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Social Housing White Paper work ‘paused during pandemic’, says Jenrick
Work on the Social Housing White Paper was paused during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure it received the “prominence” it deserved, housing secretary Robert Jenrick has said.
Addressing the Virtual Housing Festival in a pre-recorded speech today, the housing secretary repeated his commitment to bring forward the white paper before the end of the year.
He added: “We made the decision to pause it during the pandemic because we wanted it to achieve the prominence that it truly deserves and that tenants in social housing have the opportunity to hear and understand quite how significant this paper and the new changes that it will bring forward could be for them.
“The paper will set out measures to further empower tenants and boost the supply and quality of social housing with greater redress and better more meaningful regulation of the sector.”
The white paper will build on the Social Housing Green Paper, launched as part of the government’s response to the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire and published over two years ago.
Former prime minister Theresa May announced shortly before the end of her time in Downing Street that an action plan and timetable for implementing the green paper reforms would be published in September 2019.
No such action plan ever surfaced.
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The government has not shied away from major housing policy announcements since the COVID-19 outbreak: it launched an extensive and ambitious Planning White Paper last month which included proposals for many sites to be granted automatic permission for development.
During his speech, Mr Jenrick also revealed that modern methods of construction (MMC) will be “central” to the new £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme, “with new measures to help the providers build a pipeline of supply and boost the market”.
He added: “We’ve set a minimum target for the use of MMC in the programme and we’re going to review that target annually with a view to increasing it if market conditions allow.”
The extent of the target has not yet been specified, with Homes England due to launch its prospectus for the programme later today.
Mr Jenrick also claimed that the new AHP, which will run from 2021 to 2026, will deliver more homes for social rent than its predecessor.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government previously told Inside Housing that it expects the tenure of rented homes delivered through the programme to be decided locally.
Grant funding for social rent was not available under the previous AHP until a shift in policy announced by Ms May in October 2017.
