Standards and trade-offs

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

Can social landlords improve their existing homes at the same time as they deliver ‘the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation’?

The answer is that they will have to but a select committee report published on Monday lays bare the scale of the task ahead and the trade-offs that will have to be made.

As landlords are only too aware, the next ten years will see implementation of Awaab’s Law (phased introduction between 2025 and 2027), Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (by 2030) and the revised Decent Homes Standard (by 2035). 

Add continuing work on building safety and they face a massive programme of work on existing homes that will have to be balanced against bids to build new ones under the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP). 

Monday’s report from the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee lays out a ‘challenging backdrop’ of rising costs and a shortage of skills. 

The all-party committee concludes that: ‘Even with the government’s investment in social homes and changes to the rent settlement, we are concerned that the sector will not have sufficient resources to effectively meet the government’s new social homes target while also raising standards.’

This could also lead to landlords selling off stock that has reached the end of its intended lifespan, say the MPs, ‘at a time when social housing is desperately needed’.

All of which leaves a series of trade-offs balancing three different interests: of existing tenants who rightly want improvements as quickly as possible; of social landlords acutely aware of their finances who say they need time and flexibility; and of families stuck in temporary accommodation or on waiting lists who are desperate for a social home.