Foreword
Foreword on behalf of Cllr Nicky Brennan, Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness, and Paul Langford, Executive Director for City Housing
A warm welcome to Birmingham City Housing’s Annual Report to Tenants 2024 to 2025.
This year, we’ve made significant strides in our ongoing transformation of the housing services you receive, so that your home is safe, comfortable and a place you can be truly proud of.
We are investing over £200 million year on year and are committed to building even stronger relationships with you and making a visible, positive impact in our communities. However, although the improvements have been significant, we fully realise that the much-needed investment will take time to be delivered to all of our homes, so thank you for your patience.
Through listening to your feedback and engaging more closely with you, we’ve focused our efforts on the issues that matter most, while responding proactively to important changes in housing regulation.
In this report, we’re pleased to share some of our key achievements and performance highlights from 2024 to 2025, yet are equally determined to continue the improvements in the years to come.
We hope you find this update informative and encouraging, and we thank you for your ongoing involvement and support.
Main achievements
In 2024 to 2025, we’ve made record investments in council homes, over £200 million has been spent on improvements to meet both the Decent Homes and Building Safety Standards. This includes upgrades such as new kitchens and bathrooms, helping to enhance the quality and safety of homes across Birmingham.
We understand that some of these works may have caused disruption, and we sincerely thank you for your patience and collaboration as we continue to improve housing estates throughout the city.
We’re pleased to report that 259,530 responsive and gas repairs were completed over the year, with a first-time fix rate of over 75%. This reflects our ongoing commitment to delivering a more efficient and reliable repairs service for our tenants and leaseholders.
Alongside our efforts to maintain the quality of your home, we’re also investing in the regeneration of neighbourhoods, most notably in Ladywood and Druids Heath. These areas will benefit from record levels of investment aimed at supporting local communities and delivering about 15,500 new homes over the next 20 years. This long-term commitment reflects our vision for vibrant, inclusive neighbourhoods where residents can thrive.
Our new Housing Management Service has been redesigned to put more resources on the front line, increasing our presence in your neighbourhoods through both housing officers and estate services. As a result, tenant visits have increased by 32%, and walkabouts by 46%
In response to the ongoing cost of living pressures, we remain committed to keeping social rents affordable and supporting tenants who are struggling to make ends meet. Initiatives such as Housing Perks, which offers discounts at over 100 retailers, are part of our broader efforts to ease financial burdens and enhance tenant wellbeing.
Voice and experience of our tenants and leaseholders
Through our annual Tenant Satisfaction Survey, we’re pleased to report that satisfaction with the housing service continues to rise.
In 2024 to 2025, 59% of tenants said they were satisfied with the overall service, up from 52.1% the previous year.
Find out more about our tenant satisfaction measures 2024 to 2025
One of the most important responsibilities of a social landlord is to act quickly when things go wrong. I’m pleased to share that our responsiveness and ability to learn from customer complaints has improved significantly. We’ve reduced the backlog of outstanding complaints to 78, down from 267 at the start of last year. This represents a 71% improvement in performance.
Read more about our complaints performance in our Annual Complaints and Service Improvement Report 2024 to 2025
At the heart of our tenant engagement is the City Housing Involvement Board, the 11 local boards and the tenant and leaseholder focus groups on sheltered living, high rise and anti-social behaviour to name but a few.
Find out more about how we engage with our tenants and how you can get involved
Read the foreword from David Wray, the Chair of the City Housing Involvement Board, especially if you would like to get on board in helping to shape your housing service.
Challenges and areas for improvement
We fully recognise that there is still much more for Birmingham to do as your social landlord.
The intervention by the Regulator of Social Housing in 2023, along with direct feedback from our tenants and leaseholders, has made that clear. We are absolutely committed to making the necessary improvements.
Key areas we’ll be focusing on include:
- launching a new repairs service in 2026 to improve response times and increase tenant satisfaction
- continuing record levels of investment in your homes to ensure all properties meet the Decent Homes Standard
- boosting tenant satisfaction and participation, with a particular focus on groups where engagement has been historically low
We hope you find this year’s Annual Report to Tenants and Leaseholders informative and encouraging.
Thank you for your continued feedback and involvement, it’s helping to shape a better housing service for everyone.
Foreword by David Wray, Chair of the City Housing Involvement Board
As Chair of the City Housing Involvement Board, I am delighted to introduce this year’s Annual Report to Tenants 2024 to 2025.
I have had the privilege of serving as chair for the past 18 months and have seen many positive changes and improvements across city housing that are highlighted in this report.
Most notably the housing redesign has continued to evolve and take shape, and while there have been challenges overall progress has been encouraging. It is especially positive to see a stronger presence on our estates with tenants and officers working more closely together.
Looking ahead, there are further changes across government that will affect us and we would like you to be part of that journey. I strongly encourage you to get involved and contribute to key decisions that impact your homes and neighbourhood.
Your voice matters, whether it's making practical suggestions about what works in your community, or helping shape services to make Birmingham the best city to live in. You can be involved as much or as little as you like by either working with your Local Housing Involvement Board or sharing your views directly with me.
Thank you for taking the time to watch our videos we hope you find them helpful:
Video 1: Putting you at the heart of everything we do
Video 2: Improving and maintaining your home
Video 4: Creating clean, green and safe neighbourhoods
If you would like to know more about how you can get involved or express your views about our services, take a look at our tenant engagement pages.
Page last updated: 21 November 2025
