Party manifestos analysed: social housing on the agenda

Ahead of the General Election (4 July), we’ve scoured through each major party’s manifesto to find out what they’re saying about social housing.

Whilst this seems like a niche issue, for our social housing landlord clients, the changes made by each party could have major consequences.

We aren’t making a political statement with this article and, regardless of who wins, we’d like to see the rights of landlords more strictly protected by the elected party.

Included below are quick summaries of the Labour party’s, the Conservative party’s, the Green party’s and the Liberal Democrats’ manifestos.

Read to the end to find out what our experts have to say about each party’s pledges.

The Labour party

Labour is promising to deliver what they call “the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.”

The party wants to:

• “Strengthen planning obligations to ensure new developments provide more affordable homes.”
• “Make changes to the Affordable Homes Programme to ensure that it delivers more homes from existing funding.”
• “Support councils and housing associations to build their capacity and make a greater contribution to affordable housing supply.”

They aim to prioritise the development of new social rented homes and strengthen the safeguarding of current stock.

This would include reviewing the increased right to buy discounts introduced in 2012 and implementing greater protections for newly constructed social housing.

The Conservative (and Unionist) party

The Conservatives plan to prioritise “giving those who work hard and contribute to our country a leg up in the housing market.”

This includes legislating for “new ‘Local Connection’ and ‘UK Connection’ tests for social housing in England, to ensure this valuable but limited resource is allocated fairly.”

They also promise to implement a “‘three strikes and you’re out’ expectation of social housing landlords for anti-social behaviour.”

Under this, you’ll be expected to evict disruptive tenants whose behaviour affects neighbours and the local community on a three-strike-rule.

Reform UK

Reform UK is currently doing well in the Polls, surpassing the traditional parties in some areas, but their policies on social housing are rather brief.

They have stated they intend to “prioritise local people and those who have paid into the system” when it comes to social housing eligibility.

The manifesto insists that “foreign nationals must go to the back of the queue. Not the front.”

There is no extrapolation on how they intend to achieve this, nor proposals for legislation governing this issue.

The Liberal Democrats

The Lib Dems rightly point out that “government housebuilding targets are regularly missed, and the shortage of affordable and social housing is at crisis point.”

They propose the following measures to alleviate these issues:

• “Increasing building of new homes to 380,000 a year across the UK, including 150,000 social homes a year.”
• “Introducing a new ‘Rent to Own’ model for social housing where rent payments give tenants an increasing stake in the property, owning it outright after 30 years.”
• “Encouraging development of existing brownfield sites with financial incentives and ensuring that affordable and social housing is included in these projects.”
• “Protect the rights of social renters by:
  • Proactively enforcing clear standards for homes that are socially rented, including strict time limits for repairs.
  • Fully recognising tenant panels so that renters have a voice in landlord governance.”

While somewhat ambitious, the Lib Dems intend to do much of their house building in 10 new ‘garden cities’ across the UK.

The Green party

The Greens criticise the current government for neglecting the building of social housing and promise to provide affordable social housing near where people live and work.

Like the Lib Dems, they are prioritising an “increase in Council and Housing Association provision of homes offered at low ‘social rents’ to 150,000 new homes a year, as soon as possible.”

They also claim that their MPs will “push Ministers to ensure all social housing stock is brought up to and kept at a decent standard, with fair funding for Councils and Housing Associations to get this done.”

They want to see an end to “competitive bidding” for the social housing decarbonisation fund and intend to “introduce legislation to give local authorities, registered social landlords and community housing groups the first option to buy certain properties at reasonable rates.”

Our analysis of the manifesto promises

Although each party’s promises has their merits, it remains the case that the majority will increase the compliance requirements of our clients.

The Conservatives’ pledge to implement new ‘Local Connection’ and ‘UK Connection’ tests, for example, will undoubtedly introduce increased workloads to managing your portfolio.

Equally, their “three-strike” rule could mean that social housing landlords need to keep a closer eye on the activities of their tenants.

By not adhering strictly to the rule, you could find yourself in severe risk of non-compliance and, even possible legal repercussions, depending on the nature of the legislation introduced.

The Liberal Democrat and Labour’s manifestos prioritise the building of more social housing but, while this seems like a positive thing, it could have a negative impact on your portfolio.

You may find yourself managing a growing workload with added maintenance, tenant relations and safety/quality standards.

All of which would increase the burden on your team and possibly present some added financial pressure too.

While admirable (and ambitious), the Green party’s introduction of 10 new ‘green cities’ would mean further workload increases to an industry that is already pushed to the limit.

Fundamentally, however, the Birketts team would have liked to see more protections for social housing landlords included in the respective manifestos.

There is little, if any, reference to providing landlords with enhanced rights, and more focus on increased responsibilities.

Whether the winning party will deliver on its manifesto, or consider the plight of social housing landlords, is yet to be seen.

Whoever does win, however, has an uphill battle on their hands.

To discuss the issues covered here with a solicitor specialising in social housing, or to prepare for the eventualities that might occur if one party or another gets in, please get in touch.