Could The Return Of Council Homes Help Solve Affordable Housing Crisis?

Councils are returning to house-building for the first time in decades to address the affordable accommodation shortage that big developers have failed to resolve. Government figures show that none of the local authorities in Suffolk and north Essex - other than Ipswich - had delivered any council housing since 2014 when records were first collated. Most new homes in the region - around 85% - have been delivered by commercial developers, with the remainder built by housing associations. But despite a more than 50% increase in the rate of house building since 2014/15 - the region remains far behind government set targets. Read more on the East Anglian Daily Times website.

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/suffolk-and-essex-council-home-revival-1-6392407

Housing Associations Issue Dire Warnings About 'Right To Buy

Housing associations providing homes for thousands of people across the North East have warned that Government plans to let tenants buy properties at a discount could lead to a major shortage of affordable accommodation. In a series of warnings issued to a Commons inquiry, they said:

• They won’t have enough money to build new homes to replace those sold

• Tenants risk taking on debts they can’t afford in order to buy properties

• Homes would end up in the hands of buy-to-let landlords

• Philanthropists who used to back housing associations will stop making donations

Read more on the Newcastle Chronicle website.

Rising Rents And Low Wages Fuel £25bn Housing Benefit Bill

Britain’s estimated £25bn housing benefit bill for 2015-16 is being fuelled by soaring rents in the most prosperous parts of the country as workers struggle to find affordable accommodation, new research has found. Welfare spending is growing rapidly in boom areas of the South-east of England, largely driven by the growing cost of housing benefit payments. A report calculates that almost one million jobs have been created in the UK’s cities since 2010, but average annual wages have dropped by £1,300 per person, making it more difficult for workers to make ends meet. Despite the record employment levels, spending on housing benefit in better-off cities such as London, Cambridge, Bournemouth and Milton Keynes has risen 50 per cent more than in lower-wage cities such as Glasgow and Liverpool. Read more on the Independent website.

Homeless Families ‘Forced Out’ By Welfare Reforms

Almost 40 homeless families face being forced out of Camden as sweeping changes to the benefits system leads to the closure of a support scheme. Camden Council has called time on its Homeless Families Initiative which has offered temporary accommodation to destitute families since 1989, an investigation by the Ham&High has found. The council says reductions in housing benefit and other welfare changes “have made the scheme unaffordable” and 39 households have been issued with eviction notices. But Camden has admitted that a lack of “affordable family-size accommodation” may result in the families being moved out of the borough – leading to accusations of social cleansing. Read more on the Ham&High website.

Action Needed To Prevent People Losing Their Homes

New Government figures show that between 1 January and 31 March 2014 there were 27,310 applications to councils for help with homelessness. Whilst this represents a fall of 1% from the same period last year, just 46% of cases were accepted.  Using Cabinet Office costings of on-going homelessness support, the 12,520 accepted applications in this past quarter could have cost in excess of £33m. There are signs that a shortage of affordable accommodation could be adding to the problem; there has been a 36% rise in the number of households housed in another area and a 3% rise in those housed in temporary accommodation, whilst 27% of those accepted for help became homeless due to the ending of an assured shorthold tenancy.  Read more on the Homeless Link website.

There Is No Exodus of the Poor

One of the country’s most expensive places to live has poured scorn on the suggestion that benefit caps imposed by the Government would provoke an exodus of tenants. As the third most expensive borough in the country, Hammersmith and Fulham might be expected to be a prime candidate for such an exodus, but the council has said it has the figures to demonstrate that people are not being forced out of the borough. Out of 546 households in temporary accommodation affected by the caps, just 10 have had to relocate to areas outside of Hammersmith and Fulham, the council said. In 344 cases, the council successfully negotiate a lower price, within the cap threshold, with private landlords. Another 180 people have been successfully rehoused in properties that are affordable under the Government’s tougher new rules – with 152 cases remaining in the borough and just 18 cases resettled in neighbouring boroughs, the council said. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Homeless to Be Contained

A plan to house Brighton's homeless in reconditioned shipping containers has been given the green light.  Brighton Housing Trust (BHT) has secured planning permission to install 36 units on the site of a former scrapyard. The unique homes will provide temporary accommodation for the city's homeless. BHT believes that up to a 100 people sleep rough on Brighton's streets every night.  Officers from Brighton and Hove's Planning Committee who recommended approval said that the containers were an “imaginative and appropriate way to meet a very real need for affordable accommodation".  Read more on 24dash.