6 Industry News


A sense of community at Liverpool summit


I


n September the social housing sector gathered for the second time in Liverpool under the combined banner of the Housing Community


Summit, put together by the National Housing Federation and the Chartered Institute of Housing. A huge range of operational, interpersonal and


resident issues affecting housing management were discussed, including a whole conference stream devoted to AI. As well as more focused sessions, panellists and delegates didn’t shy away from the major political headwinds, such as the rise of Reform and public discontent about immigration, and Government changes affecting the event itself and the resulting debates. Ruth Curtis, a former policy head at HM


Treasury and now chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, was standing in for the recently departed Angela Rayner who had been due to give a keynote. Curtis was leſt to highlight the context of how living standards had “collapsed” in the UK over the past 20 years in ‘non-pensioner’ groups, saying it was a “broad-based” finding across demographics, impacting social housing need directly. Disposable incomes in private renting groups had grown by only 4% in those two decades, she said, with owner-occupiers seeing a much higher 14% growth, although PRS households had grown to 23% of the total by 2025. Despite the vital nature of this context-setting,


Rayner was a glaring absence having recently resigned from the Government as Housing Secretary (as well as Deputy PM), to be replaced by Steve Reed, who had too much on his plate to come to Liverpool that week. Curtis mentioned the


worrying figures (for the incoming Reed) that there had been a “dramatic decline” in new social home completions since the early 1990s – in 2024 only 16% of new affordable/below market rent homes were for social rent – a fall of 87% since the early 90s, she said. Delegates on the main stage however gave a


positive report on Rayner, including crediting her for pushing through the £39bn housing ‘settlement’ agreed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Kate Henderson, chair of the National Housing Federation said that the former Housing Secretary “negotiated super hard” in order to secure the settlement for developing housing stock. Tere was also praise for the Government’s


commitment to transforming social rent delivery to at least 60% of new affordable homes. Rory Stewart, former Conservative Minister, said that Steve Reed “had potential, with a record of building housing, but keeping him there would be really important,” with a high turnover of Housing Secretaries in recent years. In the Q&A, Ruth Curtice said that the £39m


settlement meaning £4bn a year over 10 years if the investment was sustained, was “a lot,” but the “big shiſt was making a big chunk of affordable homes built into social housing.” Te chair Kirsty Wark asked the audience to vote on whether they thought the industry had “enough skills and planners for delivering 1.5 million homes,” and predictably not a single hand went up. Henderson said that on the major challenge of


upgrading existing homes, “detail was coming” on the new Decent Homes Standard, and the aligned


new Energy Efficiency Standard, which will drive future retrofits. Gavin Smart, chief executive of the CIH said that with several of the ‘arms length management organisations’ (ALMOs) now “going back inhouse” under the Labour government, this was “regrettable, as they did some really good work.” Other key sessions at the event included


examples of retrofit projects which fully engaged residents, despite authorities and residents sometimes being “very cautious,” and that gaining trust was challenging. In a question and answer session Abbie Peel at the Home Group housing association admitted they were “really behind on knowing our communities, but upped our game in regeneration projects.” Sandy Livingston, executive director at Onward Homes said: “It’s when we start stepping back that the trust goes.” In a comment echoed by many other delegates,


Peel said that with this knowledge project taking four years to get off the ground, “dynamic information” was needed which can adapt to new circumstances over time. Gerraint Oakley of Platform Housing Group said that the sector “needed to mention successes, and go back and see if we did what we said we would do.” One of the key messages across the AI-focused


sessions was that with Awaab’s Law looming on 27 October, encompassing 29 HHSRS ‘emergency hazards,’ the “clock is ticking,” and in the light of the challenge, “why wouldn’t you use technology,” in the words of AI platform CEO Ryan Dempsey (of TCW). However he cautioned that “AI will get it wrong if you don’t control it; there is a big problem coming with people fighting against it, it won’t long before your residents will be getting AI to write a bulletproof ‘disrepair’ letter.” Hasan Okyar Bayraktar, senior vice president, commercial of Plentific commented that “the most important thing is the prompt you give AI,” as AI’s imperatives may not align with tenants’ own issues.” He added that the “core of what they do is focusing on the 5% of data that is the ‘exception to the normal,” and therefore presents potential risk. Te event was notable for a series of striking


video clips which were broadcast to delegates, showing how individual tenants’ lives had been improved dramatically by providers’ inventions. Tey showed the importance not only of efficient and effective building maintenance, but also the essential empathy to help engage and support residents and provide tailored results.


Housing Management & Maintenance October/November 2025


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