The Charter for Social Housing Residents: Social Housing White Paper

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This White Paper published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government aims to establish a new Charter for social housing residents in order to understand and meet the needs of social renters.

It delves into the impact of Covid-19 on people living in social housing, and social landlords’ response to the challenges that the pandemic has brought.

The new Charter for social housing residents contains 7 statements of expectation such that every social housing resident should expect:

To feel safe in their home
To know how their landlord is performing
To have their voice heard by their landlord

Additionally the paper found:

That around 24% of working age disabled people live in social housing
In 2016/17 over 33% of the recipients of Disabled Faciltiies Grants were social housing tenants - where eligible applicants include older adults, people with a learning disability or autism, or people with a physical disability
With the impact of COVID-19 landlords have found new ways to continue engagement through a mix of virtual meetings and telephone calls
Increased local resilience during the pandemic as seen a growth in resident led initiatives to offer support to other residents and helping to tackle loneliness and isolation
That creating good quality, well designed, decent homes and good neighbourhoods with access to green space can promote health and wellness, including mental wellbeing

Additionally, the White Paper a detailed summary of each of the policy measures brought up in the paper and key measures for changing the regulatory regime for social housing.