CML Supports Launch Of New Social Housing Regulator

The Council of Mortgage Lenders says it supports a new regulator for the social housing sector, independent of the Homes and Communities Agency. The CML says "independent and effective regulation is crucial in safeguarding lender investment and in encouraging firms to continue to fund the sector. The proposal to separate the regulator from the HCA and establish it as a stand-alone non-departmental public body would be consistent with the principles of better regulation. The funding of social and affordable housing is becoming increasingly complex, which reinforces the case for a regulatory body that is clearly independent". Read more on the Financial Reporter website.

RTPI: Green Belt Should Be Considered For Housing

The green belt should be considered for new housing, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has said. In a policy statement, the RTPI said the government’s upcoming Housing White Paper needs a “fresh approach” to direct where new housing should be located. The statement said: “Green belt boundaries may well need to change, but only after a careful review over wider areas than single local authorities, where safeguards are put in place to ensure development is sustainable, affordable and delivered in a timely manner, and without prejudice to the renewal of brownfield land”. Download the policy statement from the RTPI website.

Peers Overturn 20 Per Cent Starter Home Requirement

The government’s starter homes policy suffered serious setbacks in the Lords as peers voted through amendments to the housing and planning bill designed to safeguard affordable housing. One amendment would allow councils discretion over how many starter homes are required in new residential developments. The government had wanted the legislation to require that at least 20 per cent of new housing on larger sites would be starter homes. As a result of this change, planning authorities will be able to “grant planning permission for a residential development having had regard to the provision of starter homes based on its own assessment of local housing need and viability”. Read more on the Planning Portal website.

Lords Starter Homes Amendments Give Government Headache

The report stage in the House of Lords saw peers strike several blows to government policy on Starter Homes. Two amendments, one and eight, were passed by the Lords as they looked to safeguard affordable housing against starter homes. Amendment one, passed with a 275-181 vote, was regarding the starter homes discount taper being 20 years instead of the government proposed eight. The second, amendment eight led by Lord Kerslake, seeks to allow local authorities to have discretion on starter homes numbers. Read more on 24dash.

Private Renting Shouldn’t Be A Game Of Eviction Roulette

A quarter of private renters will face the prospect of losing their home through no fault of their own, according to Generation Rent, prompting the organisation to demand the introduction of greater safeguards for tenants.  Obviously, a quarter is way less than a majority of private renters, but Generation Rent say its findings point to the lack of stability in the sector, meaning life under its roof becomes something of a lottery – nobody can quite say for sure which quarter they’ll find themselves in. Read more on the Generation Rent website.

Good Data Won’t End Homelessness But It’s A Key Part Of The Solution

A long-awaited report by the body responsible for safeguarding the quality of official statistics has concluded that the way in which homelessness data is currently collected and reported by Government requires significant improvement. And this amidst growing concern that official statistics misrepresent the true scale of the homelessness problem in England. The report, released by the UK Statistics Authority, found that statutory homelessness data need a range of improvements to retain its status as ‘National Statistics’. The CLG’s prevention and relief and rough sleeping statistics were also looked at as part of the assessment and were found lacking. Above all, the UKSA says that the Government needs to be more transparent about what the three datasets collectively tell us about the state of homelessness in England. Read more on the Crisis blog.

Universal Credit 'Safeguards' Include Paying the Rent Itself

The DWP is stepping up its efforts to keep tenant arrears down under universal credit (UC) including, it seems, by paying the rent itself.  In recent months, the DWP has been working closely with housing providers and the NHF to ensure rent payments are safeguarded under the new benefits system, which is currently being rolled out across the country. But according to the Labour MP Frank Field these 'safeguards' have been taken one step further. Field claims he has seen official figures from the DWP that show the department is making payments direct to landlords for more than half the 70 participants in a 'pathfinder' pilot. Average rent arrears for those in the pilot are said to have doubled to £942. Field said the move was particularly worrying because the pilots have involved only single people and couples with relatively straightforward circumstances. Read more on 24dash.

Minister Fears Housing Benefit Plan Risks Rise in Homelessness

The proposed change away from paying most housing benefits directly to landlords in favour of payments to tenants has sparked concern at the top levels of government that tenants who cannot manage their money will fall into arrears and be made homeless and also led to fears that social landlords will not have the financial security to invest in much needed new affordable homes.  Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, has written to work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, outlining his fears about the change in housing support, and urging his Conservative cabinet colleague to moderate his reforms.  It is understood that Alexander accepts that tenants will not all get a choice about how their housing benefit is paid, but he has threatened to block the changes unless more safeguards are brought in for the most vulnerable tenants.  Read more on the Guardian website.

Social Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance his Department has provided to registered social landlords on managing increases in rent arrears. 

Mr Prisk: DCLG and the DWP are working closely with a group of social landlords on the direct payment demonstration projects, which are testing the impact of the payment of housing benefit direct to tenants. A key aim of the demonstration projects is to explore how we can best protect social landlords, and tenants themselves, from the risk of increases in rent arrears. We intend to use the evidence gathered from the projects to inform the design of universal credit, including the safeguards to be put in place to protect the financial position of social landlords and prevent tenants from falling into significant debt. My Department and the DWP are also co-funding a learning network to capture the lessons from the demonstration projects, and encourage the sharing of best practice and information, to help social landlords prepare for direct payment.  We have also worked with the Chartered Institute for Housing on guidance for social landlords to prepare for the introduction of the social sector size criteria.  More generally, we would expect social landlords to work with their tenants to minimise the risk of rent arrears as far as possible.