Crisis Management: The Importance of Pre-Planned Decant Processes

By ICAB

It’s been a month since the much anticipated and discussed change in our government, and The King has spoken! So far, the new party in power has hit the ground running with its housing pledges – including wanting to build 1.5 million new homes, and it looks to be forging ahead with devolution – to transfer more powers from Westminster to local councils. This has been described as a ‘devolution revolution’ and it will mean that councils will benefit from more flexibility and control to improve their public services.  This will result in more control over budgets and better understanding of communities and resident needs, which is a step in the right direction.

Time will tell as of course, in the coming months, there is a lot of hard work to be done by the government, with its newly formed Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) which aims to positively impact every aspect of residents lives.

No one can deny that we are in the midst of a housing crisis – shortage of housing stock, older housing in need of repair, lack of affordable housing, overcrowding, families living in temporary accommodation as well as damp and mould, electrical safety, concrete structural issues, cladding issues, extortionate rents and no-fault evictions – the list seems endless.  With the limitations of budget restraints thrown in, it has almost reached breaking point.

According to Shelter:  there were 200k new homes built in the mid-1950s – many of those are now ageing with potential structural and damp and mould issues. In 2020, Just under 10k were built – not nearly enough for the burgeoning population.

Councils and Housing Association Housing Managers have been calling for change, especially to build and maintain their ageing housing stock, and to solve the lack of viable voids for decants. If an emergency should occur – the possibility of having to decant residents because of a fire in a large block, for example, could cause more disruption to the residents who are already going through a traumatic time.

This goes for planned remedial works, and project work too – A busy Housing Manager has many tasks to juggle – and the careful planning of resident decants can make the whole process seamless, both from the Housing Associations perspective, but more importantly the resident’s, especially if there are vulnerabilities.

That’s why a robust and tested temporary accommodation decant process needs to be in place before peril strikes. Securing a supplier beforehand will improve efficiency; removing the pain points of Housing Managers having to ‘shop around’ online for a supplier, or even having to arrange the accommodation themselves. This would add huge stress to both the residents and to the housing team, who are already dealing with rising costs, budget restraints and sometimes lack of resources. Valuable internal resources will be freed up so they can focus on more pressing issues.

As experts in arranging both planned and emergency decants and temporary accommodation solutions for tenants and residents, ICAB is an approved supplier on the PfH Accommodation and Decant Framework. We use our 25 years of expertise and comprehensive accommodation solutions to serve social housing organisations, including many of the G15. Using a specialist decant supplier will not, of course solve the national housing crisis – however it will ensure that residents are swiftly and efficiently decanted when the need arises.

Hopefully devolution will mean that decisions can be made and budgets secured so that this can all be arranged more swiftly and residents are temporarily housed with minimal fuss.

One thing is for sure – it will be an interesting year ahead – but if the government’s pledges come to fruition, it will hopefully improve the lives of so many people in social housing.