Regulating Social Housing In The UK

1135 Words3 Pages

Introduction/Thesis

The aim of this special study is to examine how the law regulating social housing has transformed since the 1950’s to more self-regulation. This scatters accountability to multiple actors– leaving the state largely unaccountable when something goes wrong. Considering the sources below, I aim to propose a solution that shifts accountability to a single body – state. The state must accept the role as the primary enforcer or provide adequate funds to enable specialised regulatory bodies to enforce compliance. Bottom line: when there is more than one person holding the umbrella, someone is inevitably going to get wet. Self-regulation is not effective enough to ensure everyone is covered sufficiently. Additionally, the state …show more content…

To do this, he shows how regulation has changed from state regulation to self-regulation through the privatisation of publicly owned industries, for example, the railway. He points to an important cause-effect relationship between privatisation and the regulation boom.

This study will refer to his arguments that there is a problem with the current self-regulating state, evident in the Grenfell Tower tragedy. In particular: its effectiveness and failing to protect the whole community against unknown risks, the ineffective relationship between regulators and the regulated and the inadequate supply of resources needed to create a single indivisible regulating authority composed of experts.

The regulating state is not going anywhere, there needs to be a change from a largely untrusted self-regulating state to state regulation. Furthermore, social regulation should triumph over economic regulation. State actors should shift their focus on ensuring there is a specialised inspectorate that everyday citizens can hold accountable. The barriers to justice need to be removed and access to take action against a failing regulatory body should be widened. The state must be held more responsible to ensure large powerful actors do not take advantage of regulation for purely economic interest. If compliance is not adhered to, strict fines and …show more content…

Furthermore, the law as it currently stands is outdated; that unfortunately was not transparent enough until the tragedy occurred at Grenfell. The Housing and Subsidies Act 1967 and the Housing Cost Yardstick need to be revisited and be made more adaptable to changing times – increasing limits on amounts spent on social housing and providing a closely watched regulatory body. If it is not corrected, the UK will continue to endure a housing crisis and citizens will still be living in unsafe and unowned

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