Queen’s Speech confirms Social Housing Regulation Bill to be introduced

In November 2021, the regulator published its approach to the changing consumer regulations, which will be measured across six themes: safety, quality, neighbourhood, transparency, engagement and accountability, and tenancies.

The introduction of legislation comes after several high-profile media cases of poor tenant conditions in some of the country’s largest housing associations and follows the publication of the Social Housing White Paper in November 2020.

The government said the purpose of the bill was to “increase social housing tenants’ rights to better homes and enhance their ability to hold their landlords to account, addressing concerns that the Grenfell Tower tragedy raised”.

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “We fully support the government’s aim to strengthen tenants’ rights through the Social Housing Regulation Bill and housing associations stand ready to work with their residents and the government to ensure every home delivers on the high standards they expect.

“We face a grave affordable housing crisis which continues to worsen, with 4.2 million people currently in need of social housing in England. We look forward to working with the government to ensure any changes to the planning system deliver the number and type of affordable homes the country desperately needs.”

The Queen’s Speech also said: “The planning system will be reformed to give residents more involvement in local development.”

This is in reference to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which in part seeks to improve the planning system to give local residents a greater say on new developments and ensure they are accompanied by new infrastructure and affordable housing.

The bill aims to help local communities capture more of the financial value created by developments, with a “locally set, non-negotiable levy to deliver the infrastructure that communities need, such as housing, schools, GPs and new roads”.

However, criticisms have been levelled at the government that the bills do not go far enough to promote affordable housebuilding.

Lee Bloomfield, chief executive of Bradford-based Manningham Housing Association, said: “With the cost of living crisis really beginning to bite, I had hoped that the government would show more ambition by offering tangible support to those communities that will inevitably suffer most.

“The pledge to reform the planning system by giving residents more involvement seems designed to restrict housebuilding rather than encourage it.”

Elsewhere, confirmation of the introduction of the Renters’ Reform Bill will see the government abolish so-called ‘no fault’ Section 21 evictions and attempt to deliver on the levelling-up mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030.

A spokesperson for the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The mayor welcomes the government’s decision to finally introduce long-promised legislation to ban Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.

“However, the government should have used the Queen’s Speech to address the eye-watering costs of renting by giving the mayor powers to introduce a two-year rent freeze in London, as a first step towards delivering rent controls that would make renting more affordable.”

The government has also confirmed plans to introduce the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which will come into force on 30 June.

This means that landlords will be prevented from requiring a financial ground rent in most new long residential leases.

On the cost of living crisis, the government said it is providing support worth over £22bn in 2022-23 to help.

In terms of housing, it pledged to maintain the increase to Local Housing Allowance in cash terms, a change introduced during the pandemic in 2020-21 which it says was worth an extra £600 on average to 1.5 million households.

It also confirmed it had provided £670m to help local authorities support households struggling with council tax bills, along with the increased £1bn Household Support Fund promised in this year’s Spring Statement.

Other cost of living measures include giving 1.7 million families around an extra £1,000 a year, on average, through a cut to the Universal Credit taper rate and increase to the work allowance.

The government said its attempt to tackle the energy part of the cost of living crisis would see a £200 reduction in households’ energy bills delivered from October and a £150 rebate on the energy bills of three million low-income households from October through the Warm Home Discount Scheme.

Responding to the Queen’s Speech, councillor James Jamieson, chair of the Local Government Association, said: “Turning levelling up from a political slogan to a reality will only be achieved if councils have the powers and funding they need to address regional inequality, tackle concentrations of deprivation and make towns and communities across England attractive places to live, work and visit.

“As well as ensuring that existing homes are high quality, energy efficient and safe, building new, high-quality council homes has to be a national priority. This needs to include urgent reform of the Right to Buy scheme to allow councils to be able to keep 100 per cent of receipts from sales of homes and the ability to set discounts locally.”