Only 11% of social landlords have formal AI strategy despite increased access to tools, says Housemark

Only 11% of social landlords have a formal artificial intelligence (AI) strategy in place despite access to AI tools increasing across the sector, new research by Housemark suggests.

In response to a survey about AI adoption in the social housing sector, seven out of 66 participants from housing associations, local authorities and ALMOs reported having a formal AI strategy, while 27 respondents said they are currently developing a strategy and 15 are planning one.

John Wickenden, research manager at Housemark, said: “One of the clearest messages from this research is that access does not automatically lead to adoption. Many housing providers have taken the important first step of making AI tools available, but meaningful value is only realised when colleagues are confident using them and understand how they fit into their day-to-day roles.

“The organisations seeing the most consistent adoption are often focusing on people, capability and training alongside technology. Creating the right conditions for AI to be used confidently, responsibly and consistently across an organisation is just as important as providing access to the tools themselves.”

Housemark’s report, entitled ‘Beyond the Hype: What AI Adoption Really Looks Like in Social Housing’, found that while 59% of respondents said all or most staff have access to AI tools, only 14% reported that more than half their workforce use AI regularly.

Meanwhile, 38% of those surveyed said AI use depends largely on individual teams, while 23% described adoption as informal and lacking clear guidance.

Housemark made a series of recommendations for landlords to strengthen their approach to AI, including improving data quality and accessibility, given that over a third of respondents identified data quality as a barrier to adoption, while 18 separately highlighted poor internal data quality. A focus on improving data quality was selected by 59% of respondents, making it one of the most frequently cited priorities.

Meanwhile, 59% of participants also reported upskilling staff as a priority, with 65% agreeing or strongly agreeing that AI has improved productivity.

Only 21% of respondents said they could not demonstrate return on investment, while 70% are not measuring AI impact at all.