Ministers Sat On Accessible Housing Research For Up To Four Years

Ministers delayed publishing a report that called for more research into the benefits of accessible housing for up to four years. The report, by architectural firm PRP, was finally published last week by the MHCLG, but none of the research and evidence referenced in the document is dated later than March 2016. Payments for the research appear to have been made as long ago as April 2016, and PRP said this week that it was finalised in 2017. The report examined evidence on the benefits of accessible housing, and the effectiveness of guidance relating to other buildings to see how well it was meeting the needs of disabled people. Read more on Disability News Service.

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/ministers-sat-on-accessible-housing-research-for-up-to-four-years/ 

Grenfell Fire Safety Reform Delay Putting Lives At Risk

A delay to the implementation of changes recommended by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is putting lives at risk, London's mayor has warned. Sadiq Khan accused building owners and the Government of "failing" the community over the lack of progress, adding he shared concerns that a similar tragedy could happen again. His comments come almost a year after inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick identified 46 changes that should be made to ensure the safety of residents in high-rise buildings. Mr Khan said the Government had not provided a timed delivery plan for the changes it was responsible for implementing. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/sadiq-khan-grenfell-fire-safety-reform-delay-putting-lives-at-risk-a4573180.html 

Half Of FTBs Delay Buying A Home Due To COVID-19

The pandemic has caused 46% of first-time buyers to delay their plans of purchasing a home by an average time of nearly a year. 17% have had a property sale fall through whilst 20% have said they pulled out of buying due to lockdown. The pandemic has also caused 49% of first-time buyers to worry about their financial security.  39% of prospective first-time buyers are now reconsidering their property type due to lockdown, with 42% saying that having a garden or balcony is a top priority and 33% now looking for properties near the countryside or parks. Read more on the Property Wire website.

https://www.propertywire.com/news/half-of-ftbs-delay-buying-a-home-due-to-covid-19/ 

Replacing Grenfell-Style Cladding Could Take Another Five Years

Progress to fix apartment blocks clad with dangerous combustible panelling is so slow it will take another five years to complete at current rates, according to government figures. Across England, tens of thousands of people are still living in 354 high-rise residential buildings that require their wall systems to be stripped off in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, which claimed 72 lives. In January, work began on just one of the affected buildings and over the last two months work is only being completed at the rate of six buildings a month. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/07/replacing-grenfell-style-cladding-could-take-another-five-years

Delays Caused By Flaw In Help To Buy ISA

Tens of thousands of first-time home buyers have had their purchases delayed because of a flaw in the Help to Buy Isa, research has found.   In 2016 the savings accounts were described as a “scandal” when it was disclosed that first-time buyers would not be able to use the money saved for an initial deposit on their new home. A flaw in the scheme means a 25 per cent government “bonus” on savings is not paid out until the sale has completed, leaving buyers to find the deposit money elsewhere, for example by borrowing from parents.  Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/26/tens-thousands-first-time-home-buyers-suffer-delays-caused-flaw/

Frontline DWP Staff Want Universal Credit Roll-Out Paused

Two in three frontline DWP staff say the roll-out of Universal Credit should be paused, findings from Channel 4’s Dispatches. The programme also reported a ‘whistleblower’ as saying staff shortages saw claims piling up and not given appropriate assessment. Some 550 Public and Commercial Services Union members who work on Universal Credit for the The investigation uncovered cases of a disabled mother waiting five months to receive her full benefit entitlement, as well as a self-employed claimant being advised to give up work to receive more money. Read more on 24housing.

http://www.24housing.co.uk/news/tv-poll-shows-frontline-dwp-staff-want-universal-credit-roll-out-paused/

Councils Have ‘Urgent’ Concerns Over Homelessness Reduction Act Delays

Sir Steve Bullock, executive member for housing at London Councils and mayor of Lewisham Council, said in a letter to homelessness minister Marcus Jones that with only seven months until the Homelessness Reduction Act comes into force, councils are still waiting for “much delayed information”. This includes a promised code of guidance from government and “detailed” funding allocations, he said. London Councils has said if the guidance and allocations are not published soon, the act should be delayed until September 2018. Read more on Inside Housing.

MPs Urge Government To Delay Universal Credit Rollout

David Gauke, the work and pensions secretary, has been urged by 31 MPs to delay the expansion of the new universal credit benefit system to stop their constituents suffering severe hardship over Christmas. The group has called on the government to put off the latest rollout of universal credit until the new year, because people would not be able to afford delays to their first benefit payments over the festive period. Ministers are planning to accelerate the introduction of universal credit to about 50 new areas. But the 31 MPs, whose constituencies will be affected, said it would cause misery for thousands of new claimants who may not get their first payments for up to seven weeks after applying. Read more on the Observer website.

Consultation On Assessing Local Housing Need Delayed

The CLG has confirmed the consultation on assessing local housing need has been delayed until Parliament returns in September. Speaking at the Local Government Association (LGA) conference, communities secretary Sajid Javid said the government would launch a consultation on a new way for councils to assess their local housing requirements in July. This was first announced in the housing white paper in February. Now, a spokesperson at the CLG has confirmed that the department “intends to publish the local housing need consultation when Parliament returns in September”. Read more on the Planning Portal website.

Calls For Universal Credit Rollout To Be Paused

The rollout of Universal Credit should be paused until significant problems with it are fixed, says Citizens Advice. In a major new report - Delivering on Universal Credit - the charity reveals that the requirement to wait for six weeks to receive any payment means people face serious financial insecurity, with many being forced into debt. The research also identifies a wide range of administrative challenges, including problems with the online system and long waits to get help over the phone, which can make the initial six week wait even longer. Download the report from the CAB website.

Buy-To-Let Landlords’ Voids Experience

More than a fifth of buy-to-let landlords have to wait longer than four months before signing up their first tenants, suggests research for the Nottingham Building Society (NBS). Its study among landlords across the country shows 21% said they had to wait four months or more after completing their buy-to-let mortgage before they had their first paying tenants. The research found 53% of landlords have paying tenants within a couple of months of buying their first buy-to-let through lenders across the UK but substantial numbers are facing delays which pile the pressure on their finances. Costs involved in setting up as a landlord are not trivial – the average landlord has to pay out £2,000 on their first property before they find tenants although one in three (35%) manage to spend less than £1,000. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Right To Buy Extension Delayed Until At Least 2018

The national roll-out of Right to Buy for housing association tenants will not take place until after April 2018 at the earliest, with the sell-off of high-value council homes also delayed. Gavin Barwell, housing minister, said he had written to councils to tell them the government will not be requesting any high-value asset payments during 2017/18. Councils had called for the policy to be delayed from its expected start date of April 2017. He also confirmed the regional pilot of Right to Buy announced in yesterday’s Autumn Statement will test one-for-one replacement and portability of discounts, unlike the current pilot.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Pay To Stay Meetings Cancelled As Policies Face Delay

Meetings of the government’s Pay to Stay working group have been cancelled as several key measures in the Housing and Planning Act look set to be delayed. The government has cancelled scheduled meetings despite the policy- under which higher earning tenants pay up to market rent- originally being planned for implementation in April next year. It is not clear why the meetings have been cancelled, but sector figures this week said it suggested a delay. Councils have been urging ministers to put the start date back to give them time to prepare. The news emerged days after a senior civil servant admitted the Right to Buy (RTB) extension to housing association tenants is set to be delayed as a result of the Brexit vote. Read more on Inside Housing.

More Than 500,000 Supported By Foodbanks In Only Six Months

More than half a million people were supported by foodbanks in the first six months of this year, according to statistics from the Trussell Trust, as the number of families left dependent on foodbanks due to Government austerity measures is set to reach a record high in 2016. The staggering statistics reveal 519,342 three day emergency food supplies were given to people in crisis between April and September 2016, including 188,584 children. This is compared to 506,369 during the same period last year, with benefit delays and changes cited as the main reason people are forced to turn to foodbanks. Problems with benefits accounted for 44% of all referrals, followed by low-income caused by issues such as insecure employment. Read more on the Welfare Weekly website.

Housing: Construction – House of Lords Written Answer

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to encourage house building on sites where planning permissions have been given for house building.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: We are keen to drive up delivery of new housing once permission has been granted and we are actively taking steps to tackle some of the factors which can delay a start to development. We are taking forward measures through the Neighbourhood Planning Bill, which was introduced on 7 September, to improve the use of planning conditions to avoid unnecessary delays to development. We have also, through the Housing and Planning Act 2016, introduced a provision for a section 106 dispute resolution process. This will assist in speeding up negotiations on the content of section 106 planning obligations, where developers and local authorities have failed to reach an agreement. Secondary legislation is required to implement the provision. We also expect the members of the Home Builders Federation to adhere to their commitments in May to provide local authorities with transparent annual returns on build-out rates. And we will be setting out further measures in the forthcoming Housing White Paper.

Universal Credit Delays Forcing People To Food Banks

Huge built-in delays in the processing of universal credit benefit claims have turned the government’s flagship welfare reform into a “recruiting sergeant for food banks”, according to Labour MP Frank Field. Field, the chair of the Commons work and pensions select committee, said the minimum six-week payment period faced by new UC claimants led to reliance on emergency food parcels, triggered debt and rent arrears, and caused health problems. Field has written to the work and pensions secretary, Damian Green, asking him to cut the lengthy and stressful wait for payments faced by penniless claimants. Read more on the Guardian website.

Government Urged To Delay Pay To Stay

Councils and arm’s length management organisations are calling on ministers to delay the introduction of Pay to Stay to avoid a ‘tight’ timetable, after the government failed to publish regulations before the parliamentary recess. Local authorities were expecting draft regulations on Pay to Stay to be published before the end of the parliamentary term last Thursday. However, the regulations, which need to go before both houses of parliament, are not now expected until September at the earliest when parliament returns. This has caused concern that without draft regulations to work with over the summer, local authority landlords may struggle to implement Pay to Stay- under which higher-earning tenants pay up to market rent - from next April as intended. Read more on Inside Housing.

Universal Credit Roll-Out Delayed For A Further Year

New Work and Pensions Secretary, Damien Green MP, has announced a further one year delay in the roll-out of Universal Credit, meaning the full roll-out of the flagship benefit is FIVE years behind schedule and will not be completed until March 2022 at the earliest. In a written statement to MPs, Mr Green said the decision had been taken due to changes in policy to tax credits and Universal Credit announced in the 2015 Summer Budget, including limiting child tax credit to two children. Read more on the Welfare Weekly website.

Councils Anger At Barrier To Building Claim

Councils have challenged government over "evidence" that development is delayed by planning conditions. Local authorities rejected the claim by central government that they are slowing up the building of new housing developments across the country.  Cllr Peter Box, planning spokesman at the Local Government Association, said:   “The planning system is not a barrier to housebuilding. Councils approve almost nine out of 10 planning applications and the number of homes being granted planning permission by local authorities during 2015 was 253,000, the highest level since 2007. There is little evidence to suggest development is being delayed by planning conditions which also save developers time and money as they do not need to invest in detailed submissions until the principle of the development is granted. Read more on 24dash.

Starter Home Delivery Doubt

Developers have cast doubt on ministerial hopes of seeing 200,000 ‘starter homes’ available in England by the end of the decade as the legislation underpinning the initiative made it onto the statute book. The British Property Federation welcomed this but pointed out that the secondary legislation for the starter homes regime had yet to be finalised and published. “The longer the government takes to iron out the details of this policy, the more that target slips into the distance. Spades are not likely to be in the ground until 2017 at the earliest, and time is certainly running out” commented Melanie Leech, BPF chief executive. Read more on the Planning Portal website.