Right To Rent Not Working

Right to rent checks are not working, with more and more landlords afraid to rent to those without British passports, according to a new report by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI). It shows that the Government’s crackdown on illegal immigrants is creating a climate of fear amongst landlords. The charity is calling on the government to abandon the scheme. JCWI’s research suggests that landlords who have no wish to discriminate are being forced to do so by the scheme – with people who have a full right to rent a home in the UK being disadvantaged, along with others who should be able to access housing. It claims the scheme creates ‘structural incentives’ for landlords to discriminate unlawfully against foreigners and ethnic minorities. Read more on the RLA website.

Report Warns Of Bleak Future For Ageing Without Better Housing And Planning

The housing and planning system is failing to deal with an ageing society meaning people are likely to find themselves living in homes that do not meet their needs as they grow older, according to a report. Tomorrow’s World: The future of ageing in the UK presents a bleak future for ageing, but it doesn’t have to be this way. There are significant social and economic opportunities, but only if policymakers begin to plan better for the long term. Among its chief concerns, the report highlights:

·         The social care system is crumbling and health care is failing to incentivise the prevention of ill health

·         The housing and planning system is failing to respond to ageing resulting in people living in housing which does not meet their needs

·         Individuals are currently underestimating their life expectancy and risking running out of money in retirement.

Read more on the Housing Excellence 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.

Councils to Receive Cash Incentives for Cutting Housing Benefit Fraud

The government will reward councils that cut housing benefit fraud with cash incentives, it has announced. In the autumn statement, the Treasury announced a package of measures designed to tackle fraud, error and debt in the welfare system. The government will establish a new ‘housing benefit fraud and error local authority incentive scheme’, under which councils will be paid financial rewards ‘worth up to £35m over the next three years’ if they reduce the amount of money lost through housing benefit fraud and error. Read more on Inside Housing.

Incentives Would Encourage Bedroom Tax Tenants to Pay Up

Incentives such as vouchers for essential items and rent holidays are most likely to be effective in getting bedroom tax-hit tenants to pay rent on time, research published today has found. Viridian Housing commissioned the research on the impact of welfare reforms, including the bedroom tax. The research found that tenants most likely to default on their rent payments were most likely to respond positively to rent holidays as a reward for timely payments, or vouchers to spend on items such as food, as ‘this was felt to give them a goal to work towards’. It also said one-on-one discussions about personal circumstances would be helpful.  Download a copy of the report from the Viridian website.

HB Fraud: Tory MP Urges Rethink

Cash-strapped councils are losing millions of pounds to housing benefit fraud and the government is not doing enough to stop it, a Tory MP claims.  Stephen Barclay says councils have no incentive to go after fraudsters and they are getting away "scot free". He is calling for a review of the incentives offered to councils by the DWP to claw back money through the courts. The DWP compensates local authorities in England for 40% of any losses incurred due to fraudulent housing benefit claims.  It says councils can then pursue the full amount from the fraudster - allowing them to potentially recoup 140% of the amount stolen.  Read more on the BBC website.

£20m to Help Local Communities Benefit from Green Deal

Councils are being invited to bid for £20 million to offer extra incentives for households to take up the government’s flagship green deal energy efficiency scheme. The Department of Energy and Climate Change is asking local authorities to identify streets and areas that would benefit from the scheme, and then put in bids explaining what additional incentives they could provide to residents.  Under the green deal households can get work to improve the energy efficiency of their property carried out without paying upfront. They then repay the cost of the work using fuel bill savings.  Read more on the Gov.uk website.

Social Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what consideration his Department has given to allowing councils and other bodies housing pensioners being given incentives to downsize to smaller social housing properties, with particular reference to (a) financial incentives and (b) priority in bidding for smaller properties; and whether such incentives have also be considered for people below pensionable age.

Mr Prisk (part answer): We have made it easier for all social tenants to downsize to more suitable accommodation by increasing mobility, through changes to the housing allocation rules in the Localism Act 2011 and the introduction of a national mutual exchange scheme, “HomeSwap” Direct.

For the rest of this answer go to Hansard by clicking on the logo below.