G15 Calls For Additional Funding To Convert Unsold Units To Key Worker ‘Homes For Heroes’

The G15 group of London’s largest housing associations has urged government to provide financial backing to convert unsold properties into affordable homes for key workers, as part of a new five-year programme to deliver 100,000 ‘homes for heroes’. In a report, the group set out a number of requirements for scaling delivery over time, including an opportunity to “invest in precision-manufactured homes on a scale not seen since the original Homes Fit for Heroes programme” launched in 1918. But it said that to help essential workers in the shorter term there should be an “immediate response to make available completed or nearly completed homes”, with government funding matched to housing associations’ resources. Read more on the Social Housing website.

https://www.socialhousing.co.uk/news/g15-calls-for-immediate-additional-funding-to-convert-unsold-units-to-key-worker-homes-for-heroes-66397?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Bedroom Tax Failing To Free Up Larger Homes

The bedroom tax is failing to free up larger social homes in London, according to research by the G15 group of housing associations. Interim findings from the Real London Lives project reveal around a quarter of tenants were affected by the bedroom tax between 2013 and 2015, but 74% of those affected in 2013 remained in the same situation over the three-year study period. Of the remaining one quarter, 12% stopped receiving housing benefit and 14% no longer had extra bedrooms due to changes in family circumstances.  Only a handful of residents affected by the bedroom tax said they had moved as a direct result of the policy. Read more on the G15 website.

It’s Win-Win, Says 'Affordable' Housing Report

Housing associations provide more than just houses, they also enable savings and benefits across government departments, according to research consultancy Frontier Economics. Their report was jointly commissioned by the National Housing Federation and the g15, who represent London’s 15 largest housing associations. While public investment is required to supply the level of truly 'affordable' housing England needs, the report notes that this investment also provides savings and benefits across government departments. Download the report from the Frontier Economics website.

London's Social Housing Tenants Exposed

A new report has shed light onto the lives of 1,600 London social housing tenants. The research found that the average tenant in the capital has been living at their address for seven years - and 80% agree that their neighbourhood feels like home. Meanwhile, housing benefit administration was discovered to be the main reason for tenants falling behind on their rent. 60% have the right number of bedrooms according to the bedroom standard, with just 15% of those in receipt of full housing benefit with one or more extra bedrooms.  The report on the Real London Lives research project by g15, a group of London’s largest housing associations, reveals the facts behind the one in 10 Londoners who live in their homes.  It is the first time such large-scale independent research into the lives of people living in housing association homes has been undertaken. Read more on the Real London Lives website.

Major New Survey to Identify Tenants' Key Issues

A major new research study of social housing tenants has been launched.  The g15, a group of London’s largest housing associations, has commissioned the study to identify the key challenges facing affordable housing residents and give a public voice to the one in ten Londoners they represent.  The research will follow the lives of tenants across the capital, providing an insight into their hopes and aspirations, and will carry out 1,000s of interviews.  As well as identifying the specific challenges they face, such as the impact of welfare reform, it is hoped that the study will also highlight the role 'ordinary' Londoners play in their local communities.  Read more on 24dash.

Welfare Reforms Threaten House Building

The g15, which comprises the 15 biggest housing associations in London, has raised fears that an unintended consequence of welfare reform could be that fewer new affordable homes are built.  Up to 1,200 new homes a year nationally could be at risk as housing associations become more cautious in response to concerns over increased rent arrears and bad debts. g15 anticipates that rent collection costs could rise by as much as £600,000 a year for each organisation as low income tenants struggle to pay their rent.  Any increase in rent arrears and reduction in income will reduce housing associations’ financial capacity to build the homes that are urgently needed in the capital.  Read more on the g15 website.

CLG Found To Undervalue Affordable Housing

The way the government measures the value of affordable housing is fundamentally flawed and the sector has double the impact currently assumed, according to independent research.  Allocation of public funding has been calculated based on a Treasury formula that indicates that every pound invested in affordable homes is worth just 50 pence because affordable homes have been thought to displace housing of other tenures.  This means the Treasury has assumed that one out of every two publicly funded homes would have been built anyway by a private developer.  However, independent research commissioned by the G15 group of London’s largest housing associations indicates this assumption is flawed.  Read more on Inside Housing.

150,000 Homes Target in Doubt If Subsidy Isn't Maintained

The Government's 150,000 affordable homes target is in doubt if state subsidy in housing is not maintained in the capital, a new report has warned. The report, produced by the London School of Economics (LSE) and Political Science for the g15 group of housing associations, sets out the case for investment in London's affordable housing at a time when the Government is rolling back state funding in housing - allowing social landlords to charge higher rents to build new homes. The report warns that while this model will allow more affordable homes to be built, it comes with limitations. These include: problems of affordability among London's lower-income employed households, a hike in the housing benefit bill, the risks of private finance and the slow turn-over in social sector re-lets. Read more on 24dash.