormous.

As an added benefit, the three messages and the evidence to back them up reflect the ‘triple bottom line’. This reporting method is used by many housing associations. It captures success in three areas:

• Economic • Social • Environmental

Measurements1+2=3

1 DELIVERING HOMES THAT PEOPLE CAN AFFORD (ECONOMIC)

• How many affordable homes we’ve delivered

• Number of households who have moved into our homes

• How many we’ve helped to get on the housing ladder

• What we contribute to the local economy in terms of jobs and investment

2 WE INVEST IN PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES (SOCIAL)

• Who we house – the profile of our customers (eg age, employment, support needs etc)

• How many people we’ve helped stay independent

• How many people we offer supported housing to (if you offer a large number, you could break this down by the kind of people assisted)

• The number of training, employment support or apprenticeship opportunities we’ve offered

• How many of those led to paid work

• The impact of community investment (notoriously hard to measure, but many are trying)

3 WE ARE IN IT FOR THE LONG-TERM (ENVIRONMENTAL)

• How long we have been operating here already

• How many homes we provide locally (owned and/or managed)

• What we’re investing in neighbourhood improvements

• What we’re investing in people’s homes (can you show how much residents will save on energy bills or similar?)

You can choose the timescale and geography to show these over.

KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST IDEAS AT:

housing.org.uk/sharedvoice

THANK YOU