Government Announcements 02/07/25
Thursday 3rd of July 2025
It’s been another big day for the social housing sector, with a series of major announcements from the government which will have a direct impact on tenants and social housing providers across England.
So what’s happened?
The Government has confirmed details of the £39 billion (newly named) Social and Affordable Homes Programme, which is expected to deliver 300,000 homes – with 60% available for social rent
There will be major reforms to Right to Buy, which will protect the availability of social housing in communities
There’s a consultation on a proposed new Decent Homes Standard, which we hope will align legislation with modern expectations of what makes a safe, secure home
The government is also consulting on proposals around rent convergence, and we have been assured that fears from tenants over the impact of already stretched household budgets will be listened to in this process
We’ve heard that the new Competence and Conduct Standard will kick in from October 2026, and we encourage all landlords to develop a process for engaging with tenants to offer assurance on how they will meet the new standards.
Alison Inman, Chair of Tpas, said:
“This is another huge day for the sector, with plenty of news that will be welcomed by both tenants and landlords.
“The Deputy Prime Minister today issued a rallying cry to the sector to unleash a social rent revolution. Tpas knows that when tenants are influential, social housing works better.
“As we embark on this new era and major reforms for our country, we will play our role in ensuring that tenants, landlords, contractors and government can work together to shape policy and deliver the new homes we desperately need.
“Whilst we cautiously welcome the consultation on rent convergence, a balance needs to be struck between ensuring tenants living in similar properties are not being charged wildly different rents, and protecting tenants where household budgets are already being stretched.
“We will be working with Tpas members to respond to all of the consultations announced today.”
If you want to speak to Tpas about what this latest round of policy announcements means for you and your team, then please contact us on info@tpas.org.uk