Category: Social Housing

#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.

Beyond 2010 – go if you can.

It isn’t often that you get key thinkers in one place at just the right time, but that’s what’s happening in a couple of weeks (20 – 21st October) here in Birmingham.

Charles Leadbeater, the author of We Think, Richard Allan of Facebook, Professor Nigel Shadbolt of Data.gov.uk are just some of the remarkable people who are going to speak at Beyond 2010, an ambitious 2 days that will “show you how to deliver more for less with digital technologies”.

That we are hosting such people is one measure that Birmingham – and much of the rest of the West Midlands – really is ahead of other places when it comes to digital media and civic good. I’ll be talking about just that, sharing a platform  with Will Perrin, Karen Cheney and Robert Hardy to talk about the connection between digital technology and Big Society.

As Glyn Evans from Birmingham City Council puts it…

It is not the time to wait and see what happens -we need to be more proactive and make sure that we are leading the debate about how to realise the efficiencies and make the reforms to manage the cuts most effectively.

It may sound like I’m on commission.  I’m not, although you get a discount if you use this link.

I had some time at the Conservative Party Conference last week and learnt a great deal from the people I met. Whatever bit of the public sector you are from,  new ideas are where your future lies. Digital Birmingham has been planning this for a year: it just happens to be the right thing at the right time.

Switching on Social Media Surgery Plus

I don’t get excited very often ;-).  Today I am.

Last night we flicked a switch.  You might think it was a simple switch.  On the face of it all we  did was turn http://beta.socialmediasurgery.com/ over  to www.socialmediasurgery.com.

For me though that is one helluva switch.  It means that today you lot can start making the most of Social Media Surgery Plus – a site created to make it easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy to find, organise and report on social media surgeries.  Read more