London Boroughs Fear ‘Summer Wave Of Homelessness’

Councils in London fear there will soon be a spike in homelessness in the capital due to the ongoing economic impact of the pandemic combined with the ending of government protections to prevent people losing their homes. Boroughs fear a spike in homelessness due to the “triple whammy” of high unemployment and rent arrears, the ending of the eviction ban and uncertainty over homelessness funding. Read more on Inside Housing.

Inside Housing - News - London boroughs fear ‘summer wave of homelessness’

UK Housing Crisis Deepens As Benefit Claimants Priced Out By High Rents

Britain’s housing crisis has hit a new low with not one of the single rooms available for private rent in large parts of London and Greater Manchester within the budget of people on housing benefit. None of 87 rooms for rent in outer south-west London – which includes areas such as Feltham and Hanworth – were affordable for people relying on local housing allowance (LHA) and neither were any of the rooms in the southern Greater Manchester area, including Stockport and Wythenshawe, according to analysis of official 2018 data by London Councils, the local government association for the capital. Read more on the Observer website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/07/uk-housing-crisis-deepens-as-benefit-claimants-priced-out-by-high-rents

London Councils Pay Landlords £14m In 'Incentives' To House Homeless People

Cash-strapped London councils are paying private landlords more than £14m a year in “incentives” simply to persuade them to house homeless people. The sweetener payments of up to £8,300 each were made to landlords more than 5,700 times in 2018 to house people who were either homeless or considered at risk of homelessness, freedom of information requests have revealed. The payouts are made in addition to rent and have been branded as ludicrous by housing campaigners and intolerable by councils. The fall in social housebuilding and a widening gap between housing benefit and market rents appear to be fuelling the payments. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/25/london-councils-pay-landlords-14m-in-incentives-to-house-homeless-people

Right To Buy Stopped Us Bidding For Build Grant

Only six London councils bid for the mayor’s Affordable Homes Programme this year, an analysis of CLG and mayor of London data has revealed. Most which did not bid said they were put off by the government’s restrictions on how they can use the cash they raise from selling homes to residents under the Right to Buy. Fourteen councils bid for Boris Johnson’s equivalent programme in 2014, but the accumulation of more Right to Buy receipts since then has made it harder for councils to accommodate grant funding, which they are forbidden to combine with the receipts. Read more on Inside Housing.

Councils Have ‘Urgent’ Concerns Over Homelessness Reduction Act Delays

Sir Steve Bullock, executive member for housing at London Councils and mayor of Lewisham Council, said in a letter to homelessness minister Marcus Jones that with only seven months until the Homelessness Reduction Act comes into force, councils are still waiting for “much delayed information”. This includes a promised code of guidance from government and “detailed” funding allocations, he said. London Councils has said if the guidance and allocations are not published soon, the act should be delayed until September 2018. Read more on Inside Housing.

Councils 'Not Informed' When Receiving Homeless Londoners

Councils in south-east England say they are often not told when homeless families are sent to their areas by London boroughs who cannot house them. Some say they are not given crucial information about child-welfare concerns unless there were already formal child protection plans in place. Many councils say they are not told how many such families are in their patch, which is in breach of housing laws. More than 2,000 London homeless families were placed outside the capital in 2015-16, according to co-ordinating body London Councils - a threefold rise on the number three years earlier. Read more on the BBC.

London Councils Trying To Force Homeless Families Out Of Capital

A handful of London councils are making aggressive use of legal powers to make “take or leave it” offers of housing in locations far away from the capital in an attempt to permanently resettle hundreds of homeless families. Officials are giving households 24 hours to accept private rented homes in the West Midlands, Essex and the south-east, warning that if they refuse the council will consider them to have become “intentionally homeless” and withdraw support. Research suggests half of offers made by 28 councils in locations in the West Midlands, more than 100 miles from London, are rejected, suggesting that many families are prepared to risk becoming homeless again rather than be uprooted from jobs and family support networks. Read more on the Guardian website.

Councils Claim Extra £470m Could Be Spent On Housebuilding If Allowed To Keep All RTB Receipts

If the Government slashed red tape and let them keep receipts from right-to-buy sales, then London’s borough councils would have an extra £470 million to spend on building new homes, it is claimed. London Councils, the umbrella body representing all 32 boroughs and the City of London, made this claim in its response to a Government consultation on capital finances regulations for local government, based on data from 2014/15. Read more on Housing Excellence.

London Councils Spend Near £500m On Temporary Accommodation

London councils spent nearly £500m on temporary accommodation over the past 18 months. A  Freedom of Information (FoI) request has uncovered five capital councils alone put out nearly £217m. And the eye-watering sum could be even higher. 29 councils responded. Four other councils - Enfield, Newham, Greenwich and Bromley - had not made figures available at the time of publication. Overall, the 29 responses reveal London Councils as spending £464,352,749 on temporary accommodation – an average of £25,797,474 per month. Broken down to an average of £889,568 each month per council. For the top five councils in the capital, their total spend on temporary accommodation over the 18 months is £216,825,693. Read more on 24dash.

Councils Seeks Clarification on ‘Office-To-Residential’

Permitted development rights (often referred to as ‘office-to-residential’) were introduced in May 2013 to fast-track the conversion of offices to homes, but can result in sub-standard housing and undermine new jobs and economic growth – according to London Councils, which represents the city’s 33 local authorities. The rights, which allow developers to bypass existing planning regulations, are due to expire in May 2016. However, the government has indicated they might be extended and that current exemptions – including Canary Wharf and east London’s Tech City – may be removed. Cllr Claire Kober, London Councils’ Executive member for infrastructure and regeneration, said: “The negative impact of permitted development rights in London is stark and we urge central government to clarify its position on making these rights permanent and removing existing exemptions for central London and many town centres.” Read more on the Housingnet website.

Dramatic Rise of Families Forced Out Of London

The number of homeless households forced to move outside London has risen by nearly 40 per cent in one year, leaked figures have shown. An unpublished report by umbrella body London Councils seen by Inside Housing also details how boroughs are starting to use new legal powers to push homeless households into the private sector. The draft Inter Borough Accommodation Agreement report reveals that there were 336 placements of homeless households outside the capital in the last quarter of the 2013/14 financial year - up from 211 in the same period the previous year. This equates to a threefold increase in the number of placements outside the capital since records began in the first quarter of 2012/13, when 113 were recorded. There have been a total of 1,918 out of London placements since then. Read more on Inside Housing.

Councils Slam Pooling Of New Homes Bonus

Plans to pool new homes bonus money in London have been slammed by the English capital’s councils. George Osborne’s autumn statement announced that £70 million of new homes bonus money will be pooled through the London Local Enterprise Partnership from 2015. The money will not be pooled through LEPs in other parts of the country but will go to councils. London Councils, the umbrella body representing local authorities in the capital, described the move as a £70 million cut for London boroughs. Read more on Inside Housing.

Londoners Housed Outside Capital Doubles

London boroughs have more than doubled the number of homeless families they are placing outside the capital as a result of the soaring costs of private rented accommodation. Unpublished documents by London Councils reveal that in the past 12 months to June, 789 households have been housed in 69 local authority areas as far flung as Manchester, Birmingham, Swansea and Accrington. In the first quarter of 2012/13 just 113 people were placed outside London. But figures for the first quarter of 2013/14 show this figure rocketed 129 per cent to 259. Karen Buck, Labour MP for Westminster North, said: ‘This suggests the crisis of affordability is rippling out across the outer boroughs. It is hard to see how local authorities can avoid this trend accelerating rapidly [when the overall benefit cap hits].” Read more on Inside Housing.

What’s Stopping Councils from Building More Housing?

A report has called for measures – including lifting caps on council borrowing – to allow London councils the opportunity to build housing suitable for low-income families.  Nearly 1 in 8 households in London live in a council home, nearly double the proportion of other parts of England, and demand is growing with over 380,000 households currently on a local authority waiting list. The report warns that despite councils having a good record of sustainable borrowing, the current caps on borrowing imposed by the Treasury – to limit national debt – means London boroughs are torn between their need to invest in improving current housing standards and building housing suitable for low-income households. New research conducted for the report shows most London councils would like to see the caps being lifted.  Read more on the London Gov website.

Homeless Funding Crisis Looms, Warns New Report

A staggering £25million may have to be paid out by London's local authorities in the wake of the benefit cap, says a new report.  Figures in London Councils’ report Tracking Welfare Reform: meeting the financial challenge show 4,600 London households in private sector temporary accommodation could be unable to pay their rent in full because of the benefit cap. By law, the capital’s local authorities have to pick up the shortfall – on average £105 per week per household - leaving them potentially £25 million worse off per year, and threatening funding for services such as waste and recycling, and highways. Read more on the London Councils’ website.

London 'Needs More Than 800,000 New Homes'

More than 800,000 new homes need to be built in London by 2021 to keep up with housing demand, according to the body that represents the capital's councils. London Councils, which represents 33 local authorities, said London's "future status as a global city" was at risk if the homes were not built. A spokesman said costs for the London economy would continue to spiral if the demand was not meant. London's population is expected to top nine million by 2021, he said.  Read more on the BBC website.

Welfare Reform NOT Reducing Rents

Government reforms to the welfare system are failing in their aim to reduce rents and could even be driving price hikes, according to a report by London Councils.  Tracking Welfare Reform: The Impact of Housing Benefit Reform in London analyses the impact of changes to Local Housing Allowance (LHA), the main housing benefit. It finds that:

*the changes have not led to reduced rents.

*working households accounted for 90 per cent of the growth in housing benefit in outer London

*more than two-thirds of the growth in housing benefit receipts are in the private rented sector

Download a copy of the report from the London Councils website.

Homelessness Charities Benefit From £2.8m Pot

Umbrella-group London Councils has handed over £2.8 million to eight projects tackling homelessness in the capital.  The cash from the grants committee is for two years for a range of schemes that are currently starting up.  Projects include one run by Stonewall Housing which provides specialist housing support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and a youth homelessness initiative run by New Horizon Youth Centre.  Read more on Inside Housing.

House of Lords and Treasury Urged to Back Plans To Deliver More Council Housing

A coalition of influential organisations in housing and property construction has urged the House of Lords to back a drive to build more council housing.  The British Property Federation (BPF), London Councils, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), and many other organisations have jointly signed a letter calling for the rules that stop councils undertaking measured borrowing to be lifted.  The letter calls on the government to remove the Housing Revenue Cap. It points out that as well as easing the housing crisis, the move would be good for growth and could create 19,200 jobs, cutting unemployment and welfare dependency. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Huge Slump in Private Landlords Taking Benefits Tenants

A slump in the number of private landlords in London willing to take homeless people on benefits must be addressed, town halls have warned.  Umbrella organisation London Councils says that the number of private landlords who will take such tenants has fallen 20% in the last year.  As a result, councils are having to accommodate homeless people in temporary bed and breakfasts. Latest figures show that London’s councils are having to accommodate nearly 900 families with children in this way, for more than the six-week period set out in Government guidance.  Read more on the Landlord Today website.