Building better social housing starts with building better connectivity

The UK government has announced the first wave of funding from its £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme, supporting the delivery of more than 70,000 new social and affordable homes outside London.

That is a major opportunity to think not only about how those homes are built, but how people will live in them.

Connectivity now supports everything from accessing essential services and working from home to telecare, building systems and environmental monitoring.

Recent research continues to highlight the UK's digital divide and the challenges many residents face in accessing online services without reliable internet access. As discussed in Housing Digital's article, Closing the digital gap, digital inclusion remains a significant issue across the housing sector.

If we are building the next generation of social housing, digital inclusion, enabled by access to high-quality connectivity, must be built into the plan too.

Digital inclusion should be designed into the home

For social housing residents, reliable connectivity is increasingly part of day-to-day life.

It supports everything from managing benefits and healthcare appointments to studying, working from home and staying connected with family. Without that connectivity, residents can find it harder to access services and opportunities that many now assume are available online.

That means digital inclusion cannot sit separately from housing itself. Housing providers should consider connectivity alongside the other services residents will rely on from day one.

For housing providers, this also creates a stronger foundation for resident services, telecare and future digital tools, without having to retrofit infrastructure later.

A connected home supports more than the resident

The same network can also support the systems housing providers use to manage buildings and improve services, including:

• Damp and mould sensors
• Telecare
• CCTV and access control
• Building management systems
• Staff connectivity
• Smart building technology

The network is not there solely to provide resident WiFi. The same network also supports how the whole building works. Housing providers should consider connectivity alongside the devices and platforms they invest in, rather than treating it as a separate IT decision.

Design connectivity into the development

When housing providers consider connectivity early in a new development, they can design the network around residents, staff and building systems from day one.

That creates a more consistent experience and gives providers a clear foundation for future technology. It also reduces the cost and disruption of retrofitting infrastructure later.

Existing estates need the same thinking. Providers can modernise older buildings by making better use of existing infrastructure where possible, while creating a more consistent approach across their portfolio.

Wifinity is doing this with social housing providers today, upgrading networks, reusing existing cabling where appropriate and introducing modern managed connectivity with less disruption for residents.

One network can support more than one outcome

A well-designed managed network can support resident connectivity, staff systems and smart building technology across the same estate, while keeping services appropriately separated and secure.

For housing providers, that creates a simpler environment to manage, gives teams greater visibility across their estate and makes it easier to introduce new services as resident needs and technology change.

Wifinity already works across large and complex social housing estates, including partnerships with providers such as Anchor, MTVH and SNG.

That experience has shown us that the strongest networks put the people and services that rely on them first, rather than focusing only on speeds and hardware.

Plan today for the homes residents will need tomorrow

The next decade will bring major investment in social and affordable housing.

It is an opportunity not only to build more homes, but to build homes that support digital inclusion, better resident services and smarter ways of managing housing.

As the sector continues its efforts to close the digital divide, connectivity should be viewed as part of the core infrastructure that helps residents access services, opportunities and support throughout their tenancy.

If you are planning new social housing developments or reviewing connectivity across an existing estate, our social housing team would be happy to assist.

Visit our social housing page or contact [email protected]