New TSA Tenant Insight Toolkit

The TSA has published a toolkit for social housing providers which explains how to develop effective insight and translate it into positive benefits - for residents and landlords. The toolkit, which was developed by HouseMark and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), is aimed at all registered providers of social housing, large and small, whether just getting started or more developed in their approach to profiling and insight. It focuses on a number of building blocks including:
• creating the right culture
• setting insight objectives
• reviewing and collecting information
• using the insight to take action
Download the toolkit from the TSA website by clicking on the logo below.

Labour Attacks Tenure Reform Plans

Labour MPs have attacked government plans to review lifetime tenancies in a motion to be debated at the party’s annual conference. The motion criticises the coalition’s ‘destructive housing policies’ on housing benefit, investment in affordable housing and closing housing quangos. It says the plans to reform tenure, first announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in August, were ‘in neither Tory nor Liberal manifestos and was denied by Cameron during the election, who accused Labour of “scaremongering”’. It accuses the coalition of enacting ‘a betrayal of everything the Liberal Democrats have said about security of tenure in the past’. The motion also criticises the government’s decision to close the Tenant Services Authority and the National Tenant Voice. It has also emerged that the Labour Housing Group is conducting a review of the party’s housing policy in preparation for the next general election. Read more on Inside Housing.

Shapps Speech to the National Housing Federation Conference

Grant Shapps recently gave a speech at the NHF Annual Conference. Highlights include;
*I can't give any detail, but its no secret that there will be cuts to the housing budget. To address the deficit housing must take its share of the burden.
*I think that anyone who receives public money, including arms length bodies, needs to be transparent and embrace a new spirit of openness.
*Of course the public also want to know you are providing a great service with their money.
* We do need effective economic regulation to make sure we get the maximum punch from the taxpayer's pound. I have made it clear that our review of the TSA will deliver this outcome.
*I've also made no secret of my view that we don't need a Quango, which spent £40 million pounds in its first year, just to work out that tenants would like their repairs done quickly!
*Inspections are of limited value if all they amount to is little more than a box ticking exercise
*If tenants are unhappy with the service they get, it should be dealt with quickly by their landlord. If it isn't fixed, they should be able to go to a tenant panel, their councillors or MP. If they don't get any joy, then the complaint could be referred to an ombudsman. It should be as simple as that - a local solution to a local problem.
*I will be sharing my conclusions from the review of TSA shortly, and the outcome will reflect the coalition government's commitment to localism.
*The Localism Bill which will be introduced later this year will pass an unprecedented amount of power to locals.
*Out with top down controls, and in with incentives through the New Homes Bonus
*I want the HCA to hand more of its power and control away to local communities.
*We will be introducing the Community Right to Build scheme with a threshold of 75% local backing in a referendum, not the 90% we first proposed.
Read the full text of the speech at the CLG website by clicking on the logo below.

Right to Buy Voted 'Biggest Reform' In Last 60 Years

The right for council tenants to buy their homes has been voted the biggest social housing reform in the last 60 years by 24housing and 24Dash readers. Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy policy took more than 40% of the votes ahead of the Decent Homes programme (12%) and Nye Bevan’s 1949 Housing Act (9%). The events were chosen by a panel of nine housing experts including former housing minister Nick Raynsford and TSA chief Peter Marsh. Last December, the expert panel voted Nye Bevan’s Housing Act 1949 as the most significant reform ahead of the 1988 Housing Act and the 1980 Right to Buy. Read more on the 24dash website.

Benefit Cuts Branded ‘Social Cleansing’

A Labour MP has warned cuts to housing benefit will result in ‘social cleansing’ across the country. Speaking at a fringe event at the Labour Party conference, Mary Creagh, MP for Wakefield, said the caps to local housing allowance, and the move to basing rents on the 30th percentile rather than the median of rents in an area, would force low-income families into unpopular areas with no jobs. Ms Creagh also warned cutting rents would create a public health problem as tenants would only be able to afford overcrowded and poor-quality accommodation. Read more on Inside Housing.

Empty Homes Free Workshop

Numbers of empty homes are increasing again. In England the total now exceeds 750,000. With greater housing demands and record housing needs there has never been more interest in how councils can help turn empty property into homes. The government has signalled its intention to act with a commitment in the coalition agreement “Our programme for Government". In order to help local authorities, the Homes and Communities Agency, in conjunction with the Chartered Institute of Housing and the charity Empty Homes is launching a skills and learning programme to assist local authorities develop their approach to empty homes. Presented by one of the countries most respected and experienced practitioners. These free workshops are offered to local authorities as part of that programme. Whether empty homes is an issue your local authority has never tackled before, or whether you are looking to improve your approach these practical workshops will prove invaluable. Dates for the programme and venues can be found on the CIH website by clicking on the logo below.

EHRC Welcomes Ruling On Rights of Social Housing Tenants

Many social housing tenants could now be afforded greater protection from eviction under human rights law after a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights confirmed that courts should take the personal circumstances of tenants - in particular vulnerable groups - into account. The Equality and Human Rights Commission argued that where a social landlord has a right to possession of a property, there is nevertheless an obligation to consider whether an eviction is proportionate to the landlord’s desire to use the property in whatever way they see fit. This, the Commission argued, was particularly the case where tenants may be vulnerable due to mental health problems, physical or learning disabilities, poor health or frailty.
The case arose out of the eviction of eight tenants from the properties they leased. The landlord terminated their leases. Domestic proceedings to overturn the evictions were unsuccessful. The tenants then appealed to the ECHR, arguing that they were secure tenants under the Housing Act 1985 and so their leases could not be terminated. They also argued that orders for possession against them would breach the right to respect for their homes under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court agreed. Read more details of this case on the EHRC website by clicking on the logo below.

Being Ever Ready ... Your Springboard to Improvement 11 October 2010

An important expectation of regulators and the Government's Big Society and Localism agenda is landlord accountability for deeper scrutiny and challenge by your tenants. HouseMark is offering a one day workshop to help develop your organisation’s self awareness around performance. This will ensure that you are ready for either a short notice or full inspection and can show the necessary accountability. The workshop will provide:
*an understanding of the inspection regime
*an insight into how people, systems and procedures can be organised to achieve a state of readiness for inspection
*examples of how customer feedback and scrutiny is contributing to continuous service and performance improvement
*guidance on how to show an effective track record of actions leading to improvements
*ideas of how to ensure staff, systems and tenants are ready for inspection by being aware of performance and improvement plans
*advice and examples of how benchmarking information can be used to demonstrate self awareness and promote improvement
Find more details and a booking form on the HouseMark website by clicking on the logo below.

Grant Shapps: Communities Should Prepare For Their Right to Build

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has announced that local rural housing projects that secure the support of 75 per cent of voters will get the go-ahead without the need for a specific application for planning permission. This is the next step in bringing forward a Community Right to Build, which will move power from Whitehall to residents to give the green light to new developments that have overwhelming local support and meet minimum planning criteria. The Minister today urged rural communities to work together to prepare for this new Right to Build, and examine how it can be used to deliver the homes their areas need. The Government had initially proposed a higher 90 per cent threshold for local Right to Build approval, but it was soon clear that there was a strong preference for a lower threshold across the board. Read more on the CLG website.

Pickles Faces Legal Challenge Over Revocation of Regional Strategies

Proceedings have been issued in the High Court to challenge the decision of the Secretary of State to refuse planning permission for a residential development in Bude. The challenge concerns a mixed use scheme to secure 400 homes (of which 30% were affordable units) on a greenfield site in North Cornwall, which was recommended for approval by the Inspector at appeal. However, the Secretary of State rejected the findings of the Inspector in reliance upon his recent decision to revoke regional strategies. The builders contend that the Secretary of State has acted unlawfully by failing to notify them of this departure from the Inspector’s recommendations and by not providing the opportunity to present evidence at a re-opened Inquiry. They also claim that the Secretary of State’s approach was procedurally unfair and failed to take account of his own policy guidance. Read more on 24dash.

Lib Dems to Overhaul Housing Policy

The Liberal Democrats have launched a review of their housing policy led by senior figures within the party. Deputy leader Simon Hughes and Richard Kemp, leader of the Local Government Association group, are starting work on a detailed overhaul of Lib Dem housing policies. The party, which has recently been rocked by disagreements over security of tenure and cuts to housing benefit, is looking to update a policy last formally written in 2007.
Tenure reform will be one of the issues up for discussion and the group will also make a submission to the CLG’s consultation on tenure. Members of the CLG’s backbench committee and the LGA will also work on the review, which is due to report back in January. Read more on Inside Housing.

HMO: Record Fine for Unlicensed Landlord

A private sector landlord has been fined £2,000, plus £750 costs for managing a ‘house of multiple occupation’ without a licence and in breach of fire regulations. These included poorly protected escape routes and an inadequate fire alarm system. During an inspection of the premises, fire safety officers discovered five tenants living above - which requires a HMO licence. Read the full story on the 24dash website.

Voters to Decide On Lifetime Tenancies

Security of tenure could become a political football in every local authority area, under proposals being drawn up by the coalition government. A consultation on plans to reform tenancies for future social tenants is due to be published in the next few weeks. Junior housing minister Andrew Stunell has suggested that the plans would see parties offer different tenancy solutions as part of local election campaigns. He said the reforms could become ‘a point of political competition for local authorities, where one group might say “we are going to keep tenancy for life”, and another might say “we want to drive down waiting lists”.’ The consultation will propose giving councils discretion over whether to scrap tenancy for life and offer fixed-term tenancies. Read more on Inside Housing.

ASB Reform Must Involve Social Landlords

Future reforms to tackle anti-social behaviour must take into account the experiences and evidence of social landlords and not just the police, the Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group (SLCNG) has said. In response to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary’s (HMIC) report ‘Stop the rot’, it said the HMIC must not be taken as representing the totality of the evidence and intelligence that informs how best to tackle anti-social behaviour. The SLCNG says it support's the study's core recommendations that the police and agencies charged with tackling antisocial behaviour should focus more clearly on the harm caused (or threatened) and the needs of victims. Read more on the 24dash website.

ALMO Asks Customers to Challenge Service

Berneslai Homes have sent out their annual report to all tenants and residents, setting out how the company has performed over 2009/10 and how they plan to improve services this year. It also details how the company has involved its customers in meeting the national standards set by the Tenant Services Authority. The company has met with customers to agree a range of “offers” to its customers about how they will deliver services. One of the fundamental improvements promised for this year is that Barnsley Federation of Tenants and Residents is setting up independent ‘Berneslai Challenge Panels’ so tenants and residents across Barnsley check that Berneslai Homes are delivering against these offers and if not they have powers to challenge their landlord. The panels, made up entirely of customers, will meet twice a year and will look in detail at the way the company delivers its repairs and maintenance services, its tenancy and estate management service, how it involves and empowers its customers and how it ensures value for money. Read more on the NFA website.

Shapps: Stop Hindering Help for the Homeless with Bureaucracy

Speaking on a visit to St Basil's, the national Registered Social Landlord Centre of Excellence in the prevention of youth homelessness and one of the largest agencies in the country, Grant Shapps "When the people who run one of the top agencies in the country for preventing youth homelessness say the current system to manage them is a burden, it's time to listen. "Let's make no mistake - it's vital that these centres are well run. But rather than civil servants in Whitehall inventing new bureaucratic hoops to jump through, why don't we listen to the experts on the ground. So in future there will be more trust and less bureaucracy, and a much more sensible and systematic way to maintain standards." Read more on the CLG website.

Government Shies Away From 2012 Rough Sleeping Pledge

Charities have demanded clarity from the government after it repeatedly refused to back a target to end rough sleeping in England by 2012. The last government pledged in 2008 to end rough sleeping with its ‘No one left out’ strategy. Current housing minister Grant Shapps has regularly spoken about his desire to end the problem. But in recent weeks the CLG and Mr Shapps have refused to confirm their support for the target. The last CLG figures estimated there are 1,247 rough sleepers in England. A spokesperson for the CLG said the government was committed to backing London mayor Boris Johnson’s commitment to stop rough sleeping in the capital by 2012 - but refused to back the England-wide target. Read more on Inside Housing.

Council in Empty Homes Strategy

A new housing strategy has been approved in Cornwall to use and repair empty houses in the county. The Empty Property Strategy will aim to bring 3,597 empty properties in Cornwall back into use. Cornwall Council said there are currently 18,931 families on the housing waiting list. The council said a loan system would also be introduced to help landlords and empty property owners bring the properties up to the standard required. The council said that using existing properties would reduce the need to build new homes as well as sustain communities. It also plans to provide interest free loans of up to £20,000 to "make decent" empty properties by carrying out essential repairs and installing basic amenities. The council aims to bring 50 empty homes back into use by March 2011, with a further 300 by 2013. Read more on the BBC website.

Right to Buy Sales Continue To Slump

Right to buy (RTB) sales have dropped by a fifth according to the latest government statistics. Figures published by CLG show there were only 3,090 RTB sales in the 2009/10 financial year, down from 3,870 the previous year. Local authority RTB sales fell from 2,880 to 2,290, removing £50 million from councils’ capital receipts. The average receipt per property also fell from £76,850 to £74,610. The latest drop is part of trend of falling RTB sales in recent years. Total social housing sales, including sales by housing associations under RTB, preserved RTB and social homebuy schemes, increased by 800 to 8,510. Download a copy of the report, “Social Housing Sales to Sitting Tenants 2009-10” from the CLG website.

Shapps Launches Fresh Attack on Pay

Housing minister Grant Shapps is to use a speech at the National Housing Federation conference to attack housing association chief executive pay. He told the Guardian that housing organisations need to focus on cutting the salaries of senior staff as well as publishing expenses over £500. "At least 10 chief executives [of housing associations] are paid more than the prime minister. These are charities. Their tenants may wonder why they are paying rents to support directors on enormous salaries. Just as we've taken pay cuts as ministers and published expenses, they need to," he says. Read the rest of this interview on the Guardian website by clicking on the logo below.

DWP Concerned By Tenure Reform Plans

The Department for Work and Pensions is unhappy about government plans to reform security of tenure and to cut housing benefit, a minister has revealed. Pensions minister Steve Webb, Liberal Democrat MP for Northavon, told a meeting on welfare reform at his party’s annual conference that scrapping lifetime tenancies for social tenants would not help people get back into work. He also criticised Treasury plans announced in June’s emergency Budget to dock housing benefit by 10 per cent for those who have been receiving jobseeker’s allowance for more than a year. He said: ‘[Removing security of tenure] would make the problem worse. I would be very concerned if they did that.’ Read more on Inside Housing.

Can Social Housing Providers Benefit From TIF?

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced at the Liberal Democrat party conference new measures to allow local authorities to raise finance to push forward regeneration schemes. Known as Tax Incremental Finance, or TIF, it will allow local authorities to borrow money to fund specific regeneration or infrastructure schemes, with the loan secured against anticipated increases in business rates. In simple terms, it enables a local authority to trade anticipated future tax income for a present benefit. TIF schemes offer real potential for social housing providers. Firstly, the money borrowed by local authorities is likely to be used to fund a mix of developments, including social housing. Providers will undoubtedly be able to bid for parts of these funds. More interestingly, social housing providers will themselves be able to propose schemes. Providers with funding will have the potential to unlock greater capital from local authorities through TIF schemes. Read more on 24dash.

Harman Opposes HMO Rule Changes

The acting leader of the Labour Party has put forward a motion in Parliament calling for the reversal of changes to the licensing of houses in multiple occupation. Harriet Harman has submitted an early day motion opposing plans that would allow landlords to change the status of a dwelling to a house in multiple occupation without planning permission. The regulation was submitted by housing minister Grant Shapps earlier this month, and would remove rules put in place by the Labour government in April this year. Read more on Inside Housing.

Decent Homes Plus Could Cut Building

Creating a new decent homes standard that includes energy efficiency may jeopardise the number of new social homes that are built, a minister has warned. Andrew Stunell, a junior minister at the CLG, told a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat conference that he had commissioned research about the effect of a ‘decent homes plus’ standard on landlords’ capacity to build new homes. He said: ‘A decent home is not about having a kitchen and a bathroom: it’s about having a bill that you can pay. If we do decide that any future route for decent homes will be different to the route that we have got now, it will be about improving the performance of houses.’ But Mr Stunell also said he was concerned that it ‘might not be politically acceptable’ to demand that housing providers spend more money on their existing stock than on building more homes. Read more on Inside Housing.

Functions of ALMOS – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lisa Nandy MP: What plans does the Department have to retain ALMOs with their existing functions?
Grant Shapps MP: It is for councils to decide locally in consultation with their tenants on the housing management functions that are delegated to their ALMOs.

Nine In 10 Landlords Fear Benefit Cuts

More than 90 per cent of private landlords have said they would be less likely to take on tenants who are claiming housing benefit if proposed cuts go ahead. A survey by the National Landlords Association of its members has found 90.3 per cent would be less likely to take on new tenants who are claiming the benefit. The cuts were set out in the Budget in June, and include placing restrictions on the maximum amount of local housing allowance that can be claimed. The NLA found 49.6 per cent of landlords that responded to its survey said they could not reduce rents to retain tenants who are claiming the local housing allowance. The association warned the cuts could lead to an average reduction in benefits of £12 per week and increase homelessness. Read more on the NLA website.

Providers to Choose Type of Tenancy

Social landlords will be given discretion over whether to introduce fixed-term tenancies, the housing minister said at a fringe event at the Liberal Democrat conference in Liverpool. Grant Shapps said the government would allow tenure to vary in different areas according to local housing conditions. He said that housing providers would be able to choose what sort of tenancy to offer future applicants, and that in some areas it would be appropriate to create lifetime tenancies. He flatly denied newspaper reports that the government was planning a review of the right to buy, claiming that it was a ‘drop in the ocean’, and that tenure reform was much more important. Read more on Inside Housing.

Lib Dem Deputy – 'We Have the Power to Stop Fixed-Term Tenancy Pledge’

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes has failed in his bid to debate ‘fixed-term tenancies’ at the party’s autumn conference, but has insisted the party has the power to stop the pledge becoming official Coalition policy. Hughes's motion called for the Government to rule out the removal of lifetime tenures for social tenants. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme "There is a huge debate about how we build the social housing not built by Labour whose record was appalling and there’s a commitment across both coalition parties to build more social housing every year of this Government than any year of the Labour Government. “ Read more on 24dash.

Landlords Object to Change in Law

Social landlords fear changes to counter-terrorism and security powers could make it harder for them to gather evidence against perpetrators of anti-social behaviour. The Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group has written to the Home Office outlining its concerns that the removal of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act will allow ASB to escalate. Under the changes the act will only be used if signed off by a magistrate or for stopping serious crime. Currently, landlords can use surveillance, such as cameras in public places, to gather evidence. A decision on the proposed changes is expected to be made shortly.

Survey Sample Cuts Will Hide Fuel Poverty

Government plans to slash the sample size for its survey on English housing conditions will make it ‘impossible’ to assess fuel poverty, an academic has warned. Dave Gordon, professor at the school for policy studies at Bristol University, said plans to cut the number of people questioned by the English Housing Survey by as much as 40 per cent would leave the government unable to assess whether it is meeting its legal obligation to reduce fuel poverty. Currently 17,700 households are surveyed at a cost of £5.95 million. Professor Gordon said: ‘If they cut it by more than 10 per cent we would not be able to make any reasonable guess as to whether fuel poverty is going up or down in individual regions. You would just get a vague national picture.’
Read the full story on Inside Housing.

Benefit Cuts Spark Debt Fears

Two thirds of social landlords are concerned proposed cuts to housing benefit will lead to an increase in bad debt on their balance sheets. The Chartered Institute of Housing’s UK housing panel’s latest quarterly survey also found 78 per cent of housing associations were expecting an increase in arrears as a result of the cuts, which are due to come in from April 2011 onwards. The report shows that 54 per cent of landlords are predicting an increase in the number of evictions due to ‘spiralling arrears’. The report also states that the sector is bracing itself for rising pressure on waiting lists as private sector tenants find themselves unable to afford their rents as a result of caps to local housing allowance.

'Right-To-Buy' Council House Policy Reviewed To Appease Lib Dems

The government has begun a review of the "right to buy" scheme for council house tenants, calling into question one of Margaret Thatcher's most vaunted policies as it reaches out to Liberal Democrat backbenchers ahead of their party conference. The Lib Dems have been told the Tory housing minister Grant Shapps is looking for ways to increase the stock available to the swelling numbers on the waiting list. Shapps, who will attend the Lib Dem conference, is aware its rank and file want action on issues close to their hearts in return for support for the coalition. Tenants who have lived in a house for five years or more are able to buy their home. But with 4.5 million people on council housing waiting list - 1.8 million households - and an average of over five years to progress through to the front of the queue, Lib Dems are pushing for a reform of the system. A review of "right to buy" did not feature in the coalition agreement and Shapps said he would be extending it when he was shadow housing minister before the election. Any attempt to end the scheme will alarm many in the Conservative party. Read the full story on the Guardian website by clicking on the logo below.

Cracks Appearing In Coalition over Life-Time Tenancies

Liberal Democrat deputy Simon Hughes has called an emergency motion ahead of his party's autumn conference to debate fixed-term tenacies for council housing. It follows comments made by David Cameron in August that social homes should not be granted "for life". Hughes, the party's representative for Bermondsey and Old Southwark warned the Prime Minister that fixed-term tenancy agreements 'in no way' represented coalition policy. Read more on 24dash.

Newham Mulls In-House Move

Newham Council is considering taking its ALMO back in-house. The council has begun discussions about the future of Newham Homes, which manages its 18,342 homes. The ALMO, which was in round five of bids for decent homes funding, has not finished its £372 million decent homes programme. A spokesperson for Newham Council said: ‘We are considering a range of possibilities: if anything happens, tenants and leaseholders will be consulted.’ The move would make Newham the fourth ALMO to return in-house, following decisions at Ealing, Hillingdon and Slough. Lambeth Living announced this week that it plans to make up to 70 staff redundant as part of a restructure. The 34,000-home ALMO is consulting staff and trade unions on the plans, which it hopes will save Lambeth Council more than £1 million immediately, and £300,000 over the next three years. Read more on Inside Housing.

Ealing Votes to Close Arm's-Length Body

Ealing council’s cabinet has officially approved plans to bring its ALMO back in-house. Councillors took the final decision, which will see ALMO Ealing Homes close and housing services return to council control. Ealing had originally planned to shut the ALMO and put all its management contracts out to tender, but following a change of political control at the council, this plan was dropped. Council leader Julian Bell said: ‘We know that tenants and leaseholders want to see improvements to the way their homes are run, so I’m delighted that they back our decision to bring housing management back under the council’s direct control. Read more on Inside Housing.

Alliance Calls for New Laws to Protect Tenants in Cold Homes

Charities and consumer groups concerned about the number of cold, health-hazard rented homes are demanding a new law to protect tenants in a statement to Energy Secretary Chris Huhne. The coalition of 15 organisations, including Friends of the Earth, Age UK, Citizens Advice, Crisis and Disability Alliance, is calling for urgent Government action to make it illegal to rent out the least insulated properties until they are brought up to a higher standard of energy efficiency. Their joint statement says properties rented through private landlords are the most poorly maintained homes and contain large numbers of vulnerable people and those living in fuel poverty. Almost a fifth of private tenants live in fuel poverty and can't afford to heat their homes to a reasonable standard. According to the Government's Fuel Poverty Advisory Group, the past six years have been devastating for the fuel poor as gas and electricity bills have shot up by 125 per cent. Read more on 24dash.

Shapps to Tackle Underoccupancy

Grant Shapps has pledged to help the 1.8 million families on the housing waiting list by tackling underoccupancy in social homes. Speaking to the CLG Select Committee Mr Shapps outlined his concerns about people who live in larger homes than they need. When challenged on whether it is right to coerce people to leave their homes, he said: ‘It shouldn’t mean that… None of us have a right to live in any street in any city that we choose. All of us have to make those decisions. ‘Underoccupancy has a cost to it, and the cost is to the 1.8 million families languishing on the housing waiting list. ‘The 430,000 people in social accommodation who are underoccupying by two or more rooms are in some cases being funded by the tax payers.’ Mr Shapps also hinted at a move to local decisions on housing benefit. He said: ‘Part of the advantage of doing it locally is that you get local discretion’. Read comments on this story on Inside Housing.

Council Restructures to Save £500,000

Westminster Council has announced it is restructuring housing management services to save £500,000. The local authority’s 22,000 properties across 17 estates will now be managed by two companies instead of four. ALMO CityWest Homes will continue to take overall responsibility for the management of the council’s housing stock and will directly manage around half of the council’s properties. A second supplier has not yet been appointed. Read more on Inside Housing.

Government Commits to Protecting Security of Tenure

Heidi Alexander MP: What plans do the Government have to consult tenants groups on the future of secure tenancies in social rented housing?
Andrew Stunell MP: The Government are absolutely committed to protecting the security of tenure and rights of those currently living in social housing. With a record five million people on social housing waiting lists it is right that we should look at ways of improving the system for new tenancies, and consider how best to help the most vulnerable in our society. How we make best use of our social housing should be a matter for open debate and discussion, and we welcome the views of tenant groups as part of this. On 4 August, we announced our plans for a National Affordable Home Swap Scheme, which will allow social tenants to move-such as for family or employment reasons-without losing their footing on the social housing ladder, so increasing the tenure rights and opportunities of those in social housing.

Higher Social Rents Should Subsidise Development

The funding model for social housing is broken and must be changed if housing associations are to continue providing affordable homes, according to an influential think tank. A report from the Smith Institute warns the prospects for affordable housing development as the government cuts the deficit are the worst for a generation. It calls for a new, viable development model to attract private funding. It suggests the government allows social rents to rise to subsidise future development, and to reform housing benefit so that a ‘stable and reasonable’ housing allowance is paid directly to landlords. The report also calls for incentives to build housing for market rent, so that developers build the most homes possible, with the lowest grant rates possible. Download a copy of the report, Rhetoric to Reality, from the Smith Institute website.

Capital Investment Outstanding for ALMOs – Parliamentary Written Answer

Heidi Alexander MP (Labour, Lewisham East – Lewisham Homes; Vice Chair of ALMOs APPG and member of the Communities and Local Government Committee): What recent estimate has been made of the level of outstanding capital investment requirements for ALMOs? Andrew Stunell MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Stockport Homes): ALMOs have estimated that around £2 billion is required to complete their Decent Homes investment programmes. Future funding for the Decent Homes programme will be decided in the context of the spending review.

All Councils in England to Report on Rough Sleeping

Housing minister Grant Shapps has changed the way local areas assess the number of people sleeping rough, to more accurately assess the scale of the problem and put councils and homeless charities centre stage in the process. Previously, only councils in presumed hotspot areas were required to conduct official rough sleeper counts - meaning that only 70 councils submitted information to central Government. Figures published in July showed that under this previous method, on any given night there were just 440 rough sleepers in England. However, for the first time areas which did not physically count were asked to provide estimates this spring and when the figures from these 256 councils were included a further estimated 807 rough sleepers were found - taking the national total to 1,247 rough sleepers on any given night. All councils across England will now provide information on rough sleeping. This move follows consultation with homelessness charities and councils and is aimed at getting a clearer picture of the scale of the problem in each area so more targeted support can be provided to some of the most vulnerable in society. Read more on the CLG website.

HCA Chooses Partners for Advice Panels

The Homes and Communities Agency has announced the names of 33 companies selected to sit on two panels which will advise on decisions about funding. As part of cost-cutting measures the HCA is replacing 21 specialist panels of consultants with four panels. A total of 12 companies, including estate agents Savills and property consultant CB Richard Ellis will sit on a new property panel, while 21 companies will sit on a multi-disciplinary panel, looking at a range of areas including masterplanning. Two further panels, looking at design and engineering, will be selected by the end of the year. Read the list on the Inside Housing website.

Tenant Protection Fears As Sector Backs Housing Regulator

Housing minister Grant Shapps has said he wants the TSA to be abolished, but more than half of the 234 housing professionals who completed an Inside Housing online survey want England’s housing regulator to stay. Fifty four per cent of those polled said they wanted the TSA to continue. And 77 per cent wanted its regulatory framework, introduced in April, to stay even if the watchdog is abolished. The survey comes ahead of a CLG review into the TSA’s future, which will decide the regulator’s fate ahead of the government spending review next month. For the full results and analysis see Inside Housing website by clicking on the logo below.

Housing: Empty Property – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mr Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he plans to take to make more effective use of unoccupied homes in tackling unmet housing needs.
Grant Shapps: We are looking closely at the cause and nature of empty homes and the full range of potential measures to bring empty homes back into use, as part of a well functioning housing market.

Housing: Empty Property – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mr Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he plans to take to make more effective use of unoccupied homes in tackling unmet housing needs. Grant Shapps: We are looking closely at the cause and nature of empty homes and the full range of potential measures to bring empty homes back into use, as part of a well functioning housing market.

Councils Cut £400m on Housing Spend

Councils spent £400 million less on improving existing or building new housing last year, despite an overall increase in their capital spending. Authorities’ housing capital spend in 2009/10 was £4.5 billion, according to figures released by the CLG, compared to £4.9 billion the previous year. This is despite capital spending on education increasing by £849 million, while an extra £1.1 billion was spent on highways and transport. The CLG would not provide a more detailed breakdown of the spending or explain why it had decreased. A spokesperson said: ‘It is not something we are worried about, these things fluctuate and the drop is less than 10 per cent.’ For possible reasons why expenditure may have been cut, read more on the Inside Housing website.

Housing Benefit Cuts 'Will Cause Homes Crisis'

Proposed cuts to housing benefit will result in higher levels of poverty, debt, rent arrears and homelessness, a national charity has warned. Citizens Advice also advised that the changes should be delayed, in evidence submitted to the Department of Work and Pensions' Social Security Advisory Committee, who have been consulting on the changes. The announced cuts include a cap on housing benefit payments from April next year, a move strongly opposed by the charity. However, it said that if it did go ahead with the move, the Government must take steps to cushion the impact and smooth the transition for those households affected. Citizens Advice said a delay in the introduction of the new cap until October 2011, or at the very least only applying it to new claims from April, would ensure that people locked into existing tenancy agreements do not find themselves suddenly trapped with an unaffordable rent, and to give them time to find somewhere else to live. Read more on the Citizens Advice website.

HCA Decides Fate of Stalled Projects

The HCA has announced which of the proposed developments affected by its funding freeze will get the go ahead. More than half of the Kickstart and local authority new build schemes that were put on hold following government spending cuts will get funding. However developments that would have included 3,000 homes have been left without cash from either. Find links to approved schemes on the Inside Housing website.

'Housing Benefit Changes Would Cost Government £120 Million A Year'

Research undertaken by the University of Cambridge to investigate the true impact of cuts, both on households and on the government’s own finances, shows that 134,000 households will either be evicted or forced to move when the cuts come in next year as they will be unable to negotiate cheaper rents. Of these, an estimated 35,000 households will approach their local authorities for housing assistance, and where councils have a legal duty to help they will face costs of up to £120 million a year for providing temporary accommodation such as hostels or bed and breakfasts. The costs would cancel out a fifth of the £600 million the Treasury has said it will save from the cuts in 2012, the first full year they are in force. There will also be additional administrative costs to councils in processing the thousands of homelessness applications they are likely to receive. Read more on the Shelter website.

'Get Online Week' 18th To 24th October

This year’s Get online week takes place from 18 to 24 October, and aims to get tens of thousands of people started with computers and the internet for the first time. The campaign – from UK online centres – is backed by UK Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox and Race Online 2012 partners including the BBC, the Post Office and mobile network Three. With more than 3,000 events and nationwide publicity, it’s set to be bigger and better than ever. Get online week is a great chance to get residents and communities together. Tenants get to learn how to save time, hassle and money - becoming more effective in the job market, while landlords can develop their services, improve choice and engage residents more effectively. What’s more, Get online week is completely free, with all the information and advice you need to run an event or to promote events to your residents. Further information about running your own event and a marketing toolkit for the campaign can be found online at the Online Centres website.