The Social Housing White Paper has been published

Published on November 25, 2020

Published on November 25, 2020

Two years on from the publication of the Green Paper, and three years on from the Grenfell Tower fire which prompted it, the Social Housing White Paper was published on 17th November. You can find the document, described as a ‘charter for social housing residents’, here.

A summary of the responses made to the consultation on the Green Paper can also be found here.

In initial comments made to Inside Housing, Pat Turnbull, regional representative for London Tenants Federation, echoed concerns about the White Paper’s focus on promoting home ownership at the expense of building new homes for social rent.

The White Paper was “disappointingly lacking in substance and new ideas”, she said, and added “it will be deeply insulting to the tenants’ groups who responded to the green paper to find not a single mention of the role of tenants’ and residents’ associations and other tenant led organisations in giving a voice to tenants”.

One aspect of the White Paper which did stand out as holding promise was the promise to introduce a new Freedom of Information-style “access to information scheme” for housing association tenants. “The extension of some version of Freedom of Information to tenants of housing associations is not far off one of the things we are calling for in our tenants’ manifesto, which will be launching early next year,” said Pat Turnbull.