Scottish Housing Regulator renews commitment to tenants as rent arrears rise

News08 Jul 2020Sarah Williams

The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) has published its new plan for involving tenants and service users in its work, using a variety of initiatives to help it understand their views and priorities.

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The Scottish Housing Regulator has published its new plan for involving tenants and service users in its work, using a variety of initiatives to help it understand their views and priorities #ukhousing #socialhousingfinance

Many of the approaches will build on existing activities, including through its National Panel of Tenants and Service Users, established in 2013, which now counts nearly 500 members.

The registered tenant organisation liaison group and four regional networks will continue to support engagement with tenant representatives, the regulator said.

As the SHR published its plan, its chief executive Michael Cameron said: “We’re very grateful to everyone who has taken the time to tell us about their experiences and feed in their views and ideas. This direct tenant and service user feedback is essential to help inform and shape our work.

He added that the regulator had been engaging with stakeholders in different ways as a result of the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The update comes two weeks after the regulator’s latest ‘monthly dashboard’ from its survey of registered social landlords showed that rent arrears at the end of May stood at more than £156m, up by more than £8.5m (5.8 per cent) from April. The results also showed a growing number of households in temporary accommodation, standing at 13,175 – up by 7.5 per cent on the previous month.

Commenting on the report, Mr Cameron said: “These latest figures show the increasing pressures facing the social housing sector, people who are homeless and tenants and service users in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.”

He added that the regulator would continue to monitor the impact of the pandemic to support work by the Scottish government, the sector and the Social Housing Resilience Group convened by the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations.

As reported by Social Housing in June, the federation has also formed a Social Housing Financial Resilience Forum, which meets monthly to discuss the financial impact of the crisis.