Social Landlords Fund Research Into Universal Credit

A London council has commissioned independent research into the effects of Universal Credit on social housing tenants. Peabody Trust, Family Mosaic and Croydon Council have backed the council’s decision to commission research on the impact of Universal Credit (UC) and will all pay towards the costs. Labour-led Southwark Council said the full roll-out of Universal Credit in some parts of the borough, coupled with changes made through the Housing and Planning Act, has represented “an onslaught on social housing – and on council tenants in particular”. The research will cost £56,250, with Peabody, Family Mosaic and Croydon Council contributing £22,500. The Smith Institute has been commissioned to carry out the research. Read more on Inside Housing.

Large HAs Plan To Introduce Pay To Stay

Several large landlords intend to introduce a version of Pay to Stay following the government’s decision to make the policy voluntary for housing associations. Family Mosaic, Stonewater and Metropolitan all intend to implement a Pay to Stay policy, subject to approval by their respective boards. Some smaller housing associations said they were not going to implement the policy. One anonymous housing association said Pay to Stay would give it the ability to release assets and have extra income. However a spokesperson said the voluntary scheme “leaves it in limbo” as it may struggle to get board approval for Pay to Stay.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Resident Engagement Models 'Should Be Binned'

The sector needs a ‘fundamental change of mindset’ to break away from the ‘empty ritual’ of resident engagement, which fails to connect with a significant or representative number of tenants. This is the finding of research by London housing association Family Mosaic, which said the current approach should be ‘consigned to the dustbin of history’ in favour of an approach based on data analysis and practical, local issues. The 24,000-home landlord is now reviewing its approach to tenant engagement through further research, and will begin developing a new model in September. Download a copy of the research paper – Changing Places – from the Family Mosaic website.

Missing the Mark?

Over the last 15 years, resident satisfaction has been one of the key ways for housing providers to measure their operational performance, and to benchmark themselves against others. However, Family Mosaic has found that our current approach of prioritising customer satisfaction as a major driver of the organisation is no longer appropriate.  In the current climate, we can no longer afford to see our tenants just as passive recipients of basic housing services; we expect them to be more demanding of us and more aspirational in their own lives and we need to know we’re getting it right. While tenant satisfaction gives us an impression of how we provide basic services, we now need a more sophisticated index, incorporating a range of measures around health, wealth and wellbeing to determine how successful we really are as a landlord. Read more on the Family Mosaic website.

Family Mosaic Identifies Illegal Sublets

Housing association Family Mosaic has worked with Landmark Information Group to access a range of address matching, data cleansing and property analysis services as part of a data quality verification and improvement programme, for its portfolio of over 24,000 homes.  As a result of the data analysis exercise just under 40 potential illegal sublets were flagged for further investigation, in addition to over 200 potential leaseholder re-sales or sublets where Family Mosaic did not have the data. In addition Landmark was able to verify specific property types, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms across the portfolio, potential discrepancies in council ward and local authority data, which the team can now investigate and verify.  Read more on 24dash.

Universal Credits Will Lead To an Average Increase in Rent Arrears of £180

Law firm Winckworth Sherwood - whose clients include over 200 social housing providers, housebuilders and funders – has expressed concerns that a move to one monthly payment under Universal Credit will see a significant increase in rent arrears as tenants in social housing struggle to adjust.  Nikki Lynds-Xavier, a partner in Winckworth Sherwood’s Housing Management team said: “A pilot involving some 2,000 tenants in the London Borough of Southwark that concluded earlier this year has shown some worrying indications.  Tenants who started the pilot with no rent arrears found themselves on average £180 in debt at the end of the pilot.” The pilot involved 1,500 local authority tenants and 500 tenants of Family Mosaic housing association.  The pilot found:

    *Only 60% of tenants successfully moved onto the pilot, with 40 per cent failing to successfully manage their monthly budgets;

    *11% refused or were unable to engage with the local authority;

    *14% were later deemed too vulnerable to take part; and

    *That there was a lack of understanding about personal finance amongst tenants, with others unable to open a bank account.

Read more on the Winkworth Sherwood website. 

Pay to Stay Would Discourage Employment

Increasing rents for social housing tenants once they pass an earnings threshold would act as a ‘perverse disincentive, discouraging work’, according to a report published this morning.  The study from the Centre for London, which was funded by housing associations Home Group and Family Mosaic, backs the idea of linking rent to pay, but says increases should be progressive. It also says social tenancies should be for life.  The report, Home-work: Helping London’s social tenants into employment, also says social landlords should do more to help their tenants get into work, including considering setting up nurseries.  Download a copy of the report from the Demos website.

Tenants on Direct Payment Pilots Pay Rent On Time

The majority of tenants of two landlords taking part in direct payment pilot projects have made their first rent payments on time.  A positive early snapshot is emerging from the six 12-month pilot projects set up by the government in June to test the direct payment of benefits to claimants. Landlords have voiced concerns about the plans, which they fear could lead to increased rent arrears, threatening their income and affecting borrowing rates.  Family Mosaic housing association, which is running a pilot project with Southwark Council in London, was surprised to find 95 per cent of the 600 Family Mosaic tenants on the pilot already had bank accounts. The first direct payment of benefits to claimants last month saw 80 per cent of rent payments to the landlord go through on time. Read more on Inside Housing.

Five-Year Tenancies Would Only Work For 'One In 10'

Only 10 per cent of social housing tenants who have been living in their homes for five years would be able to move out of the sector, a new report has found. Family Mosaic carried out a survey of residents who began their tenancies in 2006 in a response to government proposals to introduce minimum five-year tenancies as part of the Localism Bill. The report – ‘Changing direction’ – said that the government, along with housing associations, should develop new models to enable home ownership. Brendan Sarsfield, chief executive of Family Mosaic said that the 20,000-home association was examining the introduction of a shared ownership scheme which included a five-year rent holiday to encourage more social tenants out of the sector. Download a copy of the report from the Family Mosaic website.

'Affordable Rents' Will Increase Costs To Public Purse

Housing association Family Mosaic has published groundbreaking research into the impact of reletting existing homes on new "affordable rents". Family Mosaic welcomes the principle behind the government's plans, but commissioned the research because it was worried that rent levels of 80% of market rents would be too high for the people it wants to house in London. So the association asked independent researcher Mark Lupton to look at what would have been the impact had 50 new tenancies granted within its stock in November and December 2010 been relet at 80% or at 60% of market rent. The research, published in "Mirror, signal, manoeuvre: our drive to provide more social housing" found that, had these 50 homes been let at 80% of market rents, the housing benefit bill for these 50 tenants would have increased by 151%; at 60% of market rents the bill would have increased by 68%. Download a copy of the report from the Family Mosaic website.