#madwd Housing session, notes.

Rough notes on the housing session at the Making a Difference with Data.

  • Dearth of stuff on housing.  is it because the information is inaccessible to difficult to collect or is it that it isn’t very interesting.
  • What is the next big thing like a crime map – could it be from housing?  Unique Property Reference Number – if these were freed up that would make a huge difference.
  • Land registry business model is at issue for how we can know stuff about the homes we live in.  You have to pay to put information and then people also pay to take information out!  We need a sensible charge when information is put in – and non to take it out.
  • that sort of change comes from “very dull pressures” around –  lumping them into one data corporation is the hope that this sort itself out.
  • Public land is difficult to get hold of.  CLG currently trying to pull together a database of public owned land.  PROD Public request to order Disposal being potentially revamped.
  • Work being done to empower residents to use online tools to hold power to account. cc’ing the world.   Birmingham civic dashboard mentioned – where are they spending the most money on housing repairs.
  • Supported housing has different issues – needs to have very good engagement re learning disabilities and other tenants – maybe not so good in older people’s housing?
  • We need to skill up active citizens to understand digital tech better – that will help them appreciate the value of data.
  • If you release more information you create demand for information – which is both a problem and an opportunity.
  • general needs you tend not to engage with residents unless they are being a nuisance – rent areas, anti social behaviour.
  • Dont argue that people are no online – this is 2011 and we need a glass half full view of just how many people are online.
  • Potential advantages to wi-fi ing neighbourhoods to improve organisational efficiency and allow local community web activity to flourish.
  • No standard required for web access to be included in home.
  • Choice based letting where you could put data about properties.
  • Report available on voids – re- let times rents etc. But that’s neighbourhood wide information.
  • Affordability maps – combine with private information?
  • Re let times to let people know how long they will have to wait on that waiting list.
  • Mapumental
  • People want to spend time with their clients rather than throw data into a computer.

One comment

  1. Kerry James says:

    Interesting notes, sounds like this was a great session.
    Not convinced that housing information is that hard to collect and some of it is potentially very interesting (voids, turnover, demand, community participation, etc).
    Question is, what’s the point and how will it benefit people? With providers facing tighter budgets and bigger ‘to do’ lists (both on day-to-day housing services and assessing impact of Big Society) there needs to be a carrot or stick to make sharing work. Something around local offers and linking online/offline participation to spending priorities might be interesting?
    A lot of providers have accepted that ‘not online’ is not an argument, there are plenty of landlords on Twitter and Facebook to prove that point.
    UPRN release, now that’s another thing… is it really necessary? Hands up any homeowners who would encourage mortgage providers to list their property details online 🙂 If the discussion was cross-tenure maybe it’s more workable; or I could be missing the point here?!
    Anyway, thanks for sharing this Nick.

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