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With almost 13,000 colleagues spread across over 20 specialist companies, Places for People’s impact stretches well beyond housing, supporting wellbeing, opportunity and resilience. Its social impact programmes alone generated over £550 million in wellbeing value in 2024-25. This is evidence of the difference that sustained investment in people and places can make.
This wider context matters because the drive to improve housing quality in England has reached a moment of real consequence. Recent scrutiny by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee underscores a sector under mounting pressure.
Progress in improving conditions has slowed post pandemic, while deep-rooted problems persist and almost 430,000 social homes remain below basic standards.
For providers, the revised Decent Homes Standard (DHS) - alongside linked reforms such as Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) and Awaab’s Law - signal a fundamental shift in expectations. These changes demand not only higher standards, but new ways of working and significant long-term investment.
The challenge
Against this backdrop, housing associations face an unenviable dual responsibility: modernising ageing homes while still building the new homes the country desperately needs. Organisations such as Places for People have long championed safe, high quality, energy efficient homes, and many providers have already invested heavily to raise standards.
However the road ahead is challenging. Financial pressure, workforce shortages and overlapping regulatory requirements are creating uncertainty at precisely the moment when clarity and confidence are most essential.
The Government’s proposed revisions to the DHS introduce a more expansive view of what a decent home should be, placing new emphasis on safety, energy performance, accessibility and climate resilience.
These are ambitious reforms, intended to raise expectations across both the social and private rented sectors. But they do not arrive in a vacuum. MEES, new duties around damp and mould through Awaab’s Law and evolving regulatory regimes create a dense and sometimes competing set of obligations.
The sector broadly welcomes the aims, but the sequencing and clarity of implementation will determine whether these reforms succeed. Providers need unambiguous definitions, alignment with regulatory readiness checks due before 2035/37, clearer guidance on vulnerability and non-access, and proportionate requirements that avoid unnecessary bureaucracy. Without this, inconsistency and delay are real risks - with missed opportunities for improving trust and transparency with residents.
Financial strain sits at the heart of sector concern. Years of underinvestment, inflation and constrained rent settlements have eroded landlord capacity at the very moment the Government is asking housing associations to do more - and do it faster.
Significant capital is required for decarbonisation, regeneration and essential home upgrades. The fear is that financial support will not match the scale of reform, forcing difficult trade-offs between maintaining existing stock, meeting energy targets and building new homes. In some cases, older homes may become too expensive to upgrade, leading to disposals that reduce overall social housing supply.
Compounding this is a well-documented shortage of skilled trades. Around 30% of construction roles will require upskilling to meet the demands of Net Zero and the DHS, yet the workforce pipeline is not keeping pace. Delays, rising contractor costs, and uneven quality become inevitable risks. Providers like Places for People are investing in training and apprenticeships, yet this is a sector-wide challenge requiring coordinated effort.
Customer engagement presents another critical test. Poor engagement isn’t a soft issue; it is a structural risk that can derail investment plans. Achieving compliance - particularly in retrofit programmes - relies on resident cooperation. But repeated appointments, invasive works, and uncertainty over timescales can create fatigue and frustration.
Some customers remain wary of electric heating solutions due to perceived operating costs, while issues such as vulnerability, hoarding and non-access can halt projects entirely.
The layering of multiple reforms also creates regulatory complexity. Conflicting requirements, poorly sequenced enforcement, confusion around accountability and gaps in practical guidance could all undermine delivery.
Mixed tenure buildings heighten the challenge, with leaseholder rules, third-party freeholders and inconsistent responsibilities making works harder to coordinate - and potentially less equitable for residents.
Steps to take now
Despite the scale of challenge, there are clear and practical steps providers can take now. It is essential to strengthen strategic asset management - mapping homes against the new criteria, identifying high-cost archetypes and building long term investment models.
Workforce capability needs to grow early, through apprenticeships, multiskilling and regional collaboration.
Customers must be at the centre of programme design, with tailored engagement approaches, clearer communication and better support before and after works.
Providers should continue to work closely with government and sector bodies to shape definitions, timetables and funding frameworks that are both ambitious and realistic.
Innovative financing models, from sustainable funding partnerships to expanded grant use, also have a role to play.
For mixed tenure buildings, early engagement with freeholders and homeowners will be vital to avoid confusion and delay.
The revised Decent Homes Standard is an important and necessary step towards safer, greener and more secure homes. But ambition alone will not deliver change. The sector needs clarity, funding and practical guidance - and it must use the time now to prepare proactively.
If providers, government and regulators work together, these reforms can be deliverable and transformative. And by 2035, we can ensure that every resident lives not just in a home that meets a minimum threshold of decency, but in one that is truly safe, high quality and ready for the future.
