NHF evidence to the National Audit Office on the quality of social homes

Housing associations are committed to providing safe, quality homes for all residents. We welcome the National Audit Office’s study into the quality of social homes as an opportunity to set out the condition of housing association homes, the action the sector is taking to improve them, and the support needed to sustain further progress.

This evidence sets out that:

• Housing association homes have lower levels of damp and mould issues than other rented tenures: 6% of our members’ homes have issues with damp, compared to 10% of private rented homes and 8% of local authority homes.
• Housing associations plan to spend around £50bn on repairs, maintenance and investment in existing homes over the next five years to continue to drive up standards and ensure every resident has a safe, decent place to live.
• The majority of social homes are good quality and safe, with 90% meeting the current Decent Homes Standard, a higher proportion than any other tenure including owner occupiers.
• Housing associations are also leading the way on the decarbonisation of homes and increasing thermal comfort.
• The housing association sector recognises that there is still work to do and has fundamentally reassessed how it can and should maintain and improve residents’ homes through the Better Social Housing Review. Our members are proactively taking action to drive change and further improve the quality of social homes.
• The NHF welcomes the clarity that will be provided to housing associations, as they continue their work to improve the condition of residents’ homes, through reforms to the Decent Homes Standard, the introduction of Awaab’s Law, and the introduction of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for social rented homes. It is vital that these reforms are practical and deliverable so our members can balance investment in high-quality homes and services for residents with the need for much more social and affordable housing.
• Learnings from Phase 1 of Awaab’s Law and preparations for Phase 2 make it clear that there will be substantial increased costs for housing associations. Without increased support, there is a risk that the compliance and reporting elements of Awaab’s Law in particular will require the diversion of significant resources and could take precedence over more routine repairs and maintenance processes. In addition, the published guidance for Phase 2 remains unclear and will be challenging for housing associations to use as the number of hazards expand.
• We want to ensure housing associations are able to meet our shared goals of improving the quality of existing homes and helping to deliver the government’s target of building 1.5 million new homes. We have therefore outlined further support mechanisms and funding routes the government could unlock.
• It is also vital that the quality of new-build homes and temporary accommodation is improved.

NHF members can log in to download the our full submission.