North East Housing Partnership

We welcome the announcements over recent days about the £2 billion boost for the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) and £600 million to tackle the construction skills shortage. We have been advocating, alongside others in the sector, for an extension of the existing AHP and this top-up provides us with the clarity needed to kick on with existing projects, and signals that the Government is listening. However, the sector still requires more reassurance to make significant progress on the Government's housebuilding target, with the decision on the long-term funding settlement and the next AHP a key decision to come at the Spending Review later this year. The additional funding for skills is also another important step in the Government's plan and will allow our partners and the construction sector to plan forward with greater certainty. Our partners remain committed to continuing to work with the Government to deliver a generation of new social and affordable homes. https://lnkd.in/euuuU43d https://lnkd.in/eGqJZj4p

Earlier this month, the Government announced £1.29bn of funding to retrofit social homes across 144 projects under Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3, with several of our partners benefitting from funding. The North East Housing Partnership lead for our net zero and sustainability workstream, Matt Forrest, speaking on behalf of the partnership has said: “We welcome this investment in the work we are doing to deliver warmer homes and lower energy bills for our customers."   "But we are ready to do even more."   "There’s no question that the appetite is there, as is the track record of delivering retrofit programmes at scale and pace."   “Our hope is that this is recognised in the forthcoming Spending Review, and that we are awarded further funding so we can build on the momentum we’ve now established.” Find out the full list of allocations under the latest Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 in the article below and on the government link here: https://lnkd.in/esVKD25V. https://lnkd.in/emuqWeGW

It is has been so great to see the life-changing impacts that the New Start programme has had for social housing customers from across the North East. Several of our partners have been involved in taking on New Start placements as well as working with local employers to find opportunities for their customers. If you haven't had a chance to check out the inspiring video of three of the recent placements, here is the link again: https://lnkd.in/eT3Y4D7D. We are looking forward to what the future brings and through more partnership working, both amongst our partners, the partners in HENNE and with other employers in the North East, we know that social housing providers have a huge role to play in helping to find employment opportunities for our customers.

If you have not had a chance to follow Social Housing Innovation North East (SHINE), we can't encourage you enough to do so! ✅ Just like the North East Housing Partnership, they have come together to collaborate and work on solutions to the challenges that our sector faces and ultimately improve outcomes for our customers. We have been working closely with SHINE on a number of projects in the NEHP and we're looking forward to continuing this relationship going forward.

When we established the North East Housing Partnership (NEHP) in 2023, we did so because we were convinced that greater collaboration was needed within the sector and to bring together housing providers to speak with one voice. Since then, we have seen the power of partnership in action, driving forward work in our four workstream areas and allowing our partners to have conversations about a range of new possibilities that otherwise would not have been explored. Check out what our Chair, Paul Fiddaman, has to say about the work of the NEHP so far, and why he thinks that collaboration is absolutely the right way forward in the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/ewwKZvhA.

It is brilliant to see that one of our members Karbon Homes is building homes for the future that will be heated by one of the UK's first large-scale mine water heating projects. Although the majority of homes already exist, and there is a significant challenge for the sector to retrofit these, it is essential that the new homes that we build are heated by low-carbon heating sources and installed with as many energy efficient measures as possible. This project adds to other similar schemes in the region and wherever possible, our partners are committed to demonstrating the way to net zero through innovation and collaboration, but with more support, our partners will be able to lead on other projects and go even further.

In the North East Housing Partnership, our members are always innovating to improve outcomes for our customers, and it is great to see Bernicia Group blazing a trail with this new approach to delivering end-to-end repairs services. By using technology, as well as combining with insights from customers and business intelligence, it is possible to create more integrated services that provide direct benefits for our members and customers alike.

There is a strong regional consensus on the importance of net zero and the need to take urgent action and as housing providers, our most significant opportunity lies in the decarbonisation of our existing housing stock through extensive retrofit programmes. Not only does this reduce our carbon emissions, this also provides an immediate economic and wellbeing impact for the people who live in upgraded, well-insulated homes, and is a huge stimulus for the region’s economy, increasing job opportunities and driving a need for more green skills. believe housing has had one of the biggest retrofit programmes in the region and we created this video back in 2023 which highlights the work that was completed as part of the Wave 1 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund ⬇ Since the video, they have continued to invest in home energy efficiency upgrades and are set to have upgraded 3,390 homes to EPC C or above by the end of next month. All our partners are committed to meeting the government's targets and investing in improving the energy efficiency of their homes. Many have benefitted from previous rounds of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, but are also investing significant amounts of their own funds too. There is still a long way to go on the path to net zero, but with more support, our partners can go can even further and faster. We will continue to collaborate as a partnership and work with others to get this done!

The fragmented nature of the social housing sector can see multiple landlords competing for the same suppliers, and this can pose some serious challenges, particularly when we’re planning to improve our homes in such an area. In the North East Housing Partnership, we have been looking at how our respective retrofit programmes could be a good place to explore more collaboration, with tens of thousands of properties in need of retrofit upgrades by 2030. Read the comment piece from Matt Forrest, Chief Executive of Thirteen Group and the net zero and sustainability workstream lead for the North East Housing Partnership, discussing what we have been doing so far, what we think the benefits of shifting from putting out multiple tenders for similar work in an area to a joint, place-based tendering approach are, and what more we need to see from the government to make this happen. ⬇ https://lnkd.in/emHCseUA

As a sector strongly motivated by a social purpose and with a direct, long-standing relationship with our residents, a high number of whom are disproportionately likely to be economically inactive, social housing providers are well placed to deliver employment services and support national and local government to deliver on their plans. In the North East, social housing providers have a great track record of delivering innovative employability support programmes and specialist provisions for those furthest from the employment market, and over the past few years this has been led the Housing Employment Network North East (HENNE). Read this comment piece from Steve McKinlay, the lead for the North East Housing Partnership's Employability and Social Inclusion workstream and Chair of HENNE, that highlights some of the achievements of the social housing providers in the North East and demonstrates the impact we can have through targeted support and job creation. ⬇ https://lnkd.in/e7UZCPRx