Funding To Deliver Almost 14,000 New Affordable Homes

Ministers have announced a multi-million pound boost to build thousands of new affordable homes across the country.  Sixty-nine different housing associations and developers will each receive a share of £220 million to deliver almost 14,000 new affordable homes outside London. The move is part of wider government efforts to get Britain building, which will lead to the fastest annual rate of affordable house building for 2 decades.  The funding is part of the expanded £450 million Affordable Housing Guarantees which will support up to £3.5 billion in government debt guarantees to deliver thousands of new homes.  Of the almost 14,000 homes this money will help deliver, the majority will be available at an affordable rent with 2,000 of those available to buy through shared ownership. Read more on the Gov.uk website.

New Tenant Power to Help Kickstart House Building

A new right will give social tenants the power to boost house building in their area, says Mark Prisk.  The new right lets social tenants who want to see their homes owned, managed and maintained by a housing association rather than a council request for a change of ownership, with councils required to consider the merits of every request.  As part of the deal, housing associations will need to clearly show how it will offer value for money for taxpayers, as well as how it will lead to the building of new affordable homes and the improvement of existing stock.  Where these key measures could be met, Mr Prisk said deals could be backed with a share of up to £430 million of government funding to cover costs related to the transfer.  Read more on the Gov.uk website.

Localism Will Fail Unless Government and Housing Providers Get Joined Up

The Government's localism agenda will fail unless the current disconnection between housing associations and Westminster is overcome, a new report has warned.  Right-leaning think tank ResPublica's report - Acting on Localism: The role of housing associations in driving a community agenda - argues that government can meet local needs by harnessing the power of HAs.  HAs "already contribute an annual investment of £756 million to community and neighbourhood activities. Whilst many communities by themselves do not have the resources to take up the opportunities created by the Localism Act - such as community rights, budgetary challenge and neighbourhood planning powers - HAs can act as vital capacity-builders and vehicles for community ambition".  Download a copy of the report from the ResPublica website.

Council Approves Rent Rise Of Almost 10 Per Cent

Rotherham Council has approved a recommendation for an inflation-busting rent rise of 9.45 per cent - one of the biggest hikes anywhere in the country. Dave Richmond, director of housing and neighbourhoods at Rotherham Council, said the borough’s traditionally low rents - which before last year’s rise of 8.69 per cent rise averaged £60 a week - forced it to apply the maximum increase allowed in order to comply with CLG criteria aimed at bringing council rents into line with those charged by housing associations. ‘For us to get to convergence there’s no way we cannot apply that [formula],’ he said. But local tenants’ federation Rotherfed said many residents would be unable to afford a second year of steep rent rises. ‘We have had low rents and that’s coming home to roost,’ said Steve Raffle, development manager at Rotherfed. ‘But the convergence doesn’t have to be so quick; we are very worried about the impact on tenants.’ Read more on Inside Housing.

Housing Association Chiefs Debate Right to Buy Extension

Calls to extend the Right to Buy to all housing association tenants have been greeted with a mixed response. Housing association Home Group, which owns more than 50,000 homes, argues the measure could inject "£68 million into the economy", while others have warned it's "not the right solution to the current housing crisis." Read what HA Chief Executives have to say on 24dash.

Economy Could Gain £68bn from Right to Buy Extension

The Government could inject more than £68 billion into the UK economy by extending Right to Buy opportunities to housing association tenants, according to one of the UK’s largest registered landlords. Home Group - which owns more than 50,000 properties - has released figures which show the construction sector could widely benefit from a change in legislation. The housing group says that one fifth of housing association tenants currently prevented from buying their homes would be ready to make the move – representing around 200,000 sales. Home Group says that with the promise by the Government to see a new home built for each property sold – and with the average new housing association property costing £120,000 to build – £24 billion would directly be spent in the construction sector. Read more on the Home Group website.

'Right to Buy' Should Be Unlocked For Housing Association Tenants – MPs

A million housing association tenants should be given the ‘right to buy’, according to leading backbench MPs David Davis and Frank Field. The think tank IPPR is publishing a paper by Davis and Field arguing for ‘Right to Buy 2.0’. In their paper, Davis and Field show that since the Government introduced ‘Right to Buy’ in 1980, much of the remaining council stock has been transferred to housing associations. They argue that a million tenants who live in housing association properties should be given the right to buy their homes, with all of the funds generated being reinvested in new social housing. Download a copy of the report from the IPPR website.

Council Offers Help To Transform Empty Houses

Eden District Council in Cumbria is planning to offer interest free loans of up to £15,000 to enable empty property owners to bring their homes back into use. There are nearly 400 empty properties in the Eden district. Currently owners of empty properties can access grants of up to £20,000 from the council to help refurbish their properties and realise some valuable income through renting them to people registered on the Choice Based Lettings Scheme for a minimum of five years. However, the council wants to widen the scheme by offering an interest free loan of up to £15,000 over a three-year term to enable empty property owners to refurbish their assets. It says the owners can then sell or rent them to enable repayment. It adds that there would be no stipulation on who the property can be sold or rented to. The council is also working with housing associations to offer a scheme to lease empty properties for a period of 5-10 years which would mean a guaranteed rental income for property owners. Read more on the Eden Council website.

Economic Fears Cut Housing Association Borrowing

New borrowing by housing associations has fallen by a third as the sector responds to difficult economic conditions and government policy changes, according to the Tenant Services Authority. The social housing regulator, in its quarterly survey of registered providers, revealed that new loans worth £693 million had been arranged in the three months to September, down from £931 million the previous quarter. The figure for new funding is the lowest since the quarterly survey began in January 2009. The regulator said the affordable homes programme, which will allow landlords to charge rents at up to 80 per cent of market levels, will require up to £7.5 billion of funding with finance requirements concentrated in the last two years of the programme, in 2014 and 2015. It said it expects at least 40 providers to arrange funding over the next two years. Read more on the TSA website.

Social Landlords 'Running Out Of Time' To Improve Transparency – Shapps

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has criticised housing associations that “have failed to publish” details of how they are spending public money for their tenants to see. In a letter to the National Housing Federation, Mr Shapps has attacked “stubborn landlords" who keep their books closed. He argued that since coming to office, he has repeatedly called on HAs to come up with plans to offer greater transparency. He claimed that HAs should “follow the Government's lead” and come up with their own plans for opening up the sector to more public scrutiny but that little progress has been made. The Minister called on landlords to "throw open their books to the public" and let taxpayers and tenants see how much is being spent to manage their homes. Read more on the CLG website.

Council to Bring 3,000 Empty Homes Back Into Use

A Yorkshire council is planning to use its new homes bonus to bring as many as 3,000 empty homes back into use. In a programme aimed at private landlords, Wakefield Council has written to the owners of 3,000 homes that have been empty for at least six months, offering help in selling or finding housing association partners to lease their properties out under the affordable homes programme. It will use the new homes bonus to provide loans to help homeowners whose properties are in administration following a death. Wakefield hopes to use the new homes bonus to offer loans to homeowners to help them put properties on the market. Read more on Inside Housing.

Report: ‘Housing Staff Should Police Riots’

Front line housing staff should ‘patrol the streets’ to prevent future riots, according to the official report into the summer’s disturbances. The recommendations were published in the communities and victims panel interim report into the riots which spread across England in August. The report was commissioned by the government. The report warned that without urgent action the riots ‘will happen again’ and continued ‘Local authorities should engage all front line workers (e.g. neighbourhood wardens) when there is a risk of rioting, for example to patrol the streets.’ It added that local authorities ‘should consider asking charities and housing associations to help prevent disturbances’. Social landlords immediately raised significant concerns about the recommendations. Download a copy of the report from the 5daysinaugust website.

ALMOs – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mr Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department has any plans to require arm's length management organisations to become housing associations.
Andrew Stunell: The Department will set out its thinking on any stock transfer to housing associations in the Housing Strategy which will be published in due course. We will listen to views across the housing sector to ensure that social housing is well managed and resourced and remains relevant in a changing world.

Battle Looms over Affordable Rents

Rows between housing associations and town halls over rent levels are threatening proposed developments under the government’s £1.8 billion affordable homes programme. Housing associations received development funding allocations under the programme, which allows them to charge rents at up to 80 per cent of market rates on new properties and some re-lets. In parts of the country, including London, the new ‘affordable rents’ will be much higher than traditional social rents. However, before their funding is signed off by the HCA, associations must demonstrate that they have the support of the relevant local authority. While associations agreed outline bids with councils earlier in the year, certain details - including rent levels - have altered following negotiations with the HCA, which wants landlords to charge the highest possible rents to keep public subsidy to a minimum. Objections from councils to the changes have prompted heated discussions between some housing associations and councils over the past few weeks. Read more on Inside Housing.

UK Migration: The Leadership Role of Housing Providers

What can housing providers do to successfully handle the consequences of national policies and trends relating to UK immigration? Migration policy often focuses on the number of new migrants entering the UK, but little is done to support neighbourhoods where migrants already live. Central government is withdrawing from these issues at a local level, placing more importance than ever before on regional and local leadership. This report:
*investigates the role of housing associations;
*studies the ways in which housing providers have already taken steps towards better neighbourhood cohesion and integration;
*explores perceived or actual competition between migrants and host communities for housing; and
*encourages housing providers who are well-placed to act on these issues to support communities in the process of change caused by the effects of recent migration, which are here to stay.
Download the summary of this report from the JRF website.

Contractor Says Billions Could Be Saved By Switching Outsourcing

A contractor claims savings of up to £2.9 billion could be made by housing associations, ALMOS and councils if changes were made to the outsourcing of housing maintenance and management. In a report, Tougher Times, Smarter Ways, Morrison has called on housing providers to switch to a ‘transformational’ model of outsourcing which, it claims, could see savings rise to 20 – 35 per cent compared with working in-house. The company says that currently providers with a traditional outsourcing contract have savings of 10 - 15 per cent and those with collaborative outsourcing contracts make savings of 15 – 25 per cent. According to Morrison ‘traditional’ outsourcing involves the provider undertaking activities prescribed by the client with costing done per activity and with a contract lasting three to five years. Download a copy of the report from the Inside Housing website.

Think-tank Calls for 'Biggest Housing Transfer to Poor since Right to Buy'

Plans for a £90 billion asset transfer to poor families - the biggest since Margaret Thatcher’s sell-off of council houses in the 1980s – are outlined in a new report from a leading think-tank. ResPublica urges Ministers to embrace a sweeping transfer of ownership from the public sector to community groups and co-operatives. The report, At the Crossroads: Progressive Future for Housing Associations, sets out a raft of policy ideas which would overhaul the ownership, management and operation of the country’s 1,200 housing associations, which own over two million homes. Download a copy of the report from the ResPublica website.

Richer Tenants to Be Targeted

Housing associations are considering only letting affordable rent properties to tenants who can afford to pay the rent without help from housing benefit, the Chartered Institute of Housing has warned. The CIH made the warning in a submission to the Tenant Services Authority’s consultation on changing its tenancy standard to include the new model, which will see tenants charged up to 80 per cent of market rents to fund new home development. Although ministers accept housing benefit will cover most of the increased rents, the report said associations were concerned such payments would be cut once the extent to which higher rents increased the benefit bill became clear. Read more on Inside Housing.

Social Landlords Eye HCA’s £783m Landbank

Local authorities and housing associations have pledged to work with community groups interested in buying Homes and Communities Agency land. The move comes after the government introduced powers that could see the HCA’s £783 million landbank sold off. The new powers will allow residents to apply to buy public sector land they decide is of community value. Communities wanting to improve their neighbourhoods by developing disused public sector land had been bounced ‘off the walls of bureaucratic indifference’ for too long, Shapps said. In a thinly veiled attack on the HCA, he added that the government was ‘no longer prepared to accept the state-sponsored decline of local communities’. The list of assets is available to download from the HCA website by clicking on the logo below.

Affordable Rent ‘Not Worth the Risk’ Say Associations

Some of England’s largest housing associations could shun the government’s new affordable new rent regime because of the strain it will place on their balance sheets. The Homes and Communities Agency will shortly finalise details of the regime which will allow landlords to charge rents at up to 80 per cent of market rates. The government believes the policy will allow associations to boost their borrowing capacity and build 150,000 new homes by 2015. Associations are concerned that they are being asked to take on more risk and debt, which could adversely affect existing loan deals and damage their credit ratings. They also have reservations about the social consequences of pushing general needs tenants into more expensive tenures. Landlords are sceptical about the new regime’s ability to deliver the number of homes the government hopes for. One chief executive said adopting the affordable rent regime would halve its development output. Read more on Inside Housing.