We’re pleased to welcome Kate McArdell-Broome as our new Director of Retirement Living.

Kate joins us from Sanctuary, a housing and care provider working across England and Scotland. With a strong background in housing, Kate brings a wealth of experience and a passion for helping residents live well and independently.

As Director of Retirement Living, Kate will lead the teams that support our retirement schemes across the country, helping ensure residents continue to enjoy safe, welcoming and well-managed homes.

Kate said: “I’m really looking forward to being able to bring my expertise to continue to build on such a strong foundation for our residents and look forward to meeting both residents and colleagues in the coming weeks and months.”

Kate is keen to hear from more residents via the Retirement Living Resident Forum. If you are interested in joining this forum email engagement@housing21.org.uk

Check out a short video message from Kate below:

We understand that local scheme budgets can sometimes be complex to make sense of. To help, we’ve hosted a resident discussion available to watch on YouTube. This is the third video blog in our series which is dedicated to helping resident better understand service charges.

In this latest session, residents Tom and Ian chat with Housing 21 experts Tracy and Richard, who explain what the service charge budgets are for and how residents can get involved to influence decisions during budget discussion meetings. Service Charge Budget Discussions are typically held in your communal lounge during November or December. Look out for a poster on your local noticeboard to tell you when it is happening or speak to your manager.

It’s an open and friendly conversation designed to make the process clearer and to ensure you feel confident understanding how your service charges are managed.

We’re pleased to share the launch of our refreshed Residents’ Handbook, now available both in print and digitally on the Housing 21 website.

The updated handbook brings together all the key information you need about living in a Housing 21 home, with clear and practical guidance to help you get the most from your living with us.

A number of printed copies have been sent to all schemes, so residents who’d like to read or keep a copy can do so easily.

You can also find the digital version on our website.

We’re pleased to share Housing 21’s first Quarterly Performance Report, covering April to June 2025. This is an important step forward in our commitment to being open and accountable, giving residents a clear picture of how we’re performing in the areas that matter most.

The report covers performance information including how we’re investing in and maintaining homes, filling empty properties, and supporting residents with rent and service charges. It also includes our repairs response times and the number of complaints received in each quarter.

Keeping you and your home safe is a priority and this report looks at how well we are doing each quarter, as well as considering what themes are occurring following any anti-social behaviour reports or safeguarding issues.

We want this report to be useful, transparent and easy to understand, helping you see where we’re performing well and where we’re working to improve.

Read the full Quarter One Performance Report.

We’d also love to hear your thoughts to help us shape future reports. Please share your feedback by email.

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the National Residents’ Survey, also known as the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) survey. Your feedback is incredibly valuable and helps us to listen, learn and continue improving the services we provide.

The survey is now closed, and responses are being reviewed by our independent research partner, Acuity, who will be analysing the results and pulling the findings together.

As a thank you, everyone who completed a survey has been entered into a prize draw to win one of ten £50 vouchers. To make sure everything remains anonymous, Acuity will be handling the draw - winners will be contacted directly.

Thank you once again for sharing your views and helping shape the future of Housing 21.

It will soon be Remembrance Day, where we’ll take time to honour the courage and sacrifice of those who have served, and continue to serve, to protect us.

At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, we pause in silence to remember all those who lost their lives in conflict, and to reflect on the lasting impact of war. Their bravery, service and commitment to peace will never be forgotten.

Across Housing 21, many schemes have been marking the occasion in creative and heartfelt ways. Local managers have already shared some wonderful photos, including residents knitting poppies and supporting the Poppy Appeal.

If your scheme has also been taking part, we’d love to see your photos and hear about what you’ve been doing. 

Lest we forget.

Diwali celebrations lit up Seagrave Court in Nottingham as residents and members of the local community came together to celebrate the Festival of Lights.

The vibrant celebrations brought residents together for an afternoon filled with traditional music and dance performances, beautiful henna designs and the chance to dress in colourful saris. The scheme was transformed with bright decorations and the aroma of freshly prepared food.

Ketki Nandha, Activity Coordinator at Seagrave Court, said, “It was wonderful to see residents smiling, dancing and engaging with members of the local Hindu community.

Read the full story and see the photo gallery.

In October we were proud to host our annual Housing 21 conference at the ICC in Birmingham, bringing together academics, housing professionals, and external partners to share ideas, research, and best practice.

Now in its seventh year, the conference continues to provide a space for discussion, learning, and challenge - combining academic insight with practical examples and a focus on the future. It aims to spark conversations that drive meaningful change across the housing and care sectors.

This year’s theme, Healthy Housing for Older People, explored how we can design, manage, and deliver homes that support wellbeing in later life. With more than 20 expert speakers and chairs, the sessions brought the topic to life through real experiences, innovative ideas, and thoughtful debate.

It’s been inspiring to see so many people coming together with a shared goal: to make housing healthier, safer, and more supportive for older people.

Talk Money Week is an annual campaign encouraging people to have more open conversation about their finances, from pocket money to pensions. And, importantly, to continue these conversations all year-round.  

2025's theme is 'Start the conversation' We want people talking about money openly and with confidence, whether it’s: a quick chat about budgeting with a partner a question for a pension professional or introducing the concept of savings to a child. A number of events are happening at our schemes and if you haven’t organised one yet there’s no reason not to.

You can find out more about it on the Money and Pensions website: maps.org.uk

It’s National Safeguarding Week between 17 – 21 November and we’re joining organisations across the country to raise awareness of the importance of safeguarding and how we can all play a part in keeping people safe.

At Housing 21, we believe that working in partnership helps us share knowledge, learn from others, and create safer, more supportive communities. Across our schemes, managers will be hosting safeguarding awareness sessions during coffee mornings. These sessions are a chance to learn more about what safeguarding means, how to get support, and why it’s a positive mechanism for protection and wellbeing, not something to fear.

This week also marks the launch of our updated safeguarding training for all employees. The refreshed training is designed to give our teams greater confidence and skills to support residents in a person-centred way.

Please speak to your local manager to find out when your safeguarding session will take place.

Awaab’s Law came into effect on 27 October, marking an important step forward in improving housing standards across the country. The new legislation requires social landlords to fix issues of damp, mould, and handle emergency repairs within strict timeframes. Initially, the focus will be on damp and mould, with other housing hazards due to be added from 2026. 

At Housing 21, we’ve been preparing to make sure we meet these new standards. But tackling damp and mould isn’t just about fixing problems when they appear - it’s also about prevention, and that’s something we can work on together.

To support this, schemes have received dedicated information packs with resources for:

• Managers and colleagues, to help respond quickly and effectively
• Residents, including posters and materials for coffee mornings with advice on spotting the signs and taking simple prevention steps
• Contractors, so everyone working in your scheme understands their role in keeping homes healthy

If you have any questions or concerns about damp or mould, please speak to your local manager.

If your scheme has Guest Wi-Fi we are making a small change. We are making it easier for residents to stay connected in communal spaces by removing the password. This change is designed to make it quicker and easier for everyone to get online, whether you're catching up with family, browsing the web or checking your emails.

No more searching for login details, just connect and go. We’ll share more details soon.

At Housing 21, your safety is our priority, and we carry out all necessary checks and maintenance of your fire detection systems through qualified contractors.

This includes:

• Annual testing of the smoke and heat detectors in your flat
• Six-monthly testing of the communal fire alarm system

To help keep you even safer, we recommend carrying out a quick monthly test of the detectors in your flat that aren’t connected to the communal system. This simple check can spot any issues early, helping to ensure your alarms are always ready to protect you between our scheduled visits.

A quick monthly check is all it takes to make sure your pendant alarm is working properly when you need it most.

Your pendant alarm is there to give you peace of mind, knowing that help is always just a button press away. Taking a few moments to test it regularly helps ensure it will work reliably in an emergency.