Cash-Strapped Councils Overpaid Housing Benefit by £14m

More than £14 million of housing benefit was overpaid by cash-strapped councils in Nottinghamshire – with £7 million spent in the city alone. Errors, claimants failing to inform councils of changes in circumstances and fraudsters trying to cheat the system have all been blamed by the councils involved. The figures, released by the DWP, reveal a total of £7.24 million too much was paid out by the city council from April last year to March this year. It fared worse than both Derby City Council, which overpaid by £5.4 million, and Leicester City Council, which overpaid by £6.8 million. Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Complaints over Housing Policy

A batch of more than 700 letters from landlords and residents have been delivered to Nottingham City Council against a controversial housing policy.

The authority is looking at increasing the number of areas where landlords will have to apply for a licence for a house to be turned into a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO). The authority is looking at introducing an additional licensing scheme in several areas in the city, including parts of Radford, Lenton, The Park, Arboretum, Wollaton Park, Mapperley, The Meadows, Hyson Green and Sneinton. David Liversidge, portfolio holder for Commissioning and Voluntary Sector at the city council, said: "We will listen to any constructive feedback from this consultation, but this position is ill-informed and appears designed to protect the interests of landlords at the expense of leaving tenants without the protection from rogue landlords they need. "We completely refute any accusation that our scheme is discriminatory. We remain committed to working with good landlords and improving the standards of rented accommodation in the city."  Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Council House Sales on the Rise Again

The numbers of tenants taking up the right to buy their council home across the country has more than doubled in the past year, with Nottingham showing some of the highest rises.  Figures show that there were 5,942 council homes sold between April 2012 and April this year – more than double the number sold in the previous year and the highest number of sales since 2007.  Nottingham City Council sold 134 homes over the same period, compared with 91 the previous year.  Nationally, a total of 2,449 properties were sold between January and March this year, more than four times the 566 sold during the same period in 2012.  Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

City Led the Way in Selling Council Homes

Recent events have caused much reflection on the changes seen in the country since the turbulent years of the 1980s, but the change that permanently marks out that period was the sale of council houses and the social impact it has had. Back in the late 1960s, Nottingham City Council had sold a few council houses then, in 1976, the council set up a local scheme of sales.  Homes were offered either to sitting tenants, or those on the waiting list, in that as soon as a house became vacant it was offered for sale for a period of three weeks, and if unsold was returned to the rented stock.  Queues formed each Tuesday and Thursday outside the sales office, indeed some slept overnight to be first in line to view what was on offer.  Sales reached levels that were never again matched, even when the sale of houses became national policy after the Housing Act during the 1980s. Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Bedroom Boost for Flats Dwellers

More than 1,000 high-rise flats in Nottingham have been classed as one-bedroom homes so there is no chance of tenants being hit by the so-called "bedroom tax".  In addition, 112 properties have had smaller bedrooms designated as studies to avoid the charge.  Nottingham City Homes said the decision to classify the 1,019 high-rise flats it runs as "one bedroom" would also make it easier to let properties on higher floors in the future.  Gill Moy, director of housing at Nottingham City Homes, added: "Together with the city council we are constantly looking at our housing stock, how we allocate it and the needs of our tenants and prospective tenants – making sure we have the right home for the right people.  We have also identified bedrooms which are less than 50 square feet – we consider it reasonable to not include those when determining the number of bedrooms on a property."  Read more on the Evening Post website.

Home Crisis for Thousands Hit By 'Bedroom Tax'

Thousands of people in Notts will be pushed into a financial crisis following the introduction of the Government's "bedroom tax", it is claimed. But a Post investigation has shown a lack of available houses means that many tenants will have nowhere to go.  Among 12 housing associations in the city, only 21 one-bedroom and 14 two-bedroom properties are available – but 5,506 households need to downsize or be hit by the cuts.  And outside the city, lettings website Homesearch says only 10 two-bedroom and 12 one-bedroom properties are available in Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe. Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood is urging the Government to reconsider the changes.  Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

MP Urges U-Turn On 'Bedroom Tax'

A city MP has called on the Government to backtrack over its controversial "bedroom tax" plans.  Thousands of low-income families across Notts will be forced to pay more rent or move out of their homes when it is introduced on April 1. Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood said: "The Government urgently needs to look again. This unfair and arbitrary policy is already having a huge impact in Nottingham."  Chris Hobson, East Midlands lead manager for the National Housing Federation, added: "The bedroom tax is flawed and will unfairly penalise thousands of people who have lived in their homes for years, raised families and contributed to their communities.”  Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Nottingham City Council Signs Up To Fight 'Bedroom Tax'

In an attempt to fight the Government's housing benefit cut – dubbed the "bedroom tax" – Nottingham City Council has started a petition calling on the policy to be scrapped.  One week after it was launched, more than 750 people have already signed. The Government has given the city council money to alleviate the impact of this scheme – £274,000 this year and £696,000 next year – but the authority has said is not enough to help all affected households and may not continue beyond next year.  Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Flats Are Knocked Down As Plans for New Homes Are Cutback

The number of council houses planned to be built in Nottingham over the next five years has been cut. Nottingham City Homes and the city council announced plans last year to demolish 900 homes city and build 500. However, this has now been reduced to 350.  A spokesman for the organisation said: "We believed at that time that we'd probably be able to build 500. It was an aspirational figure.  What's happened is the figures have been worked out by the Government and they've squeezed the funding pot."

NCH is taking a long-term loan to pay for the houses, which will be paid off from rental income over the next 30 years.  Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

MP's Concern Over 'Bedroom Tax' Plans for Cut in Housing Benefits

Nottingham North MP Graham Allen has written to the housing minister over plans to introduce what has been dubbed the "bedroom tax".  The Government is proposing to cut housing benefit in April for people who are seen as having too many bedrooms for their needs.  Mr Allen has now written to housing minister Grant Shapps after speaking to one local resident, who will be forced to move into a smaller home.  He said she will be among "several thousand" others who could be making the same decision. He wrote: "There will be an immediate rush on one and two-bedroom properties in the area. The effect of this will be to further increase waiting lists causing more stress and homelessness among the young in particular."  The Government says it hopes the changes will contain growing housing benefit expenditure and, make better use of available social housing stock.  Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Decent Homes Scheme Is a Success, Concludes New Report

Since the launch of Nottingham City Homes (NCH) in April 2005, the company has set out to improve communities, by reducing the level of crime, and improve people's health & well-being. Now a new report shows that their Decent Homes programme is a sensation. The Decent Homes Program was started in 2008, since then NCH have installed windows in almost 16,000 properties, over 10,000 central heating systems, 9,000 kitchens and over 7,200 bathrooms. In total, £187m is being spent to bring properties up to standard in Nottingham with the program due to finish in 2015.  The sixty-eight page Report is a joint venture between Nottingham Trent University, and Nottingham City Homes, with contributions from other agencies, including the City Council, Nottingham City NHS, Nottingham Business School, and Nottingham Crime & Drugs Partnership. The Report concludes that across Nottingham as a whole the total number of burglaries was reduced from 4,631 burglaries in 2007 to 3,639 burglaries in 2009. This represents a 21 percent reduction in the number of burglaries across the city over this period because of Decent Homes Improvements.  Read more on the Nottingham Evening Post website.

Plans to Move London's Homeless to Nottingham

DOZENS of homeless people could be relocated to Nottingham from London boroughs.  Westminster City Council is considering plans to move homeless housing benefit claimants to Nottingham and Derby, according to proposals by one of its private providers, Smart Housing Group (SHG). The group is proposing to rehouse 150 people within the next 12 or so months, but is suggesting this number be eventually increased to 500.  A spokeswoman for Westminster City Council said the authority was considering the plans as a "three-borough initiative", together with councils for Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham. Each authority is looking to rehouse 50 families.  However, the spokeswoman also said the option of extending the number to 500 was "not something the authority was looking into".   Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

1,300 Solar Panels Fitted To City Homes in Just Five Weeks

Solar panels have been fitted to more than 1,300 city council homes in just five weeks instead of five months to avoid Government cuts. The Government cut the amount it pays for surplus energy generated from solar panels from 43.3p at kilo watt hour to 21p a kilowatt hour. To receive the full 43.3p a kilowatt hour, new panels needed to be both installed and registered by midnight last Sunday. Nottingham City Homes was planning to install solar panels on 1,333 homes by the end of March but following the Government's tariff announcement on October 31, it raced to complete the project by Sunday night. The last panels were registered to receive the benefit just minutes before midnight that day. Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Hotline Launch Will Help Charity to Find Homeless

A homelessness charity is encouraging members of the public to call with information on rough sleepers after identifying a surge in the number of people on the streets. Nottingham-based Framework has set up the ‘hotline’, which it also hopes rough sleepers will use to call for help, after its monthly headcount found the number of rough sleepers on its patch had risen from 3 to 19 over the past year. If the charity receives a call identifying a potential rough sleeper it will assign a member of its street outreach team to find the person and offer them support and advice. Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Shock as Homeless Man Dies On City Streets

A homelessness charity hit by crippling cuts has taken its plight to the House of Commons. It comes as details have emerged of the first death of a rough sleeper on Nottingham's streets for many years. Homelessness charity Framework – which has seen cuts of up to 44 per cent in some areas – had previously warned there could be deaths as a result. Yesterday they joined forces with MPs from all parties to lobby the Government at a reception held to celebrate the charity's 10th anniversary. Andrew Redfern, the charity's chief executive, said the funding cuts would "turn back the clock" for homeless support and added that there were already six times more people sleeping on the streets of Nottingham than there were this time last year. He said: "The results of such short-sightedness, combined with the prevailing economic climate have created a perfect storm. More people are becoming homeless at a time when our ability to help them is under increasing strain." Read more on the Evening Post website.

Charity Claims Number of Rough Sleepers Is Up By 80%

A Notts homelessness charity claims it has seen an 80 per cent increase in the number of rough sleepers in the last year. Between July and September this year, Framework's Rough Sleeper Outreach Team worked with 103 rough sleepers, compared to just 57 in the same period last year. In a bid to help raise cash and awareness of the problem, the charity is urging residents to sleep rough for one night this Thursday (10 November). Hundreds of people are expected to set up temporary homes of cardboard boxes outside the Capital FM Arena as part of the Framework Big Sleep Out. Peter Radage, the charity's service director for homelessness, said: "Reductions to our funding, combined with rising private sector rents, service closures, benefit cuts and the continued economic gloom have dented our ability to help the most vulnerable, so we need help more than ever before. We hope the public will respond by sleeping out, so others don't have to." Read more on the Evening Post website.

'No Need for New Laws on Squatting’

The Law Society has described Government plans to create a new criminal offence of squatting as entirely disproportionate. Responding to the Ministry of Justice's "Options for dealing with squatting" consultation, the Law Society said while squatting is understandably a concern to the public, current legislation is adequate to deal with the problem. John Wotton, Law Society president, said: "It is quite mistaken to create a new offence without the evidence to support it. Indeed, the Government consultation acknowledges a lack of statistical evidence. The proposals in this consultation are based on misunderstandings, repeated by the media, of the scale of the problem and of the current law, which is both comprehensive and effective. The consultation proposes to create a new criminal offence of squatting. This is unnecessary as it is our experience that squatting is not a very significant problem and that where it does occur there are a range of laws both civil and criminal that are adequate to deal with it. We urge the Government to conduct statistical research before reacting to media-driven public concerns.” Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Residents Feel Squeeze as Average Rents Rise to £630 Each Month

Nottingham residents are feeling the squeeze as the average rental price in the city shoots up. Figures released by lettings agency Haart show the average private rent rate in greater Nottingham in September was £630 per calendar month – up from £476 in January. Stephen Wright, a spokesman for the company, said: "Leicester has gone up too but Nottingham is way above it. It's not just the capital of the East Midlands – it's also the rent capital."
The average rent in Leicester for September was £577.10, and the figure for Lincoln was £610.71. Mr Wright said: "We have a huge number of students, so that's squeezed the available property. "Demand is much greater than the supply and there's so much competition for a place to live that it's difficult to find anything." Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Hope for Meadows Scheme As Minister Agrees On City Visit

The Minister for Housing has agreed to come to Nottingham after city politicians complained about a £200 million regeneration project being scrapped. Grant Shapps faced lobbying from Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood and the city council after the Government cut a plan which would have seen 1,900 homes in the Meadows rebuilt or revamped. While Mr Shapps would not comment until a date for the visit had been set in stone, civil servants at the Department for Communities and Local Government confirmed that the visit will go ahead. The Meadows Neighbourhood Plan was to have been completed under a Private Finance Initiative, but in November last year the coalition said it would not provide any more funding. The council has been exploring other ways of raising money to complete the regeneration – including raising council rents. Ms Greenwood said: "First we need Grant Shapps to see the huge potential The Meadows has. Then we need him to see some of the problems that are caused by the current layout."

Students Protest at Homes Move

More than 3,000 students have signed a petition against proposed changes to housing regulations. Nottingham City Council is consulting on proposals to force landlords to seek planning permission before converting a property for multiple occupation. The University of Nottingham's Students' Union has accused the authority of "discriminating" against students. They believe it is part of a plan to drive students from houses in popular areas like Lenton into purpose-built accommodation elsewhere in the city. The consultation had been due to end last month, but has been extended to May 31. The council says the move would enable it to manage the delivery of mixed and balanced communities in neighbourhoods throughout the city and drive up standards of accommodation.