The Week in Housing: a significant week for housebuilding, and what the second year of TSMs tells us about the sector

And when it comes to delivery in England’s capital, there was follow-up this week to the London ‘emergency’ housing package that was announced last month, with lower affordable housing targets. Following that, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has written to housing secretary Steve Reed, asking what modelling has been done to show that 20% is the “optimal target to increase the number of social and affordable homes delivered in London overall”.

The House of Lords will be scrutinising the government’s plans too, as its Built Environment Committee launched a new inquiry module focused on how to ensure new towns and expanded settlements become thriving, successful communities.

And at Inside Housing we took a detailed look at the impact the Building Safety Regulator is having on development.

Further to that, there was potentially worrying news for delivery, as it emerged that a building control firm that worked on 30,000 projects a year has ceased trading.

In Wales, there was also significant news for housebuilding, with the detailed draft Budget for 2026-27 revealing that social housing grants will total £446m in 2026-27, up from £437.3m in 2025-26. Read about the sector’s reaction to the draft Budget here.

And the Scottish government made moves to help people move from temporary accommodation into permanent homes, with a £1.6m funding boost.

The week also brought the news that seven of the UK’s largest house builders will make multimillion-pound payments towards affordable homes grants schemes across the country under a deal with the Competition and Markets Authority, which has now ended its probe into suspected information-sharing.

It was also a huge week of news for the regulation of housing in England. This year’s tenant satisfaction measure (TSM) results were published this week, revealing “early signs of improvement” but that satisfaction is still low for shared owners. Will Perry, director of strategy at the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), also outlined what the second year of TSM results tell us about the sector.

A separate analysis suggested that ALMOs have continued to outperform councils on TSMs.

The RSH’s latest Sector Risk Profile was also out this week. It warned that landlords have “little margin for error” as interest cover fell to its lowest level since 2018.

In Scotland, the latest quarterly figures revealed that a third of bids for cladding assessment funding had been deemed ineligible for the cash.

And in Northern Ireland, a survey by National Energy Action found that 55% of respondents who had gone without heating or electricity in the past two years lived in social housing.

We also took an in-depth look this week at hotel stays and how a series of pilot schemes might reshape the asylum housing system.

And ahead of Remembrance Sunday, Lee Buss-Blair, director of operations and group veterans lead at Riverside, warned that veteran supported housing is facing a cliff edge.

And finally, there was the news that major London housing association Peabody has joined the PlaceShapers group of social landlords.

Have a great weekend.

Martin Hilditch, editor, Inside Housing

Editor’s picks: five stories you may have missed

Hotel stays: can pilot schemes reshape the asylum housing system?
The second year of TSM results – what do they tell us?

Housing Ombudsman to get ‘duty of candour’ powers under new law

Board Member Briefing: the impact of the Building Safety Regulator on development

How two chief executives in Wales orchestrated their own merger