Housing’s Next Generation 2026: ‘Fantastic four’ finalists announced
Get the lowdown on the outstanding candidates who’ve made it through to the final of this year’s Housing’s Next Generation competition. HQN is delighted to announce the finalists for this year’s Housing’s Next Generation competition. After a challenging but enjoyable semi-final day in London, judges have come up with their ‘fantastic four’ candidates who […]
The curious case of the CIH position on ‘no access’
By Rob Gershon, Associate, HQN Like an elephant doing a bungee jump, the social housing sector has drifted away from ‘no access’ issues that were highlighted in recent HQN research. Inevitably, as the recommendations about how landlords could change their policies and protocols to improve outcomes haven’t been widely adopted, the […]
Collective wellbeing – and why it matters for housing
By Susan Pinkney, Head of Research and Insights, Carnegie UK At Carnegie UK, we focus on improving collective wellbeing across the UK and Ireland by influencing public policy and practice. That means looking beyond short-term fixes to understand the conditions that enable people and communities to thrive, now and in the […]
How our Buyback programme is providing desperately needed homes
By David Joyce, Corporate Director of Housing and Regeneration, London Borough of Tower Hamlets We often talk about the housing emergency but many of our responses can take years to lead to any sort of meaningful contribution to tackling it Estate regeneration, new-build schemes and repurposing existing buildings all have an […]
Why social housing was never designed with displaced people in mind
By Fuad Mahamed, CEO and Founder of refugee and migrant provider, ACH ‘Hard to reach’ is a phrase I encounter regularly, and one that reveals more about our systems than the people they’re meant to serve. When we describe refugees and migrants this way, we’re locating the problem in the individual […]
Engaging residents with sustainability goals
By Henry Smith, Sustainability Lead, Phoenix Community Housing Resident engagement is the backbone of Phoenix’s model as a resident-led housing association but persuading our residents of the benefits of our sustainability goals hasn’t been easy. In Phase One, we initiated engagement early on but found that, despite having the right resources, […]
Exploring why funding certainty is the key to unlocking institutional capital
By Triya Maicha, Partner and Head of Real Estate & Projects, Devonshires The National Housing Federation’s call for the chancellor to bring forward funding under the £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme is a welcome and timely intervention. It comes at a moment when demand from providers has run well […]
Fire safety trumps accessibility: New research highlights a key paradox
Professors Kim McKee and Vikki McCall, University of Stirling Fire safety has, quite rightly, received significant media and political attention following the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017, in which 72 residents of a high-rise block in North Kensington, London lost their lives. It was one of the worst fires in the […]
Migrant workers’ housing matters for systemic resilience during crises
Housing insecurity among migrant essential workers is a missing link in maintaining systemic resilience – our study finds By Dr Anna Gawlewicz, Senior Lecturer (University of Glasgow), Dr Aneta Piekut, Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Social Sciences (University of Sheffield), Dr Molly Gilmour, Research Associate (Newcastle University) and Prof. Sharon Wright, Professor of Social Policy […]
Supporting resident-led governance models to work more effectively in multi-occupancy buildings
Following the Grenfell Tower fire and the wider building safety crisis, governance problems associated with leasehold arrangements in multi-occupancy buildings (MOBs), such as blocks of flats and mixed-use buildings, have received increasing attention. These concerns underpin recent commonhold and leasehold reform, which seeks to promote and expand resident-led models of building governance, writes Yu-Tung Wu […]
