When it was announced by housing secretary Sajid Javid back in September, the social housing green paper was described as the start of a “fundamental rethink of social housing in this country”. Now that it is finally published after several postponements, the strong impression on a first read is that there has been little thinking and certainly nothing fundamental going on in government over the past 11 months.
Three things in particular strike me from this first reading.
First, the top news is that it signals the abandonment of much of the ‘Cameron Housing Policy’ imposed since 2010 and enshrined in the 2016 Housing and Planning Act. If it was an honest document it would say ‘we got it wrong’ when the Coalition dismantled the social housing regulatory system when taking office in 2010. Now indicated are a return to proper regulation of consumer standards, proper tenant involvement, a clearer…
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Tory Britain! 