Tackling decarbonisation and disrepair are rightly at the top of the agenda for the majority of housing providers in the UK.
The housing sector carries an enormous responsibility when it comes to the UK’s ‘net zero’ agenda. According to the government, heating our homes accounted for 17 per cent of all UK carbon emissions in 2019; this figure is likely to be higher in 2022 due to more people working from home.
The second tranche of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) opens in September 2022 and is offering £800m to tackle this problem, while in the UK all rented homes must reach EPC-C certification by 2030 (with the exception of Scotland where EESSH2 mandates EPC-B by 2032).
If this wasn’t a big enough challenge, recent research by housing charity Shelter also indicated that 26 per cent of renters reported significant problems with damp and mould, and 46 per cent of those reported at least one physical or mental health issue associated with this – unhealthy and unsafe homes annually cost the NHS billions of pounds. Unsurprisingly there are multiple pressures acting on landlords to address this seemingly impossible challenge; some of the most recent include:
- The recent announcement that the Regulator of Social Housing will gain stronger powers, such as issuing unlimited fines, entering properties with only 48-hours’ notice and making emergency repairs.
- The Housing Ombudsman’s ‘Spotlight on Damp & Mould’ report called for landlords to take more responsibility for tackling mould and damp.
- The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 clearly indicates landlords’ liability if issues such as mould, ventilation, fire, CO, excess heat/cold are structural in nature.
- Regular media coverage of negligent landlords.
- The growth of no-win-no-fee solicitors seeking out complaints from residents through advertising campaigns.
More stock-condition surveys
Inside Housing recently published an article on how housing providers are now increasing their stock-condition surveys due to disrepair and decarbonisation, with challenges such as low accuracy of stock data, prioritising decarbonisation work and tackling disrepair (specifically damp and mould).
For example, proactive housing providers such as Aster, Notting Hill Genesis and GreenSquareAccord are taking action with ambitious stock-condition survey programmes around decarbonisation and disrepair.
These proactive housing providers should be commended because, despite huge demands to tackle these problems, some housing providers still say privately that they don’t want to know the scale of their problems because they’re worried they won’t be able to tackle them; this fear of the unknown is only making the problem worse.
The internet of things
A full stock survey is no doubt important, but internet of things (IoT) technologies such as Aico’s HomeLink environmental sensors can save money while painting a much more detailed picture of stock conditions over time.
IoT sensors can identify the root cause of a mould problem. For example, is there inadequate ventilation or is the ventilation not used? Is the home poorly insulated or is it not being heated? Is high humidity caused by a leak or due to other environmental factors?
Sensors can identify if the ‘fix’ applied to the mould problem is working; did cleaning the ventilation filters or intervening in a potential fuel poverty case make a difference?
Accurate heat loss, fuel poverty, energy use and ventilation data can help prioritise those retrofits that will have the greatest real-world impact, not just in terms of decarbonisation but also in health and wellbeing.
Once the retrofit is complete, sensors are required to quantify positive outcomes (impact of insulation on heat loss, reduced energy usage, improved ventilation, etc) that be used for future decisions.
There are often negative consequences, such as poorer ventilation, increased mould risk and colder homes, which can unintentionally result from retrofitting homes. Without data, housing providers are blind to this and, having spent vast sums of money, could actually increase the prevalence of future disrepair or fuel poverty issues.
It’s no surprise that sensors are already required for the PAS2035 retrofit standard and are rapidly emerging as one of the most cost-effective and thorough ways of achieving Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 compliance. They are also detailed in EESHH2 and are part of the likely policy for the SHDF.
Aico has designed IoT sensors and software specifically to solve these problems. This technology isn’t expensive and is already making a big difference for hundreds of housing providers. The HomeLink portal is optimised to help housing providers assess the carbon performance of their housing stock, be assured of compliance, analyse retrofit performance and identify the causes of issues such as mould.
Taking control
Data from the sensors can also easily be transferred to a housing provider’s own storage infrastructure and/or business applications so that they can have full access and ownership of any data collected. Additionally, the recently-released third generation of the HomeLink resident app enables residents to gain better control of the health of their home and ultimately their family’s health. This enables preventative maintenance at scale.
At the time of writing, Aico has 126,750 IoT devices connected in socially rented homes and we are adding several hundred more every day. So far this year, over a dozen housing providers have already committed to a full-stock rollout of our environmental sensors.
This technology isn’t just about legislation and compliance; it’s about making homes healthier, safer and more sustainable places to live. IoT is becoming an essential technology in solving these seemingly insurmountable challenges. Within a decade they may even be a legal requirement and in some cases they already are.
Chris Jones is the chief executive officer at HomeLink (Aico).
