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

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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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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

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