Social housing white paper to drive up standards
The government has announced a raft of social housing reforms this week in its Social Housing White Paper in a drive to give residents a stronger voice and to drive up standards.
Under the new measures, social landlords providing sub-standard housing and services will be publicly called out on the government’s website and across social media. In addition, a new Resident Panel will be formed that will allow tenants who live in social housing to be heard directly by government.
The Social Housing White Paper sets out a number of reforms which will be delivered through new legislation. It's intended that it will transform the experiences of residents, with a major reform of the way in which social landlords are regulated and held to account for the homes and services they deliver.
The white paper builds on a range of measures already in place including strengthened regulation of the sector, improvements to the Housing Ombudsman Service, and empowering residents to know and exercise their rights.
The newly announced measures include:
- Publicising landlords who have breached the Regulator’s consumer standards or who have serious complaints against them from the Housing Ombudsman on social media and government websites.
- The formation of a new Residents Panel, letting residents have their say on how to improve the quality of social housing by scrutinising and influencing measures to strengthen the Decent Homes Standard.
- Publishing draft clauses to legislation that will reform the regulation of social housing through tougher consumer powers, greater enforcement tools to tackle failing landlords and new responsibilities on social landlords.
- A new factsheet explaining the role of the Regulator of Social Housing and Housing Ombudsman Service.
- A new gov.uk page, setting out progress on implementing the measures in the Social Housing White Paper and further measures being introduced to improve quality of social housing.
Minister for Social Housing Eddies Hughes MP said, "Everyone in this country deserves to live in a safe and decent home. It is unacceptable that anyone should have mould covering their walls, risk slipping on a wet floor or have water dripping from the ceiling.
"We have published draft legislation today to toughen up regulation of social housing landlords. This includes naming and shaming those landlords who fail to meet acceptable living standards and giving tenants a direct channel to raise their concerns with government.
"This package will help to deliver on our commitment in the Levelling Up White Paper to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030."
