Data: The key to unlock better experiences for tenants

The juggling act: Meeting regulation, keeping tenants safe, and reducing emissions

There is more attention now than ever on tenant experience and safety, with new regulations and accountability standards introduced over the last year for landlords. Simultaneously, the push towards net zero requires providers to upgrade their existing properties, requiring more proactive maintenance and the need to navigate complex funding requirements.

This presents three major challenges housing associations face today: meeting regulatory demands, improving sustainability, and enhancing tenant experience.

“The demand for safe, affordable, and high-quality housing is more urgent than ever, yet housing associations face growing responsibilities as regulations become more stringent.” - Nick Chapallaz, Managing Director, GeoPlace

With the Social Housing (Regulation) Act now in effect, housing associations are adjusting to new standards, such as a grading system assessing landlords on safety and quality compliance. At the same time, landlords are looking to identify how to make their properties more sustainable and make these changes as effectively as possible.

To reduce emissions, housing associations must establish baseline measurements and devise reduction strategies. However, inconsistent data and calculation methods complicate accurate measurement across the sector.

“In order to reduce emissions, housing associations (like any organisation) must accurately measure their baseline emissions and use this information to work out an emission reduction strategy. These tasks can be challenging as limited data and varying calculation methodologies have posed challenges regarding the sector’s ability to measure its emissions in a standard, comparable way.” - Danielle Hughes, Sustainability & Treasury Manager, The Housing Finance Corporation

This is all while tenant complaints to the Housing Ombudsman are increasing, with tenants demanding decent living conditions and holding landlords accountable. Social housing landlords face intensified scrutiny to address issues promptly and comply with standards.

“Complaints to the Housing Ombudsman are rising, as tenants can legally demand decent living conditions by holding landlords accountable for damp and mould. Social housing landlords must respond to issues quickly while complying with the law as the Housing Ombudsman now have more authority to oversee compliance. It is increasingly difficult for landlords to maintain a positive experience for tenants whether undertaking preventative maintenance, responding to emergencies, or delivering retrofit decarbonisation projects.” - Nathan Ward, Channel Sales Development Manager, Ordnance Survey

The importance of reliable data

To navigate these challenges effectively, housing associations need data-driven insights for informed and efficient decision-making.

“Data can be used to address many of the challenges we’re seeing across the industry. I think we need to question the way things have been done for a long time and ask ourselves if we can empower the journey faster with data. Affordable housing development is a good example of this. The UK needs more affordable housing but there’s a question of whether these developments are being built in the areas where we’ll see the strongest impact. We should be leveraging data to help inform the decisions within this industry rather than relying on ‘business as usual’. - Paul Birkin, CTO, Homely

Location data is a critical tool in this process. By pinpointing the exact location of properties and understanding the surrounding environments, housing associations can make smarter, more strategic decisions—whether for planning large-scale renovations, addressing tenant concerns, or meeting government standards.

Ordnance Survey addressing data, available through the OS National Geographic Database (NGD), provides comprehensive information on over 40 million addresses across Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This dataset includes Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs), which allow housing associations to accurately identify each property and link it with additional data, such as Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings and ownership records. This level of integration empowers housing associations to streamline maintenance, improve sustainability planning, and enhance their compliance with regulatory standards.

“Location data is crucial for housing associations as they face multiple challenges, from providing quality, affordable housing to meeting stringent fire and safety regulations, while also addressing the shift towards net-zero and greener housing solutions. When data analysis and sharing are reliable, housing providers can operate more efficiently, delivering better services to residents. UPRNs are the data key that enables housing associations to achieve this.” - Nick Chapallaz, Managing Director, GeoPlace

“Datasets with accurate property address and building data showing the type of property, age, construction materials, building structure, and EPC ratings can be used to inform maintenance and repair decision-making, as well as sustainability planning. Using authoritative address data is also essential for gaining funding for decarbonisation activities for social housing providers to enable them to reach emissions targets for their existing housing stock.” - Nathan Ward, Channel Sales Development Manager, Ordnance Survey

By leveraging reliable, authoritative location data, housing associations can navigate the complex landscape of modern housing challenges with greater precision, efficiency, and confidence.

How to implement your data efficiently and enable smarter decision-making

More data is not always better or necessary, but there are clear steps to take to ensure you are implementing your data efficiently:

“Housing associations must first understand their desired outcome and then identify what data is necessary to achieve them. This will help to ensure they are working proactively, rather than always on the back foot.” - Paul Birkin, CTO, Homely

Using data without a clear purpose can waste time and resources. Housing associations should begin with clear goals to ensure data is used effectively within operations.

“Housing associations can harness location data more effectively by integrating it into their operations, leading to improved decision-making, efficiency, and service delivery.” - Nick Chapallaz, Managing Director, GeoPlace

By leveraging data-rich platforms, housing associations can also make location-based decisions that consider environmental risks, asset management, and tenant needs. This integration allows for more responsive and informed management across all levels of the organisation.

“Data-rich platforms and datasets can empower housing providers to make location-based decisions about specific assets and services, improve customer experience to their tenants whilst also navigating through the environmental risks embedded in these decisions.” - Nathan Ward, Channel Sales Development Manager, Ordnance Survey

With mounting pressures to comply with regulation, enhance sustainability, and improve tenant satisfaction, housing associations can turn to trusted and reliable location data, enabling experts to address challenges effectively and deliver tailored solutions.

UK’s national mapping service, Ordnance Survey provides a choice of specialist partners that can support a range of organisations, including social landlords, to find the right location data to meet their specific needs.