Social housing forum: driving digital inclusion
Posted in Events etc.
Digital Unite works closely with social housing providers to help residents get online.
In partnership with the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) we recently delivered the 12-month Government-funded Get Digital programme for older residents living in socially owned sheltered housing.
This successful initiative provided learning programmes in 196 sheltered housing schemes and provided access to learning resources, guidance and support for a further 300 schemes.
We also deliver community learning programmes and our award winning Spring Online with Silver Surfers’ Day campaign.
Our second Social Housing Forum
Through this work we have developed positive, long-standing relationships with housing providers, working together to tackle digital inclusion in the social housing arena.
We held our second Social Housing Forum in Birmingham last week, when 38 landlords engaged with suppliers who were keen to demonstrate why their products and services could be used to support digital inclusion for social housing tenants.
These included online community development, broadband and managed solutions for schemes, low cost computers, set-top boxes, independent living platforms and Digital Unite’s own Digital champions ITQ qualification.
The suppliers who attended the forum were:
- BT
- Hildebrand
- Freerunner
- Regenerate IT
- iCare Technologies
- Networked Neighbourhoods
- Montal Professional IT Solutions
- Avonline
- Secure I.T Disposals
- Home Interactive
Digital Unite’s Kathy Valdes was there and this is how she describes the day:
What do paper arrows, a stopwatch and copious amounts of good coffee have in common? They were all used by Digital Unite yesterday at our second social housing forum.
The day was choreographed by an enthusiastic DU team and generously co- hosted by Digital Birmingham in the heart of the city.
The room was a constant buzz of questions and challenges as the ‘solution providers’ were encouraged to give a four minute pitch to an eager table of housing providers, with plenty of opportunity for animated discussions. After this it was time to move round the room (hence the paper arrows) to the next table to hear about more solutions. Everyone had the opportunity to interact with 11 different suppliers who entered into the spirit of the event wholeheartedly.
The purpose of the event was to connect suppliers with housing providers but also to inform suppliers of the specific needs of social housing tenants so that they can develop products and services to fit the demand at an affordable price.
As a recent Guardian article pointed out, there is no ‘one size fits all solution’ so encouraging innovation, diversity and creativity is key to providing solutions to digital exclusion.
Digital Unite also wants to show the providers of kit and connectivity that there is a potential massive market opportunity if the products and prices are right. A call for broadband providers to recognise the need for a ‘social tariff’ for broadband was met with widespread approval throughout the room.
One of the best events I’ve ever attended…
Initial feedback was really positive. John Donovan from Home Interactive said: “Really good networking … I think today has been a big success and I would do it again.”
Abbas Shah from East North East Homes Leeds commented: “Quality of information, range of products, depth of knowledge… one of the best events I have ever attended.”
Louise Buxton from Futures Housing described the event as an “excellent day” and said she would be “going home buzzing with ideas and enthusiasm.”
Digital Unite is leading the field in this area and in the next few months we’ll be taking forward the suggestions and feedback that came out of the forum. Watch this space for our latest news on the social housing front!
In the meantime, if you’d like any more information about our work in this area, please contact kathy.valdes@digitalunite.com.
The case for digital housing
The need for the social housing sector to increase digital capability was also on the agenda at the launch of the Race Online 2012 report: Digital by Default: The Case for Digital Housing in conjunction with Housing Technology.
Martha Lane Fox spoke alongside Jake Berry MP and housing providers to make clear the urgent need for the UK’s social housing sector to increase digital capability among its organisations and residents.
The report found that half of all people offline in the UK live in social housing, where society’s most vulnerable groups are concentrated.
Digital skills are vital for residents’ employment, education, health and well-being, so housing providers and government working together to help them online is a no-brainer.
The report estimates £3.1bn in total economic benefits from bringing these groups online: £340m in annual savings for landlords in communications costs alone; £530m in annual consumer savings to tenants; £360m in annual savings to local government.
- You can download a full copy of the report here.
December 8th, 2011 hollyseddon | No Comments »
Tags: social housing
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