From the spending review and funding debates, to building safety hold-ups, viability issues, new regulation and the rise of Reform, 2025 was a busy year for the housing sector. Here is our round-up of the key talking points.
Scroll down for the round-up of our biggest stories and talking points over the past 12 months.
See also:
Will the BSR’s plan to clear regulatory backlog succeed?
It’s been a big year for the new Building Safety Regulator. An inauspicious start saw it come under criticism for regulatory delays at Gateway 2 of 11 months. The crisis led to change at the top, with ex-London fire chief Andy Roe coming in as chair, as well as a move out of the Health and Safety Executive.
Roe set out his plan to tackle the backlog of cases at the Housing Today Live Conference in October. The BSR, he said, would clear a backlog of 95 new-build schemes by the end of the year, while “batching out” groups of remediation applications to building inspectors in private firms. Meanwhile an innovation unit, set up in the summer, would fast-track new applications coming in, to ensure that they met the 12-week timeline for a decision.
In his November piece on the topic, Joey Gardiner looked into whether Roe’s plans had any chance of success. Initial indicators suggest the crisis is abating, but Joey’s analysis bears reading for an idea of some of the challenges Roe & co continue to face in cleaning up the mess.
>> Read in full: Is the Building Safety Regulator’s plan to tackle the backlog likely to succeed?
Section 106 slowdown
The slowdown in demand from housing associations for section 106 affordable homes continued to be a problem for housebuilders and delivery throughout the year.
Homes England’s new clearing service – which seeks to match buyers and sellers of homes – saw 300 organisations sign up early in the year.
However, as many in the sector warned including the HBF and NHF, this was never likely to solve the fundamental problem of a lack of financial capacity among RPs to buy the units. Concerns over quality and design are also a factor among some and the G15 in April published a guide for housebuilders on what its members look for in section 106 properties.
The issue came to a head in very public fashion in October with the HBF putting out a report saying 8,500 homes due in the next 12 months are at risk of not being built or standing empty because of lack of a contract with a registered provider.
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government branded the situation “not good enough”, but then issued a follow-up statement from housing minister Matthew Pennycook acknowledging the issue is “extremely complex.” Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chief executive of L&Q, accused the HBF of “whinging” in her speech to Housing Today Live in October, saying they are good reasons why associations don’t always want to buy section 106 homes.
Viability and London’s emergency housing package
Finding social landlords to forward buy affordable homes can be tricky, but that is assuming developments are viable with the required level of affordable housing in the first place. Concerns about viability, particularly in London, dominated 2025.
Building safety costs, gateway 2 approvals, rising build and land costs and the aforementioned section 106 issues combined to severely slow housebuilding in the capital.
Residential development consultant Molior in April said work on just 1,210 homes had begun in only 10 London boroughs.
The HBF in September branded the situation a “crisis” as starts, permissions and energy performance certificate issuances all showed a downturn.
This prompted ministers and London mayor Sadiq Khan to act, with an ‘emergency’ housing package announced in October.
This included a two-year cut in affordable housing requirements on private land from 35% to 20%. Social housing grant is also permitted to be used on half of the 20%.
The long-awaited package of support also included changes to design standards, relief from levies and changes to mayoral powers, in a bid to increase density of schemes and improve viability.
>>See also: Mixed sector reaction to ‘emergency’ package to boost London’s housebuilding market
Awaab’s law is with us but clarity still needed on Decent Homes Standard
This year saw the Labour government progress with its policies designed to improve conditions in existing housing stock.
October saw the first phase of Awaab’s law come into effect.
As a result. social landlords are now legally required to address all emergency hazards and damp and mould hazards that present a significant risk of harm to tenants within 24 hours of reporting.
They must also investigate significant damp and mould within 10 working days of being notified and then make properties safe in five working days. For both types of hazards, they must also write to tenants with the findings within three working days of inspection. Registered providers must also consider the circumstances of residents which could put them at risk - including young children and those with disabilities or health conditions. Alternative accommodation must be offered if homes cannot be made safe within the required timeframe.
Awaab’s law will be expanded and rolled out to cover more hazards in 2026 and 2027.
The government also consulted on its new Decent Homes Standard, prompting much debate within the social housing sector about the potential cost to providers of proposed additional requirements, including floor coverings, public realm components, internal communual areas and shared outdoor spaces. As Gavin Smart, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing wrote in a piece for Housing Today this week, “we’re now waiting to see how the government chooses to move forward with…minimum energy efficiency standards, and an updated Decent Homes Standard.”
The spending review and new funding models
One of the biggest questions for the housing sector in the run-up to the June spending review was what kind of funding settlement would we see for affordable housing. In the run-up there was concern about the extent to which the UK’s constrained public finances might persuade the chancellor to limit investment for housing. The sector need not have worried.
In the end, the chancellor announced a £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme, along with a 10-year inflation-linked rent settlement. This was coupled with equal access for social landlords to building safety funding and a consultation on rent convergence. The spending review exceeded the expectations of many, even if it did not contain anything on supported housing or shared ownership. The positivity in the sector remained despite the resignation of Angela Rayner, seen as a sector champion, in September.
The government also announced £2.5bn in low-cost loans to be administered by Homes England’s new housing bank.
Providers hope these loans can be used on a new model proposed by Housing Today and G15, aimed at easing a short-term balance sheet squeeze that is currently restricting development.
The ‘amortised’ grant or ‘repayable subsidy’ model, recommended in our State of the Capital report, would see higher grant payments made upfront to housing associations which are then repaid at a later stage. It would reduce the amount of upfront borrowing the housing association needs to take on to fund development. The idea is this would help keep interest payments lower, meaning housing associations can widen their interest cover ratio, which measures debt to income and is currently tight for many landlords in London.
The spending review aside, 2025 saw discussion about various potential new funding models in housing, including US-style Low Income Housing Tax Credits and providers selling homes into a new institutional investor backed shared ownership vehicle.
How do we boost regeneration?
The past few months has also seen vigorous debate about how to regenerate towns and cities.
In October, the Northern Housing Consortium issued a call for evidence on how to boost housing-led regeneration in the north of England.
The call, issued at its Northern Housing Summit in Leeds, is part of its Renew inquiry chaired by Lord Richard Best.
Renew aims to explore housing-led regeneration’s role in delivering growth, tackling the housing crisis, and strengthening communities across the North. It is supported by housing association umbrella group Homes for the North and developer Muse.
In 2026 Housing Today will have a focus on regeneration.
Place-led regeneration is set to dominate 2026. Sector leaders will be watching Homes England’s new regional operating model under new chief executive Amy Rees (pictured) closely.
Every Person Counts, Housing Champions and Good Employer Guide
2025 saw Housing Today put an emphasis on workforce issues across the whole of the housing sector – a focus that will only strengthen going into 2026.
We continued our Every Person Counts initiative, which aims to provide a place where debates about skills, employment, regulatory compliance, equality diversity and inclusivity and workplace culture can play out and solutions can be shared.
In October we published our annual Top 30 Housing Champions list, which celebrates those housing professionals who are going above and beyond in their day-to-day roles to improve services for residents.
And later in the same month we invited housing associations across the UK to take part in our first ever Good Employer Guide for the sector.
The guide, to be published in early 2026, will be a directory of employers, showcasing the great work providers are doing and sharing learning for the sector from initiatives across a wide range of areas.
The findings from the guide will be discussed at Housing Today’s Good Employer Conference at the Savoy Hotel in London on 5 March, which will also feature panel sessions, keynote speakers and networking.
Housing Today will continue sharing learning and insight on good employment initiatives throughout next year via a series of quarterly themed reports. These will be on skills and training, diversity & inclusion, health & wellbeing and culture & innovation.
Watching the rise of Reform
The broader political environment in 2025 saw the governing Labour party tumble in the polls to the benefit of an insurgent Reform party.
To see what all the fuss was about, and what it could mean for housing we sent Tom Lowe to Reform’s annual conference in Birmingham in September.
There he found an “electrifying” atmosphere of confidence and excitement about cutting renewable subsidies, unleashing fossil fuel development and using tax cuts to incentivise housing development.
>> Read in full: What a Farage government would mean for housing, investment and ‘net-stupid-zero’
No comments yet