Recommendation 1

Most social homes provide tenants with warm, safe and decent places to live. The prevalence of poor conditions across the sector is generally lower than in other tenures. However, progress at bringing all social homes up to a minimum standard of decency has almost ground to a halt, with very little improvement since the pandemic. Over 25 years since the Decent Homes Standard was introduced, it is not acceptable that just under 430,000 social homes still fail to meet even this basic standard. Moreover, factors such as climate change, our country’s ageing population, and the inevitable deterioration of existing stock could lead to even more people living in poor quality, unsafe homes. (Conclusion, Paragraph 12)