Building 100,000 Social Rent Homes A Year Would 'Contribute £24.5bn To Economy' Over 30 Years

 Giving councils the powers and funding to meet a third of the government’s current target of 300,000 new homes per year would improve the public finances by £24.5bn over 30 years, a new report has found. The report also found that a household typically saves £37 a week in social housing, compared to private rental and that for 1.6 million households, social rent would be the most appropriate form of housing. Social housing providers, including councils and their ALMOs, are already ahead of the curve on building ‘green’ and their expertise would boost national efforts towards meeting 2050 zero-carbon goals. Read more on the HQN website.

https://hqnetwork.co.uk/news/building-100000-social-rent-homes-a-year-would-contribute-245bn-to-economy-over-30-years-5749

Homes On Former Public Land Will Not Be Affordable

Less than 3% of homes to be built on public land that has been sold to developers will end up being for genuinely affordable social rent. The left-leaning New Economics Foundation (NEF) think-tank said the release of figures published by the government was welcome, but the data revealed a poor outlook for those in need of affordable housing. Its analysis showed that of plans for 131,000 homes on public land sold since 2011, just under 20,000 would be deemed affordable and 3,410 would be let for social rent. Read more on Housing Today.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/homes-on-former-public-land-will-not-be-affordable-think-tank-claims/5104378.article

Only 4% Of Homes Funded Through Affordable Homes Programme Were For Social Rent

Of the 90,323 homes funded through the programme since 2016, just 3,583 were for social rent, according to funding allocation data published by Homes England for the period between 2016 and September last year. Meanwhile, 47,047 (52%) of the homes built through the government’s flagship grant programme were for affordable rent, while 39,693 (44%) were for affordable homeownership, the majority of which were for shared ownership. See all the data on the Homes England website.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/865155/Allocation_update_to_end_September_2019_Final.pdf

Social Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lord Pendry: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the merits of ending the practice of converting homes for social rent into “affordable” rented housing, in order to tackle (1) affordability issues in the housing market, and (2) homelessness.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Affordable Rent was introduced to maximise taxpayers’ money. It allows us to build more homes for every pound of Government investment - so more people in housing need can have access to a good quality home at a submarket rent.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2019-06-12/HL16326

£12.8bn Needed Annually To End Housing Crisis

Top sector voices say £12.8bn of investment a year is now needed to tackle the housing crisis – and tell government that would be money well spent. The NHF has released research reinforcing the 10-year potential of such investment to kickstart the building of around 1.45m homes for social rent or shared ownership. Now, a coalition of leading housing groups and charities is calling for the government to make such investment real – this includes the NHF, Shelter, Crisis, CPRE, and the Chartered Institute of Housing. Download a copy of the research from the NHF website.

http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/doc.housing.org.uk/Editorial/Grant_modelling_report_June_2019.pdf

Councils To Use Borrowing Powers To Accelerate Homebuilding Programmes

Last year, the Government accepted the LGA’s call to scrap the housing borrowing cap. The LGA’s new survey shows the move will support the delivery of local housing with 94 per cent of housing stock-owning councils (59) saying they will use the new powers to accelerate or increase their housebuilding programmes to build homes desperately needed in their communities. The number of homes built for social rent each year has fallen from over 40,000 in 1997 to 6,000 in 2017. The LGA said this decline has resulted from the policies of successive governments, such as rules and restrictions hampering the ability of councils borrowing to build. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/lga-survey-councils-use-borrowing-powers-accelerate-homebuilding-programmes

Social Rented Housing: Rents – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan that the one per cent reduction in rents for social landlord properties each year will continue after 2020.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: The Government announced plans in October 2017 to set a long term rent deal for councils and housing associations. The proposal is for increases to social housing rents to be limited to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 1 per cent for 5 years from 2020. The Government consulted on these proposals in the Autumn. Details of the consultation are available online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/rentsfor-social-housing-from-2020-to-2021  We are currently analysing the feedback and we aim to publish our response to the consultation by the Spring.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2019-01-15/HL12830

Construction Of Homes For Social Rent Drops 80% In A Decade

The number of new homes built for social rent has fallen by almost four-fifths in a decade, according to official figures that come as more than 1 million families are stuck on waiting lists for council housing in England. Figures released by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government show just 6,463 homes were built in England for social rent in 2017-18, down from almost 30,000 a decade ago. Condemning the lack of new social housing, Labour said that a the current rate of construction it would take at least 170 years to house the families on waiting lists. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/22/construction-of-homes-for-social-rent-down-80-percent-on-a-decade-ago-england-families-waiting-lists

Government Publishes Consultation On Post-2020 Rent Policy

The government has published a consultation on its social housing rent policy from 2020. There is a legal requirement to consult the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), Homes England and other stakeholders before directing the regulator to change rent rules. The consultation document also proposes bringing local authority landlords within the scope of the RSH rent standard “to respond to the roll out of Universal Credit”. Councils are currently subject to “Limit Rent”, which reflects rent policy and is used to control how much housing benefit should be paid on behalf of recipient tenants. The consultation also proposes making tweaks to how “formula rent” is calculated and the rules around affordable rent. Download the consultation document from the MHCLG website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/rents-for-social-housing-from-2020-to-2021

Government Restores ‘Social Rent’ To Definition Of Affordable Housing

The government has restored the term ‘social rent’ to the definition of affordable housing in its national planning rulebook after housing and council bodies voiced concerns.  The new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) now lists homes for rent “set in accordance with the government’s rent policy for social rent or affordable rent, or is at least 20% below local market rents” as one of several acceptable forms of affordable housing. A draft version of the updated NPPF published in March had removed reference to “social rent” while adding mention of Starter Homes and build-to-rent. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6kOB59TM7cgJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/government-restores-social-rent-to-definition-of-affordable-housing-57341+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Action Needs To Combat 'Historic Low' Social Housing Numbers

The definition of “affordable housing” must include homes for social rent in forthcoming government changes to planning policy to tackle the historic low numbers of social rented homes across the country according to the Local Government Association. The LGA warns that homes specifically for social rent are at risk of being eliminated after a revision to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) dropped the reference to “social rent” homes from the Government’s definition of affordable homes, whilst including Starter Homes and other, less genuinely affordable, forms of housing. It comes amid an already “unprecedented shortage” in affordable housing with the supply of homes for social rent, which provides secure tenancies on low rents, at a historic low. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/action-needs-combat-historic-low-social-housing-numbers

Concern Over Plan To Drop Social Rent From Official Definition Of Affordable Housing

The proposed revision National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) drops reference to ‘social rent’ from its glossary definition of affordable housing – but adds the mention of Starter Homes and build-to-rent. In its response to a consultation on the draft document, the National Housing Federation (NHF) said: “The removal of the term ‘social rent’ is worrying. “While the revised definition can be interpreted to include social rent, we believe the term should be explicitly retained.” It added that Starter Homes should not be included in the definition and branded mention of build-to-rent as “confusing”. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rhUMVVYpcfEJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/concern-over-plan-to-drop-social-rent-from-official-definition-of-affordable-housing-56302+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Government Unveil £215m Housing Deal To Build 100,000 New Homes

Over a quarter of the new funding, £60m, will support affordable housing in the area to deliver more than 1,300 affordable homes – at least half of which will be for social rent – helping first time buyers and local people looking to get a foot on the housing ladder. There is also £150m for transport infrastructure – such as bridges, roundabouts and roads – across the region. The deal also includes £5m of funding to boost capacity within Oxfordshire’s six local authorities, such as additional resources to promote high quality design – helping Oxfordshire’s councils work in partnership to deliver the homes local people need. Read more on 24housing.

http://www.24housing.co.uk/news/government-unveil-215m-housing-deal-to-build-100000-new-homes/

Rent Controls Would Leave Tenants ‘Worse Off’

The ONS’ rent index shows private sector rents across Britain increased by 1.1% in the year to January 2018. In London they grew by just 0.2%. This is against a current inflation figures of 2.7% (CPI) and 4% (RPI). The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) argues the figures show that calls by many in the Labour Party and elsewhere for rents to be linked to inflation would leave many tenants worse off. The figures further highlight that social sector rent increases, currently based on CPI plus 1%, are growing proportionally more than those in the private sector. Download the index from the ONS website.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/indexofprivatehousingrentalpricesiphrpingreatbritainjan2018?utm_source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-02-013_12:00_govdelivery&utm_content=Prices-Day

Social And Affordable Lettings Drop By 40,000

Housing associations and councils let 334,602 homes for below market rent in 2016/17, down from 374,586 a year earlier. That is the lowest level recorded in the stats which go back to 2007/08. General-needs social rent lettings fell by 14,103 for housing association homes and 8,948 for local authority homes in 2016/17. Supported housing social rent lettings dropped 12,948 among housing association stock and 1,389 for council stock. Download the figures from the HCLG website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/social-housing-lettings-in-england-april-2016-to-march-2017  

150,000 Social Rent Homes Gone Since Tories Came To Power

Tory-led cuts have seen more than 150,000 homes for social rent disappear in the last five year, new analysis has revealed. The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has calculated the number of homes available to rent by those on lower incomes has dropped by almost four percent since 2012. CIH predicts that a further 79,000 will be lost by 2020 as it warned of the “urgent need” for more support for the social housing sector. The coalition government cut the money available for social homes in 2010, with resources diverted into ‘affordable rent’ schemes. Read more on the CIH website.

http://www.cih.org/news-article/display/vpathDCR/templatedata/cih/news-article/data/More_than_150000_homes_for_social_rent_lost_in_just_five_years_new_analysis_reveals

Over 2 Million Fewer Council Homes

The latest local authority housing statistics illustrate the continuing decline in the numbers of council housing, revealing that councils in England owned 1.6 million dwellings on 1 April 2017 - a decrease from the 3.67 million homes owned on 1 April 1994 due to Right to Buy sales, large scale voluntary transfers and demolitions. The council housing stock in England fell from 1,612,319 on 1 April 2016 to 1,601,565 on 1 April 2017. 99.2% of the council owned stock is let at social rents with 0.8% let at affordable rents (up to 80% of market rent).  Read more on the ARCH website.

http://www.arch-housing.org.uk/news/latest-news/over-2-million-fewer-council-homes.aspx

Social Rented Housing: Rents – Parliamentary Written Answer

Melanie Onn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to start the consultation on his proposals to limit increases for social rents to CPI + 1 for five years from 2020.

Alok Sharma: The Government has announced plans to set a long term rent deal for housing associations and councils. Under the proposal announced in October, annual social rent increases will be limited to CPI+1 per cent for 5 years from 2020. This will be reflected in a draft direction from the Secretary of State to the Social Housing Regulator, which the Government will consult on in 2018 with a view to issuing the direction before the end of 2018.

Lowest Number Of Grant-Funded Social Rented Homes Built On Record

Fewer homes for social rent were completed between April and September this year with grant funding than in any comparable period on record, according to statistics from the CLG. Figures on affordable housing funded by the Homes and Communities Agency and the Greater London Authority show that 199 homes were built for social rent in the period, slightly down from 241 in the same period last year.  The number of affordable housing completions funded by both bodies over the period in total increased slightly to 10,704, compared to 9,079 in the same period last year. This was driven by an increase in affordable rented housing and a significant increase in affordable home ownership. Download the figures from the HCA website.

Government Announces Rent Settlement

The government has announced that social housing rents will rise by the consumer price index plus 1 per cent from 2020 to 2025. The confirmation is a return to the previous rent settlement which was meant to run from 2015 to 2025 but was replaced with the four year rent cut. Government said at the time of the rent cut that it would reinstate the CPI+1% formula after 2020, but there have been fears of a further reduction or change to the agreement.  Read more on the Social Housing website.