Hopping off the DLR at Canary Wharf, social housing might feel a world away.

Claire Kober is managing director for Homes at Pinnacle Group

The area is synonymous with wealth: home to global banks, high-end restaurants and even the UK’s largest Waitrose with its own temperature-controlled cellar for wine tastings. It’s easy to assume this place is reserved for the well heeled, far removed from those on modest incomes.

But that perception is no longer the reality. In diverse boroughs such as Tower Hamlets, social and affordable housing tenants live cheek by jowl with high earners in some of the UK’s most dynamic urban environments. This has always been the case to an extent in London, but nationally it’s a shift that is reshaping communities and challenging assumptions about who lives where.

Take Arafat. At 25, he’s been a property manager for Pinnacle at Wood Wharf (pictured) for four years. Raised in social housing and the middle of nine siblings, he was born in Limehouse, where he still lives and coaches boxing for local youngsters at Limehouse Boxing Academy in Poplar. Today, he plays a pivotal role in shaping a community where diverse residents co-exist.

As the manager of 143 affordable rent homes, his work goes far beyond maintenance and compliance – it’s about creating a sense of belonging and trust. Many tenants are familiar faces from his school days and his deep local roots help him build strong relationships. He knows that a well-run community is more than bricks and mortar; it’s about people feeling safe, supported and proud of where they live.

Budget measures

This year’s Budget and new housing legislation bring a raft of changes: compliance obligations, governance upgrades and financial pressures. These rightly dominate sector conversations, but in the rush to meet regulatory requirements, we must not lose sight of the human-centric nature of housing. Homes are not spreadsheets. Communities are not compliance checklists. They are living, breathing ecosystems dependent on relationships, empathy and care.

Property managers like Arafat hold these systems together. They mediate between residents and landlords, resolve disputes before they escalate and notice when a vulnerable tenant needs extra support. In mixed-tenure developments, their role is even more critical. They create cohesion in places where people from different backgrounds share the same corridors, gardens and amenities. Without that human touch, integration can falter and the promise of vibrant, inclusive communities risks becoming hollow.

Institutional investors are pouring billions into housing, attracted by stable returns and long-term demand. For-profit registered providers (FPRPs) are scaling up, and build-to-rent schemes are proliferating. According to Savills, FPRPs now own at least 43,100 affordable homes – 1% of all affordable housing – and have ambitions to reach 150,000 by 2030.

These trends bring opportunities: better-quality homes, professional management and investment in infrastructure. But they also bring challenges: chiefly, ensuring that growth does not come at the expense of humanity. We need to champion the people who make housing work on the ground. Legislation can set standards and budgets can allocate resources, but neither can replace the value of those who know residents by name, understand a community and take pride in making a place feel like home.

The future of housing will be shaped by policy and capital, but also by people. And if we want that future to be inclusive, resilient and transformative, we must invest not only in buildings, but in the human relationships that bring them to life. It starts with recognising and valuing people like Arafat who make those communities possible. While they care for our homes and look after us, we must ensure we invest in them, too. Building positive communities isn’t just about where we live; it’s about how we live together and the vital role individuals play in shaping that experience.

Claire Kober is managing director for Homes at Pinnacle Group