Frontier PR Publishes Housing Comms Covid Survey 

Report reveals the true extent of the pandemic housing communications challenge 

A survey of social housing communications managers conducted by Frontier PR has outlined the extent of the impact of the pandemic on public relations within social landlords.

A short report published by the specialist PR agency reveals that up 60% of communications capacity was occupied by Covid related activity, while 57% of respondents stated that they were forced to scale back on their communications objectives due to the challenges of the pandemic.

Almost a third of respondents revealed that crisis communications had consumed ‘virtually all’ of their communications capacity, forcing them to side-line most other non-essential PR activity and ambitions.

The survey also shed light on the challenges of working from home, with 79% of respondents stating that remote working had a negative impact on their creative process.

Frontier PR’s Managing Director David Innes-Edwards comments: “It comes as no surprise that the pandemic hit housing communications practitioners and functions hard – placing comms managers in what at times felt an almost impossible position.

“What is more revealing is how this challenge broke down between internal and external communications, and the levels and speed of innovation that was instigated for both."

David continues: “Thinking back to March last year, many social landlords were already dealing with the ongoing communications fallout of the Grenfell disaster and the subsequent issues related to high-rise cladding – but also had one eye on the soon to be released Social Housing Whitepaper. These issues alone made for a very challenging year.

“Thank you to everyone who committed some of their precious time to participate in the survey and interviews. A summary of the results is provided in the report, but you can also read more in-depth interview content and analysis via articles posted on my LinkedIn.”

To find out more about the survey or to request a social housing brochure from Frontier Public Relations, please visit Social Housing Communications Survey: Impact of the Pandemic or email david@frontierpr.co.uk.