Licensing meant to stop supported housing providers charging high rents for poor accommodation and little support is still not running in England, more than three years after Parliament passed the law that allows it. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) told MPs in May that it was aiming for “winter 2026”. Its own draft regulations, published on 15 October, are titled the Supported Housing (Licensing) (England) Regulations 2027, with a start date left blank as “[date 2027]”.
Supported housing is for people who need help to live independently, including people leaving homelessness, survivors of domestic abuse, and people with disabilities or mental health conditions. Housing Benefit can cover higher rents in this kind of housing than the normal limits allow, because suitable housing with support can cost more to provide.
The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act, a private member’s bill introduced by the Conservative MP Bob Blackman, received Royal Assent on 29 June 2023. It gave ministers powers to create licensing and national standards, but it could not do anything until regulations were made.
On 24 January 2025, the Public Accounts Committee found that “MHCLG has made no progress in improving the oversight of the supported housing sector”. It added that “gaps in regulation mean landlords can provide costly, sub-standard housing with little support, supervision or care.” The committee told the department to implement the Act “as quickly as possible”. Angela Rayner was Housing Secretary at the time.
The department’s first consultation was launched by Rushanara Ali, an MHCLG minister, and Sir Stephen Timms, the social security minister at DWP. It closed on 15 May 2025. The government’s response came 11 months later, on 16 April 2026, while Steve Reed was Housing Secretary and Alison McGovern was a Minister of State at MHCLG. It confirmed licensing in every council area in England, with eligibility for higher Housing Benefit tied to holding a licence, and said the regime would start “from some time in 2027”.
A month later, on 19 May 2026, the MHCLG Permanent Secretary, Dame Sarah Healey, wrote to the Public Accounts Committee to say the department had “extended our target implementation date” to “winter 2026”.
The draft regulations published on 15 October are open for comment until 10 December, and must be approved by both Houses of Parliament. Even once they start, the offence of operating without a licence does not apply straight away. It begins nine months after the rules start, or three months after every council area has been designated, whichever comes first. When the Secretary of State designates an area, councils get at least six months’ notice. A provider whose licence application is waiting for a council decision has a defence against the offence. The impact assessment of the costs to providers will be published when the regulations are laid.
Licensing is only half of the change. The Housing Benefit rules belong to the Department for Work and Pensions, and the government response paused its proposed definitions of support and supervision.
On 16 October, Preet Kaur Gill, Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, tabled 11 written questions on supported housing in Birmingham. One asked MHCLG when the final regulations would be laid. Another asked DWP when the definitions of care, support and supervision would change. Both were due for answer on 20 October. By 22 October, neither had been answered.
The case for oversight was tested before the Act passed. From October 2020 to September 2021, the government gave £5.4 million to five councils (Birmingham, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bristol and Hull) to pilot closer scrutiny. The independent evaluation published in April 2022 found improvements in accommodation and support. The councils estimated they had prevented £6.2 million in wrong Housing Benefit payments. That was the councils’ own figure, and the evaluation said it was not “a consistent economic analysis of value for money”. Councils also reported that the pilots gave them more resources but no new powers.
Rayner returned as Housing Secretary on 20 July 2026, and Florence Eshalomi became Minister of State at MHCLG the next day. They now hold the programme that missed its earlier dates under Reed. The department has not said when the regulations will be laid, and its two published timetables, winter 2026 and 2027, do not agree.