Housing Construction Output Remains At Half 2019 Levels

 Public housebuilding – which does not include housing associations – is worse affected than the private sector, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said, while repairs and maintenance construction is also well down on last year. The value of private new build housing construction work over the three months to June 2020 was 52.6% lower than in the same period last year, a record decrease since the ONS began publishing the data in January 2010. For the public sector, the drop was 56.9% – again a record fall. However, the value of private sector housebuilding in June soared a record 42.3% to £1.83bn on the previous month. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/housing-construction-output-remains-at-half-2019-levels-despite-june-surge-67482?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

£1bn Building Safety Fund Launches With Limited Availability For Social Housing Providers

The government has published the prospectus for its new £1bn Building Safety Fund for the removal of unsafe non-aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding systems, setting out limited circumstances in which registered providers and local authority landlords can access the funds. The fund was announced at the 11 March Budget earlier this year and follows a £600m fund previously made available for the removal of ACM cladding. In publishing the prospectus, the government emphasised that the fund is “predominately targeted at supporting leaseholders in the private sector facing significant bills”. Read more on the Social Housing website.

https://www.socialhousing.co.uk/news/1bn-building-safety-fund-launches-with-limited-availability-for-social-housing-providers-66566?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

More Than 15,000 New Homes Registered To Be Built In October

Builders and developers across the UK registered a total of 15,343 new homes during October, a year-on-year increase of 6% (October 2018: 14,494). 10,688 were registered in the private sector (10,941 in October 2018) and 4,655 in the affordable and rental sector (3,553 in October 2018). The figure makes October the second busiest registration month of 2019 to date. For the rolling quarter, between August and October, 40,472 new homes were registered compared to 42,198 in the same period in 2018 – a decrease of 4%. Within this there was a 12% fall in the private sector, with the affordable and rental sector growing by 22%. Read more on the NHBC website.

http://www.nhbc.co.uk/media-centre/articles/statistics/october-2019-statistics/

Increase In Affordable Homes Failing To Offset Private Sector Decline

The number of new homes to be built for those in the affordable and rental sector in the UK continues to rise significantly but these gains have failed to offset the decline in the private sector registrations, according to the latest NHBC figures. 3,875 new homes were registered in the affordable and rental sector in August, a 17% increase year-on-year, whilst home registrations in the private sector fell 20% to 8,420. The overall number of new homes registered to be built by builders and developers across the UK in the month was down 10% compared to August 2018. Read more on the Property Reporter website.

https://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/property/increase-in-affordable-homes-failing-to-offset-private-sector-decline.html

Councils Warn Homelessness Reduction Act Hampered By Welfare Restrictions

Nearly all councils now think the level of housing benefit young people are entitled to isn’t enough to rent in the private sector, according to a new survey by Centrepoint. The charity fears that without reform, welfare restrictions will continue to drive young people into homelessness. This is despite the government’s flagship Homelessness Reduction Act which requires local authorities to provide more tailored support and advice to anyone who is threatened with homelessness. Centrepoint surveyed 119 English councils to examine the challenges they face in delivering their housing duties. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/councils-warn-homelessness-reduction-act-hampered-by-welfare-restrictions/

Council Jobs Set To Be Moved To New Housing Company

An extra 260 council staff are set to see their jobs transferred to a new housing services company. Stoke-on-Trent City Council has founded Unitas which is due to take over responsibility for housing repairs and maintenance from Kier Stoke on February 4. But now council leaders want to expand Unitas' remit to include other housing services, such as allocations, homelessness, housing management and private-sector housing, from mid-2018. That would see 260 council staff move to Unitas this year - in addition to the 500 Kier Stoke maintenance workers already due to be transferred. Read more on the Stoke Sentinel website.

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/260-more-council-jobs-set-1051718

U-Turn On Housing Benefit Cap For Mentally Ill And Elderly

Plans to cap housing benefit for thousands of mentally ill, elderly and other vulnerable people in supported housing are to be re-examined after protests by MPs and charities. The rethink also follows evidence from the NHF, which found that 85% of schemes to build new supported and sheltered homes for vulnerable people have been shelved by housing associations because of fears that the new funding system will make them unsustainable. More than 700,000 people in supported housing usually have the accommodation element of their costs met entirely through housing benefit. But under plans announced by the government in 2015, and due to be introduced from next year, these payments would be capped in the same way as for people renting in the private sector. Read more on the Observer website.

Rent Rises Ahead As Landlords Pull Out Of UK Housing

Landlords are likely to pull out of the UK housing sector in the coming year owing to policy changes, surveyors say. Nearly two-thirds of surveyors asked by their trade body said more landlords would exit the market than join it in the coming year. Investors have been hit by changes such as a stamp duty surcharge. As a result, private rent rises were likely to outpace house prices in the next five years, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found. Read more on the BBC.

80% Of Government Housing Funding Is On Private Housing

Analysis of government figures by the CIH shows projected government investment through to 2020/21 will funnel £32bn into private programmes and £8bn into programmes for shared ownership and sub-market rent. The largest investment in private housing is the £12.5bn bill for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme. Help to Buy ISAs, the Help to Buy guarantee scheme, and private rented sector guarantees cash make up the remainder of the funding. This investment is in the form of loans and guaranteed debt, rather than direct government spending. Its investment in affordable housing comprises mainly £4.3bn of grant under the Affordable Homes Programme. Read more on Inside Housing.

Councils Have Whitehall Support Ensuring Safety Of Private High-Rises

The Government will support councils in taking action against private sector building owners who do not cooperate with councils in ensuring the safety of high-rise buildings from fire. Sajid Javid wrote to council chief executives responding to concerns voiced earlier by local authorities that they were in the dark about the safety of privately owned buildings because they did not have access to the relevant information. Mr Javid reminded councils that councils do have the power to ask landlords to take necessary action to ensure that their buildings are safe and can ultimately carry out any necessary work themselves and then charge the landlord for it. Read more on the LocalGov website.

Gap Between LHA And Rents Putting Private Rents 'Out Of Reach'

CIH research reveals in some areas the gap between the shared room rate of the local housing allowance (LHA), which single people who are under 35 and renting in the private sector receive to contribute to their housing costs, and the cheapest private rents in the area, means virtually all of the properties are out of reach. The research shows that in the 46 rental markets in England where the cash shortfall was greatest less than a quarter of private rented homes were available at the LHA. In 17 of those areas ten per cent or less of the market is affordable and in six five per cent or less is affordable. Read more on the CIH website.

Public Housing Projects Boost Build Figures

A 5.5% rise in public housing – which includes housing associations – boosted the UKs latest construction output figures. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the monthly estimate of output in the construction industry in Great Britain for November 2016, in both the private and public sectors. This estimate outlined:

·         Total new housing output grew at a monthly rate of 1.2% in comparison with October 2016, representing the biggest increment since February 2016

·         This increase is in part a result of the notable 5.5% rise in public housing, which includes housing associations

·         There was an increase of 13.7% compared with November 2015, the largest month-on-year growth rise since December 2014.

Read more on 24housing.

Social Housing Lettings Cut By 22,000 In Past Two Years

Councils and housing associations are letting nearly 22,000 fewer homes for social rent each year than they were two years ago, the latest Government figures show. A statistical release put out by the CLG shows there were 261,163 social lettings by housing associations and 113,449 by councils in 2015/16 compared to 270,659 and 125,812 respectively in 2013/14. The cut in genuinely affordable homes comes after a period of sustained cut in funding for building such dwellings, with grant funding for social rents all but abolished. The Government has also beefed up its Right To Buy scheme which has seen a sell-off of council housing to the private sector across the country. Read more on the Independent website.

Govt Offers “Timid” Response To Lords Committee’s Housing Report

A House of Lords committee has branded the Government’s response to a housing report “inadequate” and even “timid”. In July, the Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee (EAC) published its report ‘Building More Homes’, which criticised the Government’s target of one million new homes by 2020 as inadequate. Furthermore, it said that the level of house building required to meet the housing crisis could not be met by the private sector alone. The committee called on the Government to free local authorities to build more homes for rent and to move away from its focus on subsidising home ownership and do more to support people to rent affordably. Now the response to that report has itself been described as "inadequate to deal with the scale of the crises in the housing market" by Lord Hollick, the EAC’s chair. Read more on Housing Excellence.

£100bn Pitch For National Housing Fund

The drastic shortage of housing among working people could be plugged with a government-backed National Housing Fund of £100 billion over 10 years, providing up to 75,000 extra new homes a year, a report by the independent think tank ResPublica has found. The number of new homes totalled only 143,500 last year – 56,500 less than the 200,000 needed each year over this Parliament to hit the government’s own targets. In its report, Going to scale: How a National Housing Fund can unlock Britain’s housebuilding capacity, ResPublica argues that the private sector will only build at the pace that it can sell but if the Government acted as a guaranteed buyer of new homes then confidence would grow and supply increase. Read more on 24housing.

5,000 Empty Homes Across Nottinghamshire

More than 5,000 homes across Nottinghamshire have been left empty and unfurnished for more than six months, according to new figures. Government data shows that 5,226 houses across the county have been left empty and unfurnished for six months or longer. The problem is at its worst in Nottingham itself, which has 1,410 long-term vacant properties across the private and public sectors.  This is compared to a decade ago when there were 4,931 long-term vacant properties across the county. Andrew Redfern, chief executive of homelessness charity Framework, believes that bringing empty homes back into use could help tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

New Home Registrations 20% Up For August

Almost 12,500 new homes were registered to be built in the UK in August according to NHBC's latest registration statistics, an increase of 20% compared to the same month last year. A total of 12,486 new homes (9,225 private sector; 3,261 public sector) were registered in August, compared to 10,391 (8,385 private sector; 2,006 public sector) 12 months ago. Overall, there were 36,869 new home registrations in the rolling quarter (June 2016 – August 2016), compared to 40,123 in the same period last year, a decrease of 8%. Read more on the NHBC website.

Skills Shortage At Breaking Point

One in ten contractors and suppliers say skills shortage is critically impacting budgets, according to  Scape’s new 'Sustainability in the Supply Chain' report. Nearly 85% of public sector construction managers, and 58% of private sector contractors and suppliers cite the current skills shortage as negatively impacting the quality of their workmanship, as well as one in ten citing it as critically impacting their ability to keep to budget. The report, which surveyed over 150 contractors, subcontractors and senior managers at public sector organisations highlighted the stark realities of a skills shortage that’s at “breaking point”. Download a copy of the report from the Scape website.

Corbyn Right-To-Buy Plan Backed By Centre-Right Think Tank

Jeremy Corbyn’s plan to extend right to buy to tenants in privately owned housing has gained the support of a major centre-right think tank. Civitas's backing of the radical idea underlines growing concern the housing market has become unaffordable for young people. Report author Peter Saunders said "generational inequality" had worsened over the last 20 years as house price increases outstripped rises in earnings. Mr Saunders said the same eligibility criteria would apply to private tenants that currently apply to council and housing association tenants and that they should also get the same discount.  To not discourage investors from buying property to let, Civitas recommends the policy would only apply to tenants who had lived in their homes for several years. The properties would have to be more than 25 years old. Read more on the Independent website.

Associations Given Head Start On Land Bids

Housing associations have become eligible for a two-month head start over private sector competitors when bidding for public land. An “unexpected but welcome” side effect of the reclassification of associations as public bodies last year means they have a new special standing, enabling them to bid for developable public land. The Cabinet Office has confirmed housing associations are now able to use a 40-working-day window before land disposed of by government departments is advertised on the open market. The government has committed to release enough public land to build 160,000 new homes between 2015 and 2020. Read more on Inside Housing.