The Social Housing sector faces major challenges – but also opportunities – in the coming years and we believe strongly that there is a need for an organisation like ARCH that can represent councils that own and manage housing and support them in seizing the opportunities and meeting the challenges.

The Government has declared a commitment to build many more council homes and is pressing for increased spending on the existing stock to meet a new decency standard and make sure all tenants enjoy safe and energy-efficient homes.  But it has not yet shown how all this will be financed. The new regulatory regimes covering building safety and consumer standards are holding landlord councils more strictly to account demanding urgent and effective responses wherever performance is below par.

To respond successfully to these challenges and deliver council housing we can all be proud of the sector needs to come together and be supported by a representative body whose primary aim is to make the case for the future of council housing.

Why ARCH?

Councils that own housing and manage it themselves have interests and concerns different from other providers of social housing – a different financial regime from housing associations and different governance arrangements.  They also have different concerns and priorities from councils that have transferred ownership or management of their housing stock.  ARCH has provided a voice for the stock-retained sector for over a decade and is increasing in strength and influence as our reputation across Government improves and our membership grows.

An increasing number of councils are returning to ownership and management of council homes, re-opening housing revenue accounts and ending arms-length management arrangements.  ARCH gives them the opportunity to meet with other councils on the same journey to share issues and learning and make common cause in lobbying with Government and others.

ARCH has a strong track record, but more members make us stronger.  Our aim is to bring all eligible councils into membership.

“Being members of ARCH keeps us up to date with the development of policy and practice in local authority housing. There is no other forum that enables us to do that. ARCH also champions the cause of council housing and represents our sector with the media, government, and other housing agencies. In a period where the role of council housing is increasingly important, we need ARCH to speak on our behalf, share best practice, and help us work better together.”

Patrick Odling-Smee, Havering

What we’ve been involved in

Among recent work, ARCH has:

• commissioned an authoritative assessment of the financial challenge facing council housing and used it to support submissions to the Spending Review and recent consultation on future rent policy.
• commissioned research to demonstrate the economic and social benefits of building 100,000 new council homes, including showing that they would pay for themselves within a decade.
• made the case for reform of the Right to Buy and more flexibility in the use of receipts from RTB sales.
• argued for an effective but fair and proportional system of consumer regulation and inspection, and supported members undergoing inspection or regulatory intervention.
• supported members in making high-rise and high-risk homes safe and navigating the new regulatory regime for building safety.
• relayed to Government the views of members on the design of Awaab’s Law and the proposed updating of the Decent Homes Standard.
• pressed for an effective grant regime to support the aim of raising all council homes to EPC Band C by 2030.  

Join us

ARCH currently represents the views of more than 60 stock-retained councils in England, and that figure is growing as more councils decide that now is the time to join. Your council needs to be part of our movement too.  Your members, officers and tenants will be able to influence where ARCH goes, what it says and does, and come together with their counterparts from our other member councils.  You can’t do that from the outside.  Join us now.

What’s in it for you?

Policy 

• Free access to all ARCH policy briefings and updates, produced by our Policy Adviser Matthew Warburton
• Free policy and good practice information via our Policy Adviser
• Free access to any dedicated research commissioned by ARCH that is purely for, and on behalf of, councils with housing
• The opportunity to influence ARCH policy on how we respond to the government’s agenda

Improvement 

• A fortnightly ARCH Bulletin
• Free access to the member-only area of our new website
• Free access to ARCH Exchange, which enables senior housing staff to share knowledge and seek advice from colleagues in other member councils

Events

• Annual AGM for all ARCH members
• At lease one free place at our annual two-day residential Chief Officers Conference
• Free attendance at three or more seminars or webinars per year on key current issues
• Free support for tenants via the ARCH Tenants’ Group 
• Free attendance for up to 5 tenants representatives per member council at the annual ARCH Tenants’ Conference

Tenant participation

• Free support for tenants via the ARCH Tenants’ Group and the right to nominate a tenant representative for election to the Group
• Up to 5 free places for your council at the annual ARCH Tenants’ Conference

How much?

The 2025/26 membership fee remains frozen at £2,500 per year plus VAT.

Can your council really afford not to join?

For membership enquiries and organisation registration click the JOIN ARCH today button and use the contact form, using the drop-down for ‘Memberships’ and our ARCH administrator will contact you and your organisation regards Joining ARCH.

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