Government to 'kick off nationwide conversation' on social housing

The government intends to publish a green paper on social housing, Javid told the annual conference of industry body the National Housing Federation (NHF). The paper will provide a "wide-ranging, top-to-bottom review" of the issues facing social housing in England, including safety issues, service management, tenants' rights and the "overall quality" of England's social housing stock.

The paper will also look at "wider issues of place, community and the local economy", and the role to be played by housing as part of the UK government's industrial strategy, Javid said.

Javid said that the UK needed to "shift the whole conversation about social housing" and challenge "outdated, unfair attitudes".

The government has already announced an independent review of building regulations and fire safety, to be led by industry expert Dame Judith Hackett, following the fatal fire at Grenfell Tower, London on 14 June.

Javid did not provide a timetable for the publication of the green paper, which he said would be a "substantial body of work" that could not be rushed.

The government would also confirm the future formula for setting social rents "very, very soon", he said. The government committed to developing a rent policy for social landlords from 2020 onwards as part of its Housing White Paper, published in February 2017. The NHF has been lobbying for housing associations to be given the flexibility to set their own rents.

In his speech, Javid said that the planned green paper would "kick off a nationwide conversation on social housing", as well as including recommendations to fix "things that have gone wrong".

"The results will help everyone involved in the whole world of social housing: local and central government, housing associations, [tenant management organisations] and of course the tenants themselves, to make this country's social housing provision something the whole nation can be proud of," he said.