In what now appears a prophetic call to the Government to better support the Housing Association sector in this episode of the Voices of Care podcast by Newcross Healthcare, Stephen Burns (Executive Director, Care, Inclusion and Communities at Peabody Trust), speaking with host Suhail Mirza, highlights the key role Housing Associations can play to solve the country’s housing crisis. With a 10-year £39 billion settlement supporting affordable and social housing announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on 11th June this episode captures the thinking of one of the largest and long-established Housing Associations in England. 
 
Burns does warn however that the sector (and wider social care sector) needs fairer sustainable funding to support the care needs of residents and help the NHS unlock bed capacity. With specialist services "cut to the bone" after "difficult 15 years," Burns calls for urgent government support for social care. 

Government 1.5million Mission and Affordable Housing Vision 
Housing Associations have been facing 15 years of funding pressure affecting their ability to build more affordable homes and been restricted in their ability to grow revenue to fund their plans. The Spending Review on Wednesday 11th June has however put affordable housing at the heart of the Government’s plans for the next decade. The additional funding announced has been described by the National Housing Federation as “transformational.” 
 
Housing Association Sector- Key Players in Housing Crisis 
Housing Associations currently provide homes to about 6 million people across the country – about 10% of the nation’s population. Peabody Trust alone manages 108,000 to 110,000 homes and builds about 1,200 new homes a year. "Housing associations are the biggest providers of social housing in the country," Burns explained. "So, if you want to build more homes, you need us to be part of that equation." 
 
With the Spending Review 10-year funding commitment this can help address  many of the facets that make up the housing crisis in this country; as Burns pointed out in Voices of Care,: "we know that there are thousands of people in temporary accommodation now who desperately need, good quality affordable homes."  
 
Fifteen Years of Financial Pressures  
Housing association's ability to build affordable and social housing has been hampered for the past 15 years after public funding to support the sector (and its ability to offer affordable rents) was massively cut. Burns did not pull his punches, speaking before the Spending Review: "We've had some cuts to our ability to raise our income”.  He also pointed out that Housing Associations have "huge amounts of pressure to invest in our existing homes to deal with lots of the new regulations”. 
The £39billion package will certainly be a call to action and allow Housing Associations to build new homes for the long term.  
 
Burns added that Housing Associations needed a strategic long-term approach from Government in respect of their ability to raise income: "certainty about what the rent levels are going to be calling for a 10-year rent settlement, say, instead of more shorter-term ones."  
This was also met by Chancellor Rachel Reeves as the Spending Review allows social landlords to raise rents by 1% above inflation for the 10-year period. 
 
In the Voices of Care episode Burns, who leads the Peabody Trust’s delivery of care and support of communities (employing some 1200 people and with a turnover approaching £80million) highlighted the wide range of services it delivers and how these need to be funded properly echoing calls from social care leaders across the country. 
 
Peabody Trust Historic Role Supporting Care and Communities  
Peabody was one of the philanthropic organisations set up by George Peabody in the 19th Century and has grown through mergers and acquisitions to become one of the longest standing and largest housing associations. With 108,000 to 110,000 homes under management, Burns noted: "I think that if you get on a tube anywhere, you're most likely to find a Peabody resident in virtually every carriage."

Supporting Communities and Filling Local Authority Gap 
Housing Associations have become "real kind of anchors in communities really, and to some extent doing what local authorities used to do when they could afford to do it," Burns explained.  
They are the main proponents of shared ownership schemes and manage leasehold properties as part of their development programs. 

The specialist housing they provide covers a very broad range of residents he added: "homeless people, people with learning disabilities, people with mental health problems, older people who want to live in a supported housing environment, people fleeing domestic violence."  
 
For its specialist services, Local authorities are the primary commissioners of these services and Burns affirmed, as so many leaders in the social care space (broadly defined) have said, that fee rates have been challenging which has caused difficulties in recruiting staff and added operational pressure. 
He revealed that care services within Peabody’s specialist housing services have been "cut to the bone" and are now at "crisis point" after what he describes as "a very difficult 15 years."  
 
NHS Support  
Burns also explained that Peabody Trust is already helping tackle NHS bed-blocking issues through hospital discharge services. "We have moved into some of the hospital discharge services, particularly in some areas of London where it's quite acute and there's some scope for us increasing that as well," Burns said. Once more without fair fees paid for such services this support to the NHS could be under threat. 
 
Affordable Housing Vision will create Value 
Burns explained that  Housing Association's ability to help address the housing crisis rests on its provision of affordable social housing, which in turn, rests on their ability to have sufficient capital and income to build them: "the only way you can make it work if you want to do it at a submarket level, is that it requires some subsidies, some money's got to come in from someplace else." 
Burns acknowledged "the upfront cost would be expensive," and it's doubtful even he, with nearly 30 years in the sector, could have foreseen the £39billion Spending Review number. 
But clearly the Chancellor must share Burns’ view that  "the long tail benefits would be enormous" - both “financially for the Treasury, but also enormous for society, for communities, for getting people out of temporary accommodation, for giving people the right kind of accommodation, for helping the economy by having the people who can do the jobs nearer to the jobs as well.” 
 
Perhaps the Spending Review of 2025 will signal a positive watershed in the long and venerable history of Housing Associations and Peabody’s role within the sector. Now all that is needed perhaps is the same vision to unlock investment in the social care sector? 

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