By Leann Hearne, Interim CEO, Switchee
- May 2026
I have spent most of my career on one side of the table. The side where the board pack lands on a Friday afternoon, the regulator’s letter is already in the inbox, and residents are still waiting for their damp and mould to be fixed. I remember one resident who looked me in the eye and said, “If I stopped paying my rent for 18 months, you’d evict me in three. Why doesn’t it work both ways?” I didn’t have a good answer, and if I’m being honest, the sector still doesn’t.
Now I’m on the other side. As Interim CEO of Switchee, I’m the supplier. The perspective is different, but one thing has become even clearer: social housing does not lack commitment, ambition or purpose. What it often lacks is the operating model, confidence, and partnership to turn good intentions into faster action.
That matters, because the pressures facing the sector are not getting any lighter.
The outgoing Chief Executive of the Regulator of Social Housing, Fiona MacGregor, said it plainly in her final speech: the sector is gathering data but not using it. Her successor, Jonathan Walters, echoed the same challenge in his first speech, highlighting the need for greater innovation across social housing.
This is not a fringe debate; it is a strategic challenge.
At the same time, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) margins have fallen sharply over recent years. Investment pressures are rising. Compliance expectations are increasing. Financial headroom is tighter. In this environment, the instinct can be to delay innovation rather than accelerate it. But this is exactly when change matters most.
Every pound tied up in systems that don’t work, repairs that go undiagnosed, and datasets that sit untouched is a pound that could be improving residents’ lives.
Resident expectations are shaped by every other service experience they have, whether fair or not. Social housing operates in a very different context, but expectations around visibility, responsiveness, and service have fundamentally changed.
And while the sector often talks about innovation as though it is abstract or future-facing, there are already organisations proving what progress looks like.
Yorkshire Housing is a strong example of turning ambition into action: connecting its systems to create a single view, enabling what they call ‘pre-emptive repairs’. They can see when a property needs attention before the resident has to report it.
At Livv Housing, where I was CEO, we committed to reaching our EPC target by 2025, five years ahead of the government deadline. That meant partnering differently, including with Flutter Shutters, an all-female business with a university-backed shutter system, delivering measurable fuel poverty reduction in one of the most deprived boroughs in England.
And outside housing, some of the most effective innovation comes from people focused simply on solving the problem in front of them. A paediatric consultant at Alder Hey Hospital noticed children weren't turning up to appointments because families couldn't afford the bus. So he built an app, put a nurse on a bus, and went to collect them. Cheaper than missed appointments, and with better outcomes for children. The solution was obvious in hindsight; it just needed someone to stop saying "we're not a commercial business" and start asking: what would actually solve this?
Innovation does not always mean new technology. Often, it means rethinking how we solve persistent problems quickly, with residents at the centre of the solution.
For too long, technology companies have oversold and underdelivered in this sector. They've walked into boardrooms with impressive demos and walked out with contracts that didn't deliver. Housing CEOs are cautious, sceptical and slow to commit. After what they've seen, they should be.
Trust is earned through outcomes, not demonstrations. The strongest partnerships I have seen are not transactional vendor relationships. They are organisations aligned around shared objectives, shared accountability, and measurable impact.
Together, the Consumer Standards, Awaab's Law and the Building Safety Act create a regulatory framework that should finally create the conditions for data and technology to play a meaningful role, not as a reporting burden, but as a genuine operating model for demonstrating that homes are safe, warm and well-managed.
The question is no longer whether change is needed. It is whether the sector will use this moment to make meaningful progress or continue talking about innovation while residents wait.
Leann was appointed Interim Chief Executive of Switchee in March 2026, succeeding founding CEO Tom Robins.
Leann is a former CEO with over 20 years' experience leading organisational transformation. Her career spans executive roles, including Group CEO at Livv Housing, Executive Director at Riverside, Managing Director UK at Siegenia-Aubi (manufacturing), and Director of Operations at ExtraCare Charitable Trust, alongside founding her own consulting business.
Her non-executive portfolio includes roles as Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Regulatory Committee at Notting Hill Genesis, Vice Chair and Committee Chair at Yorkshire Housing, Non-Executive Director at Northern Housing Consortium, and Non-Executive Director at Community Foundations.
