Within our sector, sharing best practice and learning from others is a key part of how we move forward. We are used to working with other landlords and partners within the UK – or even in Europe and America – but we still have few links outside. Fortunately this has changed following a recent visit from Lumanti, a Nepalese community-based organisation.
The trip, organised by Homeless International, saw five delegates from Lumanti spend three days with us learning more about our work. Their intention was to find out about how we deliver social housing in the UK, to take some inspiration for their own projects improving slum housing in Kathmandu and across Nepal. For us, it was a chance to learn about housing provision in Nepal – but also became a lesson in appreciating what we have here in the UK.
Our discussions were humbling. Our visitors told us about the absence of the welfare system in Nepal and widespread slums. For many in Nepal there are few chances to change their lives for the better – a problem faced by some of our residents, but one that we are at least in a position to help change.
Organisations such as Lumanti are pushing for improvements, but they are limited in what they can achieve. Its challenges are numerous, with frequent power cuts across Nepal meaning their website – a chance to share their work with the outside world – is often offline.
We showed our visitors around a Midlands development. A visit to a block of flats in Leamington Spa brought up questions around rent and service charges, as well as queries around our services as landlord. Going to an empty property in Southam, which is currently being brought up to re-let standard, helped our visitors gauge the space needed to house a family and the condition our properties are let in.
We also talked our visitors through how applicants in housing need are prioritised, choice based lettings, and our hope that giving people a choice of accommodation helps create sustainable communities.
What surprised me the most was how keen the group were to learn about sustainability. In Nepal, electricity can be erratic and is not widely available due to the geography of the country. John Barnham, our head of sustainable investment, spoke to the delegation about the use of solar photo-voltaic panels as a possible solution to make access to electricity more reliable and wide-spread. He also talked them through a "fabric first" approach, improving the thermal efficiency of the building envelope to reduce heat energy loss and subsequent cost. Lumanti took away both ideas as possibilities for the future.
We showed our visitors how we operate as a landlord and the homes we provide, and hopefully gave them some insight into new ways of operating. But for us, we gained a surprising appreciation for the housing sector we have.
It might not be perfect, and the funding cuts are hitting us hard – but it is still a system where we can provide homes for those in need.
It's humbling to know that people in Nepal cannot access the kind of support those in the UK can, which is not to say there isn't the drive there to support those people, but the problems of economy, infrastructure, geography and knowledge mean Nepal has a way to go before its housing need can be met.
Stewart Fergusson is managing director of Orbit Heart of England
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