Social Housing: Future, What Future?

The government is preparing to regulate to prevent social landlords offering lifetime tenancies. This would mean that new tenants could only be offered a home for a period of five years or so. Very short-term tenancies make sense if stock is limited and you want to regularly check that it is only housing those who genuinely need it most urgently. There also seems to be a less charitable view in some quarters that, if social housing is an emergency safety net, life shouldn’t be too comfortable. Imposing fixed term tenancies could also cynically be seen as a further attempt to ensure that the positive features of social housing – first affordability, now security – are diluted to the point where the tenure becomes too diminished to be worth defending. The affordable council home for life eventually becoming a folk memory, along with outdoor loos and milk delivered to your doorstep. Read more on the Shelter blog.