‘Every Tenant Matters’? The New Governance of Social Housing in England

Abstract

This paper begins by considering the series of reviews of aspects of housing policy carried out by the Westminster government between 2004 and 2007. It then moves on to describe and evaluate the legislative changes derived from those reviews in the form of the Housing and Regeneration Act, 2008. Responsibility for funding social housing was separated from the regulatory role, after more than 30 years during which they had been combined within the Housing Corporation. The changes were intended to introduce and promote a new culture, on the one hand encouraging wider involvement of private, profit-seeking organisations in the production and management of social housing. On the other hand, the expressed intention was to develop a more consumer oriented approach to the regulation of social housing. The paper concludes by asking whether the Act marks a new era for social housing in England.

Notes

¹ The government pursues its ‘better regulation’ agenda through the Better Regulation Executive, part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The agenda is focused on reform through simplification and includes reducing the administrative burden of regulation in the United Kingdom.