Written by Andrew Taylor, PR and Communications Director, Freshfield

Having advised organisations in the social housing arena for the past 15 years plus, I can’t recall a time where both the operational and communications environment has been so challenging.

The regulatory and financial demands placed on housing providers have grown exponentially at a time when their ability to adequately fund these demands has been significantly hampered.

New building safety laws, the post-pandemic recovery, high-inflation, multiple cost of living crises, ageing stock, net zero targets, uncertainty over new-build grant funding, new regulatory consumer standards – the list is long.

It’s meant housing sector comms teams have had to be more agile, resilient and responsive than ever as they help their organisations communicate on this plethora of complex, deeply intertwined issues. And it’s a challenge they’ve faced with aplomb – as they always do.

But perhaps one of the biggest comms challenges for the sector I’ve witnessed in recent times is trying to communicate in what has become a highly politicised environment – one where housing providers often get the blame for perceived injustices or systemic issues that are beyond their control.

Nowhere is this more evident than on communications surrounding new affordable housing. The acute shortage of affordable properties means that for each family that is successfully housed in a new affordable housing development, hundreds more are left disappointed.

It’s a challenge that’s been exacerbated (and some might say exploited) by the immigration culture war that continues to bubble barely under the surface having boiled over at times in 2025.

This has created an absurd situation where genuinely good news about new affordable housing is met with derision. Comment sections become awash with (at best) misinformed comments about how social housing is allocated or (at worst) xenophobic missives that suggest a full-blown conspiracy to award housing to immigrants and people seeking asylum.

It would be easy for housing organisations, and those companies building new homes, to let this seemingly relentless negativity influence how they communicate around the new housing opportunities they create – to retreat and stay quiet for fear of provoking a reaction.

But it’s important to remember that such sentiment is rarely representative of broader community opinion. It’s often the case that a minority of online voices generate the majority of negative comments.

Staying silent only allows misinformation to spread and shape an inaccurate public understanding of why the affordable housing sector exists.

Being bold, proactive and factual with communication is the strongest defence against this misinformation. It helps demonstrate transparency and accountability by showing how organisations are delivering against their mission and funding commitments.

For me, the key to winning this battle lies in reframing the challenge. Instead of asking how to avoid negative and misleading comments, let’s ask how we can ensure accurate information about the work of social housing organisations remains visible and accessible, regardless of what people say online.

Freshfield has years of experience in supporting housing providers, affordable housing developers and other organisations working in the social housing arena. If you want to discuss a project, contact our team today.