How can councils work with landlords to provide sustainable housing?
Currently some of the major problems in housing stems from inadequate and incompliant landlords not fixing repairs needed in rented accommodation. The long term impacts of this can be costly, and it negatively impacts residents in your local area. Unresolved penetrating damp, often caused by water coming through external walls or the roof, for example, can lead to life debilitating lung and respiratory diseases when left untreated, making an unsafe environment for your constituency and piling further pressure on an over stretched healthcare service.
In response to these rising concerns, the UK government have announced recently that incompliant landlords in England will be named and shamed publicly and issued with large fines.
At The Access Group we provide a full range of Local Government software to support market challenges. We work very closely with local authorities across the UK and as a result are aware of the housing problems experienced across the different areas. We also understand the pressure councils are under to hit governmental targets such as the ‘net zero’ targets and we want to highlight the benefits of making homes more sustainable, by showing what that means for local councils, landlords, and your residents, by thinking sustainably at provider onboarding.
We are aware that onboarding providers and landlords that follow your ethos and exact requirements may not be easy and difficult to manage, both at onboarding and long term reassurance. However, there are many things Local Authorities can do to help support this process and organise future auditing of suppliers.
This article explains the importance and benefits of sustainable housing, as well as providing examples of how you can create greener homes, by showing how our Housing Management Software has helped our customers make those changes.
What does sustainable housing mean?
Sustainable housing aims to protect and conserve our environment from any negative impacts. It’s a process which makes homes more energy efficient and can create more affordable housing. Some examples include the installation of energy efficient lightbulbs solar panels.
Having sustainable housing can include controlling the usage of materials, development space, and energy we already use in our homes, as well as controlling levels in houses being built or renovated too.
Often temporary housing is a lower quality accommodation type compared to others, so even the installation of double glazed windows can help make temporary housing more sustainable by keeping the heat in and reducing energy being lost.
Why is sustainable housing important?
Sustainable housing is important because it benefits everyone, including local councils, landlords, and tenants themselves.
Local councils:
- Helps achieve both local and national targets including ambitious national targets such as becoming net zero by 2050
- It removes individuals from the homeless cycle by placing them in long-term housing
- Tackles climate change, which in turn improves the local community
- Saves costs in the long term and helps to ensure the up keep of available accommodation
- Many sustainable housing initiatives are safer and improve the wellbeing of the resident – reducing the potential of future health concerns, and in turn reducing the burden on public services
Landlords:
- Cost-effective in the long term
- Creates better tenant and landlord relationships as the more energy efficient a house is the more manageable bills are, and the more likely tenants will pay rent on time
- Prevents tenants becoming homeless
- Reduces the risk of fines and reputational damage by having properties at the best possible standard whilst tackling climate change
- Ability to work more closely with Local Authorities who can support changes and funding within the local area
The Public:
- Rent and bills become more manageable in a time where they are currently at an all-time high
- Health improves – the risk of respiratory diseases caused by damp and mould are reduced
- Improves wellbeing – no longer will be stressed to pay bills, worried about health concerns, feels safe within their homes
- Preserves and protects the environment which helps improve better health, builds a happier community, protects environmental spaces for the future, and supports public opinions to protect the environment
- Prevents the risk of more frequent climate emergencies such as flash flooding due to less fossil fuels being burnt contributing to global warming
Ultimately sustainable housing is important as it can benefit people in many different ways. It doesn’t just preserve the environment and protect the limited resources we have left, it creates a whole new way of living.
Sustainable housing and green homes help educate society to be more conscious in how much energy they are using and how that energy is being generated, ultimately reducing the cost of energy bills too.
Creating sustainable housing offers the opportunity for increased materials to be reused and recycled. It also lowers the lifecycle, environmental impacts, and costs which using fossil fuels currently creates.
Building new sustainable housing however, may require specialist builders and architects which we are currently limited in. It does however, offer great new job opportunities to help prevent the homeless cycle continue further.
Encouraging landlords to introduce sustainability in their housing is important as it will create lower running costs which will be a great selling point to attract new tenants.
Costs of introducing sustainable housing can be spread out and by being sustainable landlords will have the opportunity to apply for funding to make and afford the sustainable changes announced. This in turn, reduces costs for local authorities to implement sustainable changes, but also allows local councils to support landlords with grants and tax reductions for creating more sustainable homes and helping make their community greener.
Tenants and home owners will be able to save money on bills and these costs saved can be used to improve their home’s durability and longevity further. This means that when more energy efficient products and processes are developed they can be easily adapted in our homes so our homes never become outdated.
Through regulating, updating, and using sustainable items tenant safety can also improve. Regular checks these sustainable appliances and structural changes ensures that all sustainable items are working properly and efficiently. It ensures that no item is faulty and if any items are no longer are compliant they can be removed and replaced to avoid putting tenants in any danger.
Sustainable housing therefore, may be expensive to install initially, but its long term impacts across the community are huge both on a personal and emotional level, but also environmentally too.
Examples of Sustainability in housing:
For a home to be sustainable you don’t have to build a new house. Often sustainable housing in the UK is achieved by working, renovating, reusing, and recycling what individuals already have. For housing to be sustainable it should be three things: environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable.
Individuals can use both more affordable and more expensive ways to make their home more sustainable, here are some examples below.
More Affordable changes:
1. Energy Efficient Lightbulbs
Lasting 12 times longer than a traditional bulb, energy efficient lightbulbs are a good investment as they use less electricity but emit the same amount of light as a traditional bulb. It is a good way to save money on energy bills whilst saving the environment.
2. Electric Boilers
With the government announcing a ban on gas boilers in all new homes by 2025, having an electric boiler is another way homes can be more energy efficient.
Its high efficiency rate means almost no energy is lost when converting electricity to heat, and by not using any fuels the risk of fuel leaks, which can be expensive to fix, is non-existent.
3. Smart Homes
Smart homes help make housing more sustainable as appliances and devices in a home can be controlled and set to turn on and off automatically. This is typically controlled and set-up on a mobile device and can control a variety of appliances in the house including lighting, heating, and security to name a few.
Smart homes help contribute to sustainable housing because it allows homeowners to be more efficient with their energy use and only have appliances on when they need them. In turn, this lowers their energy costs, saving them money, whilst saving the environment too.
More Expensive changes:
1. Prefabricated homes
Prefabricated homes is another way to create sustainable housing. Prefabricated homes are more of a construction method.
Often known as Industrialised Building Systems (IBS) prefabricated homes are built using different parts that have been manufactured in different places. Then once all the sections of the house are put together the only thing needed is to assemble the house.
Initially costs are expensive as contractors need to set up new facilities for this method to take place, but it significantly reduces construction waste in the long run, limiting negative environmental impacts, and shortens construction time too.
2. Tiny Homes
Living in tiny homes is a popular trend in sustainable housing. This is where individuals consciously decide to live in a smaller house and often they are no bigger than 500 square feet.
Tiny homes provide the most basic living area and are often mobile so individuals can move around easier, if necessary. These homes don’t use as many materials to build and take up a small amount of land.
This method is popular in sustainable housing because it allows people have a greener and more ethical lifestyle.
3. Passivhaus (Passive House)
Passivhaus, meaning passive house, aims to reduce home energy consumption as much as possible.
Where did Passivhaus originate from?
The term passivhaus was originally coined after a conversation with Bo Adamson of Lund University Sweeden and Wolfgang Frost for the Institute of Housing in 1988, Darmstadt Germany.
When the first few passivhaus homes were developed they heavily relied upon research that was conducted in America in the 1970s. By 1990 the first row of passivhaus homes were built and developed in Darmstadt Germany, and were then occupied a year later.
What are passivhaus features?
Passivhaus can be installed in both the construction of new homes and in existing homes that can be retrofitted with passivhaus features.
Passivhaus features use passive energy sources such as solar energy and the installation of solar panels. These features use a little energy as possible to provide energy to the entire house. They are built with efficient heat retention materials so heat can slowly and efficiently be released around the house.
This can be expensive to install initially but over time it becomes self-sufficient with the money you can save on your energy bills. This is a great example of sustainable housing as it relies on renewable energy resources and helps preserve non-renewable energy resources which are scarcely running out.
How can councils and landlords work together successfully to procure sustainable housing?
For sustainable housing to be procured successfully it is essential that councils and landlords not just work together but work well together to make it happen.
To implement sustainable housing sufficient funding is needed. Local authorities need to find a way to onboard landlords and providers that are compliant to their ethos and legal requirements.
By local authorities finding a way to be able to do this, the working relationship between landlords and councils will improve. Both parties will know what each other want and how to produce that. It gives both landlords and suppliers the opportunity to enter and take part in the conversation around sustainable commissioning, as well as setting a bar of requirements suppliers must follow.
Implementing sustainable housing in a community allows landlords a voice to converse ideas and share their own concerns, whilst ensuring tenants are in safe and complaint housing and build a long term relationship after onboarding.
The government have announced that landlords, suppliers, council owned housing and housing associations which are incompliant or are failing to support the needs of their tenants will be publicly named and addressed so more support can be given to ensure all guidelines are followed in the future.
Through establishing a collaborative relationship between landlords and councils and ensuring all parties involved know what they need to achieve and how they will do that, the risk of landlords being publicly shamed, receiving reputational damage, and hefty fines is reduced.
How can Access Adam Care Commissioning help your local council work with your landlords to develop sustainable housing?
Our Access Adam Housing Commissioning offers a system that onboards providers who can offer accommodation placements that best meet the criteria of your local council and any regulation requirements. The system then monitors any material that needs renewing, notifying both parties to ensure suppliers have time to update their certificates etc. Supporting local authorities to manage housing placements effectively to ensure every household is matched to fully compliant accommodation.
We work collaboratively to help local authorities and landlords achieve their goals whether it is provider management, greener initiatives, or improving local relationships to combat homelessness in the local area and the quality of housing provided.
Through our software local authorities can upload the individual requirements they need in a property, including sustainable housing features.
Our automated system streamlines processes including compliance, contracting, and invoicing. This helps ensure compliance and quality at each step of the process for both the users and the providers. This saves time and resources for staff, and provides real-time visibility of the provider market to make sure there are properties available and suit an individual’s needs.
One of our customers WREN Housing has found our housing solution really beneficial and have experienced quicker, safer, and more accurate placements. Our software has been able to rank and filter bids to demonstrate which bid is the most appropriate according to their quality and pricing criteria. This has meant on average they have been able to place over 1500 families in more compliant accommodation which matches their ethos and their legalisation at the best value for money.
Dave Sambrook, the Procurement and Brokerage Manager, London Borough of Waltham Forest states that:
“All the key information you need is there, you can see the availability straight away, you can drill down into specifics quickly… it’s a really appealing tool to use – especially when you have to act fast.”
At Access Adam Care Commissioning, we are aware of the challenges that are occurring in the housing industry across different local authorities from incompliant landlords, to the ever increasing capacity demands. We are passionate in helping place your residents in safer, more complaint, and sustainable housing.
Our goal is to put individuals at the heart of the service by supporting your teams to reach your goals and provide a high quality service. With the rising cost of living and increasing demand for local accommodation, it can be difficult to source appropriate housing for individuals and families requesting help. Access Adam Housing supports you by removing some of the burden on your teams through compliance, requirements, invoicing, payments and reporting automation, allowing your teams to focus on those in need, and having full visibility of the placements available.
Discover our housing commissioning software today and see how we can help improve your relationship with landlords to make your housing more sustainable. Speak to us today and lets start making your local area greener and more energy efficient.
