Councils to get new homelessness powers in Rayner drive on social housing

Housing associations in England will soon be required to accept homeless families unless they can provide a good reason for refusal, a policy that will be announced by Labour’s housing secretary Angela Rayner at the party’s conference. The measure forms part of a broader push for greater public control of social housing, including a new duty that compels public services such as health authorities and local councils to refer people at risk of homelessness to housing support. Councils will also be given a 60‑day window to bid for social homes when they are placed on the market by private registered providers, and a new collaboration duty will require early‑stage notification of crises that could lead to homelessness. The changes are to be embedded in the Social Housing Bill currently progressing through the Commons, and Rayner will use her speech to stress that councils “understand their local areas best” and must be empowered to build and manage council‑owned homes.

The reforms have been hailed by homelessness charities as a potential “game‑changer” that could curb the sharp rise in rough sleeping and the 180,000 children now living in temporary accommodation. Crisis chief executive Matt Downie called the referral duty “hugely significant” for preventing and ending homelessness, noting its importance for families across the country and its potential to reduce rough sleeping by Christmas. Shelter’s campaign director Mairi MacRae welcomed the steps but warned that without sufficient supply of social homes, referrals alone will not translate into lasting housing, emphasizing the need for 90,000 new social‑rent homes each year for the next decade.

The announcement dovetails with broader Labour ambitions to shift a larger share of affordable‑housing funding toward council‑built homes. While Rayner stopped short of guaranteeing that the forthcoming £16 billion funding round will be fully earmarked for social housing, she signalled a strong encouragement for councils to submit bids and promised “money to do the groundwork” for building council homes, noting that many authorities have not constructed such housing in years. Mayor Andy Burnham has previously advocated spending the entire affordable‑homes programme on social homes, and Rayner echoed this focus, saying the party’s ambition is “for council building.” If the new powers and funding incentives take effect, councils could acquire more existing social units and accelerate new construction, potentially reshaping the supply landscape and offering a more robust safety net for families facing housing insecurity.

⚡ Effects Interpreter