The Week in Housing: cyberattack implications and the state of the shared ownership market

Good afternoon,

Ten years ago, the word ‘cyberattack’ would have looked like something that belonged in a sci-fi novel, not the pages of a social housing trade magazine, but in 2023 it is?among the foremost risks to the sector.?

A salutary reminder of why comes from east London, where Hackney Council looks set to abandon a painstaking three-year process of rebuilding its IT structures, which were devastated by ransomware criminals in autumn 2020.

With several key housing systems still not fully functioning,?the borough will seek an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution to get it fully back online.?

The past three years have been hard for Hackney – with its staff attempting to get the system to work on the back of systems not much different to simple spreadsheets, and its residents occasionally suffering the sharp end of this system not working.

The soaring demand for damp and mould work is not unique to Hackney and its widely reported struggles owe to much more than just the cyberattack. But it is a reminder of the costs to everyone – organisations, staff, residents – of cyber crime and the importance of having good protections in place.?

Shared ownership has also been in the news this week, with the first question being how much the current financial crisis is impacting demand for the product.

Large housing association?Platform revealed a surprising 163% rise in unsold units in its most recent financial update. But it insists this is not a sign of the market: the landlord put the increase down to a larger number of acquisitions from house builders, for which marketing can only start after the handover, which means the selling times were extended for these homes.

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