Social Housing Green Paper - AWICS Response

The Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government published its Green Paper on Social Housing on 14th August 2018. Entitled ‘A new deal for social housing’, the Green Paper is wide-ranging and includes five chapters as follows:

• Chapter 1 – Ensuring homes are safe and decent
• Chapter 2 – Effective resolution of complaints
• Chapter 3 – Empowering residents and strengthening the Regulator
• Chapter 4 – Tackling stigma and celebrating thriving communities
• Chapter 5 – Expanding supply and supporting home ownership

The ministry has invited responses to the green paper with a deadline of 6th November 2018. The AWICS response was submitted on 5th November 2018.

Our suggestions are that:  

• The role of tenants in the management of local authority and housing association housing should be enhanced. They should be stakeholders rather than customers with a meaningful role in decision-making.
• Complaints processes should be focused on empowering front-line staff to resolve both complaints and the underlying issues that cause repeat complaints.
• Regulation should become more transparent.
• Housing Association Boards should become more accountable.
• Procedures should be put in place to ensure that housing association mergers follow a more transparent process with meaningful tenant engagement.
• Performance Indicators should focus on tenant satisfaction.
• Community-based housing associations should be encouraged to take over the ownership and management of existing local authority and housing association stock as appropriate.
• The balance of government funding for housing should be changed to provide more support for below-market rented housing and grants to support new social housing should be increased.
• Local authorities should be given more flexibility over the management of ‘right to buy’ and ‘right to buy’ receipts should be localised.
• The self-financing settlement should be revisited to take account of reduced rents, the need to spend more on major repairs and to provide ‘headroom’ to fund new development.

A copy of our response can be viewed or downloaded by clicking here.

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