The Regulator of Social Housing publishes viability judgements one landlord at a time and states that its first year of programmed inspections is too early to draw trends from, so no sector-wide distribution of V1 to V4 grades exists1. V1 to V4 is the regulator's four-point scale for a social landlord's financial viability, V1 being strongest. Housing associations own and manage most social housing in England and borrow heavily against it, so the absence of an aggregate picture leaves a large stock of debt without a published health check.
The absence is the finding here, and this register will carry it as an absence. We do not have a distribution, we will not construct one from individual judgements, and any table you see elsewhere purporting to show the sector's viability spread in 2026 should be checked against what the regulator actually publishes.
The individual judgements show two tracks moving separately. Sanctuary Housing Association and Railway Housing Association and Benefit Fund both had their consumer grade raised to C1 in the 27 May 2026 round, while their viability grade (V2) and governance grade (G1) stayed exactly where they were2. London Borough of Islington was given C3 for serious failings found on inspection. Consumer standards cover repairs, complaint handling and tenant safety, and they became inspectable only in April 2024, so this round is establishing a baseline rather than detecting change. Viability grades move on audited accounts and stress-testing returns on a slower annual cycle. Some of the apparent decoupling is therefore a difference in measurement frequency, not in condition. The part that is not: fixing damp, mould and repairs backlogs costs money, and that cost eventually arrives on the same balance sheet the V grade measures.
