The housing sector is experiencing significant shifts, driven by increasing demand for skilled professionals and changes in how local authorities manage housing services. Here's a summary of these trends and potential strategies, as we see them, to assist local authorities in meeting their recruitment needs.
∙ Population growth and urbanisation: The growing population, particularly in urban areas, has led to a surge in demand for housing. This demand creates a need for a larger workforce to manage housing projects, develop policies, and ensure adequate service delivery.
∙ A complex regulatory environment: The housing sector is becoming more regulated, requiring professionals with specialised knowledge in areas like property law, environmental sustainability, and affordable housing initiatives.
∙ Technological advancements: The integration of technology in housing management, such as smart homes and digital tenant services, necessitates a workforce skilled in both traditional housing management and modern tech solutions.
Increasing insourcing of arms-length management organisations (ALMOs)
∙ A shift towards direct control: Many local authorities are bringing housing management back in-house after years of outsourcing to ALMOs. This shift is driven by a desire for greater control over service quality, cost efficiency, and alignment with local housing policies.
∙ Improved Accountability: Insourcing allows local authorities to directly manage and be accountable for housing services, leading to potentially higher standards of tenant satisfaction and more responsive management.
The homelessness crisis
Homelessness and rough sleeping remain one of the biggest challenges facing local authorities. The amount spent on homelessness has reached record levels at a time where demand has become unsustainable, resulting in a greater reliance on temporary accommodation and placing considerable strain on short and long-term resources. Greater intervention at national level is required to ensure councils can tackle this issue through increased grant funding and supported capital investment.
From a recruitment perspective, we have seen a greater demand for candidates with skillsets in housing options, homelessness, and housing development and new build schemes as well as a spike of interest in roles to specifically address property strategy and strategic asset management.
Helping local authorities with recruitment needs
∙ Targeted recruitment campaigns: Local authorities should focus on creating a compelling proposition and role narrative as well as attractive job postings that highlight the unique opportunities and benefits of working in the public housing sector. Local authorities look to place-based services to mitigate and support longer-term sustainability, lead on community engagement, and drive income generation. Explaining the opportunities for training and development and organisational ‘brand' also play a part in our attraction discussions. This also includes hybrid working arrangements and wider ‘Total Reward' benefits too.
∙ Embracing more cost effective and alternative solutions: A more proactive candidate sourcing approach is crucial for finding skilled professionals who understand the unique challenges of the UK's social housing sector. By actively seeking out candidates, organisations can tap into a broader talent pool, ensuring they find individuals with the right expertise and values.
This proactive approach not only reduces recruitment time and costs, but also enhances the quality of hires, leading to improved service delivery and tenant satisfaction. Effective candidate sourcing helps address sector-specific skills shortages, ensuring a robust workforce capable of meeting current and future housing demands.
∙ Partnerships with educational institutions: Collaborating with universities and vocational schools to create specialised programs for housing management can help to build a pipeline of skilled professionals. Offering internships, apprenticeships, and work placements can also attract young talent.
∙ Upskilling and professional development: One of the key challenges facing the sector is the pipeline of talent, and how we ensure that the next cohort of housing professionals are well equipped to deal with the demands of the role. As well as professional development, we are seeing a trend of roles within housing without specialist functions, allowing for a broader remit and greater influence in a strategic capacity to ensure any potential transition up the structure becomes more seamless.
Other key components are ensuring that current employees are provided with training in emerging areas such as sustainability, digital tools, and regulatory changes. This can help bridge the skills gap and improve retention.
∙ Employee Value Proposition (EVP): Strengthening the overall value proposition for potential employees by improving benefits, work/life balance, and career progression opportunities can make local authorities more competitive in the labour market.
The housing sector is undergoing significant changes that necessitate a more strategic approach to recruitment and workforce management. Local authorities that face increased demand for skilled professionals and the trend toward insourcing must adapt. Consider implementing comprehensive recruitment strategies, fostering partnerships, and investing in the development of your workforce.
This approach will help ensure you can meet the challenges of the evolving housing landscape.
George Agyemang is associate director within the executive interim team, Jon Dilling is head of business solutions and Pete John is senior consultant at Penna
