Knowsley Housing Trust has joined the growing number of housing providers who have developed their own smartphone app. KHT says that it thinks that its Homefirst app is the first of its kind to include a function for paying rent alongside more common features such as reporting repairs and ASB incidents, accessing rent statements, and receiving information about new services and events.
Homefirst is free for KHT tenants to download from iTunes as an iPhone app, with an Android version scheduled for release this month. Web-based versions of Homefirst will also be available soon to widen its reach to as many KHT tenants as possible.
Sharon Steele, head of communications and intelligence, Knowsley Housing Trust, said, “Our tenants told us that they wanted to be able to contact us more easily and around the clock, and as our tenants become more technologically aware, we need to be keeping up with them.
“We don’t expect a massive adoption of this straight away but it is a rapidly growing area that is becoming more accessible. As more of our tenants switch to smartphones, we will already be one step ahead.”
The Homefirst app was jointly planned and developed by KHT and specialist app developer Litmus Systems.
Sharon added: “Tenants can still talk to us face-to-face in any of our offices, contact us on the phone, through our website and via email, but now they can contact us wherever they are on their smartphone.”
