PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Social Rented Housing: Finance (1 February 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support is being provided to local authorities and housing associations facing increased costs for maintaining and improving their ageing housing stock to meet current standards and those under the Charter for Social Housing Residents: Social Housing White Paper.

Asked by:
Navendu Mishra (Labour)

The Charter for Social Housing Residents: Social Housing White Paper sets out a package of measures that will improve the lives of social housing residents in England, including a review of standards on decency and energy efficiency of existing stock.

The Regulator of Social Housing requires homes to be maintained to at least Decent Homes Standard.

The Decent Homes Standard has driven improvements to the quality of social housing. Between 2011 and 2016 Government provided a total of £1.76 billion to 45 councils across England to tackle the backlog of non-decent homes, making over 158,000 homes decent. In 2019, 12 per cent of dwellings in the social rented sector failed to meet the Decent Homes Standard. This is lower than the proportion of private rented (23 per cent) and owner occupied (16 per cent) homes.

At the Chancellor’s summer economic update, the Government announced a £50 million demonstrator project and at the Spending Review 2020, the Chancellor announced £60 million of further funding to upgrade the least efficient social housing. The Fund will bring a significant amount of the social housing stock that is currently below EPC C up to that standard.

Answered by:
Christopher Pincher (Independent)
4 February 2021