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

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