Housing Association CEOs in England - Regulation Reform & New Models

What should the future of economic regulation look like for the social housing sector? Big news today as the Regulator of Social Housing in England publishes its early thinking. This comes at a time when the government is pushing to deliver many more homes - and the plan should be seen in the context of this and the growing scale and complexity of the sector since the last review. Full details in the story, but the regulator argues that while its economic regulation has been successful over the last decade "it now needs to change so that it can help the sector meet the challenges of today and the future". Perhaps the key line is "we want the regulatory framework to support the provision of new homes wherever possible, including through innovative routes". It says "we want to hear about ideas for new models, and how we can encourage good new social landlords". Make no mistake, the regulator is discussing potentially significant shifts here, particularly for a sector that has sold itself on its solidity. As the document states: "we could choose to be more permissive in our regulation and allow for a higher likelihood of financial failure and loss of homes. Doing this might enable more investment in more homes but we and all our stakeholders would need to be clear-eyed about the potential consequences. This includes the possibility that our existing regulatory tools would not be able to prevent or mitigate financial failure, loss to creditors, and loss of homes in higher-risk financing models". (Important to stress that there is a strong emphasis on protecting tenants and discussion about what "failing safely" looks like too) Important debate which will influence the future shape and scale of the sector. Also has much to say about how prescriptive or otherwise the regulator might be when it comes to the independence and autonomy of landlords. On this it says: "We could also set out guidance on the types of organisational structures that we consider deliver enough independence and autonomy and which do not. Alternatively, we could set high-level outcomes and give landlords the freedom to show how they are delivering these outcomes." Regulator after feedback, and important to state this "early thinking" ahead of consultation on revised economic standards in 2027. Regulator is after wider discussion and very interested in early thoughts on what this means and what you will be feeding into the consultation. Drop me a line on here or [email redacted] Regulator of Social Housing G15 Northern Housing Consortium PlaceShapers #UKhousing #socialhousing https://lnkd.in/e6nVFfB2