Housing

Social housing

Our social housing stock is a valuable national asset. It provides homes at below market rents for nearly four million (or one in five) households in England.

We help local organisations deliver high quality social homes, improve flexibility in social housing and protect the vulnerable by:

  • setting the legal framework for who receives priority for social housing, for the types of tenancies provided and the rights and responsibilities of social tenants and landlords
  • supporting tenants to play a bigger role in the management of their homes, for example through the Tenant Cashback scheme and by funding the Tenant Empowerment Programme
  • helping social housing tenants move to find work and help tackle over-crowding and under-occupancy
  • giving social landlords the tools to tackle tenancy fraud and anti-social behaviour
  • supporting the delivery of new affordable housing including through developing and funding a new model of Affordable Rent
  • changing the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy System to a new and fair locally controlled system under which local authorities are responsible and accountable for their housing services
  • providing funding to local authorities to improve their stock through the Decent Homes programme
  • setting policy on the regulation of social housing providers.

Current (and potential) council and housing association tenants can find more information on the Directgov (external link) website.

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