In particular, the group focused on landlords facing increasing pressure to achieve an EPC rating of C and above within the next few years, and how the current refugee crisis is impacting housing in the United Kingdom.

Caron Schreuder, managing director at Medianett Publishing, was joined by Together’s regional account manager, Sally Precious Ward, and head of social housing, Alex Bodie. Completing the panel was Lucy Barrett, managing director at Aria Finance, and Wayne Gray, managing director at DMI Finance.

Kicking things off with an overview on the social housing market was Alex, who provided a little background information on the creation of his role.  Having been approached by a housing association in need of development funding, Alex said that this was when he really considered that they were missing a trick by not fully understanding and embracing the sector. 

“It took us on a bit of a journey,” he recalled, “down lots of different rabbit holes. We did a whole load of due diligence on the sector, [condensing] it into a deck we could present to the board and say, ‘I think there are loads of opportunities and, actually, it’s a great [chance] for us as a business to do the right thing and start helping England get out of the housing crisis its in.’”

With the conversation quickly turning to the social housing waiting list, upon which there is a reported figure of 1.2 million people, with some 300,000 having been waiting for more than a decade, he admitted that he doesn’t think we’ll get on top of it, “because the demand for housing, and social housing, is just going through the roof.”

Offering a broker’s perspective on the appetite and willingness to invest, given the current climate, Wayne was optimistic.

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“We have lots of clients who invest in that space,” he announced. “[Many] investors get into property investment because they perceive it as a passive income stream.” While he acknowledges that many soon come to realise this isn’t always the case, the very fact that social housing does afford this passive income is why Wayne considers investing  in this type of property to be a win on both sides. “It’s perhaps altruistic – you’re giving back, you’re not just thinking of yourself.”

With reference to the situation in Ukraine, he spoke of people offering their spare rooms and, “in the same vein, a lot of people move into the affordable housing sector for that altruistic approach of helping others.”

Lucy said she found it hard to believe that outdated views on supported housing still get mooted about in the mainstream market as frequently as they do.
“For those who understand this market, it’s a frustration for them when they come to try and obtain funding and lenders have this ‘legacy’ stereotype,” she explained, elaborating by stating this old-fashioned idea is often of an unsociable tenant creating issues for those concerned. “That’s such an archaic view, that somebody who is in the country as an asylum seeker, or has low income, or whatever it may be, is going to cause trouble at a property.”

Revisiting the housing crisis, Sally highlighted the impending culmination of the ‘Homes for Ukraine refugee scheme’ in the UK as greater evidence of the predicament the country finds itself in.

“There is a requirement for private housing, that people have access to, in the absence of us being able to fill the social housing gap. A lot of the Ukrainian refugees came over and families agreed to house them for a 6-month period, and we’re now coming to the end of that [6-month period],” she explained.

Sally drew attention to the opportunities that are consequently presented to landlords.

 “Landlords that have been looking at their properties as single-unit family lets for a period of time ... now is the time that they [landlords] are looking at reinvesting into those properties and expand[ing] them.”

With temporary accommodation of up to six months in huge demand for asylum seekers during case reviews, and longer-term follow-on accommodation needed for refugees, the possibilities are clearly there for private landlords to look at. Additionally, with the Home Office offering contracts of three main providers of accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers, and with rent payments guaranteed, on time and in full, getting rid of the headache of dealing with the private rented sector and simultaneously providing a desperately needed service could be an appealing decision to make.

But is there enough government support for landlords to move into more affordable housing? To hear what the panellists had to say on the matter, as well as their thoughts on the new EPC rules and the necessary work landlords will need to embark on to get their properties up to code, check out the full video here.