Behind the headlines
Back in August, Weaver Vale Housing Trust became one of the first social landlords to receive a C1 rating from the regulator for meeting the new Consumer Standards. Here, Gareth Rigby, Executive Director of Customer, Place and Service, writes about the inspection experience and the approach that underpins their success. For organisations across the housing […]
The last word
Relief of hunger is a moral obligation of the government By Hannah Fearn, freelance journalist specialising in social affairs If a prime minister’s first 100 days are supposed to provide a weather forecast for the rest of their term, then the climate under Keir Starmer looks, well, a little mixed. On the sunny […]
A life in 15 questions
Lydia Stockdale Communications and External Affairs Director, Eastlight Community Homes Limited 1 What do you do for fun? I focus on my kids. They’re very funny, quirky people. It’s impossible not to have fun with them. 2 You have the power to change one thing about the social housing sector: what would it […]
Why Housing 21’s extra care milestone will benefit more than just its residents
By Kris Peach, Managing Director of Extra Care, Housing 21 As we surpass the milestone of 10,000 extra care properties, it’d be easy to reflect upon what this means for us as an organisation, as we firmly position ourselves as leaders in the provision of older people’s housing. Across England, there are […]
Legal update: How to stay compliant with the gas safety regulations
By Emily Chivers and Gabriel Adeniyi, Birketts LLP The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 impose clear responsibilities on landlords to ensure gas appliances, fittings and flues provided for tenants are safe. As a social housing landlord, compliance is essential not only to avoid legal repercussions but also to safeguard your tenants’ welfare. […]
Ombudsman Corner
By Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman It may be this single line of the Grenfell Tower Phase 2 report that has some of the greatest impact in terms of thought-leadership in social housing. The report stated that landlords shouldn’t have allowed “the relationship [with residents] to deteriorate to such an extent […]
Empowering tenants without driveways to embrace EV ownership
By Lewis Dixon, Gul-e Project Lead As the UK accelerates its journey towards a low-carbon future, electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming an integral part of the shift to sustainable transport. Yet, one significant barrier remains for many households – a lack of access to private driveways for convenient charging. This issue disproportionately […]
Housing in Practice: Household tips: How tenants can help design future estates
Neil Merrick reports on how a housing association’s residents were given a major say over the type of estates offered to tenants in the future. The residents’ story Tenants at settle housing association have spent the past year helping to design quality estates by offering suggestions based on their own experience. An estate design […]
From the Chief Executive… Away from the numbers
“The American people have spoken, but it’s going to take a little while to determine exactly what they said.” That’s what Bill Clinton told us as he struggled to make sense of the 2000 presidential election. And it’s more or less what I think of the new satisfaction measures for housing. As Clinton spoke on […]
Grenfell residents: “I worry we’ll be nothing but footnotes in a forgotten report”
In the aftermath of the publication of the Grenfell inquiry’s phase 2 report, Danielle Aumord talks to survivors, bereaved families and other members of the North Kensington community about where they go from here. As her reports reveals, there’s still much anger and resentment about the way they’ve been treated – before, during and after […]