Social housing progress has “ground to a halt” since pandemic, says select committee

These findings come from the cross-party Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee in a report published today (9 February), in which the committee stresses that raising the standard of social homes in England is essential.

The report criticises the minimum standard for a decent home, which has not changed in 20  years, and says “it is not acceptable that just under 430,000 social homes still fail to meet even this basic standard”.

Florence Eshalomi MP, Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee said: “Whether it is residents living in poorly insulated homes, experiencing overcrowding, or enduring housing with damp or mould, it’s vital that Government measures, including Awaab’s Law and the New Decent Homes Standard, bring a meaningful improvement to social housing conditions.”

Eshalomi praised the steps taken to rebuild the sector's financial capacity after years of underinvestment, but raised concerns about the resources available to social housing providers to meet the Government’s new social homes target while also raising standards over the decade.

She said: “The Government’s Long-term Housing Strategy needs to set out a credible plan to tackle the need to improve existing housing stock while encouraging social landlords to build the new social homes the country needs.”

The report also commends the decision to roll out Awaab's Law in phases, focusing on tackling the most dangerous hazards first, but warns that social landlords and tenants need “a much clearer roadmap” for when the remaining phases of Awaab's Law will be introduced.

The report calls on the Government to urgently set and publish the timeline for extending Awaab's Law to all remaining hazards, so that tenants and social landlords have clarity about when they can expect these new regulations to apply.

Finally, the report makes a series of additional recommendations, asking the Government to:

• revise the official definition of fuel poverty in the forthcoming Fuel Poverty Strategy to reflect houses which meet the new minimum energy efficiency standard but may still be in fuel poverty.
• put in place interim targets in homes upgrading to the revised Decent Homes Standard to demonstrate to tenants and the public that progress is being made.
• introduce a review to update the Decent Homes Standard at least every 10 years to ensure it “reflects the changing needs of the population, environmental pressures, scientific evidence of the hazards to health from poor housing and societal expectations of what a decent home consists of”.

Responding to the report, Cllr Tom Hunt, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Inclusive Growth Committee, said: “Everyone deserves to live in a safe, warm and decent home.

“We support the report’s call for government to publish its Long Term Housing Strategy and clear roadmap for the next phases of Awaab’s Law. The package of social housing announcements last month will give councils confidence to invest in the long term, but council housing finances remain under severe pressure.

“This should sit alongside extending the Government’s new burdens funding to Housing Revenue Accounts – over a third of which are in deficit this financial year– to help meet requirements on minimum energy efficiency standards, building and fire safety works.”

Sarah Elliott, chief executive of charity Shelter, said: “It's completely unacceptable that social tenants are still forced to endure appalling conditions that can put their health, or even their lives, at risk.

“Awaab's Law is a crucial step in ensuring dangerous hazards, like damp and mould, are quickly investigated and fixed when tenants sound the alarm. But landlords have had years to get their house in order, and tenants won't be able to sleep easy until the final phases of the law finally come into force.

“The government must now fully and swiftly implement all remaining phases of Awaab’s Law, including measures to address fire and gas safety as well as structural issues. But long-term, the only way to provide people with a decent, affordable and secure place to live is for the government to build more and improve existing social rent homes.”

Last month the Government announced a new Decent Homes Standard will apply minimum standards to improve social homes.

The revised standard will apply for the first time to the private rented sector, although reportedly landlords will have until 2035 to implement it.

Harry Rodd