The social housing sector's current relationship with AI is complex, characterised by a combination of misinformation, cautious optimism, and genuine curiosity. To help industry leaders cut through the noise and gain a balanced perspective about AI's significant potential, we recently launched our whitepaper, "Embracing AI in Social Housing: Expert Insights and Frameworks for Success."
The paper was developed with extensive collaboration from AI experts within the sector and beyond, ensuring a wide spectrum of insights which combine into a comprehensive blueprint for decision-makers aiming to embrace and implement AI technology in their organisations.
Here, we summarise the core components from the paper, from outlining the current AI landscape in social housing and key drivers of why decision-makers are implementing it, to addressing challenges to adoption and looking at the crucial role industry collaboration will play. Overall, a picture emerges from the whitepaper of the significant and undeniable benefits on offer from AI in our sector, as we highlight in this blog.
How AI is used in social housing today and the key benefits
The first section of the whitepaper explores the evolution of AI and the ways it’s already revolutionising social housing today.
For example, AI-driven predictive analytics is helping numerous social landlords tailor their customers communications, ensuring messages are timely and relevant, significantly boosting tenant satisfaction. In such cases, AI algorithms analyse tenant data to identify optimal communication times and methods, leading to personalised interactions that make tenants feel valued.
Nick Atkin, CEO of Yorkshire Housing, emphasises AI's capacity for trend analysis, providing actionable insights that surpass human capability. This deep data analysis guides service development, ensuring resources are allocated where most needed. Similarly, Voicescape’s Technical Director Steven Skarratt highlights AI’s crucial role in automating routine operational and administrative tasks, freeing up officers for higher-level strategic initiatives.
The section also highlights how AI is playing a key role in income analytics, transforming rent management by predicting payment patterns and identifying risks early. This proactive approach helps landlords manage arrears more effectively, enhancing financial stability.
AI-enabled Sentiment Analysis (SA) is also an exciting prospect being explored by increasing numbers of organisations. SA gauges tenants' true feelings and experiences, allowing providers to respond proactively. Nick Atkin explains that AI can analyse conversations to identify customer sentiment, alerting providers to dissatisfaction and allowing them to address issues before they escalate.
Overcoming challenges in the sector and setting boundaries
Despite its benefits, AI adoption in social housing faces challenges, as the contributors acknowledge. However, the second section of the report demonstrates how these challenges can be overcome, offering practical lessons and advice.
Data security is a key concern and in the report Platform Group CIO Jon Cocker stresses the importance of conducting thorough privacy impact assessments and involving cyber and information governance teams to ensure ethical data usage.
Unconscious bias is another challenge that must be addressed head on. In particular, AI systems must be trained on diverse data sets to avoid reinforcing inequalities. Jon Cocker and Professor Mark Lee from the University of Birmingham advocate for explainable AI and ‘human-in-the-loop’ frameworks to ensure justified and unbiased decisions.
WISH NE Board member Siobhan Weightman further highlights the importance of data integrity and a strategic approach to data collection. Robust data governance is critical, as is an ethos of only collecting data with a clear purpose and need – ensuring compliance with data protection laws.
Transparency and stakeholder buy-in are critical too; AI should never be applied on people without their understanding and avenues for scrutiny. Nick Atkin highlights the need for clear communication with tenants about data usage and AI benefits. This transparency builds trust and ensures ethical and socially responsible AI applications.
Critically, human oversight is essential in AI-driven decision-making. AI should support, but never not replace, human judgement. The irreplaceable value of human touch in tenant engagement and ensuring empathetic and fair decisions must always be maintained.
A suggested framework and the importance of collaboration
The third section begins by examining the role of regulation and leadership in AI within the social housing sector. It highlights the importance of collaboration in developing and adopting shared frameworks and best practices. Cross-sector cooperation and internal collaboration are crucial for creating cohesive guidelines that support ethical and effective AI use.
The contributors, in particular Nick Atkin and Steven Skarratt, stress the need for flexible guidelines that encourage innovation without hindering technological progress. A culture of continuous learning and open dialogue helps leverage AI's benefits while protecting tenant rights and ensuring ethical standards.
With that in mind, the whitepaper presents a guide framework based on key principles brought to the fore throughout the document. These principles are designed to offer a starting point for readers to leverage and adapt when developing guidelines for their own AI initiatives:
- Start from the problem: Identify and understand specific challenges before considering AI solutions.
- Make data count: Collect data with a clear purpose, respecting tenant privacy and ensuring compliance with data protection laws.
- Engage stakeholders: Involve a wide range of stakeholders, including tenants, employees, and industry peers, to foster inclusivity and transparency.
- Avoid reinventing the wheel: Learn from existing solutions and best practices to avoid pitfalls and realise benefits more quickly.
- Maintain flexibility: Keep frameworks light so they can adapt to future technological advances and evolving sector needs.
Deeper dive...
AI holds immense potential to transform social housing by improving efficiency, tenant engagement, and decision-making.
Our whitepaper makes a passionate case that, by addressing challenges head-on and adopting a structured and collaborative approach, social housing providers can harness AI as a powerful and positive tool for enhancing the lives of tenants and optimising operational processes. If any of this inspires you or raises any questions you want to explore further, we’re here to help. Contact us here or download the full report here.