Regulator launches consultation on the future of social housing regulation in Scotland
SHR launches consultation on proposals for social housing regulation in Scotland.
The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) is consulting on proposals for how it regulates social housing in Scotland. It is inviting tenants, landlords and others with an interest in its work to give their views by 14 December.
A key proposal would see the introduction of Annual Assurance Statements for local authorities and RSLs. Through these Statements, landlords would confirm that they are meeting the standards and outcomes in the Scottish Social Housing Charter, and regulatory requirements. For RSLs, these include the Standards of Governance and Financial Management.
George Walker, the Regulator’s Chair, said:
“Our proposals aim to support landlords to do the right things, by promoting a culture of assurance, openness and transparency. We want to support RSL governing body and local authority committee members to get the assurance they need that their organisations are well-run, so [they] can deliver what tenants and other service users need and want at a price they can afford to pay.
“Our proposals reflect feedback from stakeholders on our discussion paper earlier this year. Since then we’ve continued to discuss our ideas at meetings and events, to develop and test our thinking.
“Thank you to everyone who has shared their views so far. This has been a really constructive discussion, and your feedback has been invaluable. The draft Regulatory Framework and guidance we are now proposing have been shaped by your feedback, and will continue to be informed by your responses to this consultation.”
All of the proposed changes and consultation questions are summarised in a consultation paper, and accompanied by a draft Regulatory Framework. These are both available on the SHR website via the links below:
The documents link to various additional revised regulatory guidance, such as Notifiable Events guidance, Group Structures guidance and revised Charter Indicators - all of which also form part of this consultation. These are all collected as a consultation package, available via the below link:
SFHA is keen to gather member views to shape its response to the consultation. SFHA Policy Lead, Alan Stokes said:
“The consultation process has been extremely constructive so far, and now this formal consultation provides a further opportunity for our members to shape the final Regulatory Framework. We would encourage all of our members to engage with this process, and to feed into our consultation response so that we can reflect your views to the SHR.”
Members are encouraged to please contact Alan Stokes (astokes@sfha.co.uk) with any views they would like to contribute.
SFHA will also be holding three free roundtable consultation events in conjunction with the SHR on the afternoons of:
- 7 November (jointly with GWSF) in Glasgow
- 21 November (Edinburgh)
- 28 November (Aberdeen)
Once venues and times have been confirmed, SFHA will alert all members with details on how to book a place.
SFHA will also hold a meeting of its Regulatory Sounding Board of members in early December to discuss feedback received at these events, and its final response.
SFHA will be in touch with more details in due course, and would welcome any initial feedback in the meantime.