The NHC team have been at conferences talking about key issues for housing in the North.

NHC Executive Director (Policy & External Relations) Patrick Murray was on the panel for two workshops at the ‘Securing the future of Council Housing’ event in Leeds. Patrick was part of a session called ‘Regeneration that works for everyone’ alongside Leader of Sheffield City Council Councillor Tom Hunt, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at the Housing Forum Anna Clark, and Lara Joyce from the Gleadless Valley Tenants and Residents Association.

Patrick shared details about Renew, our inquiry into housing-led regeneration’s role in delivering growth, tackling the housing crisis, and strengthening communities across the North. He also facilitated discussions with delegates to get insight on key issues including delivery of regeneration in the current policy environment and resident voice and engagement, which will be fed into the inquiry.

Head of Housing Partnerships Satty Rai and Senior Engagement Manager (Devolution and Place Lead) Liam Gregson spoke at the CIH Northern Housing Festival. Satty spoke as part of the keynote session ‘Devolution: Local Powers, Local Solutions’. She used her experience of working with housing partnerships across the North to reflect on the opportunity devolution presents to design housing solutions that meet local needs. Liam was part of a panel on ‘Making Regeneration Work in the North’ sharing the latest news about Renew, and how the inquiry aims to support community-led regeneration which drives economic growth.

The Government’s latest announcements under the Northern Growth Strategy reinforce a major shift towards locally led regeneration, placing substantial decision making power, and significant new investment, into the hands of Mayoral Strategic Authorities across the North.

The strategy frames the North as central to driving national economic growth, noting that stronger northern productivity could add tens of billions annually to the economy. It identifies the Northern Growth Corridor as the backbone of this renewed approach, with Government committing to a long-term partnership with northern leaders to unlock stalled development and accelerate regeneration.

A key element of that commitment is the £1.7 billion allocated directly to Mayors in the largest northern city regions, giving them the resources and tools to overcome barriers that have historically slowed regeneration on urban brownfield sites. This investment is designed to speed up delivery of new homes, support dense city centre development, and unlock major projects in places such as Leeds South Bank, Liverpool Central, Manchester’s Victoria North, Newcastle and Gateshead Quays, and Sheffield City Centre and Innovation Spine. The Government describes this as a decisive effort to give local leaders long-term certainty, attract private investment, and create new housing and job opportunities for the nine million people living across the Northern Growth Corridor.

This direction aligns with the wider approach set out in the Northern Growth Strategy, which emphasises that strategic authorities are best positioned to design and deliver place-specific regeneration. By devolving substantial funding for densification, infrastructure, and urban renewal, it expects local leaders to drive solutions that align with the local land market, economic strengths and community priorities, ensuring regeneration is more effective and more responsive than in the past.

The latest ‘Seven New Towns’ announcement further reinforces a commitment to boosting housing delivery at scale, including two significant proposals within the North: Leeds South Bank, expected to deliver up to 20,000 new homes, and Manchester Victoria North, planned to deliver at least 15,000 homes. One of the eleven original proposals that has since been removed was located in the North (Adlington in Cheshire).

The Government also confirmed the National Housing Bank will launch on 1 April, backed with up to £16 billion of financial capacity to help unlock large scale housing delivery.

Taken together, these developments could mark a significant moment for the North. With substantial new devolved funding, major housing expansions, and a long-term strategic partnership between Government and northern leaders, the building blocks are now in place for a generation of housing-led regeneration that strengthens communities and revitalises brownfield land.

Decency in social housing has barely improved since the pandemic, with around 430,000 homes failing the Decent Homes Standard (DHS), according to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee report published last Monday. Despite news reporting on the headline of stalled progress, the report itself acknowledges higher decency in social housing than private rented housing and outlines the systemic challenges for providers. The first challenge listed is maintaining some of the oldest stock in Europe. NHC estimates that across the North, where homes are disproportionately older and colder, there are 100,000 social homes that are nearing the end of their serviceable life.

While some homes can be refurbished, the committee raises concerns that meeting new regulatory requirements will limit sector investment in new homes, and that targets for new social housing will be missed. Warning that “a lot of social housing has reached, or is shortly approaching, the end of its intended lifespan”, the report flags the risk that disposals may increase. The Committee calls for an assessment of the cumulative impact of new regulatory requirements on the supply of social homes over the next decade, and also calls for a single housing quality framework, consolidating all social housing regulatory requirements, with a single pooled fund that can be used more flexibly.

NHC has shaped the committee’s findings through the Lessons from Last Time report on the last Decent Homes Programme, influencing the recommendations for a more holistic programme, housing partnerships and procurement consortia. The report also draws on the Fabian Society’s research ‘Home Comforts’ – developed with support from the NHC – which makes the case for a decade of dedicated estate regeneration funding.

The report makes recommendations on the implementation of DHS, MEES and Awaab’s Law. A recent NHC member briefing summarises the latest UK Government policy announcements on these regulatory changes last month. Over the past few years, the NHC has worked with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government as part of its Sounding Board, ensuring members views were heard at each stage. We also worked with members and submitted a response to the formal consultation on the updated Decent Homes Standard.

Some of the Select Committee report’s issues relate to NHC’s ongoing RENEW inquiry, which is currently calling for evidence to help communicate to political decision-makers the challenges of funding housing-led regeneration, as well as the benefits to local communities.

The government announced a series of major housing policy announcements, ending significant uncertainty around future regulatory requirements and rental income. These announcements include confirmation about how rent convergence will be implemented throughout the 2026 – 2036 rent policy period and the government’s response to major consultations on a new Decent Homes Standard and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards.

Read our full member briefing here. 

Rent convergence

On rent convergence, the government confirmed that convergence would be implemented  through a phased approach, but would landlords would not be able to implement convergence from April 2026. Instead, convergence will be permitted for the financial year beginning from April 2027 at £1 per week, before rising to £2 per week from 2028 and for the rest of the ten year rent period.

Convergence will also only be permitted to formula rent level, rather than the additional 5% (or 10% for supported housing) that providers are able to charge in some circumstances.

Decent Homes Standard

The government also published their response to the previous consultation on a new Decent Homes Standard, with some major changes to the proposals after sector feedback.

Following consultation, the government are not progressing with previous proposals to mandate floor coverings as part of the Decent Homes Standard, or extending the purview of the Standard to include elements of the wider public realm beyond the home.

The below table shows a summary of the requirements for each Criterion within the new Decent Homes Standard, which will apply to all rented homes, in both the private and social rented sectors, from 2035.

Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards

Finally, new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for the social rented sector, which will form a core part of Criterion E of the Decent Homes Standard, were also published.

The government had originally proposed that properties would need to align with two of three metrics, covering a building’s fabric, heating system and smart readiness, by 2030. This has been reduced in scope following consultation, so properties will now need to be compliant with one of the three metrics by 2030, and with two metrics by 2039. Providers will be able to apply for a “time-limited spend exemption” of ten years if they have incurred £10,000 of spend on an individual property’s energy efficiency upgrades and it still cannot be made compliant with the Standards.

There will also be an extended transition arrangement introduced, whereby all properties that achieve EPC C on the current system by 2030, will be considered compliant with MEES until their energy performance certificate needs renewing.

You can read the full details of the outcome of the MEES consultation here.

This comes on the back of the government publishing the Warm Homes Plan, laying out £15 billion worth of public investment to improve the energy efficiency of 5 million homes between now and 2030.

NHC members will receive a full detailed briefing on all of these announcements in the coming days. Welcoming the announcements, the Northern Housing Consortium’s Chief Executive, Tracy Harrison, said:

“Today’s package of announcements will give Northern social housing providers long term financial and regulatory certainty and is warmly welcomed by the NHC. It will help our members to deliver warm and safe homes across the North.

“The Government has listened to and responded to feedback from NHC members on the new Decent Homes Standard and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards. The new standards take on board consultation findings, and, as a result, are more practical to implement and will improve the quality of homes across the North. 

“The NHC and other sector bodies called for the introduction of rent convergence to unlock greater investment in new and existing homes. The rate the Government has put forward balances the need to invest in homes while ensuring rents remain affordable to residents. This, alongside today’s announcement that low interest loans will be available to northern housing associations, and the transformational £39bn ten-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme, will enable our members to build many more homes in the North.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with the Government to support NHC members to deliver the homes Northern communities need.”

Check out our member briefing that brings together the key takeaways from these announcements, highlighting what they mean for housing providers and professionals across the North of England.

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss any of these policy changes in more depth, please contact ​Tom Kennedy, Senior Policy and Research Manager.