Moving the deckchairs: How we allocate social homes has never been more critical
By Francesca Albanese, Crisis There’s critical shortage of social housing across the UK. This is most acute in England where we’re losing more homes for social rent than we’re building. Last year we saw a net loss of nearly 4,000 social rented homes against a backdrop of rising homelessness. There are record levels […]
From data to decisions: How AI is transforming housing retrofit strategies
How data-driven, explainable AI is enabling housing providers to move from broad assumptions to targeted, evidence-based retrofit strategies. By Dr Shamaila Iram, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science, Prof. Phil Brown, Professor of Housing and Communities, and Dr Claire McCamley, Research Fellow in Healthy Housing. Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving into […]
Housing and the 2026 Scottish election
By Kenneth Gibb, University of Glasgow/UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) Housing features strongly across the six manifestos that have been published. That’s not surprising: the Scottish government has nationally declared a housing emergency and the government last autumn produced an action plan which includes a four-year plan to spend £4.9bn, […]
Focus on the person behind the door: Taking a resident-friendly approach to ‘no access’ issues
As pressure mounts on housing providers to better understand the condition of their properties and respond faster to hazards in the home, organisations are investing in innovative and more resident-focused approaches to overcoming ‘no access’ issues. Neil Merrick reports. Gaining timely access to tenants’ homes has never been more important for social landlords. There are […]
‘Their heart is in the right place’: The Resolution Foundation verdict on Labour’s housing performance
With the Labour government nearly two years into its five-year term, we thought it would be a good time to mark their performance so far on housing and the cost-of-living. And who better to compile the report than Lindsay Judge, Research Director at leading think-tank the Resolution Foundation. Jon Land asks the questions. Jon […]
HQM investigates: What the C gradings tell us about fire safety failures in social housing
Analysis of the Regulator of Social Housing’s regulatory judgements shows a worrying trend of fire safety failures among organisations with C3 and C4 gradings. In his latest investigation, Keith Cooper delves into the issues uncovered by inspection and what organisations are doing to address them. “Residents need to be reassured that an effective system is […]
Housing, inequality and refugee belonging
By Dr Santokh Gill, Senior Lecturer in Housing Studies, MSc Housing Leadership Programme (Distance Learning), University of Huddersfield (Department of Social and Psychological Sciences). Housing sits at the heart of integration. It shapes health, wellbeing and, crucially, a sense of belonging. This is especially true for refugees, whose sense of place maybe fractured, […]