Many housing associations operate within North East England, managing and maintaining similar properties, often in the same towns and cities, and dealing with the same community issues, like antisocial behaviour. Recognising the advantages of working together more closely, seventeen housing associations in this region decided to form an informal partnership for sharing expertise, reducing duplication of effort and fostering innovation.

SHINE (Social Housing Innovation North East) was duly launched in 2023, with membership open to all social housing providers in the area. Over time, however, it became clear that the group needed an effective and secure way to share data. Members needed to be able to see the locations of concentrations of properties, from different housing associations, so that they could identify opportunities for sharing resources and planning collaboratively to save money and improve services.

From the outset, it was clear that a geographic information system (GIS) would provide the best way of sharing information, so GIS professionals from eight member organisations got together to build a collaboration platform for SHINE. “Geography is absolutely fundamental to the housing sector,” explains Lynsey Darby, who is GIS Lead for SHINE and GIS Specialist at the housing association believe housing. “You can’t really do anything collaboratively without an understanding of where properties are and which communities you are serving, so GIS was the best tool for this.”

Many members of SHINE already used Esri’s ArcGIS technology, so the GIS Group used the ArcGIS Experience Builder app builder in ArcGIS Online to create the new data sharing app. Initially, the app was populated with property data from eight members of SHINE. Then, supplementary contextual information about the region was added from the Esri Living Atlas of the World, including environmental, demographic and boundary data.

Called OneMap, the app was launched to participating organisations with the tagline ‘Location intelligence for data driven solutions’. It was exceptionally well received, not only by members of SHINE but also by the wider housing sector, which recognised the potential value of the ground-breaking collaboration platform. Darby herself received the accolade ‘Innovator of the Year’ for her role in the project, at the National Housing Innovation Awards 2025.

Participating members of SHINE can now use OneMap to not only see which other organisations have assets near theirs, but also undertake geospatial analysis. They can learn which areas are prone to flooding and join forces with other housing associations nearby to jointly plan mitigations; they can find housing blocks of a similar age to their own to share maintenance plans; and they can analyse issues like employment and access to green spaces to better understand the needs of residents.

Shared cost efficiencies from reduced duplication
Using OneMap, members of SHINE can more easily identify opportunities to work together to reduce duplication and save money. In Hartlepool, for example, where four housing associations own properties in one estate, members can now plan more cost-effective, joint maintenance schedules. “We are taking a leap, because collaboration like this has never been done before in the housing sector,” says Rebecca Dick, a founding member of SHINE’s GIS Group and GIS Lead at the housing association Thirteen. “Now, we have an ArcGIS app that enables housing associations in the region to pinpoint opportunities to work together, and we expect to see major efficiencies in the future.”

Coordinated enhancements to the resident experience
The OneMap app will also help SHINE members to ensure residents have a positive experience of living in social housing. Members expect to use the ArcGIS-based solution to formulate joint strategies for tackling anti-social behaviour, for example. Members can also use OneMap to spot opportunities to join up and improve open spaces to create larger, more attractive and environmentally friendly areas that residents can enjoy. “ArcGIS provides us with a visual picture of where SHINE members have properties and assets, so we can see potential for collaboration that wasn’t obvious before,” says Darby.

Targeted strategies to support vulnerable residents
Using the analytical tools embedded in OneMap, SHINE can formulate targeted strategies to help improve the lives of specific groups. For example, it recently used OneMap to help HENNE (Housing Employability Network North East) evidence the need for funding to support economically-inactive social housing tenants over the age of 50. SHINE has also located specific schools in areas with a large proportion of social housing and high deprivation. This insight has been shared with the North East Combined Authority to help inform new strategies to relieve child poverty.

High quality housing across the North East
In working together, all members of SHINE can collectively contribute to a higher quality of housing throughout the region. In the future, for instance, a maintenance team from one member organisation could be sent out to fix an urgent issue at another member’s property, if closer, saving time and fixing problems faster. SHINE members can also see the locations of all properties with an energy rating of D or below and apply for government funding to collectively improve the energy efficiency of homes. As Darby says, “It’s early days, but the potential is huge.”