Social Rented Housing: Innovation
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the guidance entitled Social Housing Innovation Fund: prospectus, published on 27 October 2025, whether recipients can bid for funds for translation into foreign languages.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
The new £1m Social Housing Innovation Fund will support innovative projects that enhance tenants’ engagement with their landlord and strengthen their influence within the social housing sector.
The Fund’s prospectus, which can be found on gov.uk here, makes clear that consideration will be given to projects which ensure tenants who are currently underrepresented in engagement and scrutiny activities, in particular those with protected characteristics, are better supported to take part and their views and needs are heard and acted upon. It is not prescriptive about the types of projects that will or will not be funded.
The fund is open to applications from social landlords, arms-length management organisations (ALMOs), tenant management organisations (TMOs), and tenant representative organisations. Projects must be co-designed with tenants, scalable across the sector, and capable of generating measurable impact and learning. Projects must also introduce new or significantly improved approaches, technologies, or partnerships to the sector, challenge conventional practices and respond creatively to tenant needs.
A robust process will be established for awarding funding, supported by an independent scrutiny panel consisting of social housing residents and sector experts. This will ensure resident and sector voices are central to decision-making. The bidding window is open until 9 January 2026.
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