EDI success stories h/t NHF – CP Data Protection

Back to the Case Studies Section of The DiSH

Although I get frustrated with the National Housing Federation’s apparent disregard for data protection principles when it comes to EDI (equality, diversity & inclusion), especially in relation to “Getting to Know Your Customer”, I do want to highlight two positive blog posts from the NHF website, about EDI. ~ Clare

Manningham Housing Association

Firstly, from June 2024, is this post about “the EDI journey at Manningham Housing Association“, in particular this quote from the writer Lee Bloomfield: “At Manningham Housing Association (MHA), my focus on EDI stems from a deep-seated belief that diversity is not just about meeting quotas, but about enriching perspectives and fostering a truly inclusive environment.”

Interestingly, Manningham have become the first housing association – in the world – to achieve the ISO 30415 certification for Diversity and Inclusion in HR Management. While this ISO Standard focuses on HR, so on colleagues rather than customers, an inclusive culture, where customers feel comfortable being themselves and feel understood, must start with the colleagues.

While the post doesn’t identify which particular characteristics MHA is focused on, when talking about diversity and inclusion, there appears to have been some collecting of data directly from colleagues, and perhaps from residents too: “as an organisation that serves a broad community, it is our responsibility to reflect that diversity at every level of our operations.”

It is encouraging though, that they certainly didn’t only look at data; they also reviewed and changed their recruitment processes, with the introduction of anonymised recruitment techniques to minimise unconscious bias. They also “developed comprehensive training programmes for all staff, focusing on cultural competency and bias awareness. These programs are not one-time events but ongoing conversations that evolve as our understanding and the societal context change.”

Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA)

From December 2024, is another positive post about EDI, this time from Holly Dagnall of NCHA, who explains that “Having a robust equality, diversity and inclusion strategy was key to achieving our C1 grading from the Regulator.”

The post makes it clear that NCHA are also collecting data, specifically from residents, about their characteristics, but it appears to be focused on ethnicity and disability/health needs, and not sexuality or religion (happily!) When talking about “EDI statistics” I ask “what questions do you want to ask of your data?” Because without knowing what questions we will ask of our data, we don’t know what data to collect in the first place.

NCHA are asking at least two questions, referred to in the post. Holly Dagnall says “our customers from Black and Minority Ethnic communities who were underserved by our tenancy sustainment interventions and overrepresented in the small number of tenancy failures we record each year.” Meaning NCHA had an idea of the make-up of their residents by ethnicity, in order to find those discrepancies.

She goes on to say “We also demonstrated our detailed complaints and satisfaction analysis which helps us understand any disparities in the experience and services our customers receive.” So they are also “asking their data” how satisfied are people with different characteristics, to be able to identify if any particular groups of customers are experiencing a lower level of satisfaction compared to other groups.

These are both great examples of how EDI data can be used to highlight problems in a housing association – as long as the security and privacy sides are controlled, of course – and that identifying the issue is only the start of the EDI journey!

Manningham Housing Association

Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA)

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