All-in on sustainability: Habodel

For the final entry in the series, Jon Daley, head of ESG at Habodel, explains how they are putting sustainability at the core, from creating greener homes to building stronger communities.

Why is sustainability important to your organisation?  

At Habodel, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do, going beyond just energy efficiency and carbon emissions. It’s about ensuring residents can enjoy safe, warm, healthy homes for the long term. Our focus is on delivering high standards, reliable services, and positive practices that create lasting value for the communities we serve. 

How has your approach to sustainability evolved since 2012, when Habodel launched? 

Over time, we’ve come to see sustainability as much more than just energy and emissions. It’s a wider responsibility that infiltrates every part of our work, from the quality of our homes, to how we run our business, support our partners, and most importantly the experience of our residents. 

Our approach has evolved to reflect this, with a strong focus on sustainable tenancies, achieving EPC C ratings through retrofit projects, driving local economic growth through our regional delivery partner network and aligning our practices with national standards. It’s been a significant shift, one that’s helped us grow and raise the bar both for ourselves and the wider sector.

How are you working to improve the sustainability of your homes? 

We're delivering energy-efficiency upgrades through our regional delivery partner network, with a focus on both fabric-first improvements and renewable technologies. But we know it’s not just about the upgrades themselves: it's also about how residents interact with their homes. That’s why we’re investing and working with our residents in supporting a sustainable rental experience, inclusive of tariff advice and smarter energy use to lower carbon emissions.

How are you working to embed sustainability within Habodel more widely? 

Beyond improving our homes, we're committed to wider positive impacts. Through our regional delivery partner network, we focus on sourcing sustainable materials, supporting apprenticeships and contributing to community projects. We also work directly with residents, connecting them to services like Policy in Practice and money advice services to help with income maximisation, budgeting and cost of living support, building resilience for the long term.

How have you sought to ensure staff are bought into your sustainability commitments?

Sustainability is a shared responsibility across the organisation. We've rolled out training on our sustainability strategies, and key commitments are part of our monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting. Soon, we’ll be strengthening this further with carbon literacy training for all colleagues, alongside pursuing international sustainability accreditation to independently validate our progress.

How do you measure the impact of your sustainability work? 

We track performance through a range of key metrics — from EPC ratings and carbon savings to resident satisfaction and energy cost reductions. We also assess the contribution of our local partners and benchmark our results against private and social housing sectors to identify areas for continued improvement.

What challenges have you encountered in your sustainability journey so far? And what challenges do you anticipate? 

In the near to medium term, securing government funding and clear policy direction continues to be a major challenge, both for us and the wider sector. While the £3.5 billion Warm Homes Plan is a positive step, estimates show that achieving EPC C across both social and private housing will require closer to £40 billion, leaving a significant funding gap. Although there has been some movement on policy consultations, firm guidance around EPC C targets and standards is still lacking.

Over the longer term, while it has been a huge challenge, it’s also a fantastic chance to be at the forefront of change in what has to date been a largely unregulated sector of the industry. The change that the professionalisation of the private rented sector can bring to residents and to retrofitting at scale represents real opportunity at a national level, and I’m excited by it. 

What are your long-term goals? 

Our long-term goal is simple: to make renting make sense by providing homes that are not only safe and sustainable, but that support a better quality of life for our residents. While much of the sector rightly focuses on the physical aspects of home sustainability, we aim to go further — creating a rental experience that’s affordable, secure and backed by the right service and support. 

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