The #ukhousing sector has been supporting communities through the coronavirus lockdown for the past month now.
At See Media, we have seen just how well our clients have risen to the challenges the coronavirus crisis has presented. But these are just a small snapshot of the experiences and learnings out there in housing comms teams.
This is why we are launching the UKhousing Comms Coronavirus Survey.
The survey is short and its aims are simple:
- To understand how housing comms teams are responding to the current crisis
- To support planning for working life once the lockdown is over
You can complete the UKhousing Comms Coronavirus Survey here – the results will be anonymised.
Survey results webinar
We will be unveiling the survey results in a webinar at 12pm on 30 April. This will give housing comms professionals the opportunity to discuss the findings and compare notes on the past four weeks with peers.
The webinar will also hear from two leading housing providers on their experiences to date of responding to coronavirus – and what the ‘new normal’ will look like post-lockdown from a comms perspective.
We are delighted that comms leads from Stonewater and PA Housing will be joining the webinar to share their insights.
Please sign-up for the short lunchtime webinar here.
We will be using the hashtag #CovidComms to promote the survey and webinar so please do share with colleagues.
Digital publication to capture findings
To ensure the survey results and webinar highlights are captured and available as widely as possible, we will produce a short digital publication that will be shared with all survey respondents and webinar attendees. This can easily be circulated to colleagues and revisited as required through our website www.see-media.co.uk.
Crucial role of housing comms teams
We know that, since the crisis began, housing providers have contacted and supported thousands of vulnerable or older customers, they have ensured they can continue delivering essential repairs, and they have focused resources on providing services such as income maximisation and tenancy support.
In short, housing associations and local authorities have made sure that, whatever other challenges people are facing, they know they have a safe, secure home.
At the heart of this effort have been housing provider comms teams. Working round the clock to ensure messages are clear, considered and up-to-date so that the right people know the right things at the right time – comms teams have been the oil that has kept the wheels of their organisations turning. Whether it is daily internal colleague updates, or being the approachable voice of their organisation on social media, this work has been crucial in allowing housing providers to deliver on their promises of support to their communities.
Please share your experiences and responses in the UKhousing Coronavirus Comms Survey so we can all learn – and build a better, more effective housing comms world once we emerge from the coronavirus crisis.
Did you like this blog?
For more blogs like this, sign-up to our monthly newsletter, here.
Stuart Macdonald is Managing Director of See Media
