Warm Rents Programme
Making cold homes a thing of the past
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Cold homes remain one of the most stubborn and damaging inequalities in the UK housing system.
Despite decades of investment and legislation, too many residents are still living in homes that are routinely too cold to be safe, with consequences for health, wellbeing and household finances that are well understood and yet persistently unresolved.
Warm Rents is Healthy Homes Hub's response to that reality, built on a straightforward principle: that warmth should be treated as a core component of rent, not an optional extra that residents must struggle to afford.
Why this problem persists
Fuel poverty in social housing is not caused by resident behaviour. It is structural.
Most residents have little or no control over the energy efficiency of their homes. Many live in older properties that are expensive to heat and difficult to upgrade. The social rent formula, established over twenty years ago, does not reflect energy performance and offers no incentive to address that imbalance.
The result is a system where tenants in the least efficient homes face the highest energy costs, while landlords absorb the downstream consequences: damp and mould, disrepair claims, reactive repairs and the ongoing cost of managing complaints. Cold homes also directly contribute to poor health outcomes, particularly for children, older people and those with long-term conditions. The sector is already paying for cold homes. Warm Rents reframes where and how that money is spent.
What the Programme Does
The Warm Rents Programme is our flagship initiative focused on tackling one of the sector’s most persistent challenges - cold homes. The programme is exploring a different approach - guaranteeing a minimum level of warmth, not leaving heating costs as something residents must struggle to afford.
Ten housing providers are taking part:
Clarion
Places for People
Thirteen
L&Q
Hanover Scotland
Futures
Bernicia
Golding Homes
SNG
Lincolnshire Housing Partnership.
By working across multiple organisations and delivery models it is creating a shared space for learning, where approaches can be tested, compared and refined collectively.
The value for our participating commercial members lies in the strength of the collaboration and the foundations being put in place to generate meaningful, sector-relevant evidence.
Our aim is to eliminate fuel poverty from social housing.
What Participating Organisations Gain
Across 2026/27, Warm Rents will generate shared learning on identifying cold homes at scale, targeting support fairly, comparing preventative investment against reactive spend, and building the evidence base needed to inform future policy on rent-setting and affordability. Independent researchers will evaluate outcomes, and all learning will be shared openly across the programme and with the wider sector.
Who leads the programme?
The programme is led by Alex Willey, Project Director at Healthy Homes Hub.
With over 15 years of experience in housing strategy, asset performance and sustainability.
Join the Warm Rents programme.
Sign-up closed at the end of April 2026.
We will post regular updates and insights as the programme progresses.
Please email alex@healthyhomeshub.uk if you would like to find out more or have a project that you’d like us to get involved with.