Khan Promises Funding To Help London Boroughs Regain Homes Lost To Right To Buy

London mayor Sadiq Khan has announced funding to help boroughs purchase former council homes lost under the Right to Buy over the past 40 years. The mayor’s ‘Right to Buy back’ initiative will provide money to enable local authorities and housing companies they own to acquire ex-council homes on the open market. Properties bought under the scheme, which must meet the Decent Homes Standard, would then be returned to social rent or used as temporary accommodation for homeless families. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/khan-promises-funding-to-help-london-boroughs-regain-homes-lost-to-right-to-buy-71566 

Social Rented Housing: Standards – Parliamentary Written Answer

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support his Department is providing to local authorities to help them ensure that their social housing stock meets the decent homes standard.

Eddie Hughes: In the Social Housing White Paper, we committed to reviewing the Decent Homes Standard. The review will consider whether the standard needs to be updated to ensure it is delivering what is needed for safety and decency now, including on energy efficiency and green spaces.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2021-03-15/169015 

Social Housing Sector Running Out Of Time To Meet Sustainability Targets

Nine in 10 social housing construction professionals believe the sector is in urgent need of new government guidelines if it is going to successfully meet sustainability targets. In a survey of 150 decision makers involved in the specification of building materials used for social housing developments, 88% agreed that the sector cannot wait for the pending Decarbonisation Fund and Decent Homes Standard review to define how it is going to become more sustainable. This guidance was expected to be included in the Social Housing Whitepaper which was released late last year, but it failed to clarify a number of key details the sector was waiting on. Read more on the Showhouse website.

https://www.showhouse.co.uk/news/social-housing-sector-running-out-of-time-to-meet-sustainability-targets/

Decent Homes Standard: Review

The Charter for Social Housing Residents: Social Housing White Paper published on 17 November 2020 announced a review of the Decent Homes Standard to understand if it is right for the social housing sector today. Find more details about how the review will be conducted on the GovUK website.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/decent-homes-standard-review  

Social Housing In Gateshead Could Be Brought Back Under The Council's Control

Housing services in Gateshead could be coming back under council control. Gateshead Council's cabinet has agreed to consult on proposals to bring housing services back inhouse. This follows an independent review of housing in the borough, currently provided by Gateshead Housing Company. This means the council is now beginning a formal consultation on bringing back responsibility for the management and maintenance of the housing stock to the authority. Coun John Adams, cabinet member for housing said: “The Gateshead Housing Company was set up in 2004 to help unlock funding through the Government’s Decent Homes Programme which has now ended.” Read more on the Gateshead Chronicle website.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/social-housing-gateshead-could-brought-17978719

A Fifth Of English Homes Are Sub-Standard

Research by VeriSmart – a nationwide network of independent property inspectors – has revealed the concerning number of ‘non-decent’ homes in England as per the English Housing Survey. VeriSmart’s research details how almost a fifth of homes in the country (19.5% or 4.5 million) failed to meet the government’s Decent Homes Standard, when taking into account hazards, costs and other characteristics. Private rented homes were found to be the most likely to be ‘non-decent’, with 25% of such properties falling below the expected standard, while the social sector had the lowest proportion of non-decent homes at 13%. Read more on the Property Reporter website.

https://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/property/a-of-english-homes-are-sub-standard.html

Housing: Standards – Parliamentary Written Answer

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding his Department has allocated to the decent homes programme (a) in each of the last ten years and (b) in each of the next five years.

James Brokenshire: [Holding answer 25 April 2019]: The number of social homes failing to meet the Decent Homes standard fell by 32 per cent between 2010 and 2017. Between 2011 and 2016 we provided a total of £1.76 billion to 45 councils across England to help them tackle their backlog of non-compliant homes. It helped to make over 158,000 homes meet the relevant standards. Private registered providers – such as housing associations - are expected to maintain their homes to the Decent Homes Standard using their own resources. In the year to March 2018, private registered providers spent £1.7 billion on capital improvements to existing stock. The Social Housing Green Paper asked whether there are any changes to what constitutes a decent home that we should consider.

https://qnadailyreport.blob.core.windows.net/qnadailyreportxml/Written-Questions-Answers-Statements-Daily-Report-Commons-2019-04-26.pdf

Sector Leaders Support Need For New Decent Homes Standard

The Decent Homes Standard (DHS) has “allowed lethargy to creep into asset management” and needs more than a review to rule on its future fitness for purpose, sector leaders say. A roundtable of leading housing association and local authority landlords came to a clear consensus on the need for sector-led action that shifts DHS away from an asset investment approach around life-cycle replacement. To those at the table this was “cop out” that the wider sector needed to wake up to ahead of the government acting on Green Paper responses to a DHS last updated in 2006 and now “failing” to meet the demands of modern-day living. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/sector-leaders-support-need-for-new-decent-homes-standard/

Decent Homes Standard Review 'Threatens Council Business Plans'

Local authority housing business plans could be rendered unsustainable if the government revises the Decent Homes Standard, it has been claimed. That warning has come from the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) after the Social Housing Green Paper proposed revisiting the standard, which was set in 2006. The green paper said the standard “should be reviewed to consider whether it is demanding enough and delivers the right standards for social housing alongside other tenures”. Any review would also look at whether the energy performance of social homes should be upgraded to at least Energy Performance Certificate Band C by 2030, where practical and cost effective. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:PF7gSO76V58J:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/decent-homes-standard-review-threatens-council-business-plans-57678+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Labour Proposes Scrapping Affordable Rent In Social Housing Review

Labour has proposed scrapping the affordable rent tenure in its social housing review. The paper suggests replacing the rent product – which was introduced by the coalition government and can be up to 80% of market rates – with a new income-linked definition of affordable housing. Before the last general election, Labour pledged to fund ‘Living Rent’ homes capped at a third of local incomes. It also now calls for a new “Decent Homes 2” target for social landlords to improve fire safety in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster. Download the review from the Labour Party website.

https://omghcontent.affino.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/097/Housing_For_The_Many.pdf

A1 Housing Could Be Brought Back Under Council Control

The organisation which has run council housing in Retford and Bassetlaw for 13 years could be brought back under local authority control. Bassetlaw District Council is consulting with its tenants and leaseholders over proposals to bring the management of its housing stock back to the authority - a move that could generate savings of £335,000 each year, it claims. Council housing in Bassetlaw has been managed by the Arms-Length Management Organisation (ALMO) A1 Housing since 2004. It was created by the council to deliver the Government funded Decent Homes programme, which ended in 2012. Read more on the Lincolnshire Live website.

https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/a1-housing-could-brought-back-1270253

Social Rented Housing: Standards – Parliamentary Written Answer

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has set a target date for all council and housing association homes to meet the Decent Homes standard.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: Local authorities and housing associations are expected to ensure that no more than 10 per cent of their homes is below the Decent Homes standard at any one time.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-02-27/129974

Progress On Council Housing But ‘More To Be Done’

The government is standing by statistics that pitch progress on council housing – but maintains there’s more to be done. On paper, the stats show more people have got onto the housing ladder, waiting lists for councils houses have reduced and the amount of council housing not meeting minimum standards has decreased. The stats show;

·         A decrease of 0.7% on local authority housing in 2016/17 with 13,416 people having bought homes as a result of Right to Buy.

·         20,000 fewer people are now on Local Authority waiting lists, a decrease of 2% since 1 April 2016.

·         Over 95% of all Local Authority stock meets the decent homes standard. This is up from 84% in 2010.

Read more on 24housing.

http://www.24housing.co.uk/news/progress-on-council-housing-but-more-to-be-done/

Eight Key Findings From The English Housing Survey

The English Housing Survey, commissioned by the CLG, has taken place. Here are the key points to consider.

·         There are an estimated 22.8 million households in England.

·         The private rented sector has had the biggest increase.

·         The proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds renting privately has nearly doubled

·         Private renters move around the most

·         Nearly three-quarters of private renters (73pc) ended their last tenancy

·         Most (89pc) homes have at least one working smoke alarm

·         More than a quarter (28pc) of private rented homes failed to meet the Decent Homes Standard

·         A majority (59pc) of private renters expect to buy at some point

Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

Housing In Crisis But Government Can Do Something

Three-quarters of Britons think that there is a national housing crisis according to research for the CIH’s annual conference.

Undertaken before the Grenfell tragedy, the survey found 82% agree that “everyone should have a right to be able to live in a decent quality home whether or not they own it”. Only 5% disagree.

The survey also found:

·         The public largely reject the notion that there is “isn’t much that British Governments can do to solve country’s housing problems”

·         buying/renting is harder than it was for their parents’ generation

·         there is not enough affordable housing to buy/rent locally,

·         Confidence that the Government has the right policies to deal with the country’s housing problems remains low

Read more on the Ipsos Mori website.

Council Calls On Ministers To Protect Renters

A London council is delivering a petition to government ministers in a bid to protect private renters. The petition, from Hackney Council is backed by hundreds of residents and calls for longer tenancies, a national register of rogue landlords and transparent letting fees. The authority’s ten-point plan, which calls on the government to reform outdated legislation regulating the sector, was handed to the new minister for housing and planning, Gavin Barwell MP. Research from Shelter shows more than a third of privately-let properties don’t meet the Decent Homes standard, while rents in the capital have risen by 19% since 2011 – causing one in three private renters in London to fall into debt just to meet monthly housing costs. Read more on 24dash.

Rise In Social Housing Tenants Planning To Buy Home

More than half of local authority tenants who would like to get onto the property ladder intend to buy their current home. The English Housing Survey also shows that the number of people owning their own home in the past year has remained static for the first time since 2003; with the Government claiming is a result of their home ownership initiatives. The number of social housing tenants who expect to buy their current home has risen from 35% in 2010-11 to 42% in 2014-15. The survey also showed that the number of properties failing to meet the government’s Decent Homes Standard has also fallen by 3.1 million compared to 2006. Read more on the Local Gov website.

Social Rented Housing: Standards – House of Lords Written Answer

Baroness King of Bow: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to extend the Decent Homes Backlog Funding initiative beyond 2015–16

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Spending decisions for 2016-17 onwards are a matter for the next Spending Review. £1.6 billion worth of funding was awarded to local authorities to tackle their Decent Homes backlog in 2011-15. A further £165 million was awarded for year 2015-16. Since the abolition of the Housing Revenue Account subsidy system in April 2012, councils have greater freedoms including the retention of their full rental income. This means that all 167 council landlords in England have a long term, stable source of funding, which they can use to plan better to meet the needs of their tenants and local area. These councils have, on average, 15% more to spend on managing and maintaining their homes, including meeting the Decent Homes Standard, than under the previous system.

One Million Over-75s 'At Risk from Non-Decent Homes'

One million people over the age of 75 are living in properties which fail to meet the decent homes standard. A report for charity Electrical Safety First reveals that the current housing stock puts vulnerable individuals at risk and is unfit for people to age safely in their own homes - with those in low-income households or rural areas most affected. Almost two thirds of households of couples aged 60 plus fail to meet electrical safety standards - being without basic but essential measures such as a modern fusebox, residual current device, circuit breakers and PVC wiring, the research revealed. Read more on 24dash.

Town Hall Rubber Stamps Housing Transfer

The transfer of 8,500 homes from the council to private ownership has been formally approved. Salford council rubber stamped the transfer of town hall-owned properties to Salix Homes at its full council meeting. This came after a tenant ballot in November when tenants voted in favour of the stock transfer. The transfer is expected to take place at the end of March and Salix Homes, which already manages the homes on behalf of the council. Salix says it will invest millions into the homes to bring them up to a decent standard by 2020 and maintain them. Read more on the Manchester Evening News website.