Newington's Avnesh Modhvadia takes a closer look at the Social Housing Green Paper.

Almost a year after Sajid Javid, then Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, promised to produce the most substantial social housing report of its kind for a generation, the government published its much-anticipated Social Housing Green Paper.

In the weeks following its publication, much of the media coverage and public comment has focused on what many feel elements left out of the paper.

The Social Housing Green Paper was followed by an announcement this week by the PM, who pledged £2bn to build new homes in England. The money would be available to housing associations and councils and would be designed to back new housing projects after 2022.

Housing campaigners Shelter alongside the Joseph Rowntree Foundation expressed their frustrations that the paper will not impact the creation of new social homes, despite identifying the need to expand housing supply as one of its main themes. This comes at a time when there is call for further investment to be made to social housing, with fewer than 6,000 social rented properties constructed last year - a record low. Indeed, experts have predicted that at least 70,000 new homes for social housing will need to be built every year to meet the need in England alone.

Whilst the supposed lack of an affirmative policy to increase housing supply has been a criticism of the paper, many have welcomed its focus on delivering positive changes for residents. The Government’s pledge to offer all tenants a ‘springboard’ into ownership, with new shared ownership schemes that will enable residents to buy as little as 1% of their homes each year, as well as plans to create longer tenancies in the private rented sector, has been well received in many quarters. 

There has been debate as to whether the paper signals a new chapter in the relationship between housing associations and the government. The government has sought to strengthen its relationship with housing associations to boost the supply of new affordable homes, by providing longer term funding to certain organisations.

However, the paper’s proposals to create a league table measuring the performance of housing associations and landlords have caused some concern. The table will be used to measure how well associations and landlords are performing against each other and is proposed as an effective method of driving improvements for residents.

Issues have been raised about the practicalities of this league table. It has been suggested that the move towards a performance based system could lead to organisations overly focusing on arbitrary metrics.

Whilst there are positive signs for some, many have questions whether the Social Housing Green Paper convincingly presents a response to overwhelming need to build more social housing. As Parliament returns from the summer recess, further action will be required if the Government is to convince its critics that it is serious in delivering for those who need access to social housing.