The government has announced that will begin to “name and shame” failing social housing providers, as part of major reforms to give residents a stronger voice and drive up standards.
The move means social landlords providing sub-standard housing and services will be publicly called out on the government’s website and across social media channels.
The new measures announced also include a Resident Panel that will allow social housing tenants to be heard directly by government. The government says around 250 tenants from across England will be invited to share their experiences and help it ensure its reforms work to drive up standards.
As set out in the Social Housing White Paper, the government says it reforms will transform the experiences of residents, with a major reform of the way in which social landlords are regulated and held to account for the homes and services they deliver.
The new package of measures includes:
- Publicising on social media where landlords have breached the regulator’s consumer standards or where the Housing Ombudsman has made its most serious finding – severe maladministration – against them
- The launch of a Resident Panel, inviting residents to have their say on how to improve the quality of social housing. The panel will allow residents to scrutinise and influence measures to strengthen the Decent Homes Standard, training and qualification for staff, a new Access to Information Scheme and other planned reforms
- Publishing draft clauses to legislation that will reform the regulation of social housing through tougher consumer powers, greater enforcement tools to tackle failing landlords and new responsibilities on social landlords
- A new factsheet explaining the role of the Regulator of Social Housing and Housing Ombudsman Service
- A single gov.uk page, setting out the progress on implementing the measures in the Social Housing White Paper and further measures being introduced to improve quality of social housing.
Minister for Social Housing, Eddies Hughes MP, said: “Everyone in this country deserves to live in a safe and decent home. It is unacceptable that anyone should have mould covering their walls, risk slipping on a wet floor or have water dripping from the ceiling.”
“We have published draft legislation today to toughen up regulation of social housing landlords. This includes naming and shaming those landlords who fail to meet acceptable living standards and giving tenants a direct channel to raise their concerns with government.”
“This package will help to deliver on our commitment in the Levelling Up White Paper to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030.”