Delivering social housing

Coronavirus (COVID-19): The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, in collaboration with Public Health England, has produced non-statutory guidance to support landlords with allocating social homes. The guidance contains information on how local authorities and housing associations consider using existing homes that become available during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. The government makes clear that allocation by local housing authorities continues to be governed by Part 6 of the Housing Act 1996 and authorities must have regard to statutory guidance. See further: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—social housing tracker [Archived]—Government guidance and LNB News 28/04/2020 53.

Social housing was traditionally provided by a local housing authority (LHA) renting accommodation from its own housing stock to those qualified to receive an allocation of social housing. Successive governments have reformed this model considerably by moving housing stock ownership away from LHAs to private registered providers (RPs), such that in recent years provision of accommodation by the private sector has overtaken provision from the social housing sector to the private and, within the social housing sector, from LHA provision to private providers

A number of factors have driven these changes

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