Our Research

Our Key Research programmes and publications

We are delighted to share our latest reports, focussed on how we build stronger, more prosperous communities across the Midlands.

Evaluating St Basils 'Live and Work' - May 2026

Ten years ago, Live and Work opened its doors at Apprentice House in Sandwell based on the fundamental premise that housing and employment are not separate issues to be managed in separate systems, but a single, interconnected challenge that demands a joined-up response.

This evaluation, drawing on a decade of service user data, a Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis, and the direct testimony of young people, frontline staff, and professional stakeholders, confirms that this premise was correct, and that the Live and Work model has had a profound and far-reaching impact on the lives of the young people it has served.

The development of a Decent Neighbourhood Standard (2025 - present)

Britain has had a Decent Homes Standard since 2001- a clear, enforceable, minimum standard for the quality of the home. It has no equivalent for the neighbourhood, the unit of place that connects homes, everyday life and communities.

There is no standard that says what level of safety, social infrastructure, economic opportunity, or community life a neighbourhood must provide; no framework that identifies who is accountable when those things fall short; no shared measure of what decency means at the scale of a neighbourhood. These questions – what neighbourhood decency means, what it requires and by who – are precisely what the Decent Neighbourhood Standard (DNS) is being developed to answer.

Neighbourhoods matter profoundly to the quality of people’s lives, and while there are a myriad of aspirational frameworks and guidelines about what exemplar neighbourhoods could and should be, the fundamental question remains: how do we create a practical, place-based standard to measure, improve and create accountability for the quality of neighbourhoods across the UK?

West Midlands Social Housing Quality Fund evaluation- October 2024

In January 2023 the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) secured nearly
£15 million of the Social Housing Quality Fund (SHQF) to tackle severe damp and
mould in social housing properties across the region.

This funding was allocated equally across the 7 local authorities in the West Midlands, with the programme commencing in October 2023 with the programmes of work completed by September 2024.

Researchers at the Centre for the New Midlands have conducted an evaluation study of the SHQF programme in partnership with the West Midlands Combined Authority, of the range, scope and scale of organisational and tenant impacts of the SHQF funding allocated and deployed by social housing providers in the West Midlands to address damp and mould in their housing units.

Roundtable Reports

The Data Dilemma in the Housing sector - March 2026

At the start of March 2026, we hosted a roundtable with our partners, Entec Si and Pearl Comms. We brought 20 of the region’s leaders from across housing, policy, communications, the legal sector and technology together to explore the shared challenge: the sector holds huge amounts of data, but often struggles to turn it into meaningful insight.

The event brought together key partners who reiterated that the housing sector’s data dilemma is not primarily a technology problem. Instead, it reflects deeper issues around governance, culture and organisational capacity.

While tools such as AI and predictive analytics offer significant potential, participants agreed that the sector must first focus on the fundamentals: data quality, clear ownership and strong governance.

By treating data as a strategic asset and embedding responsibility across organisations, housing providers can begin to unlock the insights needed to improve services, strengthen tenant relationships and plan effectively for the future.

How do we deliver affordable housing across the West Midlands? - April 2023

On 16 March 2023, the Centre for the New Midlands held an Affordable Housing roundtable at Eighteen, 103 Colmore Row in Birmingham. This was attended by 18 senior leaders representing the public, private and not-for-profit sectors all working to deliver affordable housing in the West Midlands region.

The aim of this roundtable was not simply to agree on the extensive barriers preventing our region from delivering the affordable homes we so urgently need.

Rather the discussion focused on reframing what affordable housing means for different stakeholders in the region, how we might work collaboratively to overcome barriers and enhance affordable housing supply and drawing together a set of key policy priorities to support the delivery of more affordable homes.