The Week in Housing: first tenant satisfaction measures results revealed, and sector lobbies hard ahead of Budget

Good afternoon.

The week started with the results of the first year of tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs) based on a survey of more than 200 councils and housing associations.

TSMs are standardised sets of questions that were introduced in the overhaul of consumer regulation in England last year, and reporting for the first time this year, which the government has said it will use to “understand how well landlords are doing”.

Inside Housing’s work looked at the methods individual landlords have been using to collect the data, because the regulator did not specify the methods that should be used, and researchers have consistently said that different collection methods – such as online or in-person – have the potential to significantly impact the final scores.

The new research enables people to see the different collection methods used by the 203 landlords, along with their initial scores in three key areas.

Elsewhere, the week was dominated by the sector’s final lobbying push ahead of next week’s Budget.

The week started with reports that the Affordable Homes Programme is set to receive a £1bn top-up in the Budget.

But councils in particular outline the need for urgent help. On Tuesday we reported on councils’ plea for help to chancellor Rachel Reeves as one in four say they expect to ask the government for a bail-out.

On Thursday we reported that London boroughs’ spending on temporary accommodation has hit £4m a day. The Local Government Association also warned that if the government’s only action was to confirm a 10-year rent settlement, that would still leave councils with a £7bn funding shortfall.

In the North of England, landlords have asked for more brownfield funding and a grant top-up ahead of the Budget.

In Wales, a report from the Bevan Foundation found that one in every 215 Welsh households is now living in temporary accommodation.

And in Scotland, Wheatley Group has called for an “urgent change” over the two-child benefit cap, warning that it is pushing “many families deeper into poverty”. Steven Henderson, chief executive of Wheatley, who made a personal choice to take a 60% pay cut this year, called for a more “compassionate and supportive welfare system”. Read our interview from last year with Mr Henderson here.

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