Ahead of the expected publication this week of the Government’s delayed Warm Homes Plan, the Housing Commission of think tank, Radix Big Tent has urged the Government to prioritise addressing the health impacts of fuel poverty and poorly insulated homes.
Chaired by Alex Notay, the incoming CEO of the Housing Forum, the Commission is calling on the Warm Homes Plan to:
● Remove VAT to make it cheaper for owners of older homes to renovate by blocking leaks and draughts to make their properties healthier to live in. Nearly 300,000 new jobs could be created if a taskforce was set up to tackle the estimated 19 million homes across the UK that need retrofitting.
● Include the publication of the Future Homes Standard, long delayed and still awaited guidelines that will address not just cold homes in the winter but overheated housing during anticipated frequent summer heatwaves.
● Make heat pumps more affordable by switching more quickly to an energy market model in which electricity prices can fall below gas prices before banning gas boilers.
● Introduce clear, consistent and user-friendly gauges that show home-buyers the link between the fuel efficiency of the property they are purchasing - and health. Not just modelled projections but measures of what their energy bill savings will be over time.
The Commission’s third report, Homes without Harm, published in November 2025, warned that climate-related health factors were becoming ever more prevalent in the UK with the well-known threats from winter cold and damp compounded by 3,500 annual excess deaths linked to high summer temperatures.
The Housing Commission’s first report, Beyond the Permacrisis, was widely praised by Government and industry and was described by the Today Programme as “influential" in shaping the Government housing policy.
The think tank says the Warm Homes Plan needs to draw an explicit link between improving homes - ensuring people can live healthy, comfortable lives - and saving the NHS money, and that this should be reflected in spending priorities.
