Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
First Report - The Regulation of Social Housing
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
HC 18
Published 20 July 2022
Recommendations
2
Acknowledged
Para 18
Whatever the extent and causes of housing disrepair, we call on everyone in and connected...
Recommendation
Whatever the extent and causes of housing disrepair, we call on everyone in and connected to the social housing sector to work together and prioritise above all else the quality of housing being provided to existing tenants.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees the sector needs to prioritize the quality of housing and states that their messaging to the sector has been unequivocally strong and clear on this issue.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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8
Para 37
We recommend that the Government provide an update on social housing providers’ access to funds...
Recommendation
We recommend that the Government provide an update on social housing providers’ access to funds for building safety remediation and commit to ensuring they have exactly the same access to funds as private landlords. It should also provide an assessment …
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Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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18
Acknowledged
Para 76
We urge the Government and the Regulator of Social Housing to work together to ensure...
Recommendation
We urge the Government and the Regulator of Social Housing to work together to ensure the TSMs and the access-to-information scheme are implemented in such a way that tenants can have confidence in their reliability and effectiveness as a means …
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Government Response Summary
The government has published a final suite of TSMs, which they will use as a source of regulatory intelligence, and they intend to review their TSM requirements at an appropriate point after implementation.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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23
Acknowledged
Para 97
We urge all social housing providers, especially the larger ones, to prioritise putting the tenant...
Recommendation
We urge all social housing providers, especially the larger ones, to prioritise putting the tenant at the centre of how they deliver housing services, including by relying far less on impersonal and remote methods of communication and increasing the number …
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Government Response Summary
The government states that the overall intention for the new standards will remain to set clear outcome-based expectations, and that registered providers and their tenants are enabled to design the most appropriate way to meet their outcomes according to the needs of their tenant base.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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38
Acknowledged
We strongly recommend that the Government immediately make it clear to local councils that they...
Recommendation
We strongly recommend that the Government immediately make it clear to local councils that they have a duty to inspect all unsafe homes, irrespective of who owns it, including, if necessary, by producing new enforcement guidance. This must include setting …
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Government Response Summary
The Government recognises the importance of safe and secure homes and local authorities' powers to enforce housing standards, working to raise awareness of these powers regarding hazards like damp and mould. The Social Housing (Regulation) Bill will strengthen tenant rights and regulator powers.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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48
Acknowledged
Para 186
We urge the Government and the Regulator of Social Housing to make sure the latter...
Recommendation
We urge the Government and the Regulator of Social Housing to make sure the latter has the resourcing, skills and capacity to continue to regulate the economic standards properly. As part of this, the Government must first assess the regulator’s …
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Government Response Summary
The government states that they will seek to ensure they have the capacity and skills to continue to regulate the economic standards robustly and keep pace with the evolving challenges faced by the sector.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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50
Acknowledged
Para 198
We urge the regulator to publish details as soon as possible of how it plans...
Recommendation
We urge the regulator to publish details as soon as possible of how it plans to use its enhanced regulatory powers under the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill, particularly those on inspections and surveys, and to place them at the centre …
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Government Response Summary
The government welcomes the Committee’s recommendations regarding their role, will carefully consider them as they continue to develop their approach to proactive consumer regulation.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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Conclusions (18)
1
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 17
It is not possible to gauge exactly how prevalent poor quality is within the social housing sector. Given that the English Housing Survey (EHS) estimated that 13% of homes in the social rented sector failed to meet the decent homes standard in 2020, it is fair to conclude that the …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that the majority of social housing in England is of a decent standard and that examples of disrepair highlighted by the Inquiry are not representative of the majority of social housing tenants’ experiences.
7
Conclusion
Para 36
The social housing sector is under serious financial pressure, and the Government is asking it to do far too much without sufficient resources. We therefore welcome the progress made towards finding a financial solution to the building safety crisis and the Government’s commitment to exploring ways of exempting social housing …
9
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 40
We agree with our witnesses that housing disrepair, particularly damp and mould, is often aggravated by the inability of tenants to heat or ventilate their homes properly or by overcrowding, or by a mixture of both. We also agree that tenants cannot, and must not, be held responsible for either …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that the sector needs to prioritize the quality of housing and states that their messaging to registered providers has been unequivocally strong and clear on maintaining a constant focus on delivering safe, good quality homes and treating tenants with respect.
13
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 62
The presence of a stigma attached to being a social housing tenant is very hard to dispute, although it is difficult to say how prevalent stigmatising views are among contractors and staff working for social housing providers. It is also difficult to say how prevalent other types of discrimination are. …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that providers must take concerns over stigma and discrimination seriously, and work towards reducing the factors leading to it, restating the existing standards.
15
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 67
The power imbalance between tenants and housing providers is one of the biggest problems facing the social housing sector today. One of the most effective ways of empowering tenants, however, is through the establishment of tenants and residents associations, led by tenants themselves, with which providers must engage first and …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that providers must take concerns over stigma and discrimination seriously, and work towards reducing the factors leading to it, restating the existing standards.
17
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 75
The tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs) and the new access to information scheme are central to the Government’s plans for making the sector more transparent. While we do welcome the steps taken to improve transparency, we must note how underwhelmed the sector is by these proposals. In their current form, we …
Government Response Summary
The government has published a final suite of TSMs, which they will use as a source of regulatory intelligence, and they intend to review their TSM requirements at an appropriate point after implementation.
21
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 95
The commercialisation of social housing can be traced back to the cut to government funding in 2011. Whilst we would like the Government to provide more central funding for specific purposes, such as regeneration, building safety, decarbonisation and new housing, the sector is now clearly dependent on high levels of …
Government Response Summary
The government states they continue to apply consumer powers robustly, encourage providers to improve services and engage with tenants, and share learning from casework with the sector to strengthen systems and processes.
22
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 96
It is difficult to say for certain whether very large providers are more likely to lose sight of their core responsibility, which is to their tenants, but it seems obvious that there is a tendency for such providers to become more remote and impersonal. If such providers struggle to provide …
Government Response Summary
The government states they continue to apply consumer powers robustly, encourage providers to improve services and engage with tenants, and share learning from casework with the sector to strengthen systems and processes.
26
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 111
The primary responsibility for resolving disputes between tenants and providers lies with the providers themselves, and yet too often their complaint handling processes are inefficient and obstructive. It is understandable if tenants sometimes conclude they have been specifically designed to prevent them from ever referring their complaint to the Housing …
Government Response Summary
The government looks forward to continuing to work with tenants and other stakeholders as they develop a new proactive consumer regulation regime.
27
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 112
The introduction of the Housing Ombudsman’s complaint handling code and complaint handling failure orders must drive improvement and consistency in the way providers respond to complaints. We are pleased therefore that the Government is legislating through the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill to place the power to establish such a code …
Government Response Summary
The government looks forward to continuing to work with tenants and other stakeholders as they develop a new proactive consumer regulation regime.
33
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 125
We welcome the ombudsman’s decision to increase the levels of compensation for the most serious service failings, but even these are inadequate. If the Government thinks tenants in the private rented sector (PRS) should be entitled to compensation of up to £25,000, it cannot argue otherwise for social housing tenants. …
Government Response Summary
The government believes non-financial remedies, as well as financial ones, are an important aspect of an Ombudsman’s toolkit. Our calculation of financial bands will increase. A key aspect of this review will be ensuring landlords recognize distress and disruption in their own awards of compensation, and use their discretion in their complaints procedure.
37
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 137
It appears that some local authorities might have misinterpreted the Housing Health and Safety Rating System enforcement guidance, and as such are not inspecting private providers. We welcome the Minister’s reiteration that a council can inspect a property owned by a private provider and issue an enforcement notice, although we …
Government Response Summary
The Government recognises the importance of safe and secure homes and local authorities' powers to enforce housing standards, working to raise awareness of these powers regarding hazards like damp and mould. The Social Housing (Regulation) Bill will strengthen tenant rights and regulator powers.
39
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 147
We welcome the removal of the serious detriment test, which has obstructed the effective regulation of the consumer standards for far too long.
Government Response Summary
The Government welcomes the Committee’s support on the removal of the serious detriment test, stating that this will give the Regulator stronger powers to proactively address issues of tenant safety and wellbeing.
40
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 154
The Regulator of Social Housing is independent of the Government and is alone responsible for the interpretation of its statutory duties. It interprets its duty to minimise intervention and act proportionately to mean that it should only find a provider non-compliant with the consumer standards if it also finds evidence …
Government Response Summary
The Department engages regularly with the Regulator to understand how it is discharging its duties and to ensure that the Department’s policy intentions are understood. The Department welcomes the Committee’s views on the Regulator’s interpretation and will raise these points with the Regulator. The Government has amended the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill to remove the ‘serious detriment’ test.
43
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 162
If the Regulator of Social Housing engages as little with tenants as seems to be the case, we are deeply concerned. It is impossible for the regulator to even give the appearance of putting tenants at the centre of its consumer regulation if it does not seem interested in their …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that tenants' voices should be at the center of social housing regulation. The Social Housing (Regulation) Bill will ensure that the Regulator engages with tenants when undertaking inspections. The Regulator has also recently introduced Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), which will provide tenants with greater transparency on their landlord’s performance. The Government has amended the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill to strengthen tenant engagement with their landlords.
45
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 183
The social housing sector has commercialised and diversified almost beyond recognition since 2011. That nothing has gone seriously wrong yet should be no cause for complacency, especially as we enter a period of rising inflation and interest rates. A single failure in the sector could be catastrophic, particularly given that …
Government Response Summary
The government welcomes the Committee's recommendations regarding their role and will carefully consider them as they continue to develop their approach to proactive consumer regulation.
49
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 197
The removal of the ‘serious detriment’ test will make it much easier for the regulator to inspect providers proactively and to survey properties where it has reason to suspect serious disrepair. We welcome this development as perhaps the most important reform of the consumer regulatory regime. We appreciate that proactively …
Government Response Summary
The government welcomes the Committee's recommendations regarding their role and will carefully consider them as they continue to develop their approach to proactive consumer regulation.
55
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We are concerned that potentially extremely vulnerable residents in receipt of unregulated support services do not currently benefit from the protection of regulation by the Care Quality Commission. We are encouraged by the Government’s stated commitment to improving standards in supported housing, but it is impossible to say from the …
Government Response Summary
The government recognizes that some supported housing residents are particularly vulnerable, and is committed to improving standards and quality of supported housing. They have announced a package of measures and will respond to the Committee's upcoming report on exempt accommodation in due course.