Rachael Williamson, Author at Red Brick

The UK’s housing challenges are vast and multifaceted, ranging from affordability crises to inadequate supply. The devolved nations offer valuable insights into addressing them through innovative approaches and long-term strategies.

1. Leveraging devolution for a tailored approach

Since devolution, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have shaped housing policies to meet their specific needs. A good example of this is the Right to Buy (RTB), which Scotland abolished in 2016 to protect social housing supply. Similarly, Wales phased out discounts before fully abolishing the scheme in 2019, prioritising affordable housing supply.

The UK government has begun welcome reforms to limit social housing loss, but RTB remains centrally controlled. Since 2012, local authorities (LAs) have managed their Housing Revenue Accounts (HRAs) independently, yet RTB rules remain dictated by central government. Given councils’ financial independence—reflected in their ONS classification as “public corporations” and the £8 billion debt incurred to gain autonomy—local authorities should arguably have the power to set their own RTB policies. In contrast, Scottish LAs have had financial independence for many years and there is no centrally determined rent policy, so they still have more financial freedom than in England.

Empowering councils to manage RTB aligns with the government’s “devolution revolution” and would allow them to tailor policies to local housing needs, ensuring the scheme supports sustainable social housing supply.

2. Scaling up affordable housing supply

Scotland’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme aims to deliver over 110,000 homes by 2032, with at least two thirds allocated to social rent. Wales aims to deliver 20,000 affordable homes by 2026, prioritising social housing. Whilst neither is doing well against current targets, for various reasons, they both met those which were previously set. To date, Northern Ireland has committed to delivering at least 2,000 new social homes annually to address its pressing housing need, against an average annual build of 1,400 over the past ten years. Furthermore, the Northern Ireland Executive recently endorsed a cross-departmental housing supply strategy aiming to deliver 100,000 homes by 2039, a third of which will be social homes. These nations demonstrate that ambitious targets, backed by substantial funding, can yield significant results.

In England, affordable housing delivery has consistently fallen behind. According to CIH’s 2025 UK Housing Review, England allocates just 53% of housing investment to affordable housing compared to Scotland’s 99%, Wales’ 78%, and Northern Ireland’s 100%. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s latest poverty report highlights that a lack of affordable housing is a key driver of poverty, with increasing numbers of families facing financial hardship due to rising rents and insufficient housing supply.

To bridge this gap, the UK government should increase grant funding for social housing to levels comparable with Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Grant is already much higher in Scotland, covering around 60% of new build costs for housing associations (40% for LAs). In comparison, the average funding per affordable home in England sits at £56,800, while the cost of building an average three-bedroom home typically reaches to over £202,000. Moving beyond reliance on developer contributions would provide a more stable and predictable funding stream, ensuring that affordable housing targets are met regardless of market fluctuations.

3. Addressing decarbonisation and building safety

Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH) sets ambitious emissions reduction targets with clear milestones (though there is some way to go to realise them). The Welsh government has made retrofitting of social housing a priority in the new iteration of the Welsh Housing Quality Standard, though levels of government investment fall short of that suggested by the Future Generations Commissioner’s “Homes Fit for the Future” report. The UK government should move ahead with establishing mandatory energy efficiency standards for social housing, enshrining in legislation the target of reaching EPC Band C (or equivalent) by 2030 that most providers are already working towards. It should also invest further in retrofitting to reduce emissions and alleviate fuel poverty.

Building safety is another critical area where lessons can be drawn. Scotland’s comprehensive regulations and funding frameworks have ensured high standards. Meanwhile, in England, financial pressures hinder housing providers’ efforts to remediate safety issues. While the Social Housing Regulation Act marked progress, a unified, well-funded approach to safety and decarbonisation is essential to protect residents and improve living conditions.

4. Innovative approaches to homelessness prevention

Wales has led the way in tackling homelessness through progressive legislation. The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 introduced a duty on local authorities to prevent homelessness, focusing on early intervention. Despite initial progress, Wales, like other jurisdictions, faces the same pressures around finding suitable accommodation and responding to the additional demand created by the Covid-19 pandemic and cost of living crisis. However, there has been some success with the roll out nationally of the Housing First model since 2018 which has delivered significant results.

Scotland has gone further with its commitment to end homelessness, underpinned by a shift to a Housing First approach, strengthened legal duties and the abolition of priority need. The Scottish Government’s Ending Homelessness Together plan prioritises rapid rehousing and long-term support, ensuring that people experiencing homelessness have access to stable, permanent housing as quickly as possible. Although it was undermined by cuts in 24/25 to the affordable housing supply budget, the budget has been restored for 25/26. Northern Ireland has strengthened its homelessness prevention framework, incorporating long-term housing-led strategies.

The Public Accounts Committee’s recent report on homelessness in England underscores the need for urgent and focussed action, highlighting rising levels of temporary accommodation and the growing number of children affected (though all administrations are struggling with TA and B&B use.) The report highlights systemic issues, including a lack of affordable housing, inconsistent funding, and insufficient local authority capacity, which have left councils struggling to manage the crisis. Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s analysis also links homelessness with deepening poverty, reinforcing the need for stronger preventative measures.

England’s homelessness strategy should adopt similar preventative measures by:

Expanding discretionary housing payments to provide immediate financial relief to households at risk of homelessness.
Enhancing local authority capacity with resources and training to deliver effective homelessness prevention services.
Ensuring consistent, long-term funding for prevention initiatives to reduce reliance on temporary accommodation and tackle root causes of homelessness.
Implementing a Housing First approach nationwide.

These steps, combined with a national commitment to increasing affordable housing supply, would shift the focus from crisis management to early intervention. This approach not only reduces long-term costs but also delivers better outcomes for vulnerable households, ensuring fewer families face homelessness.

5. Lessons in governance and funding

Stable funding and coherent governance are critical to successful housing outcomes. Scotland’s commitment to high grant levels per home has enabled consistent delivery of affordable housing. In contrast, fragmented funding streams and short-term policymaking hinder progress in England.

The government should provide multi-year funding settlements for housing programmes and empower local authorities with greater fiscal autonomy, such as through land value capture mechanisms.

Conclusion

The devolved nations have shown that bold, well-funded policies can deliver tangible housing outcomes. By embracing the learning, England can create a sustainable, inclusive housing strategy that addresses the pressing challenges of the next decade.

The next government will inherit many social and economic challenges, with housing a significant part of the solution. At CIH we’re calling for a long-term housing plan, backed by targets to meet housing needs. We set out our proposals in our Homes at the Heart strategy and 10-point plan, published last autumn.

While many of the reforms needed will require consultation and time to implement, there are some important actions the next government can take within the first 100 days of its tenure. These would come with little to no cost, are quickly implementable, have an immediate impact, and set the tone for more ambitious reforms.

We propose five immediate priorities, some of which are touched on in Labour’s manifesto:

Releasing public consultations on the Decent Homes Standard (DHS) and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) in social housing, laying the groundwork for sector investment and improvements in quality, decency, and energy efficiency.
The review of the DHS and examination of options for MEES have been ongoing for several years. Social housing providers have invested significantly in improving the quality and energy efficiency of their homes, but with no guarantee that improvements will meet higher regulatory standards. Releasing these consultations would provide the sector with certainty on the government’s intention to introduce firm, stable regulation of social housing quality, unlocking more investment, and lay the groundwork for appropriate funding arrangements to support the sector to meet the new requirements. It would also provide social housing tenants with confidence that driving up standards is a firm priority.
Reviewing the current DLUHC capital spending programme to identify unproductive spending areas and redirect investment towards social rent housing.
Analysis published in CIH’s latest UK Housing Review (UKHR) reaffirms the need for a total supply of 300,000 new homes per annum, including 60,000-70,000 social rented units per annum in the initial period. From 2030, this should rise to around 350,000 new homes per annum, of which 90,000 should be for social rent. In the UKHR’s assessment of all forms of government support for new housing investment between 2021/22 to 2024/25, comprising £41 billion in total, slightly more than half (51%) was directed towards the private market and 49% for affordable housing. This totals around £5 billion of investment pa for the private market. Whilst comparisons cannot be made strictly on a like-for-like basis, capital support for affordable housing supply is much higher in Scotland (90%), Wales (82%) and Northern Ireland (100%). The next government should provide a much-needed boost to affordable housing supply by rebalancing DLUHC’s capital spending and allocating a more significant proportion of the programme to social rented homes. This would have little to no effect on overall government spend.
Publishing the technical consultation on the implementation of M4(2) accessibility standards for new homes, providing certainty to housing developers that they will be required to meet new standards from April 2025.
In September 2020, DLUHC consulted on raising accessibility standards in new homes. In July 2022, it confirmed its intention to mandate the current M4(2) (Category 2: Accessible and adaptable dwellings) requirement in Building Regulations as a minimum standard for all new homes, subject to further consultation on draft technical details. This has significant cross-sector support in the housing, health, and built environment sectors. In March 2024, the Building Safety Regulator said the draft technical details would be published for consultation before the summer recess. Reviewing and publishing the draft details for consultation would give certainty to developers that M4(2) will be the standard they are required to build to from April 2025, and signal to disabled people that improving the accessibility of new homes is a priority.
Reducing discounts under the Right to Buy scheme (RTB) and allowing councils to set the discount rate in their area, stemming the loss of social housing and providing the government with space to examine longer-term options.
Research by Savills estimates 100,000 homes are likely to be sold through RTB by 2030, with just 43,000 replaced as high discounts leave councils without funding to replace homes on a like-for-like basis. RTB can play an important role in enabling families to get on the housing ladder, but only if sufficient progress is made towards housebuilding targets to ensure it does not result in a net loss of social homes. The long-term future of RTB requires more detailed policy thinking and public consultation, but the next government could take immediate steps to stem the flow of social homes into the private rented and owner occupied sectors by freezing current discount levels, preventing them from rising with inflation, and enabling councils to set the discount rate in their area according to local discretion.
Implementing the measures committed to in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 and exploring long-term funding options for supported housing to provide much-needed accommodation for vulnerable groups.
The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight Act) was passed in 2023 and provides a range of powers to drive up standards. The next government should conclude recruitment for the national expert advisory panel, launch consultations on national standards for accommodation and for local authority licensing schemes, and work with the expert panel and wider sector to explore possibilities for a long-term revenue funding stream for supported housing. Quick action on the Act will enable developers to move forward with much-needed supported housing schemes with confidence, establishing an immediate pathway to growing the quality and quantity of accommodation and support for some vulnerable groups.

Finally, whilst it would require some upfront investment, given the growing pressures on council budgets from rising homelessness the next government should also make money available to local authorities to acquire homes for temporary accommodation. This would generate considerable savings in the long run and relieve pressure on stretched LA budgets.

Rachael Williamson, Head of policy and external affairs at Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH)

The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) is the professional body for people who work or have an interest in housing. We have approximately 17,000 members across the UK and are committed to working in partnership with the next government to build a future where everyone has a decent, safe, warm, accessible, and affordable place to call home.