Clampdown on landlords exploiting vulnerable tenants in supported housing sector

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Unscrupulous landlords who provide poor quality supported accommodation are set to be kicked out of the sector.

Housing Minister Eddie Hughes has announced new minimum standards to prevent landlords from exploiting some of the most vulnerable tenants and to help them live independently. Local authorities in England will also get new powers to better manage their local supported housing market so rogue landlords can’t exploit the system, while there will be changes to Housing Benefit regulations to define care, support and supervision and improve quality and value for money.

Unregulated housing

Exempt accommodation is non-commissioned and unregulated supported housing where tenants include ex-prisoners, addicts, rough sleepers and fleeing survivors of domestic abuse. Landlords can apply for provider status, exempting them from local licensing regulations and housing benefit caps, meaning that councils have few powers to act over the quality and safety of homes or how tenants are treated.

Hughes has pledged to provide £20 million for a three-year Supported Housing Improvement Programme and said: “We have no intention of penalising those providers who operate responsibly. We are clear that measures must be as targeted and proportionate as possible to protect supply of housing across the board.”

Successful campaign

Birmingham has campaigned for stronger measures in the city for years, pointing to a lack of regulatory powers that has led to soaring numbers of properties, prompting complaints about anti-social behaviour, drug use and safeguarding issues. Councillor Sharon Thompson, cabinet member for vulnerable children and families, says: “I am absolutely delighted, that after years of campaigning, the government has finally listened. I would like to thank our local communities that have been working with us on this campaign and have suffered on a daily basis, for many years, at the hands of rogue landlords and poorly managed properties.”

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