CHIC Team Reflections

By Liam Gratty, Director of Strategic Services The UK Government has now released the long anticipated revised Decent Homes Standard (DHS). A modernised set of quality criteria that social and private rented homes must meet by 2035. The updated DHS drives a step change in expectations for housing condition, safety, energy performance, ventilation, and overall […]

By John Fisher, Chief Executive “Spend on repairs and maintenance costs reaches £10bn in another record year” was the recent front cover headline in Inside Housing. This referred to the 200 largest Housing Associations, which together own and manage 3.5m homes (17,500 each on average). If you have read the housing press over recent years,

By Liam Gratty, Director of Strategic Services Market LandscapeThe UK construction sector remains one of the most dynamic yet financially vulnerable parts of the economy. While overall output has nudged ahead modestly, underlying distress continues to surface in company failures, especially among suppliers serving the housing development and maintenance sector. The construction market still records

By Stephen Sharman, Director of Member Services The new Social and Affordable Homes Programme for 2026 to 2036 is a major milestone for the sector, delivering 300,000 new homes. As a procurement consortium that provides development solutions, we are already thinking about what it means for our members. So  how can CHIC support housing providers

Chris Brockwell, Head of Member Services (South) Housing is a complex sector. It operates within an ever changing regulatory environment, has a wide and diverse range of stakeholders and needs to deliver safe, affordable and healthy homes in a changing world. Governments have numerous changing policies as part of their agendas and manifestos, so the

By Liam Gratty, Director of Strategic Services The government’s decision to phase out ECO4 is creating uncertainty across the housing and retrofit sector. ECO4 funding has been primarily aimed at private homeowners and privately rented properties, focusing on households meeting certain eligibility criteria, such as being on specific benefits, having a low income, or living

By Liam Gratty, Director of Strategic Services The traditional landline network, known as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), is being switched off. By January 2027, all landline services across the UK will move to digital technologies such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). This change may sound technical, but for social landlords it carries