Plans for the most radical reform of social housing in a generation have been announced by Housing Minister Grant Shapps and Communities Minister Andrew Stunell. The changes will bring a fundamental shift of power from Whitehall to councils and local housing associations. Mr Shapps said the current centrally-determined rules to allocate social homes are unfair and, despite £17bn of investment in new social housing over the last 13 years, have caused the number of people on waiting lists to nearly double to five million people, whilst a quarter of a million social homes remain overcrowded, and 400,000 under-occupied. Councils will now be given more flexibility to use their social housing stock to the maximum effect and drive down waiting lists, which currently stand at five million people. Housing Associations will also be given the option to offer new affordable rents and use this revenue to build more affordable homes. Read more and download a copy of “Local decisions: a fairer future for social housing”, which sets out the Government’s plans for housing on the CLG website.
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