Robert Jenrick has shared his desire for social housing tenants to be treated with “dignity and respect”.
Speaking at the National Housing Federation’s (NHF) National Housing Summit on a range of issues, the Housing and Communities secretary said he wanted to see the housing sector help build a “fairer, safer, and more neighbourly” country and for the millions of people living in social and affordable housing to benefit from “good quality, decent homes”.
Jenrick said: “That mission starts with greater fairness and greater dignity and respect for people who live in social housing…words that were not the invention of the government but were actually the defining words from the mouths of the residents that we spoke to.”
He added: “I want housing associations and all social landlords to ensure that these are the foundations on which their relationships with residents are built.”
The Housing secretary said that the need for social housing tenants to be treated in this way came in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017.
He said: “When things go wrong…tenants should be able to seek redress in reasonable time and without an uphill struggle.”
He added: “I hope landlords will welcome the views of their tenants.”
Focusing in on building safety, Jenrick was quick to praise the social housing sector for its efforts to remediate high-rise buildings with unsafe ACM cladding.
He cited government data showing that 100% of affected social housing buildings have either been fully remediated or are in the process of being remediated.
That’s compared with 95% that have been remediated or are being remediated overall.
Recognising the concerns of leaseholders who, in many cases, find themselves trapped in unsafe buildings, Jenrick said: “I’m not at all blind or deaf to the impact on leaseholders – I’m very alive to it.
“It’s heartbreaking to switch on the news night after night to hear the difficult and horrible situations that some of them find themselves in.”
He added: “We must ensure a safer building safety regime than the one that came before – that is the best way of ensuring no community ever has to go through what happened at Grenfell again.”
Jenrick also said that a new levy is being introduced that will begin the process of ensuring developers pay their “fair share” of building safety costs.
He further reiterated that no leaseholder “will ever” pay more than £50 toward the remediation of unsafe cladding.
Elsewhere, Jenrick spoke of the government’s updated shared ownership scheme, saying the previous model was not “sufficiently consumer focused”.
“Our new scheme will give many…the opportunity to, in time, buy a stake in their home,” he said.
The housing secretary was also keen to recognise the “pressure” many housing providers currently face with delivering on a variety of commitments such as building remediation, net-zero, and housing supply.
“I’m with you every step of the way,” he said.
Jenrick concluded: “I hope that we can work together…to build safer, more beautiful homes, and to build a fairer society where everybody has the right to a decent home of their own.”
Panel reaction
The was a mixed reaction to Jenrick’s speech from the session’s panel, with some picking up on the Housing secretary’s reference to social housing as a “safety net”.
“He talked about people in social housing being looked after – and that worries me,” said Sian Berry, co-leader of the Green Party.
“The real gap in the system is that social housing residents genuinely do not have any power over their homes,” she added.
Antonia Bance, head of Campaigns and Communications at national trade union centre TUC, was dismayed at the lack of discussion around some issues and policies.
“I was hoping to hear some sort of plan for those people trapped in unsafe flats under the height thresholds, who aren’t going to be helped by the government’s schemes…I had hoped to hear about plans to build the houses that we need,” she said.
Taking to Twitter after the session, Bance wrote: “Things I wish I’d managed to get in: galling to hear a Conservative MP talk about skills when they’ve shut the Union Learning Fund, which helped millions of workers get new skills.”
She added: “And housing association workers are key workers: give them a pay rise!”
Others were more receptive to Jenrick’s speech, with Conservative MP (Hastings and Rye) Sally-Ann Hart saying she “welcomed” what the Housing secretary had to say.
She highlighted Jenrick’s point about social housing serving as a “stepping stone” to homeownership, but added: “Some people will always remain in social housing, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Joe Shalam – head of the Centre for Social Justice’s Financial Inclusion Policy Unit – said he found it “incredibly heartening” that the Housing secretary “clearly sees” building more housing as a key part of the UK’s post-pandemic recovery.
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