@cihhousing.bsky.socialIn a session on homelessness and the government's commitment to end rough sleeping by Christmas, chair Kirsty Wark challenges the panel on whether it's just a gesture. "It can’t be," said Paula Barker, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, stressing the urgent need to bring people off the streets.
@cihhousing.bsky.socialCllr Matthew Snedker (Green Party): "I wouldn’t want anyone to be under the misapprehension that we only believe in council-owned social housing - if we are to be pragmatic in delivery at scale, and delivery at quantity, we must involve the whole social housing infrastructure."
@cihhousing.bsky.socialCIH's Rachael Williamson chairs a session on how local authorities, and the wider housing sector, can capitalise on the government's renewed council housebuilding drive.
@cihhousing.bsky.socialVital discussion on how housing providers can navigate polarisation and discrimination in communities. "The question is not whether polarisation exists, because it’s out there - the question is how we respond to it," says
Housing Diversity Network CEO Mushtaq Khan.
@fusion21.bsky.socialA huge thank you to everyone who joined us at our drinks reception last night.
From catching up with familiar faces to making new connections, it was fantastic to see so many great conversations taking place away from the conference floor.
@cihhousing.bsky.socialBass points out that housing associations that engage early in the planning process typically purchase twice as many homes as a proportion of their pipeline.
@cihhousing.bsky.socialCIH policy manager Megan Hinch and NHF policy leader Tanya Bass explore the challenges around Section 106, as well as some of the opportunities and examples of what's working well.
@cihhousing.bsky.socialOn supported housing, Riverside Group chair and former CIH CEO Terrie Alafat says "it has been dying a thousand deaths". She adds: "The reality is it has not been on the national agenda."
@cihhousing.bsky.socialSpeaking as part of a discussion around strengthening health and housing, Lord Victor Adebowale CBE says housing is "mission critical" to the health challenge - adding that housing "needs to be front and centre of any health strategy".
@cihhousing.bsky.socialOn housebuilding, Walters says: "Not building new homes is not an option…we all do have a responsibility to try and deliver."
@cihhousing.bsky.socialRegulator of Social Housing CEO Jonathan Walters says the sector "should be proud" of the progress it has made over the last decade - yet says that has come at a cost shown in the sector's financial metrics, "which have taken a downward trajectory."
@cihhousing.bsky.socialHousing Minister Matthew Pennycook seeks to assuage fears that housing associations will play a lesser role in the delivery of social homes due to the government's renewed focus on councils.
@cihhousing.bsky.socialPennycook: "The outlook for the sector has been utterly transformed over the past 26 months because of the decisions taken by this Labour government."
@cihhousing.bsky.socialHousing Minister Matthew Pennycook: "Much more will be done in the years ahead to ensure housing associations and councils…can flourish and play their full part in the decade of social and affordable housing renewal this government remains determined to deliver."
@liamjturner.bsky.socialAll set up and ready to go for Day 2 of The Housing Community Summit 2026. First up today — a keynote address from Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook. I'll continue to be reporting on all the latest for @cihhousing.bsky.social
@cihhousing.bsky.socialAfua Hirsch : "You’re hearing these conversations about who should be allocated housing, about potentially the deportation of people who are lawful British citizens...these are things I never thought I’d hear discussed in mainstream forums in my lifetime."
@cihhousing.bsky.socialOn compulsory purchase orders, Rotheram says: "CPOs [have to be] to be a tool in the armoury for those who land bank…if we do have to CPO, we will do it."
@cihhousing.bsky.socialSpeaking with CIH's Rachael Williamson, Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram says that devolution "appears to be a 10-year overnight success". He adds: "Areas all over the country are now seeing what devolution has to offer them."
@cihhousing.bsky.socialBut she adds that that this new certainty "comes off the back of a decade of underfunding" for the sector.
@cihhousing.bsky.socialNHF chief executive Kate Henderson speaks about the "much stronger position" housing association find themselves in today, compared with the 2010s, highlighting welcome developments such as the 10-year rent settlement, rent convergence and more regulatory certainty.
