7,500 social housing tenants from across the North will this week be invited to register their interest in taking part in a first of its kind engagement exercise. Of those eager to take part, a final ‘Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury’ of 30 residents will be tasked with developing recommendations as to how they, along with social housing providers and others, can work together to tackle climate change in our homes and neighbourhoods.

Launched by the Northern Housing Consortium alongside partners First Choice Homes Oldham, Karbon Homes, Salix Homes, Thirteen Group, and Yorkshire Housing, the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury is a concept adapted from Citizens’ Juries and Assemblies, a ‘deliberative democracy’ approach for making decisions. Participants are selected at random to deliberate and seek consensus on a set issue, before producing a set of recommendations for policymakers.

In recent years Citizens’ Juries have become a popular way to include the public on the question of how best to tackle climate change. 2020 saw the House of Commons convene the national ‘Climate Assembly UK’ where 108 people from all walks of life met for six weeks to answer the question “how should the UK meet its target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050?”. At a local level Climate Juries have been held in Leeds, Sheffield, Oxford, Cambridge, Devon, Kendal, and seven London Boroughs.

Working with community interest company Shared Future and adapted to focus on the social housing sector the Jury, made up of tenants recruited from each partner Housing Association, will explore tenants’ views on retrofit, their opinions of specific measures, and their preferences for how these kinds of interventions should be undertaken in their homes and neighbourhoods. They will also have the chance to say what information they need before, during, and after the retrofit process to use low carbon heating technology confidently.

As part of the project an Oversight Panel has been set up to provide purpose, build legitimacy and ensure a rigorous process whereby the Jury is informed by balanced and accurate information. The Panel brings together a range of stakeholders with project partners being joined by experts representing national, regional and local governance, the civil service, the tenant voice agenda, retrofit practitioners, academia, and the charitable sector. Importantly, all Oversight Panel members are in a position to reflect on the outcomes of the Jury and how they relate to their own areas of work.

The findings of the Jury will be presented at the Northern Housing Summit on the 2nd and 4th of November.

For more information on the Social Housing Tenants’ Jury, including the Oversight Panel, please visit the Northern Housing Consortium’s dedicated webpage:

https://www.northern-consortium.org.uk/the-social-housing-tenants-climate-jury/

Tuesday 2^nd November – AM & Thursday 4^th November – AM

The Northern Housing Summit is back for 2021 as an online event! Taking place during Glasgow’s COP26 and hosted over two half days, our focus will again be firmly on decarbonisation and net zero as a key priority for our membership.

 

Day 1 will feature high-impact keynote speeches from leaders and influencers on the net zero agenda. We will also launch the findings from our Tenants’ Jury, a group of tenants from our Northern membership who are considering the design and implementation of decarbonisation measures across the home. The conclusions drawn by the Jury will enable members to truly embed the tenant voice in the design and delivery of domestic retrofit measures.

 

Day 2 will be focused, practical workshop sessions – we know from last year’s feedback that our members enjoy the opportunity to get together in smaller groups to learn, discuss and challenge. Join us on day 2 for discussion-oriented, informative breakout sessions.

 

There is no charge for members to attend the Summit, and details on how to book will be available soon. Do keep an eye out for speaker announcements over the coming weeks – we’ll be delighted to see you there.

The Commission for Housing in the North showed us what needs to be done: a million homes in the North of England require upgrading. Most are owner occupied, often by people with relatively low incomes. But the worst conditions are found in the PRS. Quite apart from relieving fuel poverty and the miseries of cold and damp homes, the decarbonisation ambitions of government require action now. But who is going to organise and carry out the work to all these properties?

Private landlords are frequently unable or unwilling to invest in defective properties. Having expanded exponentially the PRS is, in any case, being reined back by tax changes and regulation. Poorer homeowners are even worse placed to find the money and organise necessary building works. The government’s Green Homes Grant scheme might have helped but this has proved a failure.

Thirty years ago I would have said: ‘By 2021 the Home Improvement Agencies – the Staying Put and Care and Repair organisations – will have covered country and branched out from Disabled Facilities Grants to comprehensive upgrading work’. My prediction would have been entirely wrong! Unlike housing associations that were created, or revived, in the 1970’s and 80’s, the HIAs have remained small, scattered, and under-resourced.

So what about social housing landlords?

These face problems of their own in improving their stock, achieving Decent Homes Mark 2 and taking advantage of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in the future. Some of them have big problems in rectifying cladding and other defects, with government not keen to bail out their rented properties. But realistically it is the social housing landlords – Councils and housing associations – that surely represent the best option in actually delivering what we all agree is needed. These are the bodies already engaged in construction activities, in working with local communities, in handling large sums of public money, and often in supporting training and jobs. And they are in every town and city. They are fully regulated and know how to work with central and local government.

The Affordable Housing Commission recommended that as part of the post-pandemic recovery, government should establish a National Housing Conversion Fund. This would enable social housing landlords to acquire properties from some of the private landlords now exiting the market (not least because of the Covid consequences in rent arrears and the hassles of seeking repossession in the Courts). The Fund would achieve serious payback in achieving several goals: preventing homelessness, improving unfit property, generating jobs and skills, fulfilling levelling up ambitions, and saving health and social care costs.

The AHC recognised that the often-painstaking work of upgrading and reletting individual properties may not suit the operating practices of today’s large scale social landlords. We thought it likely that in some places a partnership with smaller, community-based organisations would achieve the best of all worlds.

Could this theme be extended to cover partnerships with new or existing HIAs? In times past several housing associations had Home Improvement Agencies linked to them. Hanover, for example, had 21 such bodies covering different geographical areas. These provided advice and guidance, handyperson services and organised Disabled Facilities Grants to improve accessibility. Over time, Hanover shed these subsidiary bodies, some of which continued independently.

Is the time right for a revival of these partnerships, capturing the strength of the social housing sector to address the crying need for a huge national catch up in modernising outdated stock?

Will it be the zero-carbon agenda that triggers the level of new investment from central government to get the social housing landlords to take on this hugely important task?

In recent months, the NHC has brought together it’s membership of Housing Associations, Local Authorities, and ALMO’s to form two new Networks. The new groups, which will offer members a space to network, share learning, and collaborate, focus on two of the most pertinent issues facing the North’s housing sector today – building safety, and raising and enforcing quality in the Private Rented Sector.

To receive further information on either network including future meetings, join the Network Mailing List by contacting Kristina Dawson, Business Intelligence Assistant, Northern Housing Consortium: Kristina.Dawson@northern-consortium.org.uk.

 

Building Safety Network

The Building Safety Network has been formed as part of the NHC’s support to members around the introduction of regulatory and legislative changes found in the Social Housing White Paper.

The core focus of the group will be measures found in Chapter One of the White Paper: To Be Safe in Your Home, and relate to the Draft Building Safety Bill, currently making it’s way through Parliament, revolving around a nominated manager responsible for health and safety, and the development of a tenant engagement strategy based on existing good practice.

As with other NHC member networks, meetings will enjoy input from colleagues at Ward Hadaway who will inform discussion based on their expertise covering health and safety and building construction law.

The first meeting of the network highlighted that, despite clarity as of yet, NHC members were being proactive in reviewing their building safety operations and developing new teams and systems to meet the forthcoming regulatory environment. Discussion covered for example Fire Risk Assessments, training and competency frameworks, developing new tenant engagement strategies, innovative uses of data, and relevant out of scope work.

 

Private Rented Sector Network

In recent years, the Northern Housing Consortium’s longstanding interest in the regeneration of mixed tenure communities has led to a focus on raising and enforcing standards in the North’s Private Rented Sector.

Building on the NHC’s work in support of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Housing in the North’s Inquiry into Property Standards in the North’s PRS, and development of the final report No Homes Left Behind, the NHC has convened a Network for members focussed on the PRS. The Network is chaired by Dr Julie Rugg, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York. Julie is a renowned academic focusing on the PRS and a central figure behind influential publications such as The Evolving Private Rented Sector: Its Contribution and Potential and Safer Renting: Journeys in the Shadow Private Rented Sector.

This PRS Network will look to complement, not duplicate, the valuable peer-to-peer networking already taking place between NHC members in their own regions and will instead offer a space for pan-northern knowledge sharing, develop a northern voice in the national debate on Renter’s Reform, and offer a bridge to academia, Landlord Bodies, Tenant Unions, and devolved authorities.

The first meeting of the Network saw Dr Jugg give an introductory presentation entitled An Agenda for the PRS in the North: Current Trends and the Next Big Question. This wide ranging talk for example covered the future purpose of the PRS, how the PRS market is reconfiguring in towns and cities, the impact of ‘outside’ investment, the particular challenges of the PRS in rural areas, and the network’s priority focus of how to raise and enforce property quality.

Subsequent discussion amongst attendees outlined a programme of focus for future meetings; good practice in joining up strategic housing functions across strategy, planning, and private sector enforcement, innovative uses of data and tracking / ‘predicting’ property tenure and condition, a discussion with the Land Registry on landlord identification, learning from MHCLG pilots covering exempt accommodation, and engaging with health professionals and social prescribing.

Guest blog by Gary Cawley, Director, North & Central England, CPC

The Government has come in for a lot of stick for the delivery of the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme for private homes. But, it’s widely acknowledged that the public sector arm of the initiative – the Local Authority Delivery scheme – has been a success since it was launched in the summer last year.

That’s surely down to the hard work, expertise and determination of social housing directors and their teams across the country, to drive down fuel poverty and to meet the net zero aim. Some will probably even beat the Government’s 2050 deadline at this rate too.

Local authorities have to be commended for their enthusiasm for the initiative – the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) awarded 57 bids a total of £76million after the first phase of funding. A second round of applications has recently been completed, with expected delivery of projects before 30 September. Winning bids in the process of being announced.

What’s more, the next phase of the scheme is now live with a further £300million being made available to local authorities through Local Energy Hubs, for projects to be delivered by the end of 2021.

Targeted at low-income, low-EPC homes (D and under), the money is enabling local authorities (or consortia of local authorities) to reduce household heating bills and increase energy efficiency/reduce reliance on high-carbon heating systems.

For example, the money is being used for cavity and external wall insulation and solar PV in homes in Oldham. While residents in places such as Leicester, Staffordshire and Yorkshire can apply directly for grants for work up to a value of £10,000 (or £5,000 for landlords).

The Local Authority Delivery scheme is a very welcome and much-needed initiative. I don’t need to tell you that we must get to grips with how the country is going to tackle the retrofit elephant in the room if we’re to meet our net zero targets, and make all homes ready for the decarbonisation of the energy grid. About 75% of existing housing stock needs to be retrofitted and it won’t be cheap or easy. A recent report estimated the total cost of retrofitting social housing to be more than £100billion, with the mean cost of decarbonising a home thought to be just over £20,000.

However, what we need more than anything else is a long-term strategy and commitment from Government. We’re still not sure what’s coming down the line beyond the end of this calendar year, and it was disappointing not to hear anything about the Green Homes Grant or funding for large-scale retrofit schemes as part of Rishi Sunak’s recent budget. Longer-term Government commitments would help provide confidence to the sector, and allow it to build capacity – if done right, NHC estimates the creation of 77,000 new jobs in the North by the 2030s (click here to read the NHC report).

Local authorities and registered providers absolutely should be at the heart of any such plans for the drive towards net zero. We hope the proposed ideas for a ‘home upgrade grant’ and heat and buildings strategy will provide more certainty for the future.

Elsewhere, there are encouraging signs in terms of private funding, with products such as Sustainability Linked Loans, and interest discounts connected to ESG KPIs, starting to emerge.

Following the hardships of the pandemic, it’s also vital that we meet the needs of our disadvantaged communities and provide safe, comfortable, warm homes for people to live in. I still find it hard to comprehend why, according to the latest Government data, over 10% of households in England – 2.4million homes – are still classed as fuel poor.

To that end, we’re also looking forward to seeing the learning outputs from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund demonstrator project, a £50million programme to develop innovative solutions as to how retrofitting of social housing stock can be done at scale. The work will inform the delivery of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, which was promised a £3.8billion investment as part of the Conservative manifesto; the first £60million is set to be made available later this year, with subsequent investments coming in “three-year waves”, depending on the next Spending Review.

 

Why frameworks are perfectly placed to help with delivery

 A risk facing those taking part in the Local Authority Delivery Scheme is capacity. With delivery dates so tight, is there any latent capacity available within the sector?

 On top of this, the Government’s strict application criteria for money from the Local Authority Delivery scheme may create some challenges, including:

• A tight turnaround for programmes of work to be completed. Successful applicants for the second tranche of funding will have until 30 September to complete works, and those receiving money from Local Energy Hubs will have until the end of the calendar year.
• Quality is of the utmost importance, and the Government has specifically said that applications which include use of TrustMark-registered contractors will score higher.
• Installers of energy efficient measures covered by PAS 2030:2017 must be certified to install in accordance with the standard – but PAS 2035:2019 certification is preferred.
• A huge squeeze on delivery margins, with only 15% of funding available for administrative and ancillary costs.

With these criteria in mind, it’s clear to me that frameworks are a council’s best bet when it comes to compliant procurement and delivery, and reassurance that the capacity is available to do the work at all.

Using a framework to appoint contractors for works of any size or amount can reduce time and money spent during the process, leading to quicker turnaround on projects, while ensuring the quality and track record of the suppliers you choose to engage with.

As suppliers are evaluated on both quality and price, clients can also be assured that they are getting value for money from the contractors they partner with, and will be able to select those that have the capacity to deliver in the given timeframes.

 

Direct Award

 Depending on their make-up, frameworks like ours may offer either Direct Award, Mini Competitions, or both, for councils seeking to appoint suppliers.

In terms of the short periods allotted under the Local Authority Delivery scheme, the Direct Award process can help clients to shave off chunks of time before project commencement, that would otherwise be spent running a competitive process, also helping to reduce overall cost.

As all suppliers listed under frameworks are pre-approved, clients are also assured of the quality of work they will receive.

This route is increasingly popular with CPC clients.

 

The N8 Framework

 CPC’s Energy Efficiency Measures and Associated Works (N8) framework provides suppliers of measures in line with those eligible under the Local Authority Delivery scheme, including insulation, solar PV and heat pumps, for minor to major works of any value.

It offers a Direct Award option, and is free to use for members of NHC.

The range of suppliers listed under the framework also includes TrustMark-registered companies, meaning the obligations under the Local Authority Delivery scheme agreements can be met.

Any local authorities seeking suppliers as part of the scheme can click here to download our procurement guide to find out more.

And while you’re dealing with the retrofit of your existing stock, you will still also be thinking about ways to ensure your new-build homes will be compliant to the Future Homes Standard.

Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) can help with issues such as thermal bridging and airtightness. Our NH2 Offsite Construction of New Homes Framework provides a range of solutions for whatever the development need. Click here to download the procurement guide.