ADVERTORIAL: Meet the new senior leader at Karbon Homes who has made a commitment to improve the lives of 30,000 customers

It’s not everyday you get a windfall of £95,000 but that is what happened for one Karbon Homes customer after their Money Matters team looked into their finances and discovered they were owed thousands of pounds in unpaid benefits.

And in March this year there were 250 calls to the same support service and every worried customer mentioned the words ‘cost of living crisis’. The Money Matters team working at Karbon, a housing association which builds and manages affordable homes for people across the North East, Yorkshire and Cumbria, were able to respond and guide their customers through an unprecedented time of soaring bills.

Helping customers this way is one of the key strategic aims of Karbon – delivering an excellent customer experience – and now there is a new man taking on the role to continue this legacy and help shape strong and sustainable communities of the future.

The new Executive Director of Customer Services of Karbon Homes is Ian Johnson, the former Director of Pre-Tenancy and Property Services at the housing association.

Ian has a wealth of experience following a career in housing spanning 25 years. His CV includes senior positions at Blyth Valley Housing, Homes for Northumberland and he was the CEO of Tyne Housing before joining Karbon. Ian also holds various non-executive roles as Chair of Prosper and Chair of the North-East Property Directors Forum, as well as being a member of the CIH Policy Advisory Committee.

And more importantly he understands what it means to live in social housing as Ian’s grandparents lived in social housing as did his parents when they were first married.

Three months ago Ian took up his new post at Karbon Homes, looking after around 70,000 customers, living in 30,000 homes.

He said: “At Karbon we are trying to do something different from just providing homes for people to live in. I hope to play a key role in helping deliver our mission of providing customers with a strong foundation for life.

“I’m really looking forward to this new challenge within Karbon and using my experience to continue the positive work my predecessor Jo Ray has already achieved.’’

A conduit into employment Karbon offers in-house support programmes to help customers find employment (Image: Karbon Homes)

Karbon is so much more than a housing provider, it also offers in-house support programmes to help people improve their financial, employment and digital skills – with its caseworkers assisting more than 5,000 customers last year.

Ian, who grew up in Sunderland but now lives in Blyth, explained: “We now act as a way into employment for many of our customers, working closely with local partners. This includes getting customers onto apprenticeship programmes and some have joined us as apprentices at Karbon.

“When Karbon was formed, we generally foresaw a toughening environment for customers and a need to help those people manage their finances and try and support more people into employment

’”We also help customers to maximise their income and minimise their debts through our Money Matters support and we offer support for customers struggling with the rising cost of living. We will be there to help when the energy cap kicks in and people will find their bills increasing.’’

Community links

Karbon is also huge on community investment and in particular supporting families in need. This commitment has seen the company being shortlisted for the 2022 North East Business Awards for the Heart of the Community Award.

Ian explained: “I can’t overemphasise the real commitment of the people that work at Karbon. We have partnered with charities like Feeding Families to tackle food poverty, and If U Care Share to run suicide awareness sessions in schools. Karbon also ran 70 free activity sessions for young people during the 2021 summer holidays.’’

Housing shortage

Last year Karbon built over 450 homes and next year that figure will increase to 600, playing its part in tackling the UK’s chronic housing shortage.

There is a desire to relieve the pressure on the social rented sector, which has prompted the growth in private renting. Renting from a housing association is significantly cheaper than renting from private landlords – social rent is set at around 50% of local market rent, while affordable rent is around 80%.

The future of Karbon Homes Karbon want to ensure they have a deep local connection to the people in their communities (Image: Karbon Homes)

And what of the future for Karbon, Ian said: “I’m lucky to be inheriting a great legacy. But I do want to take us further and faster to where we are going. I think geography will play an important part in the future for Karbon. For example in places like Stanley in County Durham where we own and manage 25 per cent of the housing, we want to create a team of people who are a Stanley Team who carry out all of our services.”

Indeed, Ian believes ‘placeshaping’ is integral to the work of Karbon. Ian explained: “We offer commercial customer service with a twist – placeshaping, not profiting, we genuinely care about our residents. We want our customers to know that we have a long term stake in your community.

“In places where we own a large proportion of the homes, we want to build a deep local connection with the people in those communities. For example, in Stanley where we own and manage 25 per cent of the homes, we will create a team dedicated to Stanley, who know the area well, and who can build a strong relationship with residents and deliver the services they need.’’

Ian also believes there is more work to be done helping older residents. He said: “We genuinely care about our customers and we want them to know that we have a long term stake in their communities.”

For more information about Karbon Homes

For more information about Karbon please visit their website here.