Member Article

A two-pronged approach to gaining more business from your list of housing associations

Currently, there are 1,500 registered housing associations in the UK, which provide 2 million homes for 5 million people, according to OurProperty.

Nevertheless, UK housing needs are high, and affordable housing is scarce. UK social housing tenancies number approximately 4.4 million, but 1.1 million tenants are still waiting for housing.

Local authorities are currently facing several serious challenges besides the need for more social housing, such as:

1. Brexit – the consequences will continue for years thanks to trade deals, regulations,
   and the UK’s uncertain global position.
2. Net-Zero – in less than a decade, we must reach this target for all housing types.
3. COVID 19 - despite the UK being past the peak of the pandemic, it continues to be
   disruptive
4. Safety standards for buildings – landlords must invest despite uncertainty about future standards and where funding will come from

While market instability persists, housing associations are still forced to ramp up investment to address the long list of obligations caused by these challenges. A number of housing projects have also begun to be scheduled for reconstruction and redevelopment.

What suppliers can do to impress housing associations

The best way to find new contacts among housing associations in the UK is to focus on the problems they face.

Without additional funding from the government, housing associations often rely on suppliers to close the gap between high quality properties and low-cost housing.

It is a misconception that larger, well-established organisations have a competitive advantage when tendering to public sector organisations, due to their experience and reputation.

It is the government's desire to see public sector bodies increase their spending with small and micro businesses.

SMEs: benefits to local authorities

There are many reasons why the government should invest as much as possible in small businesses.

SMEs are notably valuable to local economic development. These businesses tend to employ local people, which means any money spent on them will likely stay within the community.

Local authorities and housing associations engage with SMEs differently, but all are encouraging clients within the public sector to set a target of spending more with SMEs.

Not only does this target result in a more equitable distribution of contracts, but it also results in a wider range of options, thereby increasing choice, which leads to more competitive prices.

Although competitive pricing remains a key factor when purchasing products and services, housing associations have additional requirements, which they will consider when choosing suppliers.

The main two factors to consider in your marketing approach are:

Social value

Selling to Government: a guide for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, a guide on how to bid for and win government contracts was published by the Government in December 2022.

The guide focused heavily on social value and the need for SMEs to deliver three types of social value impacts:

• economic,
• social, and
• environmental.

More specifically, suppliers should be able to show how their specific product or service can help the public sector with one or more of the following objectives:

1. Post-pandemic recovery
2. Reducing income inequality
3. Combating global warming
4. Tackling inequality
5. Promoting wellbeing

Selling to Government: a Guide for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises describes the Social Value Model as a tool to enable SMEs to better compete with larger organisations by offering meaningful social value, rather than being forced to compete in terms of scale and resource availability.

Increasing sustainability

According to the Local Government Association, sustainable procurement “is a process whereby organisations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organisation, but also to society and the local economy, whilst minimising damage to the environment.”

A more sustainable supply chain plays a vital role in combating climate change by creating more sustainable societies in 2023. On a contract by contract basis, housing associations will consider how their procurement activities affect the environment, economy, and the local community.

In addition, the procurement process will be scrutinised for potential energy savings and waste reductions, as well as for different ways to incorporate the concept of whole life costs into the procurement process.

Your marketing campaign can benefit from a bespoke list of housing associations

Data broker and direct marketing company More Than Words specialises in marketing to the public sector marketing. Let us know what you sell and why a housing association would be interested in it.

We will then connect you with the associations best suited to your product/service with our list of housing associations.

We can even help you to deliver targeted ads to them through email marketing and telemarketing.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by More Than Words Marketing .