Jenrick: Homelessness ‘More Of A Crisis Of Addiction And Mental Health’ Than Housing

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has been giving his views on tackling rough sleeping and homelessness in the country post-pandemic. Speaking at a Centre for Social Justice event, he said: “There is a lot to do and I need to get my other cabinet colleagues to support me as I don’t think this is just a housing crisis, this is also a crisis of mental health and addiction and there are also law enforcement issues. As well as trying to support people, we’ve got to take action against aggressive begging, gangs on the streets, individuals coming to this country to beg.” Read more on the HQN website.

https://hqnetwork.co.uk/news/jenrick-homelessness-more-of-a-crisis-of-addiction-and-mental-health-than-housing-4039 

Housing Crisis Is Harming Productivity

Britain’s housing shortage is having a harmful impact on the country’s productivity, nearly one in two businesses have warned. Some 43 per cent of UK companies with over 1,000 employees said that housing issues are having a negative effect on their business’ productivity, according to new findings released by the Centre for Social Justice. The think tank’s report has also revealed that 48 per cent believe that housing issues are having an adverse effect on the wellbeing of their staff. Download the report from the CSJ website.

https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/core/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/CSJJ7065-Housing-Commission-report-4-190723-WEB.pdf

Affordable Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the claim by the Centre of Social Justice in its report, A Social Housing Strategy, published on 27 October, that designated affordable new homes do not reduce the housing benefit bill.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: We have not directly carried out an assessment in response to the claim made by the Centre for Social Justice. However, new affordable housing reduces pressure on the Housing Benefit bill by enabling people to live in sub-market rent homes which, on average, have lower associated housing benefit costs than the Local housing Allowance on an equivalent home in the private rented sector.

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2018-10-29/HL11102

Housing Benefit Bill ‘To Hit £71bn By 2050’

The housing benefit bill will rise to £71bn a year by 2050 unless levels of social housebuilding increase, an influential thinktank has warned. Analysis by the Centre for Social Justice’s (CSJ) housing commission predicts that half of that money will go to private landlords. People receiving housing benefit while living in the private rented sector cost the taxpayer 25% more on average than those living in social housing, researchers said. And they warned that affordable housing products – such as affordable rent, which can be up to 80% of market rates, or shared ownership – “will do nothing to reduce the burgeoning housing benefit bill”. Download the CSJ’s analysis.

https://omghcontent.affino.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/108/CSJ_-_A_SOCIAL_JUSTICE_HOUSING_STRATEGY.pdf

New APPG To Tackle Employment Needs Of Social Housing Tenants

A new parliamentary group pitches a better policy environment that recognises the role of housing providers in tackling unemployment and under-employment among tenants. The new Housing and Employment All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) delivered its pitch as new research by the Centre for Social Justice revealead households living in social housing are four times more likely to be workless than those living in private housing. Secretariat support for the APPG is being provided jointly by Give us a Chance (GUAC) and PlaceShapers. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/new-appg-to-tackle-employment-needs-of-social-housing-tenants/

APPG Launched To Tackle Unemployment In Social Housing

A new All Party Parliamentary Group has been formed to tackle unemployment and in-work poverty in the social housing sector. The group launches as new research by the Centre for Social Justice revealed that households living in social housing are four times more likely to be workless than those living in private housing. This new APPG will be focused on advancing the role that social landlords can play in promoting social mobility, employment, and supporting in work progression for social tenants. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/appg-launched-to-tackle-unemployment-in-social-housing/

Housing ‘Shake-Up’ Could Save £3bn On The Welfare Budget

A housing shake-up that could knock £3bn off the welfare budget rewards housing associations that turn tenant lives around. Citing social housing tenants as “four times more likely” to be unemployed than private renters, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) is calling on associations to extend skills training – with big falls in rent arrears as an incentive. The Government is already giving the idea serious consideration given its potential to save some £3bn on the welfare budget. CSJ says that with housing associations, with their “established personal relationships” with tenants – are best placed to support individuals facing barriers to work, the report argues. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/housing-shake-up-could-save-3bn-on-the-welfare-budget/

Thinktank Calls For Low-Cost Rent Funding

An influential centre-right thinktank has urged the government to provide substantial funding for affordable rent after warning Starter Homes will be “inaccessible to the poorest”. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) expressed concerns that the government’s housing programme “does not address the new challenges low-income families face”. Its report said the government should fund homes for affordable rent, rather than simply subsidising homeownership, especially in London and high-rent areas. Download the report from the CSJ website.

Poor And Vulnerable Families Struggle To Find Secure Housing

Nearly 70,000 of Britain’s poorest families are struggling to find a stable home because landlords do not trust them to pay the rent or think they will cause trouble, a report reveals. They are forced to bounce around temporary accommodation, making it hard for them to hold down a job and causing major disruption for kids who play up as a result. The findings emerged in a report by the Centre for Social Justice think tank which is calling for new “social letting agencies” backed by Government cash to offer five-year tenancies to families deemed “too risky” by landlords. The CSJ said the move is needed because the poorest are missing out on other schemes like Right To Buy and affordable home schemes aimed at getting people on the housing ladder. Download the report from the CSJ website.

Housing Associations 'Should Consider Funding New Loan System'

That is one of the recommendations by influential right-wing thinktank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in a new report. The report, entitled Future Finance: A new approach to financial capability, recommends a series of measures to provide financial services for people on low-incomes. The CSJ report says low-income households often have to rely on services designed for people with larger or more regular incomes and sometimes find it difficult to manage direct debits. Download a copy of the report from the CSJ website.

Pay the Jobless to Move House to Find Work

The idea has been drawn up by the Centre for Social Justice think tank, set up by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith. The jobless would be given financial help to move house to find work under a plan to tackle long-term unemployment. Anyone out of work for more than a year would be given cash by their local council to cover the costs of hiring a removals van or paying a deposit on a home. Under the proposal, the long-term unemployed would be given money if they land a job which is more than 90 minutes’ commute from where they live. The CSJ argues that people living on benefits in social housing are much less likely to be in work, and less likely to move to find a job. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

Lib Dem President Withdraws Party's Support for Bedroom Tax

The Liberal Democrat president, Tim Farron, has withdrawn his party's support for the bedroom tax, saying it has caused "huge social problems". In a speech that distanced the Lib Dems from the controversial tax, Farron condemned what he describes as attacks on the poorer members of society. "The onslaught of divisive rhetoric that demonises the poor can never help us to create a fairer society," he told the Centre for Social Justice. "The bedroom tax causes huge social problems and distorts the market – we as a party cannot support this." In the autumn the Liberal Democrat conference agreed to review the bedroom tax, and the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, has said that he would look at giving councils greater flexibility in providing discretionary support for specific hardship cases.  Farron's pledge to oppose the bedroom tax consciously goes beyond existing Liberal Democrat and coalition policy. Read more on the Guardian website.

More Than 5,000 People a Year ‘Homeless’ As Household Debt Crisis Deepens

Hundreds of people are made homeless every month in the UK because they are unable to meet mortgage and rent payments, according to a new report which exposes the damage of problem debt. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) study finds that despite signs of national economic recovery, personal debt in the UK remains close to its all-time high at £1.4 trillion. There is now an average household debt of £54,000 – nearly twice the level of a decade ago.The report, Maxed Out, says poor people are bearing the brunt of a storm that has seen unsecured consumer debt almost triple in the last 20 years, reaching nearly £160 billion today. Worryingly, indebted households in the poorest 10 per cent of the country have average debts more than four times their annual income. Average debt repayments within this group amounted to nearly half their gross monthly income, the report highlights. Download a copy of the report from the CSJ website.

IDS's Think Tank Calls for Changes to Bedroom Tax

The boss of the think tank set up by work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has called for changes to the government’s controversial ‘bedroom tax’. In a move that is likely to cause embarrassment to Mr Duncan Smith, the managing director of the Centre for Social Justice, Christian Guy, has said that he would like to see the government’s under-occupation penalty altered so that it is fairer.  Speaking at the National Housing Federation’s leadership forum Mr Guy told delegates from the housing sector he thought people should only have to pay the penalty if they had turned down a suitable downsizing offer.  He added that he thought it was ‘odd’ that pensioners are exempt from the policy.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Shapps to Look At Giving Tenants Free Equity Stakes in Social Housing

Housing minister Grant Shapps has agreed to look at plans to give working tenants a free equity share in their property - which could be cashed in when those tenants leave the social rented sector. The call came from Conservative MP for Harlow Robert Halfon in a debate on social housing in Wesminster Hall. He cited the “Breakthrough Britain” report, by the Centre for Social Justice, which called for social tenants who work, or who make a genuine effort to find work, to be rewarded with increasingly larger equity stakes in their home. Read more on 24dash.

Concern Grows Over Benefit Cap

A think tank set up by Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has expressed serious concerns with the government’s benefit cap for workless families. A ‘report card’ issued by the Centre for Social Justice gives the government 8 out of 10 for its welfare reforms, but warns that the introduction of a £26,000 benefit cap for families where no-one works will cause hardship.
The report card says that overall the CSJ believes the Welfare Reform Bill marks ‘an exciting start in transforming the department for Work and Pensions from an administration and process hub into the poverty-fighting arm of government it should be.’ But it also warns that introducing the cap ‘in one fell swoop’ from 2013 will ‘bring hardship to as many as 50,000 large families who will have the rug pulled from under them overnight. Read more on Inside Housing.