Race Online 2012, the campaign Martha Lane Fox founded as UK Digital Champion, has joined forces with 15 leading housing associations, including Affinity Sutton, Circle, Peabody, Home Group, Taff Housing, Poplar Harca and Hyde, between them representing 1 million residents, and sector bodies to size the huge social and economic benefits to tenants and landlords can realize should the sector build its digital capability.

This is a priority for the Digital Champion because around half of the 8.7m UK adults who have never been online live in social housing. Our research shows that housing providers massively overestimate the cost of moving to digital services, and many are unaware of the huge benefits.

Technology is the only way to meet the twin imperatives of social housing: letting landlords deliver more for less while fulfilling core social commitments to tenants: increasing financial literacy, education, employability, reducing social isolation.