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The Week in Housing: a plan for ‘clean heat’ as exempt accommodation comes under fire
A weekly round-up of the most important headlines for housing professionals
Good afternoon.
On Tuesday the government released its repeatedly delayed Heat and Buildings Strategy that aims to set out how carbon emissions will be eliminated from housing and workplaces over the next 30 years. Inside Housing has highlighted the key takeaways for the sector, which has desperately been waiting for more strategic direction over what is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges it faces over the coming years.
The strategy’s thunder was stolen by the £3.9bn funding announcement made by the government the night before it was released, which included £800m for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund up until 2025.
As is usually the case with multimillion-pound announcements, sector figures were pleased with this commitment, especially considering this is the first time ministers have announced a multiyear settlement for the fund.
However, with research published by the National Housing Federation this week finding that housing associations are likely to spend £36bn on top of planned investment spend on retrofit work by 2050, many will be wondering how far £800m can really go.
Especially when landlords are already being forced to cut development plans due to fire safety spend.
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While the Heat and Buildings Strategy itself contained no major headlines for the sector, it is useful reading for landlords that are grappling with the question of what technologies they should be planning for now.
For those who do not want to read the 200-page long document, ministers’ thinking can be summed up as follows: invest in heat pumps and heat networks now, while still leaving options open that homes connected to the gas grid could be converted to hydrogen in the future.
Anyone hoping that the strategy would provide a sector-specific roadmap to net zero will have been left disappointed, with the strategy only including a vague commitment to establish a “long-term regulatory standard” to improve the energy efficiency of social housing.
This is an area in which the UK government is lagging far behind the devolved nations. The Scottish government, for example, has been setting incremental energy efficiency targets for the social housing sector since 2014.
The other major story hitting headlines this week is the continued scrutiny of the exempt accommodation sector. In what is starting to feel like a case of déjà vu for the Inside Housing news team, the week started with the Regulator of Social Housing announcing that two more Birmingham-based providers of exempt accommodation had been found to be non-compliant.
Later in the week we reported on research carried out by Crisis and exempt accommodation provider Prospect Housing, which is currently being shut down after the English regulator found it to be non-compliant. The report revealed that an estimated £816m in housing benefit is being spent on the exempt sector, which is currently housing more than 150,000 people.
While it’s true, as is often heard while reporting on this issue, that this is “not all exempt providers”, it’s clear there are some structural problems with the supported housing sector that have allowed unscrupulous providers to game the system too easily.
The language used by Crisis on the matter was telling when chief executive Jon Sparkes said the sector is “dangerously under-regulated” and that many providers are “motivated only by money”.
The problem here is that millions in housing benefit is being spent on a broken system, while funding for decent commissioned supported housing and general needs social housing is being constantly stripped. It doesn’t seem like we’ll be hearing the end of this scandal anytime soon.
Lucie Heath, deputy news editor
Editor’s picks: five must-read stories
- The Heat and Buildings strategy explained: how it will affect the housing sector
- More than 150,000 living in ‘dangerously under-regulated’ exempt accommodation sector, research finds
- London HAs’ £3.6bn fire safety costs impact development plans
- Bringing housing to the table: does the way the sector talks to politicians need to change?
- A2Dominion chief to step down after 34 years leading association
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