Government Housing Schemes Have Little Impact On Social Mobility

Flagship government schemes to help more people get on the UK housing ladder have little impact on improving social mobility as better-off buyers are most likely to benefit from the support. A new report published by the Social Mobility Commission into the impact of low-cost home ownership schemes found that those benefitting from schemes - such as Help to Buy - earn more than one and a half times the national working age median income. Around 3 in 5 first-time buyers said that they would have bought anyway and that the scheme merely enabled them to buy a better property, or one in a better area, than they were originally looking for. Download the report from the Gov UK website.

Cameron’s Talk Of ‘Sink Estates’ Hides The Reality Behind Council Housing

David Cameron has unveiled the newest target of Tory policy- so-called ‘sink estates’. According to the PM, such estates need to be emptied and demolished, with little thought as to the communities that live there and where they will be re-housed- or what will replace them. This narrative stigmatises those living in social housing in the same way that his government has consistently stigmatised those on benefits. Rather than attacking tenants directly, Cameron is instead attacking the supposed conditions in which they live, allowing his rhetoric to pass as benevolent social reform rather than the continued ideologically driven undermining of the British welfare state.  Cameron was unable to guarantee that tenants forced to move due to redevelopment would be rehoused in their local area, let alone in the actual developments that replace existing estates. By invoking the spectre of the sink estate he attempted to pass off social cleansing as an opportunity for social mobility. Read more on the Independent website.

Starter Homes Will 'Stymie Social Mobility'

David Cameron’s pledge to help generation rent buy a “roof of their own” will help only higher earners, and could have a negative impact on social mobility, housing experts have warned. Shelter said the policy would create homes that were out of reach for families on average earnings in 58% of the country by 2020. Its chief executive, Campbell Robb, said: “You don’t solve an affordability crisis by getting rid of the few affordable homes we’re building, yet that’s exactly what this policy will do.” Robb said the homes would “too often only be ‘affordable’ for higher earners”. He added: “There’s nothing wrong with helping people on to the property ladder, but the government has to invest in genuinely affordable homes to buy and rent for all of those on ordinary incomes who are bearing the brunt of this crisis.” Read more on the Guardian website.

Benefit Cap Is 'Social Justice in Action', Says IDS

The government’s benefit cap is an example of “social justice in action”, Iain Duncan Smith has said. The Work and Pensions Secretary claimed that his reduction in payments was providing people with a “clear path to fulfilling lives and independence from the state”. “Welfare reform is improving social mobility for families across the country,” he argued.  “A key example of this is the benefit cap which we brought in to put a stop to sky-high benefit pay-outs. Under the Bill, the cap will be lowered from £26,000 to £23,000.” Noting that a number of those who had been hit by the cap had found jobs, he said the cuts were not just about saving money but presented no evidence to establish that the households had found work because their benefits had been cut. Read more on the Independent website.

Homeswap Direct Offers Fresh Opportunities for Social Tenants

The Government's new national 'HomeSwap Direct' scheme will make it easier for tenants living in a council or housing association home to find a new property in another part of the country. HomeSwap Direct will mean that for the first time there will be a system in place across the whole of the UK, meaning that tenants looking to move, whether for a job, to be near family or to a property better suited to their needs, will be able to see all the available homes across the whole of the UK, not just those on the website subscribed to by their current landlord. Some councils such as Kettering already run localised schemes but Homeswap Direct will link them all together across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Read more on the CLG website.

Benefit Cuts Will Aid Social Mobility, Government Claims

The government has unveiled a new child poverty strategy which claims reforms to housing benefit and social housing will increase social mobility. The strategy named cuts to housing benefit and reforms to social housing as key steps towards encouraging social mobility. It said: ‘A key focus of these reforms is to remove the barrier to work that has been created by families being able to live in more expensive properties when claiming benefit than they would otherwise be able to afford.’ It also said that the government plans to outline its overall housing strategy in the summer. The document said this would include ‘how we are supporting an increase in the supply and quality of new private and social housing to help those seeking a home of their own, whether to rent or buy.’ Read more on Inside Housing.