ao link
Twitter
Facebook
Linked In
Twitter
Facebook
Linked In

You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles

Are councils ready for proactive housing regulation?

The shake-up of regulation post-Grenfell will mean changes for councils as well as housing associations. Eamon McGoldrick asks if they are ready

Linked InTwitterFacebookeCard
Picture: Getty
Picture: Getty
Sharelines

Are councils ready for proactive housing regulation? #ukhousing

The shake-up of regulation post-Grenfell will mean changes for councils as well as housing associations #ukhousing

As the second anniversary of Grenfell approaches, pressure will increase on government to implement some of the recommendations from the Hackitt Review and give feedback on responses to the Social Housing Green Paper.

Sector intelligence suggests that there will be increased regulation of social housing landlords and the focus will be on two key areas.

First, building safety. While Dame Judith Hackitt is looking for a culture change in the construction industry, it will also mean a new regulatory regime for certain high-rise, complex buildings.

These buildings may need to be registered with a new regulator and owners will have to name a dutyholder (a corporate body or an individual) who will have ultimate responsibility for the safety of those structures.

The dutyholder could find themselves criminally liable for future building safety failings. Each block will also probably have to have a named building safety manager who will oversee and record all work to that block, including individual dwellings.


READ MORE

Association ‘put tenants at risk’ with electrical safety breach, says regulatorAssociation ‘put tenants at risk’ with electrical safety breach, says regulator
Our new regulatory framework promotes openness and transparencyOur new regulatory framework promotes openness and transparency
Shelter commission calls for 3.1 million new social homes and new regulatorShelter commission calls for 3.1 million new social homes and new regulator

Second, we will probably see much stronger regulation of the existing consumer standards. Government is likely to want landlords to be able to show through a series of metrics how competent they are in areas such as listening to, engaging with and responding to the residents they serve.

These results will be in the public domain and residents will have clearer routes to raise concerns about their landlord with the regulator or Housing Ombudsman.

Having a new regulator and a beefed-up existing one will present challenges to all social landlords. They will have to appoint staff to implement and meet new building safety requirements.

They will have to engage in open conversations with their residents about the new regulatory architecture and how they can raise concerns about service provision.

“Government thought that service failings by councils would be addressed through the ballot box at the next local elections, but what a failure that turned out to be”

Landlords will also have to prepare for intervention by the regulators in some circumstances.

Triggers for intervention could include referrals from the Housing Ombudsman, petitions from residents, downward trends in key performance areas or self-referral by landlords. Whatever the trigger, are landlords ready for difficult conversations with the regulators?

I think intervention in the local authority space is going to be more challenging for two main reasons.

First, councils are not used to any proactive regulation of their social housing.

After the coalition government of 2010 ‘toasted the quangos’ and introduced the Localism Act 2011, we saw differential regulation across the social housing sector.

Housing associations continued to be regulated on governance and financial viability to satisfy lenders and are well used to in-depth assessments and regulatory judgements being published. Government thought that service failings by councils would be addressed through the ballot box at the next local elections, but what a failure that turned out to be.

Council-owned companies (ALMOs) had experience of regulation between 2003 and 2011, but this ceased with the demise of the Audit Commission.

While all councils are registered providers and should therefore comply with the consumer standards, the reality is that the serious detriment threshold is set very high and almost all of the failings in this area over the past 10 years have been attributed to housing associations, largely because they are required to self-declare certain failings to the regulator.

Second, if the regulators want to intervene, where do they start with a council? In the case of building safety, this may be more straightforward where there are named individuals. This will not be so easy in the case of consumer standards failings.

“None of these challenges are insurmountable, but councils should be facing up to this new world and helping the regulator to design an appropriate intervention regime. If they don’t, they may find something unhelpful is imposed on them”

Housing associations have governing boards and executive teams that focus almost solely on housing management and development.

Who are the governors in councils? Is it the whole council (could be 60 elected members) or cabinet, or the portfolio holder for housing? Some councils have maintained traditional housing committees – are they the ones responsible for performance on consumer standards? Similarly, the executive director responsible for housing is probably also responsible for another set of service areas and may not even be a housing professional by background.

None of these challenges are insurmountable, but councils should be facing up to this new world and helping the regulator to design an appropriate intervention regime. If they don’t, they may find something unhelpful is imposed on them.

Eamon McGoldrick, managing director, National Federation of ALMOs

Linked InTwitterFacebookeCard
Add New Comment
You must be logged in to comment.
RELATED STORIES