More Than 1,000 Homes Made Available To Rough Sleepers In Liverpool

More than 1,000 properties have been made available to homeless people across Liverpool. Housing association, Cobalt Housing, said on its website that the rehoming initiative was through a successful collaboration between housing associations and Liverpool Council. They said more than 1,000 properties were provided for the city's homeless who had been temporarily put up in hotels during the coronavirus pandemic. The project has now been shortlisted in the UK Housing Awards. Read more on the Liverpool Echo website.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/more-200-homes-made-available-21778947 

Thousands Of Teens 'Face Homelessness' After Tory Benefit Changes Delayed By Six Months

There are fears that teenagers could end up on the streets after the Tory government delayed a crucial benefits shake-up. Ministers vowed in March to restore housing benefit for people aged 18 to 21 - a U-turn on a policy they announced one year earlier. But the U-turn has still not taken effect - and will not do so until at least September. Youngsters now face six months in the lurch after the DWP failed to push through legal changes before MPs' summer holiday. Read more on the Liverpool Echo website.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/thousands-teens-face-homelessness-after-14976438

More Than 600 'Affordable Homes' Built In Merseyside Were NOT Affordable

More than 600 "affordable" homes built in Merseyside in the last three years weren't actually affordable. Data analysed by the Press Association's Radar service shows that Homes England, a government body responsible for building affordable housing, has built some homes which don't meet the guidelines needed to be classed as affordable. Liverpool had the highest number of homes which missed the guidelines of being 80% of market value for buyers, with 258 homes not meeting the criteria. Between 70% and 85% of the homes built in Merseyside by Homes England between April 2015 and March 2018 did meet the guidelines. Read more on the Liverpool Echo website.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/more-600-affordable-homes-built-14847498

Housing Benefit Cuts 'Risk Damaging UK's International Reputation'

Theresa May risks damaging Britain's international reputation if she fails to scrap housing benefit cuts facing the disabled, veterans and other vulnerable people, Labour has claimed. Shadow communities secretary Grahame Morris warned ministers they must go further and reverse the planned changes to supported housing scheme funding. He warned the cuts will "jeopardise the safety" of people fleeing domestic violence and also affect the elderly, people mental health difficulties and the homeless. Mr Morris said a failure to change the policy would raise serious questions about the new Government's priorities while also accusing them of "breaking the covenant with our veterans".  Read more on the Liverpool Echo website.

Housing Association Knocks Down Walls To Battle The Bedroom Tax

A Liverpool housing group has been knocking down walls to provide smaller homes for people who cannot afford the bedroom tax. Cobalt Housing say that, since the tax, demand for many of their houses has dropped. As 70% of their 6,000 properties are three-bedrooms, they are now converting these to two-bedroom houses to fill empty properties. Managing director, Alan Rogers, told the ECHO they were struggling as people couldn’t afford houses or didn’t qualify, as children under 10 were expected to share rooms. The conversions cost £700–£800 and this figure is expected to rise to £1,300 next year alongside other improvement works. Read more on the Liverpool Echo website.

Only 4% of People in Liverpool Fighting Bedroom Tax Have Had Refunds

Just 4% of people in Liverpool who are fighting the bedroom tax have had the money that was taken away from them paid back. An investigation by the Echo has found that the number of people winning their appeals against having to pay the tax is far higher than the number of people getting their money returned. This is due to the lengthy process they must go through, and the fact that the government is often ready to fight the decisions made by the First Tier Tribunal that decides if people have been unfairly penalised. The Echo has learned that, on average, only 50% of the applications being made for “discretionary housing payments” (DHP) are successful. Social landlords said that many tenants were in crisis, unable to make ends meet and having to wait a long time to discover whether they would have their housing benefit returned. Read more on the Liverpool Echo website.

Bedroom Tax Sees Homes Stand Empty

Hundreds of family-sized homes across Merseyside are still standing empty because the bedroom tax has made them too expensive to live in. Earlier this year the Echo revealed there was a “dire shortage” of smaller flats at the same time as lots of larger vacant homes because residents were desperate to escape the under-occupancy charge. Eight months on and housing associations told us this week the bedroom tax legacy is still causing problems. Cobalt Housing currently has 50 empty three and four bedroom homes, up from 27 in March, and Plus Dane has 100 empty three and four bedroom homes, up from 84 in March. Read more on the Liverpool Echo website.

Council Accused of 'Persecution' Over Bedroom Tax

Wirral council chiefs have denied claims they are “persecuting” people affected by the bedroom tax. It follows the decision by the council to appeal after losing a case against a tenant who told a tribunal her “spare room” was too small to be classed as a bedroom. Green Party councillor Pat Cleary said the council should have accepted the ruling. Cllr Cleary said: “Rooms below 50 square feet cannot be classified as bedrooms. In the private sector it is illegal to rent out such a room as a bedroom. So, that should be that. But not in Wirral where the council has written to this tenant and is seeking permission to appeal this judgement. In other words, Wirral council does not accept that a room of 36.5 square feet should not be classified as a bedroom. “Apart from the moral issues involved, there are also important financial issues. How much is it costing to contest these appeals? “Why is Wirral doing so when it is clearly the remit of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)?”  Read more on the Liverpool Echo website.

First £1 Liverpool Home Handed Over

The keys to the first £1 home sold in Liverpool have been handed over to its new owners. Liverpool Council offered the chance to buy 20 vacant houses for the small sum if the new owners pledged to refurbish them and stay for at least five years. The property, on Cairns Street, Granby, was handed over to Jayalal Madde by Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson. More than 1,000 people applied for the scheme and 10 applicants have so far been successful. The pilot scheme is part of plans to bring 179 empty homes back into use in the Granby, Picton and Arnside Road areas of the city.  Read more on the Liverpool Echo website.

Housing Association Will Pay Bedroom Tax

A city housing association says it will cover people’s bedroom tax shortfall if they make an effort to get a job. South Liverpool Housing Trust hopes that by giving people the financial help if they go on an eight-week work skills course, it will help them get jobs and be able to pay their own way.  But while the scheme has proved popular with some tenants, bedroom tax critics said they believed the move could reinforce the view that people suffering from the controversial benefit cut were “lazy scroungers” and that it could end up costing the housing association a huge sum. Read more on the Liverpool Echo website.

Samaritans Called In Over Liverpool Bedroom Tax Suicide Risk

The Samaritans have been drafted in by Liverpool's Riverside Housing Association to help deal with desperate tenants on the brink of suicide because of the bedroom tax. Staff at Riverside Housing Association’s head office in Speke are being trained by phone counsellors from the Samaritans as workers struggle to cope with the high volume of calls from tenants at risk of suicide.  And South Liverpool Homes (SLH) said in early May a tenant attempted suicide over the bedroom tax and earlier this year a resident committed suicide over issues believed to be related to financial hardship.  Read more on the Liverpool Echo website.