Social Housing Innovation Fund Information
Wednesday 15th of October 2025
Overview of the Innovation Fund
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is inviting applications to a new Social Housing Innovation Fund designed to improve social housing residents’ experiences of their homes and landlord’s services.
Social housing tenants do not always feel as though they have meaningful opportunities to influence and scrutinise their landlord’s housing strategies, policies and services. We are therefore seeking proposals from social landlords, tenant representative groups, and other relevant organisations for projects that aim to test innovative approaches to improving tenants’ engagement with their landlords and strengthen residents’ voice on matters that affect their homes.
Projects must be innovative, meaning they challenge conventional practices in the sector and respond creatively to tenants’ diverse needs. By supporting projects that place tenant participation at their core, we hope to generate practical insights into what works. These learnings will be shared across the sector, through publicly available case studies, to help drive better outcomes for tenants.
We expect to fund between 15-20 projects, approving a diverse range of bids that have strong potential to benefit social housing tenants across England and are led by different types of organisations. The indicative range of funding per project will be £60,000 - £100,000, with the latter being the maximum amount awarded. Bids under £60,000 will still be considered.
What are the objectives of the Fund?
The fund will allow MHCLG to invest in, and test and learn from, innovative projects across different geographies and types of organisations, with learning disseminated widely across the sector. In detail, the fund will:
• Support innovative projects that strengthen tenant engagement and give residents greater influence over decisions affecting their homes. Projects should offer meaningful opportunities for tenants to shape, scrutinise, and participate in landlord strategies, policies, and services, with feedback actively listened to and acted upon
• Prioritise projects that actively involve underrepresented tenants, especially those with protected characteristics, ensuring their voices are heard and their needs addressed
• Support projects that drive culture change both within organisations and across the sector, by strengthening tenant influence over housing decisions and helping to challenge stigma associated with social housing
• Advance the government’s vision of a social housing sector shaped by tenant experience, where residents feel heard, are involved, and have a stronger sense of belonging.
What are the scoring criteria?
Applications will be assessed against several criteria, with a strong emphasis on the strength and relevance of your proposed solution to the problem you’ve identified. We’ll also consider how innovative and scalable your project is, the extent of tenant involvement in its design and delivery, value for money, and the potential to generate learning that benefits the wider sector.
Who can apply?
We welcome applications from any of the following eligible organisations who would be the ‘accountable body’ in this context:
• Registered providers of social housing (including local authority registered providers and private registered providers);
• Tenant Management Organisations
• Arms Length Management Organisations;
• Groups representing the interests of social housing tenants provided they are one of the following:
o Private Company Limited by Guarantee,
o Community Interest Company (CIC)
o Community Benefit Society (CBS)
o Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
We strongly encourage bids from consortiums or partnerships of the above organisations, as well as applications from a consortium or partnership that includes non-eligible bodies (though the accountable body will need to be eligible).
For example, accountable bodies can partner with voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations, or commission private companies (e.g., a tech company) to work with them to develop and deliver their proposed projects.
Where bids are submitted by a consortium, one organisation will be the lead consortium member or grant recipient. Bidders must nominate which organisation will be the lead consortium member.
All proposals must be co-produced with social housing tenants. This means eligible bodies must have worked in close partnership with tenants to jointly set the project’s vision and priorities, design the proposal and make decisions about delivery. As such, all grant recipients should partner with either formal or informal tenant groups to develop and deliver their proposals.
If you're a social housing tenant—or a group of tenants—with an idea for a project, we encourage you to contact your landlord or another eligible organisation (see list above) to explore the possibility of applying for funding.
What kinds of innovative projects are in scope for this fund, and are there any that would be considered out of scope or less likely to be funded?
Some examples of projects that might be considered ‘innovative’ in the context of the fund criteria are:
· Development of a marketing campaign or a tool such as an application or website for tenants to communicate key changes in the social housing sector, signpost to local community events, crowdsource improvement ideas, and provide key housing contacts. This might be innovative because it uses technologies in a novel way or is designed to reach tenants who do not engage with existing communication tools.
· Establishment of a local union or association of residents, or supporting the growth of existing tenant unions or associations, to represent the interests of tenants and influence the decisions about their social housing and identifying ways to capture how tenants’ views have influenced these decisions.
· Creation of events or a dedicated board to engage underrepresented groups, such as young people or tenants for whom English is not their first language, in shaping and scrutinising housing provider strategies.
· Training, sponsoring, or funding the establishment of specialist team of staff or tenants to engage underrepresented residents and relay feedback to providers, improving service access and shaping inclusive housing policy.
· Development of a digital solution that gives tenants access to key data about their home, including safety compliance, repairs, adaptations, EPC rating, and scheduled upgrades.
We are not looking to fund projects that are considered ‘business as usual’ which could have been pursued without funding, projects that are standard practice and have already been tried and tested in the sector, or projects that have not been produced with tenants.
How and when can I apply?
To apply for funding, applicants will need to complete the application form, which will be available on the Government website, alongside a prospectus, at the end of October. The bidding window will then be open until early January 2026, and funding will be allocated before 31 March 2026.
Where can I learn more?
MHCLG are jointly hosting a webinar with the Disruptive Innovators Network on 22nd October. If you would like to learn more about the innovation fund, please follow this link to sign up: