Government launches the Social Housing Innovation Fund
30th October, 2025
The government has launched the Social Housing Innovation Fund which shall offer grants of up to £100,000 towards the cost of delivering initiatives that help enhance engagement between social housing landlords and tenants.
In this article John Murray and Alexander Rose look into how applicants can secure awards of grant from this new public funding programme.
Why has the Social Housing Innovation Fund been launched?
The government has launched a series of initiatives to improve the provision of social housing, including announcing plans to build 180,000 new social homes over the next decade.
This week has seen a new law come into force intended to protect social housing tenants from emergency hazards, including damp and mould. Awaab’s Law is named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died after being exposed to mould at his Rochdale home in December 2020.
The government recognises that “social housing tenants do not always feel as though they have meaningful opportunities to influence and scrutinise their landlord’s housing strategies, policies and services” and has therefore created the Social Housing Innovation Fund to “improve tenant engagement with landlords and strengthen resident voice on matters that affect their homes“.
What types of project can secure funding?
Grants of up to £100,000 will be made available on a competed basis towards the costs of delivering proposals which improve tenant engagement with landlords and strengthen resident’s voices on matters that affect their homes.
To secure funding a proposal must put forward an idea that contributes towards this objective, but is also new and adds value, as well as having been co-produced with tenants and offering the potential to be ‘scaled up’ more widely across the sector.
Who can apply for a grant from the Social Housing Innovation Fund?
Applications for a SHIF grant can be made by:
- registered providers of social housing;
- tenant management organisations;
- arm’s length management organisations; and
- groups representing the interests of social housing tenants
To secure funding, the applicant must be a:
- company limited by guarantee;
- community interest company;
- community benefit society;
- charitable incorporated organisation; or
- a Local authority.
A successful applicant will be expected to enter into a grant funding agreement containing conditions setting out how the grant is to be used and will need to comply with Subsidy Control law.
How to apply for a grant from the Social Housing Innovation Fund
Applications must be made by submitting the application form by the deadline of 9 January 2026. Grants are expected to be awarded in February 2026.
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