59% Of Existing EU Construction Workers ‘Would Be Ineligible’

59% of current EU migrants in the construction sector would have been found ineligible under new government immigration plans. The new system will only allow those who gain enough points through skills and qualifications to be granted a visa. The think tank IPPR has analysed government data to estimate the share of EU migrant workers in the UK who would be deemed eligible for a skilled work visa under the proposed system. The research found that in total, around 69% of EU migrants currently working in the UK would be ineligible for a skilled work visa if the future immigration rules were to apply to them. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/59-of-existing-eu-construction-workers-would-be-illegible/

Homelessness Rising And Villagers Priced Out In Rural England

The number of social homes being built in rural England has fallen by more than 80% in the last six years. Research has found just 1,309 social houses were built in rural areas in 2017-18, despite hundreds of thousands of people stuck on long waiting lists. Sky News and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) can reveal that social housing - previously known as council housing - has fallen by 83% between 2011-12 and 2018. Read more on the Sky News website.

https://news.sky.com/story/social-housing-falls-sharply-in-rural-england-as-villagers-priced-out-or-made-homeless-11819138

Fixed-Term Tenancies ‘Should Be Scrapped’, Says Thinktank

Fixed-term tenancies for private renters should be scrapped and replaced by mandatory open-ended agreements in order to end so-called “no-fault” evictions, a thinktank has said. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said the law should also be changed to stop landlords evicting tenants within the first three years of a tenancy because they want to sell their home. It made the calls in a report urging a major overhaul of the private rented sector. A poll found that 72% of people believe the government should be doing more to regulate the private rented sector, while 53% feel the current system is unfair on tenants. Download a copy of the report from the IPPR website.

https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/sign-on-the-dotted-line

Fixed-Term Tenancies ‘Should Be Scrapped’, Says Thinktank

Fixed-term tenancies for private renters should be scrapped and replaced by mandatory open-ended agreements in order to end so-called “no-fault” evictions, a thinktank has said. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said the law should also be changed to stop landlords evicting tenants within the first three years of a tenancy because they want to sell their home. It made the calls in a report published today urging a major overhaul of the private rented sector. A poll conducted by Sky Data on behalf of the IPPR found that 72% of people believe the government should be doing more to regulate the private rented sector, while 53% feel the current system is unfair on tenants. Read more on the IPPR  website.

https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/sign-on-the-dotted-line

Private Renting Sector Unfair To Tenants, Poll Finds

As families and children in privately rented homes soar, a new report urges a rethink to make housing more stable and affordable. The research, which included focus groups of both tenants and landlords, represents efforts by IPPR from Sky Data to gain a better understanding of the private rented sector, developing policy options for reform. According to investigations, more than seven in 10 of all privately rented houses are owned by individuals and couples, with 78% of ‘amateur’ landlords renting out a single home. Download the report from the IPPR website.

https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/the-case-for-reforming-private-renting

Call To Scrap Council Tax And Stamp Duty For Annual Property Tax

A radical plan to scrap council tax and stamp duty in favour of a new levy based on the value of people’s homes is being urged by the IPPR think tank – as part of a five-point programme to overhaul taxation of wealth. Under the plan, all homeowners would pay annual property taxes proportionate to the present-day market price of their homes. The report recommends the new property tax set at 0.5% to raise at least as much as current council taxes. A higher rate would be needed in order to replace the revenue currently raised from stamp duty land tax, paid by anyone buying a home. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/call-to-scrap-council-tax-and-stamp-duty-for-annual-property-tax/

Call To Stop UK Landowners Making Huge Profits From Speculation

Britain should limit the windfall gains of landowners by freezing the value of plots newly designated for housing, according to a thinktank urging sweeping reforms to tackle a national shortage of affordable homes. Calling on the government to pursue land market reforms similar to the German model, the Institute for Public Policy Research said planning authorities should be given new powers to zone land for development and freeze its price. It said speculation by landowners awaiting planning decisions that can trigger vast increases in the value of a plot, had the effect of exacerbating wealth inequality and was a “driving force behind the broken housing market” in Britain. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/aug/28/call-to-stop-landowners-making-huge-profits-from-speculation

Families In Rural Areas Are Spending Nearly A Third Of Their Income On Rent

Families in rural areas are spending nearly a third of their income on rent, research by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) has revealed. In a report to mark Rural Housing Week the IPPR found there is an affordability “crisis” in rural areas where the average house price is £320,700, more than £87,000 higher than the urban average outside of London. The IPPR analysis also found the population in rural areas is set to age rapidly over the next two decades. Between 2014 and 2038, the working-age population in rural areas is projected to decline by 75,000 people while the population aged over 65 will grow by around 1.5 million. Read more on the IPPR website.

https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/a-new-rural-settlement

92% Of Councils Not Meeting Affordable Housing Needs

The study, by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), warned that 92% of councils are not meeting affordable housing need in their areas. It found that affordable housing represented the biggest delivery challenge – with two-thirds, or 67%, of authorities failing to meet overall housing demand in 2015/16. The report called on chancellor Philip Hammond to make further investment in affordable housing at the Budget, including through allowing councils to take on extra borrowing in order to build new homes. Researchers said that sub-market housing products such as affordable rent and shared ownership are becoming increasingly out of reach for low and middle-income earners in most areas. Download the report from the IPPR website.

Plea For ‘Full Scale Rescue’ Of Universal Credit In Upcoming Budget

Universal Credit (UC) needs a “full scale rescue mission” from the upcoming budget before it plunges hundreds of thousands of claimants into poverty. The latest study into the ill-fated – even toxic – reform shows the potential for a “colossal failure” of public policy if UC rolls out little more than desperation and destitution, a new study says. Figures cited in the study by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) and the Institute for Public Policy Research show the ‘flagship’ reform is sinking as its system for benefiting families for taking on more work had effectively been broken by austerity. Download their report– Austerity Generation – from the CPAG website.

Rural Homelessness 'Hidden Crisis'

The “hidden crisis” of rural homelessness requires urgent attention from the government, a leading thinktank has said after research revealed a dramatic rise in the number of rough sleepers in countryside areas in the last five years. The Institute for Public Policy Research warned that it is particularly hard to prevent or relieve because of the difficulties in covering larger areas and the lack of specialist resources compared to cities. It said the number of people sleeping rough in barns, outhouses and parked cars in rural areas had risen by up to 32% between 2010 and 2016. Read more on the Guardian website.

North Faces Housing Crisis Unless Powers Are Devolved

London’s housing crisis will move north unless radical powers are handed to mayors in Liverpool, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, experts have warned. The thinktank, Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), said ministers would miss their target of building 1m new homes by 2020 unless it devolved power over housing to the regions. The IPPR North study, Closer to Home, said the metro mayors, due to be elected in May 2017, should be given control over the 1.6m hectares of greenbelt land in England to alleviate the shortage of affordable housing. It found a huge gap between the amount of available brownfield land and the long-term housing need. Read more on the IPPR website.

Radical Devolution Deal For London To Tackle Housing Crisis

The commission set up by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) to consider how to solve the capital’s housing crisis has recommended a radical package of measures.  Under the proposals the London Mayor and the London boroughs would commit to doubling the annual supply of new homes of all types and tenures by 2020. In return the government would exempt London from the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), give the Mayor’s London Plan the same status as the NPPF and provide the Mayor with the power to force boroughs to change their plans if they don’t identify enough land for housing. Under these proposals the Mayor and the boroughs would form a joint London Housing Committee to coordinate housing policy across the capital and to set planning fees for the capital. Read more on the Planning Portal.

Housing Benefit Cuts Could See Claimants £500 A Year Worse Off

Cuts to housing benefit – now seen as the Treasury’s preferred alternative to cutting tax credits – are likely to damage similar groups of in-work poor claimants by depriving them of more than £500 a year, suggests fresh research by the Institute for Public Policy Research. The research indicates if the chancellor makes all housing benefit claimants pay the first 10% of their rent from their own funds, he will save around £2.4bn a year, but hit 4.8 million households. The housing benefit budget has risen in recent years and now costs the Treasury £25bn. Their analysis comes as George Osborne has been forced by a Conservative backbench rebellion to backtrack on his plan to cut tax credits. Cutting housing benefit entitlement could help make up the shortfall. Read more on the Politics Home website.

Calls for Strategic Planning Incentives to Boost Housing

Strong financial incentives are needed to coordinate planning and land use strategically across council boundaries with ‘meaningful penalties’ for councils which fail to do so, according to a new report on how cities could transform house-building performance. That’s the conclusion of the ‘Growing Cities’ publication produced by think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research and housing charity Shelter, which argues that drastic action is needed to tackle the urban housing crisis. The authors concluded that councils within city-regions “should be strongly incentivised to work closely together to co-ordinate building more homes”. The report argued that strategic planning powers and budgets should be devolved to cities and resources such as public land should be pooled and coordinated across boundaries. Read more on the Planning Portal website.

The Great Housing Benefit Scandal

Nine billion pounds of taxpayers' money goes to private landlords every year in housing benefit. And the Institute for Public Policy Research estimates that at least £3bn of that money is spent on poor quality accommodation annually. Despite the huge amounts at stake, councils across the country have little control over where housing benefit ends up. And some unscrupulous landlords are taking the cash while exploiting vulnerable tenants. Local authorities can find themselves effectively rewarding rogue landlords - handing out significant amounts of housing benefit with one hand, while trying to prosecute them for non-compliance with the other.  Read more on the BBC website.

Back on the Market: Bringing Empty Homes Back Into Use

There are estimated to be around 635,000 empty homes in England. Of those, 216,000 have been unoccupied for longer than six months. It is notable that the vast majority of these homes are in private hands, with private owners accounting for 91 per cent of all empty dwellings, and probably an even higher percentage of all long-term empty homes. The challenge is to address this imbalance in the market, when incentives on homeowners to fill or sell empty homes are weak, and when regional variations raise the risk, for example, of inadvertently punishing landlords who are genuinely trying but unable to fill a vacant property. In this briefing, we argue that local authorities should be offered an enhanced set of powers to address the problem. Read the briefing on the IPPR website.

Invest in Housing like Transport and Energy Infrastructure

Problems with housing finance could be improved if housing investment was treated more like other key economic infrastructure such as transport, energy and skills, a report by IPPR North has said. It argues that there is greater justification for using public funds to invest in housing in areas of ‘marginal viability’ to support wider economic benefit and recommends raising the HRA borrowing cap and more use of housing bonds and local authority pensions funds to support housing investment. Download the report from the IPPR website.

Increasing Housing Supply and Reducing the Housing Benefit Bill

During the course of this parliament, 95 per cent of government spending on housing will go through the benefit system, with just 5 per cent invested in new homes. This more than reverses the balance of spending in the late 1970s, contributing to the undersupply of homes and a rising housing benefit bill. Even as the economy recovers, the housing benefit caseload is set to rise, with more working people finding themselves unable to pay their rent without a subsidy. The housing benefit bill is projected to rise in real terms throughout the next five years, reaching a level around £8 billion a year higher in real terms than before the recession. The overwhelming priority for addressing each of these issues is to dramatically increase housing supply so there are more homes to rent and buy overall. Boosting supply is a precondition for addressing the structural growth in housing benefit spending. Read more on the IPPR website.

Labour: We'll Scrap Benefits for Under 25s

People under the age of 25 would be barred from claiming unemployment benefits under proposals being considered by the Labour Party. The Institute for Public Policy Research will publish a paper later this week proposing a new means-tested “youth allowance” for 18 to 24-year olds who are not in work or education. Only those who prove they are in “purposeful” training or carrying out an “intensive” job search would be eligible for the allowance, the group will say. The allowance would be dependent on family income, with the children of parents earning more than £25,000 a year unable to claim it, the IPPR will suggest. The youth allowance would be set at £56.80, the same level as Job Seekers’ Allowance. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.