LHG Chair’s report 2026
● As Chair, the last twelve months have been eventful. The Labour Government has made some really impressive strides forward, from the passage of the Renters’ Rights Act, the Leaseholder Reform Bill and the National Plan to End Homelessness.
● There is still room to do much more, but those steps alone will give stronger protections to 11 million private renters and 5 million leaseholders. That shows what Labour in government can achieve.
● The Labour Housing Group, meanwhile, has also undergone some change.
● After our last Annual General Meeting I was elected by the Executive Committee to become Chair, taking over from John Cotton, who is a little busy in Birmingham.
● We delivered our largest ever conference programme at Labour Party Conference. That had a significant impact on our national profile. And as Ross as Treasurer will highlight, that success has enabled us to invest more into LHG, including bringing on some Luke Johns, who will be working with us to create an even better Conference experience for you all.
o I know many of you have multiple hats, so it would be remiss of me not to say: if your organisation wants to fund or co-fund a LHG event at Conference, please let us know.
● We built a new website and digital infrastructure, complete with a new logo and membership system. It doesn’t sound sexy, I know, but hopefully that means that your experience as Members is a bit smoother and the organisation is a bit slicker.
● I’m proud that alongside our existing Patrons, we’ve brought on board four new Patrons: Shama Tatler, now Baroness Shah of Wembley; Chris Curtis, the MP for Milton Keynes North; Richard Parker, the Mayor of the West Midlands; and Rachel Blake, the MP for Westminster and the Two Cities (who is a long-standing supporter of Labour Housing Group).
● Within the Executive, we have set up four new working groups. I’ve been going along to the Temporary Accommodation Working Group and found it really thought-provoking. It’s a reminder that you, our Members, have a huge amount of expertise, and where we don’t have that expertise we have the influence to draw it in. We are trying to tap into more of that.
● Our Red Brick blog has seen its busiest year ever – publishing 90 blogs, many of which were written by our Members.
● We’ve held ‘In Conversation Events’ with speakers from across the housing spectrum nearly every month. I enjoyed Duncan Bowie’s contribution on London.
● We held our first Parliamentary launch, to get MPs involved in LHG.
● We are a national organisation, so we hosted an annual Policy Day in Manchester and the London branch held a policy day in London too.
● We’ve also done some vitally important work on responding to consultations, including on the National Planning Policy Framework. We are grateful to members for sending in their views on both, which enriched our submissions, and we will continue to survey our members on those issues.
● But despite the momentum we’ve built, there’s always more to do. We can still do more to advocate for the issues that matter to you – and we’re always open to ideas.
● LHG can only do what it does because of your engagement, expertise, and passion. And I’d like you to share in LHG’s success this year, because it wouldn’t have been possible without you.