More Government Support For Self-Build

Self-build is an important element of the government’s housing strategy, and supports action to help new house building firms and get empty and redundant buildings back into productive use. Communities Minister Don Foster has announced a series of measures to ensure the self-build market is opened up to those on lower incomes. These include:

• Providing new grant funding for community self-builders
• Working with councils to increase land for self-build plots
• Removing unfair taxes from self-builders
• Freeing up more redundant public sector land for self-builders

Read more on the Govuk website.

Giving Social Tenants More Power

Communities Minister Don Foster has announced he is taking action to increase the number of tenant organisations across England. This will give social tenants more powers to hold their landlord to account and a greater say in how to run their community. To boost numbers of tenant organisations the government is providing £400,000 for at least 1,200 tenants to attend training courses in how to set up tenant organisations, to influence landlords and to lead their communities. There are currently around 200 tenant management organisations with powers to manage buildings and services, and several hundred tenant panels with more informal advisory powers in England. However, with around 6 million tenants in social housing ministers are determined to increase participation in how they manage services.  Read more on the Govuk website.

£1.9 Million to Tackle Bed And Breakfast Living

A £1.9 million fund will help to end bed and breakfast living for hundreds of homeless families.  Communities Minister Don Foster said that the money must be used by councils to reduce the number of families unlawfully stuck in this unsuitable accommodation in their area. He also called on councils to put new measures in place to ensure that this situation doesn’t happen again. The law is clear that families must only be placed in bed and breakfast accommodation as a last resort, and only then for no more than 6 weeks. But recent figures have shown a huge variation in the way councils help homeless people in their area, with only 15 councils accounting for nearly 80% of all families living in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than 6 weeks.  The £1.9 million will go to 7 of these councils, to help them raise their game and discover innovative new ways to help meet the housing needs of these most vulnerable of families. Read more on the Gov.uk website.

Houses for £1 and a Loan to Do Them Up

During the past few months the city councils in Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool have been inundated with applications after launching projects allowing people to buy a derelict home for just £1 upfront.  Now the charity Empty Homes is offering a variation on this theme: a 25% stake in an empty house for £1. Ten two-bedroom terraced houses located in Stoke-on-Trent are up for grabs, and you don't need to be a resident of the city to apply – it is open to anyone in the UK who doesn't already own a property and meets the criteria.

We can probably expect to see more of these schemes being launched after communities minister Don Foster, who has visited the Stoke-on-Trent projects, announced a £91m government cash injection to bring back into use more than 6,000 empty and derelict homes and commercial premises across England. Read more on the Guardian website.

£91 Million to Tackle Over 6,000 Empty Homes

Communities Minister Don Foster has announced that towns across England will benefit from £91 million to refurbish and bring back into use over 6,000 empty and derelict homes and commercial premises, particularly in the Midlands and North where the problem is most acute.  The funding will be spent on refurbishment in areas where empty properties have commonly led to problems such as squatting, rat infestation and collapsing house prices, driving remaining residents away.  Read more on the GOV.UK website.

Council Borrowing – Parliamentary Oral Answer

Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green): If the Government are serious about increasing housing supply, will they look again at lifting the current cap on council borrowing for house building, and at providing direct capital spending to allow councils to build a mass programme of affordable housing?

Mr Foster: We are looking at the point the hon. Lady has raised, and an announcement will be made on 26 June.

£1 Million Funding Boost For Single Homeless People

Communities Minister Don Foster has announced a cash boost of up to £1 million to support single homeless people. The funding will help them to find a safe and secure roof in privately rented accommodation.  Mr Foster allocated up to £800,000 for homelessness charity Crisis to fund schemes to set up new shared tenancies for single homeless people in privately rented accommodation.  The minister also announced a further £230,000 for the charity to continue its Private Rented Sector Access Programme, which works with local landlords to help vulnerable people find the homes they need in privately rented accommodation.  Read more on the Gov.uk website.

Social Housing (Under-occupancy) – Parliamentary Oral Answer

Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab): What assessment he has made of the availability of accommodation for those who downsize as a result of the new under-occupancy rules for social housing. 

Don Foster: I am sure that the 278,000 families in overcrowded social housing will welcome the increased availability of larger homes, given that some 390,000 families under-occupy their properties by two bedrooms or more.

Kerry McCarthy: According to the Department’s own impact assessment, more than 660,000 housing benefit claimants will be affected by these changes. It is ridiculous to assume that they will be able to find the money out of their own pockets, given all the other cuts that are being introduced. They will be forced to lose their homes. What assessment has the Minister made of the availability of smaller accommodation? Will those people not just be pushed into expensive private sector accommodation, meaning that the housing benefit bill will go up?

Mr Foster: I have already pointed out that a large number of properties are currently under-occupied.

Britain's Empty Homes: The Unlearned Lessons

This week offers a chance to celebrate the progress made in bringing some of Britain's 710,000 empty homes back into use. Earlier this week those attending the National Empty Homes Conference heard the number of properties going to waste has been cut by more than 19,000. Speaking at the National Empty Homes Conference on Monday, communities minister Don Foster MP pledged to help "stop the rot" and announced a £300million fund now open to projects bringing empty homes back to life. Foster hopes 5,000 more empty properties can be refurbished and put back onto the market over the next three years.  Read more on the Huffington Post website.

ALMOs Must 'Step Up To the Plate'

ALMOs must ‘step up to the plate’ and champion the needs of all of their communities if they are to have a positive future, a government minister has warned.  Don Foster, under secretary of state for housing, said ALMOs faced a ‘challenging future’ but could ‘win local support’ and ‘improve their remit’ if they focused on ‘engaging with tenants’.  Areas Mr Foster called on ALMOs to explore included working to help implement the government’s delayed green deal retrofit plan and encouraging community groups to take on the right to bid for community assets or the delivery of some services.  ‘There is also the neighbourhood planning agenda and helping facilitate development on local sites where appropriate. Then there is neighbourhood budgeting for things like adult social care,’ he added. ‘Tenants could be encouraged to explore all these areas through ALMOs.’  Read more on Inside Housing.

Empty Property – Parliamentary Written Answer

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many empty homes have been brought back into use since May 2010.

Mr Foster: Between October 2009 and October 2010, the number of empty homes reduced by 33,000 and between October 2010 and October 2011, the number reduced by 17,000. Over the same period, the number of long-term empty homes, on which new homes bonus is paid, reduced by 16,000 between 2009 and 2010, and reduced by 22,000 between 2010 and 2011.