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Inquiry into financial sustainability of social housing sector begins
The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee has launched an inquiry into the finances and sustainability of the social housing sector in England.
The inquiry, launched yesterday, will examine the financial pressures facing social landlords and the resources needed to meet a variety of challenges, including the need to build thousands of new homes for social rent and the task of improving social housing stock.
It comes after Clive Betts, the cross-party committee’s chair, announced the probe into the sector’s finances at the National Housing Federation’s (NHF) Finance Conference in Liverpool earlier this month.
During a session on the political landscape Mr Betts, Labour MP for Sheffield South East, spoke about decarbonisation and huge housing waiting lists.
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He said: “You have got ability to raise some resources yourselves, but you are going to need more social housing grant in order for you to deliver on the challenges I’ve just outlined.”
He urged the sector to “start shouting” about the costs.
The new inquiry follows the committee’s report titled The Regulation of Social Housing, published in July, which examined the condition of social housing and highlighted the appalling and unsafe conditions of some social homes due to mould, damp and leaks.
As part of the new inquiry, the committee will examine the current range of grant funding available and the increasingly complex financial and corporate structures proliferating in the social housing sector.
It will also explore the social housing policy and regulatory challenges faced by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Regulator of Social Housing and Homes England.
At the inquiry’s launch yesterday, Mr Betts said: “In the report on social housing, the committee shone a light on the appalling living conditions faced by some tenants in social housing.
“Tenants deserve better and it is right that social landlords, supported by government, step up their efforts to ensure homes are fit to live in and that tenant complaints are treated seriously and promptly.”
He said the social housing sector is “in crisis” and the “reality is that social landlords face a range of significant financial pressures, not least the urgent need to invest in improving homes, so they are not blighted by mould, damp and leaks”.
“The sector must also meet the pressing demands to build thousands of new homes for social rent, decarbonise the housing stock, and fix building safety defects.
“In the committee’s inquiry, we want to understand the extent of these demands, the impact on the financial resilience of the social housing sector, and the support and resources needed to meet these challenges and ensure we have the supply of good-quality social homes we need for the future,” he added.
Evidence sessions for the inquiry are likely to begin in June.
The committee is also asking for written evidence from the sector, with the closing date for submissions on 12 May.
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