Poll Shows Housing Policies Popular But Little Faith In Delivery

Ipsos MORI research reveals few think any party will improve housing if elected. Housing policies in Tory, Labour, and Lib Dem manifestos are popular – but few think any party will improve housing if elected. Confidence in Labour to deliver on housing in government is as high as 45% among past Lib Dem voters – only a little short of the 54% who are confident in their own party. But past Labour voters are particularly attracted to the range of policies – for example, more support Conservative ‘First Homes’ and ‘Help to Rent’ than Conservative and Lib Dem past voters respectively. A majority of respondents backed Labour’s programme of building social housing. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/poll-shows-housing-policies-popular-but-little-faith-in-delivery/

Housing Policy ‘Failing To Recognise‘ Complex Society

A reality of “simplistic” policy in a complex society is one of the main arguments that the UK is institutionally ageist, the Housing 21 conference heard. The University of Sheffield’s Professor David Robinson told delegates in Birmingham that present housing policy is not fit for purpose and “needs to be challenged”. For Peabody’s Brendan Sarsfield, it’s the overall focus of local authorities on a single issue, rather than a holistic approach that is the biggest problem faced by an ageing population. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/housing-policy-failing-to-recognise-complex-society/

The Government Has Launched A National Survey To Gain Tenants Views On Social Housing

The Social Tenant Engagement Questionnaire aims to highlight any issues or concerns following the Grenfell tragedy, and the results used to share good practice and inform the government’s future policy. The online questionnaire covers the following issues:

•        managing complaints and redress routes

•        social tenants’ voices being heard

•        ensuring good and consistent quality services from landlords

•        safety of tenants

All the responses will be read by the Government and feed into their new social housing policy paper, to be published by the end of Spring 2018. Read more on South Essex Homes website.

Government Urged To ‘Rip Up’ Housing Policy To Help Grenfell Survivors

Jayesh Kunwardia, partner at London law firm Hodge Jones & Allen says he has become “increasingly concerned” that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) has yet to explain how its current homelessness policy will apply to the hundreds of people it now has to house. He says: “I’ve already spoken to a number of former Grenfell Tower residents who have refused RBKC’s offer of temporary accommodation outside of the borough and have opted to stay with family or friends instead. “However, by doing so, this means that under the council’s current policy, RBKC could now refuse to accept a duty to house them under the Housing Act as they have made themselves “intentionally homeless. Read more on 24housing.

Policy Of Moving Homeless Out Of The Area Spreads

London councils have been moving homeless families out of the capital for some time and now it appears the policy is spreading across the country.  The policy was a result of cuts to housing benefit, soaring house prices and a lack of social housing. It mean local authorities in the capital have been moving homeless people to places like Luton or Milton Keynes and even further afield to cities like Birmingham and Nottingham. Not only is this incredibly difficult for the families moved away from their homes and support networks - it also has a knock on effect on the areas they arrive in. Many of the receiving towns now face a housing crisis of their own. Read more on politics.co.uk

Tory Housing Policy Overhaul Could Include Rent-To-Buy

The government is considering a shift in its housing policy away from a primary focus on home ownership in an acceptance that many people on lower incomes cannot afford to buy a property and instead need help with renting.  An announcement on housing is expected at the Conservative party conference, sources connected to housing policy have said. While it remains unclear what this will involve, ministers are understood to be interested in the idea of rent-to-buy schemes. This general trend has already been signalled, with housing minister Gavin Barwell saying in a speech earlier this month that the country needed more homes for rent below market rates, as well as homes to buy. Read more on the Guardian website.

Policy Targeting Homeless Families Is 'Tantamount To Social Cleansing’

Charities and politicians are demanding urgent changes to housing policy across Britain and warning that thousands of homeless children's lives may be at risk because they are disappearing from support services after being rehoused. The calls come after an investigation by The Independent uncovered cases of homeless children dying from neglect and abuse after families were moved out of their local authority boundaries. Other evidence in the report suggested that the transfer of homeless families to other parts of the country could have resulted in suicides and miscarriages. Figures obtained exclusively by The Independent show that at least 64,704 homeless families were moved out by London boroughs between July 2011 and June 2015, with more recent data yet to be collated. Read more on the Independent website.

Councils Warn Of Rise In Homelessness And Waiting Lists

Homelessness will increase and housing waiting lists will rise as government housing policies combine to reduce the number of desperately-needed homes available to communities, councils warn in a snapshot survey published by the Local Government Association. The LGA poll asked councils what the impact of a range of government housing policies would have on their local area by 2020. 90 per cent of councils responding to the survey said reforms – including extending Right to Buy, cuts to social housing rents and Pay to Stay – will lead to a drop in the number of much needed council homes. 78 per cent predict that the reforms will lead to a rise in homelessness and demand for temporary accommodation (80 per cent) in their community while the majority (81 per cent) expect their council housing waiting lists will increase as a result. Read more on the LGA website.

Pay (MORE) to Stay

The Observer has a piece about the government policy they call “pay to stay” which is a misnomer as tenants already pay to stay, else they will be evicted, and the policy is one of paying MORE to stay. What the article does NOT say is:

·         The policy does not apply in Scotland & Wales

·         The income threshold is household income not just wage income

·         The policy is mandatory for council landlords to impose yet is voluntary for housing association landlords.

·         Council landlords return all added rental income to central government, yet housing associations get to keep all added rent charged under the policy

What the article gets wrong is that a couple both working 40 hours per week at the £7.20 national living wage have a wage income ABOVE the £30k threshold as this is £30.034 per year. Read more on the Joe Halewood blog.

Government Too Focused On Homeownership

Government is too focused on home ownership as an answer “no matter what the question is”, the president of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has said. Geraldine Howley, speaking at the annual CIH presidential dinner in London , called on the government to “think again” about a number of areas of its housing policy. Ms Howley said: “We must have a better housing solution for people unable to meet their housing needs in the market. “Government’s strategy is too focused on homeownership as the answer no matter what the question is.” Ms Howley criticised the government’s plans to introduce a Local Housing Allowance-linked housing benefit cap for the social sector, saying it “risks long-term damage, especially to supported and specialist housing”. Read more on the CIH website.

Why I Had To Change My Lyrics For David Cameron

When I first heard, a few days beforehand, that David Cameron would be on the same Andrew Marr show as my band Squeeze, I thought about changing the lyrics to the song we would perform in protest – in fact, I thought about redoing the whole thing. But then the next day I thought: “No, that would be a ridiculous thing to do.” So I didn’t write any new lyrics in advance. But then, just 10 minutes or so before we went on, I was listening to the interview he gave to Marr and he was talking about his housing policy. And I felt: “I have to say something.” Cameron was talking about knocking down sink estates and rebuilding “affordable housing”. It has got to the point where people are no longer able to live in the areas where they grew up unless they have some sort of financial help. Read more on the Guardian website.

Slump In New Public Housing Threatens Chancellor's Targets

A sharp decline in new home building by housing associations and local authorities this year could wreck the government’s plans to build 1m new homes by 2020. Housebuilding by the public sector slumped in October, according to official figures, adding to a series of month-on-month falls going back to the election that undermine minister’s claims of a revolution in house building. George Osborne told MPs in his autumn statement last month that measures to support housebuilding would add 400,000 affordable homes by 2020. His comments followed a claim by housing minister Brandon Lewis that a successful housing policy would result “in a total of something like a million homes” by the end of the parliament. Read more on the Guardian website.

Osborne’s Housing Gamble

George Osborne is taking some big gambles on housing policy which may or may not pay off. One major gamble he’s considering at the moment is what to do with the Affordable Homes Programme. In 2010 this budget was cut, as part of the broader deficit reduction programme. To reduce the impact of the cut, Osborne changed what could count as “affordable”, allowing rents as high as 80% of the local private market to continue to fund some new development. Renters had to pay more, but so did taxpayers through the housing benefit bill, and crucially some homes for rent still got built.  Osborne is now considering going even further in his reforms. In his 2015 conference speech he said: “this autumn we’ll direct our housing budget towards new homes for sale.” This indicates another big change in affordable housing policy. Read more on the Shelter blog.

SNP's Rise to Power Is Good News If You Really Care About Housing

The election of so many Scottish National party representatives to Westminster could be a good thing for housing. Since the creation of the Scottish parliament, housing policy north of the border has been a more progressive force than elsewhere in the union. Scotland invested £675m in affordable housing in 2009-10, approving 8,663 new homes at a time when the development rate elsewhere began to tank. A further £970m was budgeted for development in the three year period up to March 2015. Another £463m has been set aside for this financial year. Democratically owned and controlled council housing remains an important focus for Scotland. Of the 4,097 social homes built in 2013, 1,232 of those were council properties. The SNP has also stepped up to protect Scottish social housing from being lost to private ownership under the right-to-buy. Read more n the Guardian website.

Developers Must Provide 50% 'Affordable' Housing, Says Council

Croydon Council has said that residential developments built outside of the town centre will be required to provide a minimum 50% 'affordable' housing. From 1 April, council policy will state that half of all the bedrooms where there are 10 or more homes are in 'affordable' housing units. The minimum level is currently 30% but the local plan policy allows this to be reviewed each year in response to market changes. And developments within the town centre that offer less than 50% affordable housing will have to justify this by undertaking a viability assessment. Read more on 24dash.

Coalition Fails To Achieve Housing Goals

The coalition government has not achieved significant success against its housing goals and is building fewer homes than the previous Labour government. That is a key finding from a report examining the coalition government’s record on housing policy, published by The London School of Economics (LSE). The report, written by academic Professor Becky Tunstall, concludes that the coalition has ‘achieved no significant or ambiguous successes against its broader housing goals’. It said: ‘The key problems in 2010 of low housebuilding rates, reduced affordability and risk to the economy from house price fluctuations had not changed by 2015.’ Download the report from the LSE website.

Homebuyers Will Need a £72,000 Deposit If Tories Win, Says Labour

Homebuyers could need an average deposit of £72,000 to buy a typical home if the Conservatives get five more years, the shadow housing minister warns. Labour's Emma Reynolds said in a speech in Nottingham that it will become even more difficult for people struggling to afford a home if David Cameron and George Osborne remain in charge of housing policy. Not enough new housing is being built, she said, with Britain likely to have a shortfall of 1.3 million homes by 2020 under the current trajectory – the size of three cities as big as Birmingham. Reynolds warned that those who do not yet own a home will find buying somewhere even more unaffordable if today's trends continue. Read more on the Guardian website.

Report Praises Crisis for Its 'Innovative' Help for Homeless

Homelessness charity Crisis has been praised for its "major innovation" in providing education and employment support for homeless people. The report from the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York looked at education models around the world and concluded that Crisis has made "one of the most advanced and comprehensive attempts" at helping homeless people to re-enter society. It also highlights impressive achievements in getting people into secure paid work. In 2012 and 2013, Crisis helped to secure 852 paid jobs, 3,904 exam passes and certificates and 1,191 training places across the country. Download a copy of the report from the Crisis website.

Rent-a-Room Scheme – Parliamentary Oral Answer

Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con): What discussions he has

had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing the amount of housing

accommodation by extending the scope and level of the rent-a-room scheme.

Kris Hopkins: I meet ministerial colleagues regularly to discuss the

Government’s policy on housing. The rent-a-room scheme allows hard-working

householders to earn an additional £4,250 a year tax free. The average yearly rent for a lodger is below this threshold at £4,168.

Government Housing Policies Prolonging Misery for Thousands

Construction union UCATT have described the Government’s housing policies as creating misery for thousands of families. The union made their claim on the day that the Labour Party held an opposition day debate in Parliament on the housing crisis. New research shows that despite the number of homes being built having increased, it is still less than half the number that is required and a housing gap exist in every region of England. The most pressing area of housing need is for new council and social housing. There are currently five million people on housing waiting lists. The lack of council and social housing has become more acute due to the Government’s slashing of the budget for building new social housing by 60%, soon after entering office. Read more on the UCATT website.