A New KPI For Social Housing
Updated: Nov 24, 2022
Social Housing - A New KPI for Rent Arrears
Rental income is a major source of finance for housing associations to meet the costs of managing and maintaining their housing stock.
It goes without saying that the prevention of rent arrears is an important part of the tenancy management function to improve rent collection.
As social landlords are placing an increasing emphasis on alternative approaches to rent arrears with a focus on preventative, rather than reactive enforcement strategies.
Is it time to focus on proactive prevention rather than arrears recovery when it comes to staff performance?
Staff Performance
Targets for rent arrears collection are often set on an annual basis.
Housing officers involved in the collection of rent are often monitored, reviewed, and evaluated on their performance on rent arrears recovery through weekly rent reports and monthly officer performance reports.
What if this was flipped on its head and instead you measured performance based on proactive arrears prevention measures, with greater emphasis on how staff are helping tenants avoid rent arrears in the first place?
Yes, rent arrears prevention is already a key part of any housing management policy.
Preventative measures often include new tenants receiving information on rent and the variety of payment methods available; assessment of universal credit and assistance with making digital claims; assistance with money and debt advice, employment support and early intervention as soon as arrears arise.
This is all first-class support in relation to tenancy sustainment.
BUT what if it was possible to see into the future and predict which tenants may fall into arrears before it happens?
This insight could mean that caseloads are greatly reduced, resulting in effective use of time and much more impactful results for tenants and your team.
Rent Arrears Prediction AI
With our Rent Arrears Prediction AI, you can accurately predict which tenants may fall into arrears 6 months in the future and understand their ability to pay BEFORE it even becomes a problem.
You can use this insight to:
- Tailor prevention services to meet their individual needs
- Identify optimal repayment plans that they are most likely to stick to
- Reduce the number of tenants falling into arrears
- Prioritise your caseload and contact the right tenants at the right time, freeing up resources to get on with the preventative work
This is a far more supportive experience for tenants who may be struggling financially and emotionally as we all know that debt impacts wellbeing.
It’s also better for managing staff performance as they are proactively doing something positive before it becomes a problem, rather than a reactive enforcement approach which is difficult for everyone involved.
Ultimately it will reduce the number of tenants in arrears, improve rent collection and maximise income.
Our AI experience
We employ the latest artificial intelligence and predictive technology – drawn upon over 8 years of experience and over 300 AI projects - to help housing providers:
accurately predict rent arrears cases before they happen (3-6 months before)
automatically differentiate between long-term and short-term cases
predict tenant behaviour meaning caseloads are greatly reduced as income teams are contacting the right tenants at the right time in the right order helping to drive down arrears.
The dashboard includes a performance monitoring tool so that you can measure and track everything all in one place and use it for regular staff performance reviews.
Our solution delivers unprecedented insights in real-time at under half the cost of other solutions providing a positive return on investment (ROI) within 5 months of implementation and an overall ROI of at least 5x the cost of the service.
Get in touch and we’ll arrange for a free demo to see how quickly you can start measuring proactive arrears prevention, reduce arrears, and increase rent collection significantly.