The Government has published its Policy Statement on rents for Social Housing dated 14th December 2022. The following points are applicable to almshouses that are also registered providers:

  • The Regulator for Social Housing has confirmed a Rent Cap of 7% with the exception of supported housing.
  • Those providing supported housing remain subject to the rent increase cap of CPI + 1%. The table at para. 8 of Appendix A of the Policy Statement confirms the uprate for 2023-24 as:

CPI + 1% (10.1%+1%) = 11.1%.

  • The Government’s Policy Statement on rents for social housing defines supported housing in Chapter 2 at 2.39, with a list at 2.40 and includes sheltered accommodation.

    Whilst the policy statement was updated to reflect the Government’s response to the consultation on rent increase caps, this did not affect definitions of supported housing. The full statement is available here

Definition of Supported Housing

Point 2.39 – In the policy statement, the term ‘supported housing’ means low-cost rental accommodation provided by a registered provider that:

(a) is made available only in conjunction with the supply of support;
(b) is made available exclusively to households including a person who has been identified as needing that support; and
(c) falls into one or both of the following categories:
(i) provides accommodation that has been designed, structurally altered or refurbished in order to enable residents with support needs to live independently; and
(ii) provides accommodation that has been designated as being available only to individuals within an identified group with specific support needs.

Point 2.40 – For the purposes of this definition, ‘support’ includes:

  • sheltered accommodation
  • extra care housing
  • domestic violence refuges
  • hostels for the homeless
  • support for people with drug or alcohol problems
  • support for people with mental health problems
  • support for people with learning disabilities
  • support for people with disabilities
  • support for offenders and people at risk of offending
  • support for young people leaving care
  • support for teenage parents
  • support for refugees
  • The actual rent caps per bedroom size have also been published for 2023-24 (para 11 of the Policy Statement).
    • The 23-24 levels reflect an increase of CPI + 1.5% (11.6%) on the 2022-23 levels.

If your charity is unregistered i.e., not registered with the Regulator of Social Housing as a Registered Social Landlord, trustees have the scope to set the WMC at an appropriate level.

Guidance on setting a WMC can be found here.

posted 20 December 22