New amendments to the Social Housing Bill will deliver stronger protections for homeless households.
The government has today (Monday 28 September) confirmed it will bring forward amendments to the Social Housing Bill. Additional measures will help retain more social homes, strengthen homelessness prevention and ensure social housing is allocated to those who need it most.
Through the Social Housing Bill, councils will be given new powers to refer homeless households to private registered providers of social housing, strengthening collaboration between housing associations and councils, helping to reduce reliance on temporary accommodation and improve access to housing for those in greatest need.
The Bill will also introduce a new disposals notification requirement, which will give councils and other social housing providers better opportunity to purchase social homes before they are sold outside the sector – which will help to retain our much-needed housing stock. The government intends to extend the notification period to eight weeks.
A new Duty to Collaborate will require public services to work more closely together to identify people at risk of homelessness and consider what action they can take within their existing responsibilities to help prevent homelessness.
The measures are intended to support councils in addressing homelessness pressures, strengthen partnership working across the housing sector and help maintain the long-term supply of social housing.
The government previously committed £39 billion over ten years through the Social and Affordable Homes Programme to support the delivery of new social and affordable housing. Councils and housing associations will continue to play a key role in increasing housing supply and providing homes for local communities.