We should always be learning and looking to improve in ways that will benefit our tenants. We heard a powerful message on innovation in housing from Steve Roden – Bolton at Home and the Disruptive Innovators Network – at our Leadership Summit 2023. One of the barriers to innovation in the public and social housing sector is fear: “radical innovation is difficult, but it is our insurance against irrelevance.”

Innovation in housing:“Every day is a school day”

Tenants expect quality services from their housing providers and these expectations are always changing as technology evolves. Everything is moving faster; we need to be ready and willing to adapt.

As different challenges arise, we may not be able to tackle them with the same methods we have used previously. To keep up with the ever-changing environment, we need to look forward, foster new leadership skills, and make innovation a real possibility within our organisations. Leadership teams should champion innovation and create supportive environments for innovation to thrive. At the same time, we must always ask: who does the innovation benefit? “Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should,” stated Steve Roden.

By the end of the keynote, we had a much deeper understanding of the barriers to innovation in housing, the need for an open mindset, and elements to create agile organisations.

The presentation set a motivating tone for the rest of the Summit, which was hosted by our German member bauverein AG from 14-15 June.  Alongside numerous best practice sharing sessions, we also participated in a masterclass in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive by Charlotte Limousin and Anne Behlouli from DELPHIS.

Eurhonet members: don’t forget to check out the event materials in the Members Only Zone!