Jonathan Walters, chief executive of the Regulator of Social Housing, said accountability is central to delivering more and better social homes, in a speech at the Housing Community Summit in Liverpool on 9 September 2026, according to the regulator’s press release.

Walters said the sector faces greater uncertainty and real pressures, with investment in existing homes important but costly. He said more than two thirds of landlords now have a V2 viability grading, with difficulties more acute in London and other large cities where fire safety remediation costs are higher. He noted that landlords have delivered 50,000 homes year in year out — half a million over the last 10 years — and asked how that can continue as the economic environment changes.

He pointed to the regulator’s More and better social homes discussion document, which sets out the need for greater innovation and change in the sector and how it is regulated. Walters said the question is about accountability rather than control, that boards must make difficult decisions and be answerable for them, and that the sector should better explain its decisions. Being a registered provider carries significant responsibilities, he said, and the regulator’s job is to hold providers accountable for delivering good services to tenants, building new homes and delivering for local communities.