CIH Call For Social Housing Regulator

In a recent statement The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has called for the role of a new regulator to cover all providers of social rented housing, including local authorities, to ensure that all residents in affordable housing are protected to the same degree.

They want the regulator to ensure the continued provision of affordable housing, making sure that there is a recognisable ‘affordable housing’ sector that is capable of delivering affordable housing and wider community services associated with it to future customers as well as existing residents.

The CIH wants the following principles to guide the setting up of a new regulator:

• The regulator should regulate the delivery of the strategic housing role of local authorities in order to improve delivery of the role and influence the supply of affordable housing

• Sanctions and incentives should be used to drive improvements and not to force providers out of business

• Care should be taken to effectively integrate the new regulatory framework with investment, the local authority performance framework, and Comprehensive Area Assessment.

• Tenants, local authorities and other stakeholders should be able to trigger intervention by the regulator, although the need for evidence is important.

• The regulator should create balanced and effective markets for the provision of social housing – including bringing new entrants into the market where this is needed
  

• The regulator must be able to work across different types of provider, with an understanding of how their constitution affects the outcomes they deliver

• It must enable and trust housing organisations to take greater responsibility for their own direction and performance in partnership with their residents

Sarah Webb, CIH Deputy Chief Executive: “The time is right to redefine the purpose, scope and philosophy of housing regulation and to make sure that housing organisations take more responsibility for their own performance. A massive opportunity could be missed if current regulatory practices are simply placed on top of the statutory framework that has been proposed.”