Inspired by other successful Tweetathons, #HousingDay looks to shine a light on the work delivered by housing associations across the UK.
by Adrian Capon
An idea to raise the profile of UK Housing from a tweetathon was sparked by the success of various initiatives #Walsall24, Greater Manchester Police and Local Government's #Ourday. At Commscamp 13, I asked Rae Watson from the Tenants Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) whether this would be something worth doing. From my time at Yorkshire Housing and seeing what we do, I am passionate to show the diversity of the UK housing sector and the work that unites us all.
This approach, with an increasing take up of Twitter by housing organisations would be a great way to share what housing does, shout about our work and services provided in communities.
In September, I tweeted the idea and posted on the Northern Housing Consortium Yammer Social Media and Housing network. There was support from a range of people and organisations:
Jacqueline Grimes - Northern Housing Consortium
Ailin Martinez Thery - South Yorkshire Housing Association
Nick Atkin - Halton Housing
Steve Finegan and Mark Hesford - Northwards Housing
Ben Black – Bronafon
Tim Frier - Progress Housing
Helen Reynolds – Monmouthshire County Council
Rae Watson – Tenants Participation Advisory Service
Jayne Hilditch – Thames Valley Housing
Roommy Zaahid and Andy Leppard – Yorkshire Housing
After a conversation thread including some fab suggestions by Ailin like #HomeTweetHome and the first broadcast of Cathy Come Home on 16 November 1966. With the success of #ourday 2013 it was appropriate to try the Local Gov approach, deciding with a hash tag #HousingDay and date 13.11.13.
It will be great if housing organisations up and down the country can get behind #HousingDay to celebrate what we do. In my own organisation I see it day in and day out the impact that we have. Even tweeting about the most trivial activity can show the difference we can make and sometimes life changing impact we can have.
For example and by no means exhaustive a #HousingDay could look like this:
Independant Living Officers taking care of the elderly; handing over keys to a new home; fixing plumbing; replacing worn furnishings; handing out food from food banks; in the back office processing housing applications; meeting local authority, police and community partners in communities; in our contact centres responding to customer service requests; arranging social events such as tea and dance activities; creating places for young children to play; building new homes; repairing roofs, windows and doors; fitting new kitchens and bathrooms; collecting payments; supporting families with discretionary housing payments; helping people into work; providing training on new skills; receiving news about funding and housing applications; and supporting customers with the impact of the bedroom tax.
How you can get involved?
On 13.11.13 #HousingDay will share your housing story. From a frontline housing officer to the CEO, wherever you work in housing, a supplier or a member of the community, you can say something positive about the great work housing organisations do. Simply use #housingday in your tweets.
We’ll be looking to see photos, videos, blogs or simple tweets about what’s happening in your housing organisation. Please don’t miss this great chance to showcase the brilliant and unsung work that goes on every day, so please let’s get together and sing from the same hashtag hymn sheet.
Adrian Capon, Yorkshire Housing – Communications Team
pic via Yorkshire Housing
