Vulnerable people still living in unsafe supported housing in England two years after law was passed

1 day ago

People are dying in unsafe accommodation and communities are being irreversibly damaged due to delays to a new law to clamp down on unregulated supported housing in England.It has been more than two years since the Supported Housing Act, a private member’s bill brought by the Conservative MP Bob Blackman, that applies to England and Wales, was given royal assent but it has yet to be implemented due to delays in creating the regulations.It was designed to tackle the scandal of “exempt” supported accommodation, in which unscrupulous landlords are making millions of pounds via housing benefit, providing poor-quality homes for vulnerable people, often providing little or no support.Supported accommodation is typically used to house people who have recently been released from prison, people with substance abuse issues, people fleeing domestic violence or people with mental health problems who require support to live independently.The government launched a consultation on new regulations for the sector in February as part of the act but has yet to publish its response, and campaigners fear it could be years before the law becomes a reality.

“I’m getting increasingly anxious and angry that we’re in a position where this has been allowed to drift for two years now,” said Blackman,“It has been left in limbo and local authorities are doing their own thing,“It’s a real problem because we’re not getting the right sort of impetus from the government, and as a result, I’m pretty certain those rogue landlords are just making money hand over fist and increasing the number of properties they’re involved in,”He urged the government to move quicker to implement the act, which would introduce minimum standards, licensing schemes and a national expert advisory panel to monitor the sector,Jasmine Basran, the head of policy and campaigns at Crisis, said the charity had heard “horror stories” about exempt accommodation, including “rooms infested with mice and mould, people having to share a washing machine with 70 others, and people facing abuse and intimidation when trying to speak up”.

She said the passing of the act was a “huge win” and some rogue providers had left the sector as a result, but as the powers were yet to take effect, “people in vulnerable situations were still at risk of exploitation”.The main concern with the sector is that rogue providers are placing very vulnerable people in shared homes, which can exacerbate addiction issues and mental health problems, create violence and antisocial behaviour, and place strain on emergency services.Meanwhile, some residential areas, particularly in Birmingham, which has about 30,000 exempt accommodation places, have become overrun by landlords converting family homes into eight- and nine-bed house-shares in order to capitalise on the higher rates of housing benefit it brings.Gill Taylor leads the Dying Homeless Project at the Museum of Homelessness and said there was real concern that people were dying in poor-quality exempt accommodation while delays with the legislation drag on.In its latest research, it was told about 36 deaths in exempt accommodation in 2024 across 10 local authorities, but as the vast majority of councils do not collect this data, it fears the total figure could be much higher.

“People are dying and people are suffering when they’re not dying, and nobody knows about it,” Taylor said.“Even with the data that we do have, it’s quite patchy in terms of what we can really say about those people.They are dying really hidden, in potentially quite serious situations, and it’s very unclear whether or not they were getting the support they deserved, or whether being in that accommodation was a factor in their deaths.”She said there was an urgent need to start collecting more data on how many exempt accommodation properties there were, and who was living in them.“It’s not that local authorities don’t care about this issue, it’s that at the moment they simply have no way of knowing what’s going on, to who, and where,” she said.

Some councils have started implementing their own measures to try to temper the growth of exempt accommodation, but campaigners said this does not do enough to clamp down on rogue providers.The market in Birmingham is dominated by five large providers, all of which have been deemed as “non-compliant” by the Regulator of Social Housing.A report by administrators overseeing one recently bankrupt provider, Midland Livings CIC, said it had employed security guards to protects residents after a number of serious incidents.These included people associated with the company allegedly using “threatening behaviour and intimidation tactics to pressure residents into signing leases with other companies and to vacate premises at short notice, causing considerable distress to vulnerable tenants”, as well as unlawful entry to homes, theft of white goods and diverting funds.A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “The failure to build enough safe and affordable homes has meant rising homelessness, unaffordable rents, and increased housing insecurity for millions of people across the country.

“That’s why we have set out our National Plan to End Homelessness, and just last week announced an additional £124m to help people in supported housing.“The Supported Housing Act is a priority for the government and implementation will begin next month – giving people the support they need and ensuring that providers consider the mix of people in their properties.” The caption to the picture accompanying this article was amended on 28 December 2025 to correct a date error: the Supported Housing Act was passed in 2023, not 2013 as an earlier version said.

politicsSee all

Outdated furniture fire safety rules putting people at risk, MP warns

The UK is still using extremely outdated furniture fire safety rules, putting people at risk from toxic materials, an MP has warned.Bob Blackman, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on fire safety, said the government has failed to update rules that date back to 1988, leaving millions of households exposed to materials that exacerbate the release of dangerous fumes when they burn.“We have been lobbying ministers for years, yet there is still no clear plan to modernise these standards,” Blackman said.A number of chemical groups are used in upholstered furniture – mostly as flame retardants applied to foams, fabrics and backing materials to help furniture meet the UK’s stringent ignition tests. Many of these substances have been linked to toxicity, persistence in the environment and health concerns, with the use of several restricted over time

3 days ago

Farage criticised for £400,000 job promoting physical gold as pension investment

Nigel Farage has been criticised over his £400,000-a-year second job promoting the idea that people should buy physical gold and put it into their pension pots.Farage is paid more than four times his MPs’ salary for the four-hour-a-month job at Direct Bullion, where he has featured in Facebook and YouTube videos.These include reels where Farage explains “how you can protect and grow your wealth with tax-efficient gold” by putting it into self-invested personal pensions.However, not all of the Reform UK leader’s videos include disclaimers that the value of gold can go down as well as up, or that his comments should not be considered investment advice. He also does not mention storage costs or flag that gold does not bring in a regular income in interest or dividends

5 days ago

UK politics: Government says it is ‘fully committed to free speech’ after campaigners’ US visa ban – as it happened

Good morning. Christmas is the time of peace on earth and goodwill towards all men. But there is not much sign of that in US/UK relations this morning, where the Trump administration has just sanctioned two Britons, among others, for supposedly trying to suppress free speech in the US, and that has led to the Lib Dem leader Ed Davey engaging in a Twitter spat with a senior figure in the US state department.Let’s start with the sanctions. Yesterday Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, issued this statement saying:The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose

5 days ago

Welsh first minister vows to keep Labour ‘most successful democratic party on the planet’

The first minister of Wales has said she is determined for Welsh Labour not to lose its crown as the world’s most successful democratic party, despite warnings it could be relegated to third place in May’s elections.Polls suggest Reform UK and Plaid Cymru could win more seats than Eluned Morgan’s party in the Seneddelections next year, ending 100 years of dominance for Labour in Wales.Morgan said: “Of course I feel the pressure but I’m also determined to turn this round. We’re the most successful democratic political party on the planet. It’s a long winning streak

5 days ago

U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers ‘snuck out’ to avoid scrutiny, say Tories

Ministers “snuck out” the announcement that they had decided to U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers, the Conservatives have said after the government revealed the move in a press release two days before Christmas.The shadow environment secretary, Victoria Atkins, accused the government of trying to dodge scrutiny of its latest policy reversal, under which the threshold for taxing inherited farmland will rise from a planned £1m to £2.5m.The move was announced on Tuesday in a press release from the environment department after months of pressure from farmers, campaigners and some Labour MPs.Atkins told Sky News on Wednesday morning: “This being snuck out the day before Christmas Eve means that, of course, we haven’t had chance to scrutinise this properly in parliament

5 days ago

Keir Starmer encourages Britons to ‘reach out’ to others this Christmas

Keir Starmer has called on Britons to show kindness to struggling friends or family this Christmas, saying being in touch with those in need can make a big difference.Starmer, whose brother died last Boxing Day, said people should channel the spirit of the many volunteers and public sector workers who are on duty this Christmas by resolving to get back in touch with those who might find the time of year difficult.“Some truly special people will be pulling on their uniforms and heading out to work,” he said. “Many volunteers will be out there as well. Serving food

6 days ago

businessSee all