Making a difference with data

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Derelict House from pixelhut on flickr"][/caption]

The decent homes standard has been a regulatory requirement for social landlords since April 2010. To meet the standard, property must have reasonably modern facilities, be warm and weatherproof.

The Regulatory framework for social housing in England from April 2010, published by the Tenant Services Authority, states:

"Registered providers shall:

- ensure that tenants' homes meet the standard set out in section of the Government's Decent Homes Guidance by 31 December 2010 and continue to maintain their homes to at least this standard after this date

- meet the standards of design and quality that applied when the home was built, and were required as a condition of publicly funded financial assistance, if these standards are higher than the Decent Homes Standard

- in agreeing a local offer, ensure that it is set at a level not less than these standards and have regard to section 6 of the Government’s Decent Homes Guidance"

So how do I know if my home is a decent home? How can I find out?

Information about people's housing circumstances,  the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England is collected continuously in the English Housing Survey, commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). There are data tables in Excel (most recently for 2009-2010) and include tables in this spreadsheet (xls, 350kb) for:

• Non-decent homes by tenure (2006-2009)
• Homes failing decent homes criteria by tenure (2009)

However, these figures are aggregated to a national level. Useful for policy makers but they don't answer the resident's question.

More locally... DCLG share the data returns on non-decent homes in local authority districts, as provided by local authorities in England on their Business Plan Statistical Appendix Early Decent Homes.

But what I'm really getting at here is providing data that's useful to a resident (or prospective resident). For example: "My housing association has offered me a house - is it decent and do I want it?"

The Tenant Services Authority publish a local authority breakdown in these Excel spreadsheets (zip, 557kb), which include the number of homes failing to meet the decent homes standard. The data is also broken down for each hosuing provider within the local authority.

We're getting closer to answering the resident's question "Is my home a decent home?" but we're not quite there. And this is the crux.

To get an answer about a specific home requires data on an individual home to be open - location, state of repair, possibly photos shared openly. And when it comes to houses, where we live with our families, sharing data becomes uncomfortable (or even threatening).

If we want to know whether our home - or new home - from our housing provider meets the decent homes standard, are we willing to open up data about individual houses?

Related links

• A Decent Home: Definition and guidance for implementation (Communities and Local Government, June 2006)
• Regulatory framework for social housing in England from April 2010 (Tenant Services Authority)
• English Housing Survey and Headline Report 2009-2010 (Department for Communities and Local Government)
• Decent Homes in the Social Sector - Statistics Reconciliation Project 2008 (Department for Communities and Local Government)
• Local Authority Non-Decent Homes: Provisional Estimates 2009/10 – Data returns (Department for Communities and Local Government)