When green becomes white

Originally published as a column in the December issue of Inside Housing.

What’s the difference between a ‘new deal for social housing’ and a ‘charter for social housing residents’?

The shift in language between the green and white papers certainly seems to signal a change in emphasis – and not in a good way if you are old enough to remember John Major’s Citizens’ Charter and Cones Hotline from the 1990s.

White paper plans to strengthen consumer regulation, make it easier for tenants to complain to the ombudsman and introduce independent inspection of landlords look generally positive – even the Conservatives are essentially recreating the system they scrapped so confidently in 2010. The regulator will also get new powers over for-profit landlords.

But for me what’s really telling is what has gone missing between the green paper and the white paper and what that says about the government’s wider vision for social housing.