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People are losing their lives and neighbourhoods are being permanently harmed because of continued delays in enforcing new legislation intended to regulate supported housing in England.
More than two years have passed since the Supported Housing Act—introduced as a private member’s bill by Conservative MP Bob Blackman and covering England and Wales—received royal assent. However, it has still not come into force due to delays in drafting and approving the necessary regulations.
The legislation was created to address serious abuses in so-called “exempt” supported housing, where dishonest landlords exploit housing benefit payments while offering poor-quality accommodation and minimal or no support to vulnerable residents.
Supported housing is commonly used for people leaving prison, individuals struggling with addiction, survivors of domestic abuse, and those with mental health conditions who need assistance to live independently.
Although the government launched a consultation on new regulations in February as part of the act, it has yet to publish the outcome. Campaigners fear that without swift action, it could take years before the law is fully implemented.
Bob Blackman said he was increasingly frustrated by the prolonged delays, warning that the issue had been allowed to stagnate. He said local authorities were being forced to act independently in the absence of national leadership, while rogue landlords continued to profit and expand their operations.
Blackman urged the government to accelerate implementation of the act, which would establish minimum standards, introduce licensing systems, and create a national expert advisory panel to oversee the sector.
Jasmine Basran, head of policy and campaigns at homelessness charity Crisis, said the organisation had encountered disturbing accounts from exempt accommodation, including severe infestations, overcrowded facilities, and residents being bullied or threatened when raising concerns.
She described the passing of the act as a significant victory and noted that some unscrupulous providers had already exited the sector. However, she warned that because the law’s powers were not yet in force, vulnerable people remained exposed to exploitation.
A major concern is that rogue operators are housing highly vulnerable individuals together in shared properties, which can worsen addiction and mental health issues, increase violence and antisocial behaviour, and place added pressure on emergency services.
Certain residential areas—particularly in Birmingham, which has around 30,000 exempt accommodation places—have been heavily affected. Landlords have converted family homes into large house-shares to benefit from higher housing benefit rates, disrupting local communities.
Gill Taylor, who leads the Dying Homeless Project at the Museum of Homelessness, said there were serious fears that people were dying in unsafe exempt accommodation while legislative delays continued.
The project identified 36 deaths in exempt accommodation across 10 local authorities in 2024 alone. However, because most councils do not track such data, the true number is believed to be far higher.
Taylor said many deaths were occurring out of public sight, with limited information available about the circumstances or whether inadequate support or poor housing conditions contributed.
She stressed the urgent need for comprehensive data collection on exempt accommodation, including the number of properties and the individuals living in them. According to Taylor, councils currently lack the tools needed to understand what is happening, where, and to whom.
While some local authorities have introduced their own measures to curb the expansion of exempt accommodation, campaigners argue these efforts fall short of tackling the worst providers.
In Birmingham, five major providers dominate the market, all of which have been labelled “non-compliant” by the Regulator of Social Housing.
Administrators handling the collapse of one provider, Midland Livings CIC, reported that security guards had been hired to protect residents following serious incidents. Allegations included intimidation of tenants, unlawful entry, theft of household items, and misuse of funds, causing severe distress among vulnerable residents.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government acknowledged the broader housing crisis, citing decades of underinvestment in affordable and secure homes. They said the government’s National Plan to End Homelessness, along with an additional £124 million announced last week for supported housing, aimed to address these challenges.
The spokesperson confirmed that the Supported Housing Act remains a government priority and said implementation would begin next month, with new measures designed to ensure proper support for residents and better oversight of provider practices.
