Government publishes green paper to make social housing a 'safe environment for all'

The social housing green paper is being published today (August 14).

Its purpose is to rebalance the relationship between residents and landlords, tackle stigma and ensure that social housing can be a stable base of support.

Residents across the country were asked for their views on social housing. Nearly 1,000 tenants shared their views with ministers at 14 events across the country, with over 7,000 submitting their opinions, issues and concerns online.

The consultation launched today, with this green paper, gives everyone the opportunity to submit views on proposals for the future of social housing and will run until November 6, 2018.

Secretary of state for communities, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP, said: “Providing quality and fair social housing is a priority for this government.

“Our green paper offers a landmark opportunity for major reform to improve fairness, quality and safety to residents living in social housing across the country.

“Regardless of whether you own your home or rent in the social sector, residents deserve security, dignity and the opportunities to build a better life.”

Around four million households now live in social housing and this is expected to increase year-on-year.

The green paper aims to break down inequalities in social housing and ensure tenants feel at home in their community rather than seeing it as just a place to live, which is why the government is making design and the quality of such homes ‘at the heart of this paper’.

The paper will address plans to build on the new borrowing capacity granted to local authorities by exploring new flexibilities on how they spend the money from homes sold under the Right to Buy scheme.

This shouldn’t require them, in turn, to sell off vacant, higher value stock.

The paper asks how the current complaints process can be reformed so that it is quicker and easier; especially important when dealing with safety concerns, as well as how residents can access the right advice to make a complaint and have it resolved with immediate effect.

In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, steps have supposedly been taken to ensure residents are safe. Remediation work to make buildings safe has begun and the government set aside £400m to cover the costs of this across the social housing sector.

In addition, progress has also been made on improving standards of decency.

The green paper will consider how the Decent Homes Standard should be reviewed to ensure it delivers the right standards for social housing residents and reflects the government’s current and forthcoming priorities.