Labour to crack down on rogue landlords claiming uncapped housing benefit for horror homes

Rogue landlords claiming uncapped housing benefit to provide horror homes will face a fresh crackdown, the government has said.

Ministers announced plans to bring the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act into force to stop landlords providing supported housing from claiming unlimited amounts of taxpayer cash to leave vulnerable people in squalid homes.

Labour said it would lay out plans next week to introduce a new licensing scheme and tougher standards to prevent cases that have seen “criminal gangs buying large properties and putting vulnerable people in mouldy rooms with just a bed, then providing no care”.

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Gavin Smart, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “We also welcome confirmation of action to implement the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act.

“It is right that the government moves to clamp down on a small minority of exploitative supported housing landlords who are providing unacceptable poor homes to vulnerable people. We look forward to seeing more details here and to working with government, housing providers, and local authorities to ensure these commitments translate into real change on the ground.”

The housing benefit crackdown came as the government announced an extra £350m would be made available to turbocharge Labour’s bid to build 1.5 million homes while in power.

The new funding will see £300m go towards the affordable homes programme to deliver up to 2,800 homes with half of those homes classed as social rent. A further £50m will go towards providing homes to boost the quality of temporary accommodation through the local authority housing fund.

Deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner said: “For so many families, and their children, the security and safety of a home of their own remains firmly out of reach – and instead they have to live in temporary accommodation, including in B&Bs.

“This is unacceptable and is the result of the housing crisis we are facing head on. That’s why we’re driving forward on our plans to ensure a better future for everyone who needs a safe home, building on our plans to drive up living standards and build 1.5 million homes through our Plan for Change.”

Labour faces a challenge to hit its target of building 1.5 million homes by 2029 and is grappling with a housing crisis that has left 123,000 households living in temporary accommodation, including 160,000 children and almost 6,000 families with children in B&Bs.

Rayner has been defiant that the government can hit the milestone, although has admitted that even that would only make a dent in the long-running housing crisis.

The new funding will help boost the number of social rent homes delivered. Shelter has long-called for 90,000 social rent homes to be built over the next decade to tackle the housing crisis.

Rayner has, so far, declined to put a target on how many social homes will be built after setting local authorities stretched targets to build up to 370,000 homes a year.

Ministers are set to announce a new affordable housing programme at this summer’s spending review.

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook told the housing select committee in November that the existing affordable housing programme is only expected to deliver between 110,000 and 130,000 homes down from the 150,000 originally planned. 

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “Today’s funding announcement demonstrates that the government recognises that boosting funding for new affordable homes, particularly those for social rent, is essential to meeting its ambitious housing targets and commitment to building a generation of new social homes.

“Housing associations share the government’s housing ambitions and we welcome this top-up to the affordable homes programme. The funding announced today – in addition to the funding announced in the autumn – will help maintain momentum in the delivery of much needed social and affordable housing ahead of the new affordable homes programme being announced at the spending review.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a £500m investment to deliver 5,000 more affordable homes at the autumn budget to bolster the existing £11.5bn affordable homes programme. 

Andy Hulme, CEO of The Hyde Group, said: “It’s important to welcome this increased funding for the affordable homes programme, which we hope is a downpayment on future funding, as it comes at a time when the number of new homes started by housing associations in London has fallen to a record low.

“However, the most important thing the government can do is to make social housing financially sustainable so we can play our part in meeting the government’s 1.5m new homes target in this parliament.

“To achieve this the government needs to agree to an expanded long-term affordable homes programme at the spending review, and an ambitious ten-year, inflation-linked settlement for social rents which is greater than CPI+1% and, critically, to reintroduce and accelerate rent convergence.”

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