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Anna O’Halloran Managing Director Lizzie Williams Head of Technical Strategy CIH Repairs & Maintenance Conference 2017 A nudge in the right direction
Anna O’Halloran
Managing Director
Lizzie Williams
Head of Technical Strategy
CIH Repairs & Maintenance Conference 2017
A nudge in the right direction
Typical ways of managing
repairs services
Traditional, tried & tested ways of
working…….
⌂ In-sourcing
⌂ Out-sourcing
⌂ Partnering
⌂ Price per property
⌂ Tenant incentive schemes
⌂ Tenant cash-back
⌂ Reduced / increased service
standards
What if there was another
way?
Homo Economicus? Homer Economicus?
What’s this got to do with
repairs?
Which tenants are reporting the most repairs?
Which tenants cost the most?
What are their particular characteristics?
What does that tell us about them?
Which repairs are they reporting, and when?
How can we use this information?
How much does property condition influence repair
reporting?
Trades
Joinery, electrical and
plumbing are the three most
prevalent types of repair
Exterior, roofing and
bricklaying are infrequent,
but most expensive repair
types
Bricklaying
Drains
Electrical
Exterior
Finishing
Gas
Glazing
GutteringJoinery
Other
Paint & dec
PlumbingQualifying
Roofing
£0
£20
£40
£60
£80
£100
£120
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
Ave
rage
co
st p
er r
epai
r ac
tio
n
Proportion of actions
Summary by trade
Predictor variables
Age of Tenant
As age of tenant increases, the
average number of repairs per
year shows a distinct downward
trend.
Predictor variables
Differences in number of repairs (both median and mean) evident between different ethnic groups
Largest ethnic groups (n > 200) / Year 2 repairs
Ethnicity
Predictor variables
Pre-occupancy standards? ‘New home’
expectations? Short-term tenancy
attitudes?
Towards end of tenancy?
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
Upto 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Over15
Per
cen
tage
of
ten
ants
Tenancy length
35% of all tenants
41% of all tenants
New tenancies trigger
considerably higher repairs
reporting.
Estimated distribution of tenancy
lengths: Tenancy Length:
Predictor variables
As the number of
bedrooms in the
property (proxy for
family size) increases,
the number of repairs
per year shows a
distinct upward trend
No. of Bedrooms
Key segments
= High & Very High:
19% of tenants account for:
• 49% of repairs
• 52% of repairs costs
Repair Demand
47%
33%
15%
4%
16%
36%
31%
18%
14%
35%
32%
20%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Low
Med
ium
Hig
h
Ve
ry h
igh
Low
Med
ium
Hig
h
Ve
ry h
igh
Low
Med
ium
Hig
h
Ve
ry h
igh
Tenants No of repairs Total cost
A fifth of the population are responsible for around a half of all repairs and a half of all repair costs. Clear evidence for a ‘high demand’ segment.
Low
0 to
3
Medium
4 to
7
High
8 to
13
Very high
14+
52%
19%
49%
Frequency Segments
Segment Predictions: demography
54%63%
52%
13%9%
13%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Base 1 bedroom 5 bedroom
No of bedrooms
Low Medium High Very high
54%67%
60%
13%7% 10%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Base Male Female
Gender
Low Medium High Very high
54%62%
70%
13%9% 7%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Base 20 years 60 years
Age
Low Medium High Very high
Likelihood of being in a high demand tenant is
influenced by certain demographic factors:
• Ethnic group
• Female more likely than male
• Younger ages more likely than older
• More bedrooms (proxy for family size)
increases likelihood
54%64%
49%
13%8%
14%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Base Ethnicity 2 Ethnicity 6
Ethnicity
Low Medium High Very high
What if there was another
way?
Homo Economicus? Homer Economicus?
Nudge
Small changes to context
can have powerful impacts
on behaviour.
The classic
Nudge
Behavioural insights
Widely used in UK / US government policy development.
Behavioural insights
Adopted with gusto by governments across the world
Norms
When citizens were told that most people pay their tax on time, payment
rates significantly increased.
£210m of revenue
brought
forward in 2012/13 alone.
Messenger / Salience
When people who were late with court fine received reminder text
messages, payments when up by 28%
£30m per year in saved
revenue
150,000 bailiff
interventions
Behavioural insights
63%
72%*** 71%***
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Control Fear Norm
Proportion of tenants that made a payment: entire trial
Including 1
extra message
in arrears
communication
s resulted in a
significant
increase in
payment rates.
72%*** 71%***
Behavioural insights
44% 48% 56%** 52%
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%
Proportion of tenants who made a payment: entire trial
Reframing Letter 1 led to a
12% increase in payments.
56%**
Behavioural insights
52%
38%
71%*
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Control Card Text
Proportion of tenants who overpaid against 'amount due'
Thank tenants for
keeping up
repayment
agreements resulted
in 71% of them further
increasing the amount
they paid to reduce
their debt
71%*
Behavioural insights
Changes to an
envelope increased
revenue by 46%
£83.00
£121.00
£85.00
£0.00
£20.00
£40.00
£60.00
£80.00
£100.00
£120.00
£140.00
Average payments per tenant within 7 days of intervention
Control New Envelope Old Envelope
£121.00
Our methodology
Agreeing the ‘good problem’ – which repairs and which
tenants to focus on
Designing communication materials using behavioural
insights to reduce demand – including gathering and
acting on qualitative insight from tenants to understand
attitude and beliefs
Implementing intervention and run an RCT to track
impact
Reviewing results, including cost implications
Forensic analysis project
⌂ Increasing reporting of/ spending on minor repairs ⌂ Increasing void repair costs ⌂ How do we make sure that our repairs service is providing
real value? ⌂ How can we reduce spending on responsive repairs? ⌂ How can we reduce costs while maintaining satisfaction? ⌂ Analysis of repair reporting trends over a three year period ⌂ Using data from across the organisation, not just repairs
What did we learn?
⌂ 20% of tenants spend 80% of the money
⌂ 10% of tenants spend 63% of the money
⌂ Average of 2.33 internal repairs per property
⌂ 75% of tenants report fewer than three repairs
⌂ Almost a third of our tenants report no repairs at all
⌂ One in nine properties report more than six responsive repairs
⌂ 152 properties were in the top 20% for three consecutive years
⌂ 176 reported no repairs at all for three consecutive years
⌂ Neither extreme is ideal
Spotlight on Nelima
⌂ Nelima lives with her husband, Ahmed, and their three school aged children
⌂ Average of 6 repairs per year at average cost of <£50 each
⌂ In her early thirties ⌂ Nelima attends an exercise class
in a community centre and her son visits the youth club
⌂ Lived in their home for four years ⌂ Three bedroom maisonette ⌂ In receipt of some housing
benefit ⌂ Identify themselves as Asian
Bangladeshi
Spotlight on Jim
⌂ Jim is the lead tenant and lives with his wife Maureen
⌂ No repairs reported ⌂ Retired ⌂ In his mid sixties ⌂ Tenant since 1975 ⌂ Two bedroom flat in a 1960’s block ⌂ Identifies himself as white British
What if there was another
way?
Homo Economicus? Homer Economicus?
There IS another way!
MINDSPACE
Messenger Incentives Norms Defaults Salience Priming Affect Commitments Ego
http://instituteforgovernment.org.uk Dolan et al, 2010.
Have a go…….
Use the MINDSPACE stimulus
cards to design communication
that will encourage Jim and
Nelima to change their behaviour.
Remember that Nelima reports too
many repairs and Jim doesn’t
report any at all.
Speed feedback
To find out more
www.justhousinggroup.co.uk www.poplarharca.co.uk
