Introduction

All of the housing associations in this study had offices in one particular area of the city where the city's large African Caribbean and Pakistani communities, as well as many other minority ethnic communities, could be found. The offices had been there for a long time: Foxglove HA over 15 years; Bluebell and Tulip HAs over 10 years each. Having a local office had been regarded as important from the 1970s onwards. Associations could provide services in an easily accessible way: the assumption was that many applicants and tenants would call into the office personally (NFHA, 1987; Housing Corporation, 1989). There had also been an expectation from the early 1980s onwards that the ethnic origin of staff would reflect that of the areas in which associations worked. This would show a willingness to provide an appropriate and fair service (NFHA, 1982, 1983; Housing Corporation, 1989). How associations provided an accessible and appropriate service in this multi-ethnic location was a key theme in the analysis of the process of applying for housing. The findings here illustrate the complexities involved. They provide evidence of the need for some associations to seriously review their race equality strategies (an especially pertinent issue following the 2002 Race Relations Amendment Act).

In general terms, ‘customer care’ was emphasised rather than fairness or diversity in service provision. In Foxglove and Tulip HAs, ‘customer care’ had been introduced ostensibly to usher in a more responsive approach to ‘customers’ (that is, applicants and tenants). The ‘customer care’ ideology had not yet officially penetrated Bluebell HA. The Chief Executive believed it had little to offer the association because services to applicants and tenants were already of a high standard (and this had been confirmed in a recent tenant survey).

Potter (1987) identified a number of elements that provided the ‘structural underpinning’ of this consumerist approach including ‘access’, ‘choice’ and ‘information’. The implications of these will be examined in detail in this chapter.

The first part of this chapter looks at the nature of the services provided to people when they approached the association. It evaluates the service provided by customer services and Duty Officer teams to applicants and tenants. The reception service in each association was observed on two separate occasions, each for three hours, on days that were known to be busy.