Shelter Launches 'Living Home Standard'

A homelessness charity has launched a ‘Living Home Standard’ to measure the acceptability of housing across all tenures. Shelter has published the new standard, which draws inspiration from the Living Wage to provide a “definition of what the British public believe everyone needs from a home”. Research on behalf of the charity found 43% of those polled live in homes which fail to meet the new standard. According to research by Ipsos Mori, which conducted 1,961 representative interviews across Britain on Shelter’s behalf, private renters fair the worst, with 69% failing the standard, compared to 20% of those who own their home outright. Read more on the Shelter blog.

Pay (MORE) to Stay

The Observer has a piece about the government policy they call “pay to stay” which is a misnomer as tenants already pay to stay, else they will be evicted, and the policy is one of paying MORE to stay. What the article does NOT say is:

·         The policy does not apply in Scotland & Wales

·         The income threshold is household income not just wage income

·         The policy is mandatory for council landlords to impose yet is voluntary for housing association landlords.

·         Council landlords return all added rental income to central government, yet housing associations get to keep all added rent charged under the policy

What the article gets wrong is that a couple both working 40 hours per week at the £7.20 national living wage have a wage income ABOVE the £30k threshold as this is £30.034 per year. Read more on the Joe Halewood blog.

Lower Income Households 'Struggling To Pay For Accommodation'

More than one in four of the poorest households has had difficulty paying for their accommodation in the last year, compared with just 7% of those in the top fifth by income, according to a new report.  The Resolution Foundation said almost a third of the lowest income households have debts of four times their gross income. An increase in inequality appears "inevitable", even with the introduction of the £7.20 an hour national living wage from April, predicted the think-tank's chief economist Matt Whittaker. People on lower incomes are more likely to be spending over a third of their gross income on mortgage repayments, he added. Read more on the BT website.

For Far Too Many People, a Starter Home Will Be a Non-Starter

The government's current plans to solve the housing crisis, which in the main focus on building affordable 'Starter Homes', are not the solution we need. The offer of 20% off some new homes costing up to £450,000, whose prices are rising at over 5% a year, is empty, as it's still out of reach for millions of people. Plus it will be paid for by scrapping other plans to build more homes ordinary people can afford to rent or buy, and selling off many of the few affordable homes we have left. Analysis shows that these 'Starter homes' will be unaffordable for families earning average wages in over half of local authorities in England in 2020. For families on the new National Living Wage, that rises to 98%. Read more on the Huffington Post website.

Non-Starter Homes

The government’s flagship house building policy is 200,000 new “Starter Homes” by 2020. The policy was launched with a fanfare by the Prime Minister during the general election campaign with the words “a home of your own” emblazoned behind him: a sentiment that Shelter would certainly endorse. However, new analysis shows that these Starter Homes will be a non-starter for families on typical wages across most of the country. In fact, average earning families will be priced out of these new “affordable” homes in 58% of local authorities by 2020, while families earning the new National Living Wage will be priced out in 98% of the country. The government might be scratching its head at these results but even with a 20% discount on the price and an average deposit already saved up or gifted, typical families can’t afford these homes in most places. How can this be? It’s simply because house prices are now so wildly out of kilter with normal earnings. Read more on the Shelter blog.

Rents in EVERY London Postcode Are ‘Unaffordable’ For Workers on Living Wage

Rent in every London postcode is now “unaffordable” for low-paid workers — even those on the London Living Wage — according to a new survey.  Figures show that workers paid £9.15 an hour, the “living” rate, have to spend more than half their income on rent. The situation is even bleaker for apprentices, whose £2.73-an-hour earnings mean they do not stand a chance. Even the capital’s cheapest postcodes such as SE28 and N9 are now considered out of reach with rooms on average costing £480 a month and £505 a month respectively. At these rates renters on the Living Wage would be forced to spend about 40 per cent of their net income on accommodation. SpareRoom.co.uk, which conducted the research, calculated “affordable” as spending less than 35 per cent of take-home earnings on rent. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

A Mixed Summer Budget for Renters

Having won the election, George Osborne used his first Budget of the parliament to rifle through the pockets of his vanquished political rivals. He announced an increase in the minimum wage, dubbing it the Living Wage in the process - more or less Labour election policy. And he nicked a Green Party policy by cutting tax relief for landlords. We have long called for a review of landlord subsidies - we proposed in February that a new levy should be imposed to recoup the £9.3bn of housing benefit that we funnel into landlords' pockets. This money could then be invested in new social housing. This policy is a pale imitation of that, but it's a big move from the Chancellor. First, he'll stop higher rate taxpayers from claiming tax relief on mortgage interest payments, and second, he'll replace the blanket 10% wear and tear allowance with a system where the landlord has to prove that they replace furnishings, etc in order to claim relief. Read more on Generation Rent.

What We Really Need Now Is a Living Rent

The living wage campaign has been a huge success. But while housing costs continue to eat up so much of renters' incomes, we need to go one further. Based on the principle that nobody should have to pay more than a third of their income on rent (the widely recognised threshold of housing affordability), we want councils to create a living rent where rents would be linked to average local earnings. Social housing providers would be encouraged to provide truly affordable homes and be accredited as living rent providers. In the private sector, we want landlords to commit to capping their yearly rent increases at 2% above inflation and offer long-term tenancies to those who need them. Read more on the Guardian website.

Residents Offered Jobs to Help Them Keep Homes

A London council is offering jobs to residents who are at risk of losing their home due to welfare cuts. Greenwich Council is offering full and part-time jobs to some of the families in its area who are being hit hardest by the cuts. They will be paid the London Living Wage – which amounts to £8.55 an hour – or more, and employed in teams covering parks and open spaces, street cleansing, recycling, enforcement, and in town-centre management.  The council said it is the first in the country to launch such a scheme, and it will be taking on the first 31 recruits this month. Read more on the Royal Borough of Greenwich website.