When Eastlands Homes placed an article in its tenants newsletter earlier this year asking tenants to think about whether they could really afford Sky, cigarettes, bingo, drinks and other non-essentials, it caused an 'interesting' debate on what is essential in the context of paying your way

Stephen Covey once said, “Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication”. In this article, Barry Marlow outlines how success in managing and advising someone else on their budget takes skill and trust, and if you really want to engage with tenants in debt who might be reluctant to talk to you, don't pre-judge them.

"Big Data". The new buzzword in the housing sector. As Bernard Marr states, it is still such a foggy term that it attracts many myths ranging from ‘big data is not useful to anyone’ to ‘big data will help us solve all our problems’. Like most things, the truth can be found somewhere in the middle.
Housing organisations like all other businesses can already delve into existing data repositories and transactions using big data techniques to extract maximum analysis, insight & value for money. Here we outline how.

Commercialisation. It’s the new buzz word in the social housing sector alongside ’big data’.

But aside from diversifying into areas such as market rent , shared ownership and build for sale, is there a real understanding of the extent of commercialisation required?

Is there an inevitable need to adopt a more commercial approach merely to survive?