AI could flag issues with council homes sooner

Artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to flag issues with council homes before they become critical.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge are developing the new AI tool alongside Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.

It will scan data from thousands of properties and flag the ones most likely to deteriorate, as well as the residents who could be harmed.

"This is just a starting point, but we hope it can be replicated across different councils across the country," said Prof Ronita Bardhan.

The tool would combine three sources of data into a single risk score for each property, the university said.

It includes systems that can detect heat loss from buildings, using thermal imagery captured by satellites.

Conventional housing data, such as Energy Performance Certificates, and anonymised records of contacts between councils and their tenants will also be factored in.

Researchers said the data would feed into a dashboard displaying a map of "risk hotspots".

However, Bardhan said welfare decisions would stay with trained council officers.

Peter Campbell, head of housing at the South Cambridgeshire authority, said having access to better data could make his teams more efficient.

"At the moment we're very much waiting for things to break before we act," he explained.

He said damage often had a knock-on effect on other parts of people's homes.

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