Government publishes plan for delivering a decade of renewal for social and affordable housing

In the week that saw the publication of the government’s 10-year NHS Plan, it also published its long-term housing plan (see link below), setting out its commitment to social and affordable housing and a range of other measures, such as extending decent homes.

In particular, the plan sets in place the foundations for a decade of renewal in social and affordable housing. It is focused on the delivery of the biggest increase in supply in a generation, alongside a transformational and lasting change in the safety and quality of homes. Building on the £39bn investment over 10 years announced at Spending Review 2025, the government has a 5 steps for renewal as follows:

• Step 1 - Deliver the biggest boost to grant funding in a generation
• Step 2 - Rebuild the sector’s capacity to borrow and invest in new and existing homes
• Step 3 - Establish an effective and stable regulatory regime
• Step 4 - Reinvigorate council housebuilding
• Step 5 - Forge a renewed partnership with the sector to build at scale

And, in relation to supported housing, it states:

“Our stock of supported housing provides homes for the most vulnerable in society, and we are committed to improving both the quality and supply available. We will set out details of a new licensing regime to drive out rogue providers and improve standards for residents later this year following the consultation on the implementation of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023. We also call on all providers to put ambitious bids for new supported homes into the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme.”

While the reference in the Plan to new supported housing and quality are welcome, with regard to the latter, the document does not specifically set out the government’s plan on designing for accessibility, especially bringing forward the promised technical consultation on introducing Part M4(2) of the Building Regulations, as recommended by the Older People’s Housing Taskforce.

However, alongside plans for social housing, the government unveiled new plans to update and modernise the Decent Homes Standard, improving the private rented housing (see link below) and further measures to transform Right to Buy and other measures to protect vital council housing stock.