Supported Housing: Registration

(asked on 16th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of investigations into properties in the exempt accommodation sector resulted in the Regulator for Social Housing issuing penalties between 2015 and 2020.


Answered by
Christopher Pincher Portrait
Christopher Pincher
This question was answered on 21st July 2020

Whether or not accommodation is ‘exempt’ is a matter for local authority housing benefit departments. The Regulator of Social Housing regulates only those landlords that wish to register with it and who are able to meet its registration requirements (other than local authorities who own homes who are automatically registered). This includes being able to demonstrate that it is a provider of homes at rents below market levels. Not all providers of exempt accommodation provide sub-market rent.

The Department has not made an estimate of the number of properties that are ineligible for registration or an estimate of what proportion have been investigated by the Regulator of Social Housing and have subsequently resulted in penalties.

Exempt accommodation is often delivered through providers entering into short-term lease agreements with private landlords or property owners. The regulator issued a report in 2019 setting out its concerns about this type of “lease-based” supported housing.

There are 11 lease-based providers of supported housing that currently have either non-compliant regulatory judgements or notices.

The Government is clear that all supported housing – both the accommodation and support – must be of good quality and meet the needs of the vulnerable people it supports. We will continue to work closely with local government and the sector to develop a range of oversight measures to help ensure this is the case.

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