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Quality of social housing ‘scandalously poor’, says Gove
The quality of social housing in England is “scandalously poor”, new housing secretary Michael Gove has said.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference today in one of his first public appearances in his new role, Mr Gove hinted at the possibility of new incentives for social landlords to improve their stock.
While discussing the wider housing market, he told delegates there is a “terrible situation” where renters who want to buy a home are paying more for “real uncertainty” than people with a mortgage are paying “to acquire that asset”.
He added: “More than that, it is the case that if you are not renting in the private rented sector, that you want to rent or you are eligible to rent social housing, that the supply of social housing overall has not kept pace with the demand.
“And also the quality of social housing, particularly in some parts of the country, remains scandalously poor.
“That there are people who are living in conditions which are overcrowded, there are people living in conditions affected by damp and other factors, which hold back the flourishing of children and families.”
Later, he remarked that “we do need to look at the condition of social housing, and the way in which we can make sure that there is a proper incentivisation for those who are social housing providers both to improve stock and to increase numbers”.
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Conditions in social housing have come under scrutiny in recent months, largely because of a series of high-profile investigations by ITV News.
The government already set out proposals to increase consumer regulation in the social housing sector in the Social Housing White Paper, published in October 2020, but has not yet committed to a date for bringing forward legislation.
Mr Gove did not mention the white paper at the session today, but he expressed an interest in “making it easier for people to move from different types of housing in different stages of their life”.
“And so I think we definitely need more social housing and there may be some people who because of circumstances will be in social housing for much of their adult life, we must ensure that it is attractive, decent and well integrated with the rest of the community,” he added.
“But it’s also the case that as we move later in life, we need to think about people who may want to downsize, may want to move into a retirement shelter… and we need to be clear about how we can make that easier and more appropriate as well.
“So it’s part of a continuum. And the reason why I say it’s part of a continuum, is that I think that it’s unhelpful to try and divide the into those in social housing and the rest, because again, that works against cohesive communities.”
Elsewhere during the session, Mr Gove appeared to hint at a plan for a policy aimed at making it easier for first-time buyers to “secure finance” to become homeowners, saying: “So it is the case that we do need to look at access to finance overall, I won’t say much about that at this stage.”
Later in the day, the housing secretary delivered a keynote speech to a packed-out conference hall but did not make any announcements.
Focusing on the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda, he said: “In my department that will mean investing in urban regeneration with new homes on neglected brownfield sites, a better deal for those in social housing and helping more of those who currently rent to own their own homes.
“Our mission will also mean keeping faith with the victims of Grenfell, honouring their memory, making everyone’s home safer and greener and sharing the cost of that work more fairly.
“And it will mean empowering local government to make a bigger difference for good, allowing communities to take back control of their future and creating greener and more beautiful places to live.”
