My constituents have contacted me about regulating social housing.
It is my firm belief that there can be no compromise on standards in social housing. The Government must ensure this is a priority.
Significant steps were taken in the last Parliament to improve the quality of social housing. For example, the last Government brought forward the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 which strengthens the Regulator of Social Housing, giving it the power to carry out regular inspections of the largest social housing providers and issue unlimited fines to rogue social landlords.
The Act also includes powers to introduce Awaab's Law which will set strict time limits for social landlords to address hazards such as damp and mould in their properties. The last Government held a consultation on these timescales, proposing a requirement for social landlords to investigate hazards within 14 days, start fixing within a further seven days, and make emergency repairs within 24 hours. I sincerely hope the new Government will take the consultation responses received into consideration and implement Awaab's Law as soon as possible.
Please know that, whilst I am broadly supportive of the Government’s overarching ambition to build 1.5 million new homes, I am clear that any new homes must be the right homes delivered in the right places, especially for social housing – something which must be a priority.
The last Government also introduced the Affordable Homes Programme, a scheme which provides grant funding to housing providers in England to support the costs of delivering affordable homes. I am pleased that the Government are continuing this programme.
