730 Days Later – where are we two years on from the Social Housing Green Paper?
By: Rose Klemperer @RoseKlemperer The sector waited for the Social Housing Green Paper (the “SHGP”) with bated breath and we were promised it would be
Domestic abuse ‘move on’ service reports that 60% of movers come from a BAME background
Homefinder UK’s Revive project highlights the lack of understanding by many statutory and voluntary agencies about the specific ethnic, religious and cultural concerns facing women fleeing domestic
Housing’s diversity challenge – Time for a bold approach to embracing inclusive leadership
By: Sharon Thandi @SharonThandi07 Housing’s ‘diversity problem’ is nothing new and is a subject that has been talked about for a number of years with
Green Home Grant is a missed opportunity to improve the most important environment of all – the air we breathe indoors.
By: Raymond McGurk of BRS Technology @BrsTechnology On the surface of it, the recently announced Green Homes Grant seems like great news – eligible homeowners
Nudge Nudge, Think Think! Contribute to cutting edge social housing research.
What is Nudge? Nudge burst into the public consciousness in 2008 with Thaler and Sunstein’s book called, well, ‘Nudge, improving decisions about health, wealth and
A Letter in Lockdown: From My Home to Yours
By: Leigh Dunbar @Leigh_Dunbar Housing officers all over the country have gone from nipping in and out of tenant meetings and calling in at tenant’s
The Data Chainsaw Massacre: Digital Tools, not Solutions
By: Dr Gaby Wolferink @drgabywolferink The Tree Imagine I was moaning to someone about the massive tree in my back garden blocking out the summer
Call for Articles – July 2020
We continue to invite you to share your stories, expertise, knowledge and ideas with us and other people passionate about the future of social housing.
The Digital Threat From Within: The Need for Data Integrity Experts
When we talk of digital exclusion and people not being able to ‘do things digitally’, we often or mostly talk about the people who use our services. But what about the people providing your services; do they know what they’re doing?
Come Dine With Me – And Other Ways to Create Great Partnerships
By Caroline Duvier @Caroline_Duvier I would argue that the social housing sector is one of the most important public service sectors in the UK, if
Thinking, on Poverty
This article reflects on how behavioural insights can contribute to better designed financial interventions for low income tenants. This encourages a shift away from seeing poverty as reflective of character flaws to a focus on the context of poverty.
Digital Exclusion: It really is ‘a thing’
By Dr Gaby Wolferink @drgabywolferink Everyone who knows me knows that in my daily life, apart from administrative and in my twitter handle I’m not
The People Who Occupy the Margins
This is the first of our Anonymous contributions from a social housing professional working in the intensive housing management part of a large housing association. The author wants to bring to the forefront some challenges they are facing and hopes to start a recognition and discussion about what housing providers can do to prevent people from falling through the cracks.
Dutch Works Councils – an extra layer of governance
By Peter Mekers In The Netherlands we have a long history of social housing organisations since 1852. Just under a 100 years later – in
Algorithms and segmentation. Reflections on the ethics and practical use in social housing work with tenants.
By Hannah Absalom @HousingHannah Algorithms, segmentation, big data, predictive analytics are buzzwords that sound mysterious and complicated; possible silver bullets to solve some of the
What does the ‘social’ in ‘social housing’ mean to Soha?
Co-written by staff and tenants of Soha Social housing is unique because it provides affordable secure homes for the huge number of people in our
Back to normal? How to build a better Britain – what we can learn from the Germans
By Maureen Corcoran Recent press reports show Germany has been much better than the UK in dealing with the Covid –19 virus. From more testing
Planning in a Post-Coronavirus Britain
By Charles Goode As I write from my office, which is my shed in the garden to make the most of the lovely spring weather,
Running and supporting Work Clubs – Time for a Re-Think
By Dr Gaby Wolferink @drgabywolferink Many housing associations and local councils support, fund and run a variety of community groups in their localities. Among those
Exempt from Responsibility? Addressing social inequalities in the exempt accommodation sector
This articles shares some findings and asks the reader to dive a bit deeper into a report on Exempt Accommodation that argues that there is a risk that it runs exempt from responsibility.
Quality Street – From sweets to reality
There’s people who love data, and people that just stare at it and wait for something magical to happen to make it interesting all of a sudden. That’s what Caroline Duvier has done here: make it interesting. She uses baking and sweets to talk about data and how you can consider data to be the ingredients of a wonderful cake called ‘happy residents’!
Covid-19 and Gas Safety Checks
By Chris Connor @ChiDeltaWithNOR Landlords have a duty of care to their tenants both in regard to making sure that gas pipework, flues and appliances
Governance in unprecedented times: Assurance, Mission – and flying a plane!
The Covid19 pandemic has brought with it a lot of challenges. Not everything has been easy, and a lot of people have suffered a lot and lost loved ones, but luckily some challenges also give us the opportunity to learn and slingshot us into new, better practices. Mark Glinwood writes about Governance in Social Housing and how the pandemic can be seen as the ‘ultimate disruptor, for good’.
Low-Income Housing and labeling/labeling – A Report from Pakistan
How we talk about social housing, market it and find new funders to build more of it is not a straightforward thing. Language matters, and has a lot more power and influence than people think. Sana Malik, a PhD student at Universiti Sains Malaysia, shares with us how language matters in the case of social housing in Pakistan.
Can Organising the Environment Undermine Crime and Urban Decay? Ideas from the Netherlands
This article explores a Rotterdam area partnerships approach to organized crime/urban decay, and includes overviews of new understandings around this topic that will be of