Supported housing is home to over half a million people and is a vital element of our housing landscape. Unfortunately, much like other areas of housing, supported housing is still plagued by anti-social behaviour. This is why it is welcomed that there is currently a consultation seeking views on the implementation of measures in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023.
The Act, which became law in August 2024, gave the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government powers to: Introduce National Supported Housing Standards for England, Require English local authorities to supported accommodation licensing schemes. Establishing a strategic planning duty for local authorities and finally, creating a expert advisory panel to monitor the sector, ultimately reporting to the Secretary of State.
There are broadly three areas where the consultation is focusing on, this includes consulting on:
- The National Supported Housing Standards
- The Licensing Scheme
- Proposed Housing Benefit Changes.
The consultation also will inform DWP work on linking licensing to entitlement to claim Housing Benefit in England, and work to define care, support and supervision in Housing Benefit regulations for Great Britain.
What are we interested in?
The consulting of the National Supported Housing Standards is seeking views particularly on training in regard to ASB and how policies should be designed. Local authority license conditions also often contain requirements around anti-social behaviour. We are seeking to influence how ASB is being governed and tackled withing supported housing
This consultation is ultimately an opportunity for stakeholders to help design an effective regulatory system, that elevates the provisions supporting housing delivers.
We are specifically interested in:
What is your organisation’s informal or formal view on the ASB clauses in particular
- Environmental Standard
- The staff & safeguarding Standard
In Focus
Staff and Safeguarding Standard
- It is of the government’s position that staff in supported housing should be appropriately trained or qualified and follow safeguarding procedures. The standard that the government is look to set out will include evidence requirements and the staff and safeguarding standard. The staff and safeguarding standard will have a look This will include evidence of an ASB policy. We are interested in what this evidence will look like, the inclusion of a separate hate crime policy. Of course, any other developments are of interest to us in regard to this.
Local Authority Licensing Conditions
- Local authorities have general powers to set their own local licensing conditions alongside mandatory conditions, that have been set by the government. Licensing conditions can include a number of provisions including trying to reduce anti-social behaviour. The consultation is seeking views on whether there should be any other discretionary conditions that licensing authorities can add to a licence application, this is principally what we are interested in, and are willing to seek views on.
The local need standard
- Poor housing standards can lead to a degradation of a local neighbourhood, as a result the ‘local need standard’, aims to establish high quality supported housing and protect existing stock. As per the governments own communications, ‘poorly managed schemes can lead to anti-social behaviour affecting the neighbourhood’, we therefore, are interested in the mechanics of the local need standard, and the evidence that is therefore needed.
The deadline for this consultation is the 15th of May
We will be seeking member’s views, and wish to fully represent a wide range of views from across the sector. We particularly wish to recieve information from member's who have supported housing stock. For more information, and to contribute towards this submission, please contact:
Harrison Box, Policy Officer
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