Housing: creative solutions

Climate change affects everyone, but its impacts are far from equal. Across the UK and globally, those living in poor quality housing face the harshest consequences of our changing climate, creating a cruel irony where the people who contributed least to global warming suffer most from its effects. The Heat Island Effect: When Housing Location Becomes Life-Threatening People on low incomes are more likely to live in housing not suited to heat and are twice as likely to live in places that are significantly hotter than neighbouring areas due to the 'urban heat island' effect. This phenomenon means that while affluent neighbourhoods enjoy tree-lined streets and green spaces that naturally cool the air, poorer communities endure concrete jungles that trap and intensify heat. The statistics are stark: around a quarter of the poorest families live in homes that regularly overheat, compared to just one in twenty of the richest households. This isn't simply about comfort—...

How Orwell’s masterpiece can predict Trumps next steps I decided, with a grim sort of duty, to re-read Orwell. Pulled my old, dog-eared copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four from the shelf, expecting, perhaps, a historical curiosity. A powerful warning, yes, but one whose specific horrors belonged to the mid-20th century, to Stalin and the nascent Cold War fears that birthed it. Instead, I found myself gripped by a chilling, nauseating sense of déjà vu . Page after page wasn't just resonant; it felt like a dispatch from the present. Not the whole terrifying architecture of Airstrip One, not yet. But the tools, the language, the psychological distortions – they leaped off the page, smeared across the news reports from Donald Trump’s second presidency, barely four months old. It’s uncanny, and frankly, terrifying. Orwell wasn't just writing about totalitarianism; he was dissecting the mechanisms by which truth is dismantled and power becomes absolute. And seeing those mechanisms depl...

  The fading memory of Covid-19 has prompted a concerning trend: employers are increasingly abandoning flexible work arrangements and mandating a full-time return to the office. This shift disregards the demonstrated benefits of balanced, hybrid work models and places employee wellbeing at risk. With a staggering proportion of the workforce reporting burnout, the pervasiveness of workplace stress is not in question—only its magnitude. Mental Health: A Critical Workplace Imperative Mental health challenges are neither novel nor exceptional in the modern professional landscape; they are, however, frequently unacknowledged and inadequately addressed. Driven by demanding expectations, the erosion of work-life boundaries, and relentless performance pressures, numerous employees face significant struggles, often in silence. Mounting pressures have culminated in research indicating that a substantial majority of employees have experienced burnout within the past year. Therefore, it is i...

Economic turmoil will have knock-on impacts for affordable housing supply chains in the UK, but it also presents an opportunity for social landlords to demonstrate resilience, argues Peter Brown Trump's tariff barrage, with a 10% baseline tariff on its goods exports to the US includes a 25% tariff on steel and aluminium imports , materials fundamental to the construction industry. Manufacturing and construction supply chains are directly in the firing line and perhaps more importantly, unforeseen turbulence creates uncertain future costs, risks of contract failure and possibly more company insolvencies. This is no longer a distant concern. How should the sector respond? Decisive action is needed. The potential impact of these tariffs, particularly on steel and aluminium, will ripple through our supply chains, inflating construction costs and jeopardising project viability. Housing organisations, from the largest G15 to the smallest community-led associations, must adopt a war-room...

  Another year, another grotesque symptom of Britain's broken housing market. While families languish on ever-lengthening social housing waiting lists, consigned to the precariousness of private renting, a different story unfolds for a select few. 2024 saw a record surge in the creation of limited companies designed solely to hoover up buy-to-let properties. Sixty thousand of these entities sprouted up last year, a 23% jump from the previous "record" in 2023. Let's be clear: this isn't about providing homes ; it's about financial engineering, about exploiting a system rigged in favour of the propertied class. This isn't some sudden blip, but a deliberate, decade-long trend, turbo-charged since 2018 when the tax rules were conveniently "rewritten" for landlords. Now, nearly 400,000 buy-to-let companies stalk the land, gobbling up homes and turning them into investment vehicles. We're told 70-75% of new buy-to-let purchases are now funnelled...

  Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement on 26th March is poised to be a defining moment. We stand at a crossroads, with stark choices before us. The Chancellor must resist the siren song of austerity and instead embrace a bold vision of investment, especially in housing, and safeguard the vital safety net of welfare. The idea that we can achieve economic growth by slashing benefits and public spending is not just misguided, it’s downright dangerous. It’s a cruel delusion to think that we can starve the very people who need support the most and somehow expect the economy to flourish. Cutting wages and benefits for the poor, the old, the sick, and the disabled is not just morally reprehensible, it’s economically illiterate. It will only deepen inequality and stifle any hope of real progress. Instead of these shortsighted cuts, Reeves must prioritise investment in social housing. A decent home is not a luxury; it’s a fundamental human right. Building more social housing will not only provid...