Cost of living and the Green agenda

Steve Woodcock, Chief Executive

Housing associations have always housed a large proportion of people on lower incomes, that is our most fundamental role: to provide a home to those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford one.

Yet beyond this, B3Living, like most housing associations, has developed other ancillary services ranging from housing support to welfare advice, community development to employment assistance and a lot of things in between. Although I sometimes think as a sector, we drift into areas which are best delivered by others and dilute our core purpose, all of these are designed with the best of intentions: to make life better for our customers.

If there is one area though, caused by recent events and the cost-of-living crisis which challenges the top spot alongside providing a home, it must be our drive to become carbon neutral.

Not only is there no greater challenge than protecting the long-term future of our planet but we now have a short-term cost of living crisis which we must react to. A large part of this is driven by fuel costs, which is why this and the wider green agenda needs to be at the very top of our priorities.

The fuel cap has now increased by 54% with predictions it will rise another 40% in October 2022 to £2,800 per year affecting 22 million people. Because of these increases the Resolution Foundation estimates that an extra 1.3 million people will fall into absolute poverty in 2023, including 500,000 children. Many of our customers are now facing stark choices between paying their rent, paying for fuel, or paying for food.

We can’t solve the macro problems. But we can make a difference locally, which is why Greener Herts is so important to us.  By working together, we will pool resources to trial new technology, make the most of grants that are available to accelerate green stock investment, and provide advice and assistance to our customers.

So, ask me now, what is our most important role? It’s still to provide homes for those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford one - but our approach to reducing carbon and fuel bills comes a very close second!