Resilience roundtable – housing management and estate services
Last month, HQN brought together housing professionals from across the sector to discuss what organisations are doing to protect themselves and residents from the impact of the rent cap and the cost-of-living crisis. In this roundtable, we talked to housing management and estate services staff about what they are seeing on the ground and the […]
Reasons to be cheerful… the UK economic picture for 2023 and beyond
At HQN’s stress testing event earlier this month, two housing finance experts shared their thoughts on the prospects for the UK economy in 2023. And while there’s no doubt there are still tough times ahead, they believe there are reasons to be cheerful about inflation and interest rates. Adrian Jolliffe, Director of 2Tix Consulting […]
Joining the dots – how to get service delivery right
By Lydia Dlaboha, Deputy Chief Executive, HQN Whether it’s around issues of safety, complaints or general good practice, the importance of this joined-up approach between housing teams across all parts of an organisation cannot be understated. One of the keynote speakers at HQN’s recent ‘Joining the dots’ event was Ashling Fox, Deputy Chief Executive […]
‘Will anyone actually listen to tenants?’
Five-and-a-half-years on from the Grenfell fire, survivors talk exclusively to Danielle Aumord about their hopes and fears for the future and whether, now that the public inquiry has ended, the loss of 72 lives will result in meaningful change to safety issues in high-rise towers and the way that social housing tenants are treated. […]
Ombudsman complaints: Five ingredients for success
By Carl Makin, PhD Researcher at the University of York The latest insight report from the Housing Ombudsman Service paints a stark picture. Between April and June 2022, the Ombudsman found full or partial maladministration in almost half (48%) of cases. The removal of the so-called ‘democratic filter’ through the Building Safety Act 2022 […]
Crunching the crisis
As the cost-of-living crisis heads into the tough winter months, HQN and Mobysoft ran a roundtable with income collection professionals to get a sense of the big challenges, how they’re being solved and what more needs to be done. Participants Chair: Jon Land, HQN Janette Pearce, Group Director of Customer Services, Together Housing Derek […]
Providing for residents through a crisis
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite – and, in some cases, deepens – as we head towards Christmas, HQN highlights some of the good work being done by providers across the country. With low-income families now four times more likely to be digitally excluded due to the cost-of-living crisis, Clanmil Housing has become […]
Ombudsman Corner
By Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman Noise is a major cause of complaints but, unlike repairs, is debated less despite its complexities. Its impact is both human and financial, affecting residents’ mental health and costing landlords in protracted, multiagency interventions. Our latest Spotlight report examines the issues based on hundreds of […]
How can housing associations future-proof whilst tackling today’s crises?
By Tim Cowland, Socitm Advisory As housing providers continue to share distressing stories about the financial choices their customers are being pushed to make, they, too, are being pushed to make difficult decisions. Income forecasts are being amended to account for financial pressures, including the rent ceiling and spiralling energy, material and […]
The 7% SO rent cap: too little, too late
By Sue Phillips, Founder, Shared Ownership Resources Shared ownership rent caps clearly have unwelcome financial consequences for housing providers; given the cross-subsidy model whereby receipts from shared ownership fund further housing development. So, what’s the argument for rent caps, and do voluntary commitments to cap shared ownership rent rises at 7% in […]