London Borough of Barnet has revolutionised its housing register resulting in waiting times being slashed from over four years down to 17 days.

Barnet was spending three quarters of its budget on temporary accommodation whilst it had a high number of properties remaining empty for long periods of time. They had an overwhelming 17,000 cases on the list with large numbers registered as homeless. The waiting list was based on a points system to prioritise cases but it was found to be only 7% accurate and people were not receiving the help they needed as the housing register was fundamentally flawed. Barnet spoke directly to its customers and found there was a high level of bureaucracy in place that was both preventing people from being housed and proving costly for the borough.

In September 2009 Barnet brought in Habanero business consulting to take a fresh approach to the problem as costs were continuing to spiral and customers were extremely unsatisfied with the service they were receiving. Nicola Woodcock, Principal Consultant for Habanero said: “We worked closely with leaders, first understanding the current system from a customer’s point of view and then helping staff to experiment and challenging them to beat their own system.”

Andy Milne, Assistant Director of Housing at the London Borough of Barnet said: “The intervention enabled us to deliver public services to the public more effectively and at reduced cost. Customers were passed through many teams and came into contact with numerous members of staff, left feeling they were not making any progress and that no one was trying to help them. In the redesign staff roles changed so that one member of staff worked with a customer from initial contact until their housing issue was resolved – improving both customer and staff satisfaction. We applied lean principles to simplify procedures and give control to staff so they felt more motivated and could see their results.”

Nicola added: “Within two weeks the team had let ‘hard to let’ properties that had been empty for over a year. The properties were previously refused because the previous points system wasn’t able to match the right customers in need with the right properties, or because of superficial issues with the condition of the properties that could be easily fixed with a tub of paint or some second hand furniture.”

The team also instigated consultations with landlords and Barnet have improved the procurement process to attract more properties from the private sector. The points system is now being phased out and a more holistic approach of assessing customer needs in their own home has been adopted. A preventative approach has also been integrated into the system as it was discovered tackling a problem early on could often prevent a case becoming an emergency.

The lean work of the Housing Team has been included in a study by Southampton University on creating change and was very positively reviewed.

Linda Holdbrook, Lean Systems Coordinator for Barnet said: “We needed to understand why a large proportion our budget was being spent on temporary accommodation while we had so many ‘hard to let’ properties remaining empty and costing us money. Customers used to walk through the door in tears and now we see people weeping with joy! The new way we work is a breath of fresh air - I now feel empowered to do the right thing for the customer and my job satisfaction level has soared.”

Through changes to the staffing structure, reducing voids and increasing rental income the team has saved over £1.4 million. Pam Wharfe, Director of Environment & Operations, said that the work "...transformed service to customers and morale of the staff delivering it as well as making substantial savings".