In a bid to drive cultural change in the social housing sector a new social media campaign is due to be launched next month.
Yesterday a pre-launch campaign for Four Million Homes, which is funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, went live prior to the full launch occurring on 19th April 2023.
The campaign has come as a result of the Confederation Co-operative Housing and its partner organisation, PPCR, obtaining a £500K grant to roll out a new training package for anyone living in social housing in England.
Four Million Homes is set to encourage a process of cultural change in the social housing sector with an aim to producing a better balance of power between residents and landlords. The campaign is also designed to help improve residents’ awareness of their rights to raise complaints and to access the services of the Housing Ombudsman.
Since the case of Awaab Ishak, more residents have been raising complaints about their poor housing conditions, but more work can be done.
Additionally, at the beginning of the year statistics from the Office of National Statistics displayed that more than 70,000 people in England and Wales have been living without central heating this winter. The official data highlights the extreme end of the conditions being suffered by those who live in 4 million homes the government has rated as ‘non decent’ for failing to meet basic standards.
After being launched next month, the Four Million Homes campaign will deliver 24 monthly webinars on a wide range of current topics that require urgent attention, beginning with damp and mould in May.
Eight accredited face-to-face training modules will also be available across England from May 2023 – the sessions will take place in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Newcastle, and Nottingham.
The campaign launch event is being held online at 3pm on Wednesday 19th April – registration is free and available now.
Image: Norbert Levajsics