Morning Briefing: supported housing takes the hit

In the press

National newspapers have picked up on research by the National Housing Federation (NHF) into the looming crisis in supported housing. The saga over the Local Housing Allowance cap dates back to late 2016, and regular readers of Inside Housing will be all too familiar with warnings from providers that the uncertainty caused by capping benefits in supported housing at well below the rents of these homes is stopping providers from building new schemes.

Today the NHF has quantified the impact of that, revealing pipelines of 69 providers have dropped from 8,800 to 1,350. Read our story here.

Meanwhile The Guardian has published a blog asking why the housing regulator has been silent on Grenfell. This is not an entirely true statement; the regulator has written to housing associations, tenants groups and updated its Sector Risk Profile since the disaster. It has also said it will not act specifically about Grenfell until after the inquiry. Nonetheless, the blog raises interesting points about whether consumer regulation goes far enough under the Homes and Communities Agency’s regime, compared to its more tenant-focused predecessor, the Tenant Services Authority.

In other news, The Telegraph warns bachelor pads are being killed off by the housing crisis and a development in Weeting, Suffolk, has managed to deliver 100% affordable housing with a bit less fanfare than a recent one in London.