In this episode, I’m joined by Ebrahim Goolamally to examine what happens when housing governance, performance data, and lived experience are placed side by side — and don’t align.

Drawing on Housing Ombudsman statistics, Tenant Satisfaction Measures, and Regulator of Social Housing gradings, we explore a dataset that reveals a persistent and troubling gap: landlords can retain strong governance and viability ratings while residents report poor complaint handling, repeated service failures, and escalating disputes.

The conversation focuses in particular on complaint handling — consistently the weakest satisfaction metric across the sector — and how failures at this stage drive escalation, maladministration findings, and long-term harm for residents. We discuss why high satisfaction scores elsewhere do not prevent serious failings, and what this says about how success is currently measured in social housing.

This is not a discussion about one landlord. It’s about a system that assesses itself in silos — and the consequences when governance frameworks fail to reflect lived reality on modern housing estates.

In this episode we cover:
• What Ombudsman data reveals when viewed alongside satisfaction scores
• Why complaint handling is the sector’s critical fault line
• The disconnect between “good governance” ratings and resident experience
• How scale, process, and performance metrics can obscure accountability
• Why joined-up data matters for trust, transparency, and reform

This episode is essential listening for residents, housing professionals, policymakers, and anyone concerned with accountability in the housing sector.

https://housingservicechargeandrentpiperdy.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebrahimpi/

#HousingSector #SocialHousing #HousingOmbudsman #ComplaintHandling #LivedExperience #Governance

Support the show

In this episode, I’m joined by Mel Little for a direct and wide-ranging conversation about the state of the housing sector — and the growing gap between what residents experience and what institutions are prepared to admit.

Using Birmingham as a case study, we explore how serious safety issues, deteriorating homes, and long-term neglect are increasingly treated as isolated problems, when in reality they point to a much deeper, national failure. What is happening in one city is not unique — it is simply more visible.

We discuss how housing providers have grown beyond a manageable scale, losing their connection to communities in the process. There appears to be a tipping point where organisations become too large to engage meaningfully, leaving housing officers overstretched and residents unheard.

Service charges run throughout the conversation. We examine ring-fencing, transparency, and what we describe as the “service charge pothole” — a growing financial and accountability gap that residents are expected to absorb as ageing stock, compliance failures, and historic neglect finally catch up with providers.

We also examine the role of regulation. While the Housing Ombudsman and the Regulator of Social Housing continue their work, many tenants are increasingly disillusioned, exhausted by processes that demand evidence and time but deliver little visible change.

The episode closes with a call for honesty, transparency, and renewed face-to-face engagement — housing officers on the ground, knocking on doors, understanding communities, and listening. We also issue a clear call to whistleblowers across the sector. Information is coming in from inside organisations, and while not all of it can be shared publicly, it consistently points to deeper issues that cannot remain hidden.

This is a conversation about denial — and why the sector can no longer afford it.

https://www.housingsector.co.uk/blog/the-truth-is-out-there-here-there-and-everywhere

https://www.housingsector.co.uk/blog/birmingham-broke-but-what-about-the-residents

https://www.housingsector.co.uk/blog/fire-safety-in-high-rise-homes-compliance-fact-or-compliance-theatre

#HousingSector #HousingCrisis #SocialHousing #ServiceCharges #HousingSafety #TenantVoices #TenantRights #HousingAccountability #HousingFailure #HousingPolicy #HousingReform #TransparencyMatters #RegulatorOfSocialHousing #HousingOmbudsman #Whistleblowers #CommunityHousing #PublicHousing #SystemFailure #HousingJustice

Support the show

In this episode, I speak with Sue Phillips, founder of Shared Ownership Resources, about the government’s ongoing inquiry into whether “affordable home ownership” is truly affordable.

Sue explains why shared owners’ experiences matter now more than ever — and how you can make your voice heard by completing the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee’s online survey before the deadline on 29 November 2025.

If you’re a shared owner, this is your chance to tell MPs what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to change.

Complete the survey
https://t.co/HfZUYbVjUf

https://www.sharedownershipresources.org/
https://www.sharedownershipresources.org/my_so_home/no-26/
https://www.sharedownershipresources.org/campaigning/consultation-responses/hclg-committee-affordability-of-home-ownership/

#HousingSectorPodcast #SharedOwnership #AffordableHousing #ResidentVoice #HousingInquiry #SuePhillips #HousingSector #BenJenkins

Support the show

In Housing Sector Podcast #58 – Compassionate Leadership in Housing, I speak with Tanya Scott, Head of Specialist Housing at Accent Housing.

Tanya has built a career defined by care, visibility, and purpose. With more than two decades’ experience in safeguarding and supporting vulnerable communities, she’s known for leading with empathy and driving positive change across the housing sector.

Since joining Accent, Tanya has helped strengthen specialist housing and temporary accommodation services, putting people and partnership at the centre of her approach. Her work continues to show how leadership grounded in compassion can make a real difference in people’s lives.

#HousingSectorPodcast #AccentHousing #SpecialistHousing #Leadership #StartsAtHome #Safeguarding #ResidentVoice #SocialHousing

Support the show

Across the UK, more and more residents are being forced to leave their homes at short notice as buildings are declared unsafe — from fire risks and structural defects to RAAC and wider safety failures.

In this episode, I speak with Matt Hodges-Long, co-founder of the Building Safety Register and TrackMyRisks, about what really happens when homes are evacuated. We talk about how these decisions are made, where people go, and what support residents actually receive once the cameras move on.

Follow, share, and visit housingsector.co.uk — because the more people who understand what’s really going on, the harder it becomes to ignore.

#HousingSectorPodcast #BenJenkins

Support the show

In this episode, I sit down with Dominic Ahern, a writer and commentator whose work on Substack explores housing policy, governance, and safety.

We’re revisiting building safety — a subject that keeps resurfacing because, despite all the talk of progress, little has truly changed. The focus has shifted to “new build standards,” yet even those have been watered down, while thousands of existing homes remain unsafe. Residents continue to live with fear and frustration as systemic failures go unaddressed.

Dominic and I discuss where things stand now, what the sector still isn’t getting right, and why honesty and accountability are long overdue.

https://substack.com/@dominicahern

#HousingSectorPodcast #BuildingSafety #SmokeAndMirrors #DominicAhern #SocialHousing #ResidentSafety #FireSafety #CladdingCrisis #BuildingRegulations #Accountability #HousingPolicy #UKHousing #TenantVoices #HousingSector #BenJenkins

Support the show

In this episode, I sit down with Lee, a homeowner and fleecehold campaigner, to expose how residents are being charged thousands each year for minimal or non-existent maintenance — and why this unregulated system is fast becoming a national scandal.

We discuss the 39% management fee that shocked residents, fake online reviews allegedly written by the management company itself, and open spaces left unfinished for years. Lee also talks about his work with the Homeowners Rights Network (HORNETS) and a council motion in Stratford-upon-Avon that could mark a turning point for affected homeowners.

#HousingSector #Fleecehold #Leasehold #ServiceCharges #HousingJustice #Homeownership #BlueProperty #Keepmoat #ResidentsVoice #HomeownersRights #HORNETS #BenJenkins #HousingPodcast #TheFleeceholdTrap #UKHousingCrisis #HousingReform

Support the show

In this episode, I’m joined by Suz Muna, Secretary of the Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC), to discuss the urgent need for a national tenants and residents union.

We explore what such a union could offer members: practical casework support, guidance on tenancy rights, and even standing alongside residents in court. With legal aid cut to the bone, tenants are left facing landlords with little or no backing. A union could rebalance power, protect people from intimidation, and give weight to campaigns like service charge strikes or withholding rent.

We also look at the wider landscape. Housing associations and government often talk about the “voice of the tenant,” but in reality, these are pressure valves rather than engines of change. Suz warns that unless tenants act, the sector could see landlord-controlled “union” bodies spring up—polished initiatives designed to manage dissent rather than represent it.

Finally, we talk about the fear and isolation many residents feel when standing up to their landlord—and how collective strength through a union could change that. We also highlight the upcoming SHAC conference on 11th November in London, with a call for tenant and resident groups to come together, and direct listeners to the SHAC website for more information.

https://shaction.org/a-national-tenants-and-residents-union/
https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@SHAC_Action⁩

#HousingSector #HousingPodcast #TenantsUnion #ResidentsUnion #TenantRights #HousingJustice #SocialHousing #ResidentVoices #UnitedTenants #PowerToResidents #VoiceOfTheTenant #AffordableHousing #HousingCrisis #RightToHousing #HousingActivism #CommunityPower #RentersRights #HousingPolicy #TenantSolidarity #BenJenkins #SuzMuna #shac

Support the show