Government Misses Target To Deliver 3,300 Homes For Rough Sleepers

In its response to a recent Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee report on homelessness and private renting, the government indicated that it had missed its target but would not say how many homes it had delivered. The government first announced plans to deliver 3,300 homes for rough sleepers in May last year as part of an effort to rehouse the thousands of rough sleepers who were placed in hotels at the start of the first COVID-19 lockdown. In October, the government allocated more than £150m to councils in a move it said would fund 3,348 homes across 276 schemes. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/government-misses-target-to-deliver-3300-homes-for-rough-sleepers-70812

Housing Secretary Fails To Spend £72m Affordable Homes Cash

Housing Secretary Sajid Javid was forced to “surrender” £72m in affordable homes cash as it was deemed “no longer required” this year.  Javid has admitted a total of £817m of the MHCLG budget is being sent back to the Treasury as his department had failed to spend the cash. In an “explanatory memo”, Javid, who had housing added to his communities and local government brief in January, said the huge sum was no longer needed in 2017/18. The unspent cash includes:

• £65m for London, where housing pressures are most acute
• £329m for the Government’s flagship ‘starter homes’ programme for first-time buyers

Read more on the Huffington Post website.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/sajid-javid-surrendered-housing_uk_5a953660e4b0699553cc1e38

Government Launches English Private Landlord Survey 2018

The newly created Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has launched a survey asking PRS landlords about the homes they provide, their tenants and their experiences. It will be talking to more than 100,000 landlords and agents, so it is likely a number of you will be contacted. The invitation-only survey is the first time the Government has approached landlords directly and asked them to share their experiences in almost 10 years – so if you get an invitation to participate  we would urge you to accept it. Read more on the RLA website.

https://news.rla.org.uk/governments-english-private-landlord-survey-2018/

MHCLG Announces Allocations For £45m Land Release Fund

Ministers have announced the allocations for its £45m Land Release Fund, aimed at building infrastructure and roads to unlock local authority-owned sites for development. The money has been awarded to successful bids for 79 schemes from 41 councils across England. The government estimates the funding could release land for up to 7,280 new homes. It will be spent on a range of remediation measures, including asbestos removal, road alterations and “bat alleviation”, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zyV4mpF2SfoJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/mhclg-announces-allocations-for-45m-land-release-fund-54679+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Vulnerable People 'Trapped In Homelessness' Due To Law

Vulnerable people are unable to access social housing, potentially trapping them "in a cycle of homelessness", due to a change in the law. Under the Localism Act 2011 councils were granted greater powers to restrict access to social housing. Since then 700,000 households have disappeared from waiting lists across England. The HCLG said: "Social housing is a priority for us." Until the act became law in 2012, councils were required to consider all housing applications, with few powers to remove households from the list. Now a local connection - often more than five years in a borough - is required by 35% of councils to access the social housing register. Read more on the BBC website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42919703

Cross-Party Groups Of MPs Call For Change To Supported Housing Plans

Two cross-party select committees have “strongly recommended” the government rethinks its plans to introduce a top-up fund for short-term supported housing controlled by councils. The HCLG Select Committee and the Work and Pensions Select Committee chairs wrote to Heather Wheeler, the junior minister responsible for supported housing. They called for the government to only fund emergency accommodation through a top-up fund and include all other short-term supported housing under its ‘sheltered rent’ plan. Under the proposals a sheltered rent would apply to extra care and sheltered housing, but short-term accommodation up to two years, such as women’s refuges and homelessness shelters, would be funded through council grants. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:SC6JcyE9W2sJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/home/cross-party-groups-of-mps-call-for-change-to-supported-housing-plans-54511+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Council Seeks To Replace Right To Buy With Home Deposit Scheme

A Conservative council hopes to scrap the Right to Buy policy and replace it with a scheme to allow tenants to “earn” a deposit to buy a house. The Earn Your Deposit Scheme could be offered to all 400 tenants of Woking Council’s company, Thameswey Housing, if it is approved by the council. It is aimed at young people looking to buy their first home. However, a spokesperson for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government poured cold-water on the plans.The spokesperson said: “No negotiations on changes to Right to Buy are taking place between Woking and the government and none are currently planned.”  Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8w3USghIsDoJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/conservative-council-seeks-to-replace-right-to-buy-with-home-deposit-scheme-54394+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

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  

Government Commits To Publish Social Housing Green Paper By Spring

The green paper – announced by housing secretary Sajid Javid in September – is supposed to be the start of a “fundamental rethink of social housing in this country”. Former housing minister Alok Sharma had been travelling the country meeting tenants at ‘roadshows’ to gather evidence for the policy document. In the course of these meetings he had promised tenants he would publish the paper by spring this year. The HCLG confirmed that Mr Raab will attend that event in Basingstoke, and the government will honour Mr Sharma’s pledge on the timing. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/government-commits-to-publish-social-housing-green-paper-by-spring-54074?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Government Renews Focus On Housing

Following the appointment of Rt Hon. Sajid Javid MP as the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the department will be renamed as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Housing Secretary Sajid Javid said: Building the homes our country needs is an absolute priority for this government and so I’m delighted the Prime Minister has asked me to serve in this role. The name change for the department reflects this government’s renewed focus to deliver more homes and build strong communities across England. Read more on the MHCLG website.

Cabinet Reshuffle: What Does It Mean For Housing?

Sajid Javid has kept his job and is now Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG). Housing already fell under the department’s remit, but reshuffle rumours predicted the position of housing minister would be promoted to a full cabinet post. CLG has seen its social care remit shifted to the Department of Health. David Gauke has been moved from the DWP to the Ministry of Justice with Esther McVey becoming Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Dominic Raab is the new housing minister, moving over from the Ministry of Justice where he had been a junior minister since 2015. Alok Sharma will now take up a minister for employment role in the DWP. Read more on the RLA website.