‘Healthy homes’ is the narrative that social housing needs now

Overlay this with political volatility. The Welsh election in May 2026 may push policy further towards social and environmental priorities. Scotland continues to pursue its own housing and energy direction. Meanwhile in England, shifts in political pressure from parties such as Reform UK and the Greens could reshape national priorities around energy security, economic resilience and decarbonisation.

The result is not a stable policy environment. It is a fragmented and politically sensitive landscape where housing providers risk being pulled in multiple directions at once.

The opportunity: healthy homes as the unifying narrative

This is precisely why a ‘healthy homes’ framework is so powerful. It pulls together decarbonisation, energy efficiency, fuel poverty, health outcomes and resident well-being into a single, coherent narrative that everyone can understand.

The delivery beneath it may be complex, but the story is simple. And that simplicity matters.

A healthy homes framework would:

• Transcend political cycles. No political party wants to argue against warm, safe and affordable homes. Healthy homes provides a language that works regardless of which government is in power.
• Align with regulatory direction. The Decent Homes Standard review, the proposed Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) requirement for homes to meet Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C and the creation of a Warm Homes Agency all point towards a more holistic view of housing quality rather than carbon reduction alone.
• Speak to residents. Tenants do not care about EPC ratings or PAS 2035 compliance frameworks. They care about comfort, health and affordable bills. Healthy homes speaks directly to those outcomes.
• Future-proof investment. With the Home Energy Model due to arrive between October 2026 and February 2027 and EPC recalibration expected later, housing providers need a framework that accommodates this complexity without confusing boards, frontline teams or residents.

The catalysts: what’s coming that will accelerate this

Several developments will force the sector’s hand:

Energy as a service scaled delivery

When it’s possible to talk openly about some of the large councils and housing associations delivering at scale, we will start seeing replicable models. Those housing providers watching from the sidelines will face pressure to act.

Transform-ER and strategic sites

The Innovate UK-backed Transform-ER (Transform. Engage. Retrofit) consortium is gaining a lot of traction in the South East of England. This will see large-scale, mixed-tenure, place-based retrofit thrown into the mix. This will demonstrate how housing associations can partner with local authorities, developers and energy companies to deliver at scale, as well as raise the bar for what ‘good’ looks like.

EPC changes and heat transfer coefficient 

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) would like to make the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) an optional extra on EPCs. This is significant as it acknowledges that EPCs have been a blunt instrument. Making HTC optional allows for a more nuanced view of energy performance and signals a shift toward recognising the complexity of decarbonisation. This is another sign of the broader shift that’s been talked about for a couple of decades for regulations to move to a “measured” not “modelled” regime.

The Warm Homes Agency (December 2026 or after)

The merger of Ofgem, DESNZ and Salix Finance into a Warm Homes Agency, built heavily on the PAS 2035 approach, will centralise funding and standards. This will affect TrustMark and scheme providers materially, as well as force housing associations to align their strategies with a single, powerful agency. The narrative the agency adopts will shape the sector.

The timeline: what housing associations need to prepare for

The next 24 months are critical:

• April 2026: Green levy cuts (£150 off energy bills to 2029). This will ease fuel poverty slightly but won’t solve it, especially if clean power by 2030 succeeds and fossil fuels are phased out without levy reform. Although this is likely to be wiped out in practice by US president Donald Trump’s latest choice of war.
• May 2026: UK local elections, the Welsh election and the introduction of new mayoral regions will reshape the political geography housing providers operate within.
• Summer 2026: The review of building regulations in England could reshape the regulatory landscape for housing safety and performance. This will be a longer-term impact rather than immediate.
• Late 2026 onwards: The Future Homes Standard will drive electrification of new homes, significantly changing the development environment.
• Early 2027: The Home Energy Model will begin replacing the methodology currently used for EPC calculations.
• From 2027 onwards: EPC recalibration is expected to introduce separate ratings for fabric, heating systems and smart technologies, alongside more transparent indicators of energy costs. This shift will make it far clearer which organisations have invested strategically in building performance and which have focused on headline ratings without addressing underlying fabric quality.

The wildcard: energy pricing reform

One of the most important potential accelerators is environmental levy reform, often discussed in the context of the ‘spark gap’ between gas and electricity prices.

If electricity becomes relatively cheaper compared with gas, the economics of heat pumps change dramatically.

Housing providers that have already invested in fabric improvements and heat-pump readiness will be well positioned. Those organisations that have not may face significant catch-up programmes.

The strategic imperative: act now, narrate clearly

Housing providers face a clear choice: they can react piecemeal to each policy change, which would confuse boards, staff and residents with a barrage of acronyms – MEES, PAS 2035, HEM (Home Energy Model), HTC, WHA (Warm Homes Agency) – and deadlines. Or they can adopt a healthy homes framework that unifies decarbonisation, energy efficiency, fuel poverty, health and well-being into a single, strategic narrative.

Doing this requires several things:

• Board-level commitment to healthy homes as the organising principle for asset investment
• Place-based collaborations with local authorities, mayors and energy companies
• Resident engagement that frames retrofit as improving comfort, health and affordability
• Data readiness for the Home Energy Model and future performance measurement
• Political agility to navigate divergence and shifts in national priorities

The narrative is the strategy

The policy landscape ahead is fragmented, volatile and complex. But complexity beneath a clear narrative is manageable. Complexity without a narrative is chaos.

The Healthy homes concept offers a politically resilient, resident-focused and strategically sound framework for the decade ahead. Housing providers that adopt it now, building the partnerships, data capability and delivery models to support it, will help shape the future of the sector.

Organisations that do not, risk spending the next decade reacting to deadlines set by others, within a policy environment they cannot control.

The convergence moment is here. The question for housing providers is simple: will you shape it, or be shaped by it?