Social housing and building safety briefing: debate stage
A UNISON briefing on social housing and how long-term investment can ensure that housing services are adequately resourced and the housing needs of residents met
Date posted:
1 June 2022
On social housing, UNISON calls on government to:
Launch a national programme to build 150,000 new social rented homes per year.
Restore direct government investment through upfront capital grants.
Ensure all new social homes meet high environmental, safety, space and accessibility standards.
Provide long‑term, stable funding for councils and housing associations.
Strengthen local planning powers and ring‑fence Section 106 for social rent.
End ‘Right to Buy’ immediately.
Stop converting social rent homes into near‑market rent products.
Reform welfare by restoring the link between Local Housing Allowance and real rents.
On building safety, it calls on government to:
- Provide upfront funding for all cladding and non‑cladding remediation.
- Extend protections to buildings under 11 metres and to non‑cladding defects.
- Ensure social housing providers are not treated as developers for historic defects.
- Expand funding to cover replacement of all unsafe materials.
- Fully fund councils, fire services and building control teams to meet new regulatory duties.
- Exempt social housing providers from the new Building Safety Levy to protect already stretched budgets.