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Social housing decarbonisation held back by lack of funding, survey says
A lack of funding and clarity from the government is preventing housing associations from mounting major retrofitting programmes to improve the energy efficiency of social housing stock, a survey has shown.
The National Housing Federation (NHF) found that 74% of its members see funding as the biggest barrier to retrofitting work, while 56% said a lack of clarity in government policy was making it difficult to plan effectively.
The Conservative Party’s election manifesto promised social landlords a 10-year, £3.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, and chancellor Rishi Sunak has since committed to a £2bn Green Home Grant and a £50m fund to set up decarbonisation pilot programmes.
But in a recent interview with Inside Housing, business and energy minister Kwasi Kwarteng could not confirm whether the Green Homes Grant will replace the more generous Social Housing Decarbonisation fund.
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The UK government has also set social landlords a target of achieving an EPC rating of ‘C’ on all their housing stock by 2035 and net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The survey, which received 79 responses, found that other priorities concerning building safety works and coronavirus support prevented 40% from improving energy efficiency.
A further 34% cited supply chain capacity as an issue and 22% said a lack of retrofit strategy was slowing progress.
Rob Wall, head of policy at the NHF, said: “Greater certainty on funding and policy will enable housing associations to make long-term plans for both decarbonising their existing stock and building new homes to higher energy efficiency standards.
“Recent funding announcements are welcome. But the NHF hopes to see the government commit to a £3.8bn 10-year Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, as they committed to in their 2019 manifesto.
“This money, with a policy roadmap for standards, targets and requirements, will mean the government and social housing providers can work together to reach the UK’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
