Industry Viewfinder: The Decarbonisation Of Social Housing


“In your current stock, what portion do you believe has the following installed?” g All g More Than Half gLess Than Half g None g Unsure


Verbatim comment: “I don’t think the climate change crisis is genuinely understood by most people including the Councillors and Cabinet at my Council. The urgency for properties to effectively go off grid with all power generation is immense.”


As always, cost was the highest rated barrier, at 262 points. Tis was followed by a lack of Government support at 162 points, a lack of external skills (81 points), age of stock (59 points), supply chain issues (49 points), tenants refusing improvements (46 points) and lack of internal skills (45 points). Lastly, those barriers that scored less than 40 points were increased maintenance (35 points), access to homes (29 points), lack of stock knowledge (29 points) and lack of residential education (28 points). Other barriers cited as verbatim comments continued this trend, including


that much of the insulation available is “not suitable for older buildings which require a breathable fabric,” that “older stock uses too much energy,” and “tenant’s behaviour, knowledge of new technology and energy.” One commenter believed there was a significant lack of understanding


among housing professionals, writing: “I don’t think the climate change crisis is genuinely understood by most people including the Councillors and Cabinet at my Council. Te urgency for properties to effectively go off grid with all power generation is immense.” As to the highly rated lack of government support in particular, when


asked to rate how well the government has performed in various areas, our readers were fairly scathing, with over half indicating failings on each measure rated. Just 3% for instance, said the Government has performed ‘very well’ in informing the social housing sector on upcoming efficiency changes, followed by 26% ‘well’, 56% ‘not well’ and 15% ‘very badly’. Again, just 3% said the government has performed ‘very well’ in legislating on energy efficiency measures, followed by 22% ‘well,’ 63% ‘not very well’ and 13% ‘very badly.’ Lastly, a negligible 1% said the Government had performed ‘very well’ in funding green social housing, with ‘well’ at 22%, not very well at 57% and ‘very badly’ at 19%. Considering the impact of Government support that is already available,


focusing in particular on the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, our survey highlighted a reasonable awareness of the help available, though it appeared it


was not relevant to, or utilised by, the majority of our audience. 63% had heard of the Fund, for instance, but of those that had, just 9% had applied and been accepted, 5% applied and rejected, with 42% not having applied but planning to in the future, and 44% not having applied with no plans to. In contrast to this, the majority 61% of those who had heard of the fund believed the application process to be clear. Another of our respondent’s verbatim comments as to the main barriers


touched on this point too, believing that the most significant troubles they see are “cost and T&Cs around grant programs, which more oſten than not are more expensive even with the grant than doing it directly.”


CONCLUSION Tere is no doubt that a large portion of the county’s housing is fairly old, with our research showing that 63% of our respondents estimating the average age of their stock is over 40 years old, with an average age of 62 years across all our respondents. Unfortunately, older homes are oſten far less efficient than their modern


counterparts, lacking in sufficient insulation and worsened by disrepair creating gaps in their fabric. It can also be more complex to retrofit a home with such insulation as opposed to installing it into a new build, and many new low- carbon technologies are reliant on high levels of insulation. Te issue will have to be overcome somehow though, with multiple


Government targets being introduced to decarbonise housing across the country. Heating is at the heart of this for most homes, with heating having historically been inefficient, producing much of a home’s carbon output and costing tenants in the process. Our research has indicated that housing professionals are well aware


of this challenge, and that the majority have already begun work to decarbonise their stock – though there is still some way to go. Almost half of their tenants were estimated to be fuel poor, and the majority of our respondents believed the Government to be performing poorly in all aspects asked of them in funding help for the issue and educating the sector on the need for action. According to our respondents, the biggest barriers to the decarbonisation of


social housing are costs, and a lack of Government support. Terefore, if the Government is to meet its targets, and the climate challenge is to be addressed outside of new builds, then it must work to enable the retrofit revival that is so clearly needed in this country.


Te full white paper can be downloaded free of charge at housingmmonline.co.uk


32 | HMMFebruary/March 2023 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


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