Data Privacy Week 2026: Strengthening trust, security and organisational readiness in housing

As housing providers embrace digital transformation, navigate new regulations, and manage increasingly complex datasets, safeguarding resident information has become a core measure of organisational credibility. The sector handles highly sensitive personal data daily, meaning that strong data privacy and governance practices are essential for compliance and maintaining resident trust.

Similarly, the increased Government focus of building safety and property standards are forcing housing providers to better understand their assets and ensure that they are appropriate and fit for habitation.

 

Using data to strengthen resident trust and inform future investment

Housing providers hold detailed information about individuals, from employment and income data to personal support needs. They also hold data regarding their housing stock and the components within properties, which is used to ensure that all compliance needs such as gas and electrical safety are being supported and maintained.

As regulatory and resident expectations increase, housing providers need ever more detailed, accurate and accessible data, including:

• Stock condition data
• Component‑level data
• Vulnerability data
• Access data

Validating this information and maintaining consistently high data quality is critical to delivering the requirements of Awaab’s Law Phase 2 and Decent Homes 2, as well as providing assurance to regulators, boards and residents.

This level of sensitivity demands high standards of ethical handling and transparency. It also requires the information owners to ensure that data is consistent and complete and that quality is continually maintained. We know that most housing providers have multiple sources of data held within core systems such as housing and asset management systems and data held ‘off-system’ in localised spreadsheets, on paper and in electronic notes.  This results in data silos and data fragmentation which can often be identified through a lack of data consistency across all of the silos.

Altair has been engaged in several projects supporting housing providers to inspect data quality and consistency and to highlight areas for improvement. These projects have delivered significantly increased assurance around the quality of asset and resident data, alongside improved processes that enable continued visibility, stronger governance, and enhanced customer service.

By clearly communicating how data is collected, used and protected, organisations can increase resident confidence, have greater assurance in regard of compliance legislation and demonstrate responsible digital stewardship.

 

Embedding security into digital and data transformation

Housing organisations have rapidly expanded their digital services, from cloud-based housing management systems to automation tools and data analytics platforms. But every digital upgrade introduces new potential vulnerabilities. Digital transformation must be paired with strong data governance and cyber security awareness consideration, otherwise efficiencies become threats.

We know that there has been a significant increase (+50%) in nationally significant cyber incidents occurring in UK organisations between 2024 and 2025. In response, the UK Government has proposed the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill (CSRB), which is expected to come into effect in early 2026. The CSRB will outline and mandate the expected standard of cyber resilience across a range of sectors and their supply chains. Altair can help organisations navigate these changes, identify any actions required to ensure compliance, and reduce the risk of penalties.

Key actions for housing organisations include:

• Establishing and adopting strong data governance principles
• Identifying and recording all data sources
• Establish a culture of Master Data Management reducing data silos
• Improving consistency, completeness and quality of all data assets
• Designing or reviewing data and solution architectures with security at the core
• Ensuring cloud migrations follow best-practice security frameworks
• Understanding your cyber maturity and effectiveness of your security solutions
• Conducting regular reviews of system performance, cost and risk exposure
• Training users effectively to reduce human-error-driven breaches

 

Strengthening governance and oversight

 With regulatory expectations rising, boards and leadership teams must take an active role in data governance. Good governance means understanding the full data lifecycle, owning risks, and embedding privacy principles across the organisation, not just within IT teams.

 

Protecting data during organisational change

Transformation, from digital programmes to mergers, introduces heightened privacy risks. To protect data during change, organisations should:

• Conduct privacy and data protection impact assessments
• Review third-party vendor contracts to assess risk
• Ensure legacy systems are securely decommissioned
• Maintain continuous workforce training

 

Data Privacy Week 2026 is a reminder that data protection is central to delivering quality housing services. With strong governance, secure digital architecture and transparent communication, housing providers can build lasting resident trust.

At Altair, we provide a comprehensive suite of Digital, Data and Technology services designed to help socially-focused organisations improve data governance, establish robust data strategies and architectures, optimise systems, enhance digital architecture, and adopt future-ready digital operating models. If you’d like to discuss how Altair can support your organisation, please get in touch with the team here.

To explore how Altair and our partners, CSA Cyber, can support your organisation with strengthening IT and data security, data privacy and digital resilience, view our flyers below.

 

Cyber Security Assessment

Incident Response Services

Penetration Testing

SOC Managed Detection and Response Services