Social rented housing

This page highlights some of the current parliamentary material available on social rented housing. This includes select committee reports, briefing papers on current legislation and other subjects produced by the parliamentary research services, and the latest Early Day Motions put down by MPs.

Standard Notes

DateDescription
26.02.2013Under-occupation of social housing: Housing Benefit entitlement
This note provides information on under-occupation in the social rented sector, explains the potential impact of Housing Benefit restrictions for households that are under-occupying from April 2013 and covers possible responses by landlords and tenants.
11.01.2013Constituency casework: housing (England)
A guide to sources for answering common constituents' housing problems.
31.12.2012Measures to reduce Housing Benefit expenditure - an overview
This note outlines all the measures aimed at reducing Housing Benefit expenditure set out in the June 2010 Budget and the October 2010 Spending Review, together with comment and an assessment of the impact of those measures.
28.12.2012Housing options for ex-service personnel
This note provides an overview of the housing options available to ex-service personnel in England.
28.12.2012Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013
This Act is concerned with strengthening the powers of social landlords to tackle tenants who sublet the whole of their dwellings for a profit.

Research Papers

DateDescription
08.06.2011Welfare Reform Bill: Committee Stage Report
This is an account of the House of Commons Committee Stage of the Welfare Reform Bill. It complements Research Papers 11/23 and 11/24, prepared for the Commons Second Reading debate.
12.04.2011Localism Bill: Committee Stage Report
This paper covers the Commons Committee Stage of the Bill, and complements Research Papers 11/02 and 11/03, prepared for Second Reading. The Bill covers a wide range of topics in local government, planning, housing and the governance of London. It was not substantially amended in Committee, although there were some minor technical Government amendments. However, at several points, Ministers agreed to look again at certain issues and consider whether to introduce amendments at Report Stage.
04.03.2011Welfare Reform Bill: reform of disability benefits, Housing Benefit, and other measures
This paper has been prepared for the Second Reading debate in the House of Commons. For information on the provision in the Bill relating to the introduction of Universal Credit, please see the complementary Library Research Paper, 11/24. Besides Universal Credit, the Bill proposes a number of other significant welfare reforms, including replacement of the current Disability Living Allowance, restriction of Housing Benefit entitlement to social housing tenants whose accommodation is larger than they need, time-limiting the payment of contributory Employment and Support Allowance to twelve months, and capping the total amount of benefit that can be claimed.
11.01.2011Localism Bill: Planning and Housing
This paper covers three parts of the Bill: Part 5 of the Bill will abolish regional planning, introduce a neighbourhood planning regime and abolish the Infrastructure Planning Commission. Part 6 of the Bill will make significant changes to the way in which social housing is provided and will also repeal the legislation governing the provision of Home Information Packs (HIPs). This Part includes provisions that will enable the long awaited reform of council housing finance. Part 7 of the Bill will make changes to housing and regeneration functions in London. It will abolish the London Development Agency and introduce a regime for Mayoral Development Corporations. Changes to Greater London Authority governance will allow the delegation of functions by Ministers to the Mayor.
18.03.2008Housing and Regeneration Bill: Committee Stage Report

Early Day Motions

DateDescription
15.12.2011EASTLANDS HOMES AND CORRESPONDENCE
That this House deplores the failure of Eastlands Homes to reply, since September 2011, to correspondence from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to his constituent, ...
22.11.2011RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY FOR SOCIAL HOUSING
That this House is concerned that social housing tenants are being denied savings of up to 180 per year on their energy bills as well as subsidised energy efficiency measures because ...
12.05.2011FLEXIBLE TENANCIES
That this House deplores the decline in the number of new lettings made by local authorities and registered social landlords from 423,000 in 1996-97 to 264,000 in 2008-09; notes the ...
01.02.2011SECURE TENANCIES, LEVELS OF RENT AND HOUSING BENEFITS
That this House is concerned that proposals for new fixed-term tenancies for council and housing association tenants, and up to 80 per cent. of market rents for new housing association ...
04.11.2010HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT SUBSIDY SCHEME AND WALES
That this House notes the recently published report by the Bevan Foundation, entitled The Great Rent Robbery, which catalogues the failures of the Housing Revenue Account subsidy scheme ...

Glossary

  • Research Papers (RP) - briefings produced by the House of Commons Library on Bills, topical issues and regular statistics
  • Standard Notes (SN) - shorter, topical briefings from the Commons Library
  • Early Day Motions (EDMs) - formal motions submitted by MPs in the House of Commons
  • POST Notes - short briefing notes produced by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
  • Lords Library Notes (LLN) - an occasional series of papers compiled by the House of Lords Library