31% Of ALMO Right To Buy Stock Not Replaced In 2018

The annual survey looking at the state of the ALMO sector in England has shown latest build figures and wider impact on communities. One of the stark figures is that only 46% of Right To Buy sales were replaced with new build. This figure rises to 69% when acquisitions are included. Of the 31 ALMOs, three quarters of the building was done by just six, showing a real challenge for the sector. The year before, 59% was being built by just three of them. The NFA, which authored the report, says this is a “year-on-year problem with properties not being replaced fully from previous years’ sales”. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/31-of-almo-right-to-buy-stock-not-replaced-in-2018/

Affordable Housing Stock Grows At Lowest Rate Since 1992

England’s stock of affordable homes grew by its lowest level since 1992, new government figures show. The total amount of net additions to the affordable housing stock fell to 32,110 in 2015/16, according to the affordable housing supply live tables from the CLG. The number of additional affordable homes fell nearly 52% between 2015/16 and the previous year. However, this drop is likely largely a consequence of the movement between funding programmes. The final year of the Affordable Homes Programme 2011/15 saw a high volume of completions, as providers raced to finish schemes before the deadline. Download the figures from the GovUK website.

Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations – Parliamentary Written Answer

Asked by Lord Dear: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether a Community Land Trust under the proposed Right to Buy scheme is required to sell one of the houses it owns if it is unable to provide an alternative from (1) its existing stock, (2) its newly built stock, (3) the stock it will build in the future or (4) the stock of another housing association.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Under the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation, there would be a presumption that housing associations would sell the tenant the property in which they live, but there would be some broad circumstances where a housing association could exercise discretion to decline a sale. These circumstances include properties held in the Communities Land Trust.

Opinion: Twenty (Unanswered) Questions

Over the past few weeks there has been a great deal of controversy and debate about the National Housing Federation’s voluntary Right to Buy deal. Yet much of the debate has been conducted in the dark because a whole raft of questions remain unanswered. Here is my list of twenty unanswered questions.

1) The Federation says its analysis showed that the Right to Buy was a “fight we would not win” in Parliament. WIll they release this analysis to their members?

2) Was the Federation aware that the discount would be paid as a grant as stated in the Housing Bill?

3) Did the stock figures exclude those properties that would be exempted from the Right to Buy, as set out in the offer?

Read the other questions on 24dash.

Historic Trust Landlords Seek Legal Advice on Right to Buy

Four housing associations established by Victorian philanthropists have taken legal advice on the government’s proposed Right to Buy extension and have ‘not ruled out a challenge’.  Guinness Housing, the Peabody Trust, Affinity Sutton and Southern Housing met recently with top housing lawyers to understand how the policy would affect their historic charitable stock. The four organisations, which together own around 180,000 homes, were all established by philanthropists who invested their fortunes to help house poor residents of London. The organisations have specific governing instruments, with Peabody incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1948 stipulating that it should work solely in London for the relief of poverty. Read more on Inside Housing.

Right-To-Buy Will Be “Disastrous” For Rural Communities

An academic specialising in rural housing issues has warned that the Government’s Right-to-Buy housing policies will have an “especially disastrous” impact on rural communities. “There is already a shortage of affordable housing, especially in rural areas where there is little social housing,” said Professor Mark Shucksmith ONE, director of the Newcastle University Institute for Social Renewal.  “Rural house prices are on average 26% higher than in urban areas, and the ratio of house prices to local earnings is even worse. Disposing of housing association stock, at great cost to the taxpayer, will make the impact on rural communities much more serious.. With housing association properties sold off, and unlikely to be replaced in any substantial quantities, the wealth divide in rural communities will deepen even further.” Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Right to Buy 'Could Dent Public Finances and Reduce Social Housing'

Extending the right-to-buy scheme to housing association tenants could undermine the UK’s public finances, according to an assessment of the Conservative party’s flagship policy by the Institute of Fiscal Studies. The independent thinktank warned that selling off housing association homes would “represent a significant giveaway … potentially billions of pounds over the next parliament” and would “worsen the UK’s underlying public finance position”. It said given the “less-than-impressive record” of delivering replacement social housing under the existing right to buy, “there is a risk that these policies will lead to a further depletion of the social housing stock – something the proposal explicitly seeks to avoid”.  Download a copy of the report from the IFS website.

Social Housing Stock 'Becoming More Dispersed'

Housing association stock is becoming more dispersed despite efforts to reduce the number of landlords working in the same area. This is the early finding of research from Savills for the National Housing Federation, which reveals the amount of housing association stock held by a landlord with less than 100 units in a local authority area has grown. Analysis by the consultancy revealed 154,000 homes in this position, compared to 149,000 the year before. This represents 6.4% of housing association stock. The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) was supposed to have placed a greater focus on this area of housing associations’ businesses in recent years, Savills said. Read more on Inside Housing.

Tory Minister Feared Risks From Right-To-Buy Homes Sell-Off Plan

The Observer can reveal that former housing minister Kris Hopkins wrote a letter in late 2013 in which he made it clear that the idea of forcing housing associations to sell off housing was fraught with risk.  In the letter, Hopkins said: “Unlike local authorities, housing associations are independent, not-for-profit voluntary bodies and if they are obliged to consistently sell off their stock at less than market value they might find it difficult to borrow which could impact adversely on their repair and maintenance programmes and affect the future provision of affordable housing. The government does not consider that it would be reasonable to require housing associations to sell these properties at a discount. Any increase to the discount available under the Right to Acquire would only be possible through upfront central government subsidy, potentially incurring a high liability for the public purse.” Read more on the Observer website.

Pickles Orders Councils to Publish Stock Valuations

Councils will be forced to publish valuations of their social homes from April, despite the majority warning that it would lead to ‘misinformed debate’.  Eric Pickles has accused councils of ‘sitting on millions’ which could be used to fund building work elsewhere. The communities secretary has ordered them to publish the most recent valuation of their stock annually, listing how much the properties are worth and how many are occupied. However, responses to a government consultation on the proposals, first announced in July, show the majority of respondents did not support the proposal. Read more on Inside Housing.

Temporary Housing Funding Cut

Cuts to the funding of council-owned temporary accommodation will cost local authorities across Britain tens of millions of pounds. Currently, if councils use their own housing stock as temporary housing, they pay for the accommodation themselves and claim the money back from the DWP through what is known as a rent ‘rebate’ system.  However, a circular recently released by the DWP outlined that under universal credit, the amount councils can claim will be restricted to the rate of local housing allowance plus £45 per week. Temporary accommodation owned by private providers and housing associations is already limited to similar restrictions. Councils have said this doesn’t take furnishing and maintenance costs into account. Download a copy of the circular from the GovUK website.

Third Of All Newcastle Households Hit By Bedroom Tax and Welfare Reforms

A least one third of Newcastle's households have been hit by the coalition's raft of welfare reforms that came in last April, an ALMO's research has revealed.  In particular, the controversial bedroom tax has had a significant impact on the city's social housing tenants. Your Homes Newcastle, the ALMO that runs Newcastle City Council's housing stock, says that 4,703 of its tenants have been affected by the bedroom tax.  Recent figures show that 60% of those affected by the bedroom tax in the city are now in arrears.  The advent of the tax has seen the number of empty two and three-bed flats tripling from 47 in February last year to 142 in February this year, as more and more tenants are forced out of larger properties. Read more on 24dash.

Sleepy Housing Associations Must Become More Efficient, Says Boles

Conservative ministers have warned housing associations must become much more efficient in their use of assets if they are to remain ‘relevant’. Planning minister Nick Boles attacked the ‘sleepier’ associations that were not making best use of their existing stock to build more homes.  Speaking at a fringe session of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Mr Boles said: ‘The difficulty is we have no mechanism – no innate process for driving out the weaker associations and making sure the fire-power is in the hands of those who will make the best use of it. ‘If the sector could find a way of getting those sleepier institutions in to more dynamic hands then I think you would find ministers would be very supportive.’ Read more on Inside Housing.

Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Bill 2012-13

Private Members' Bill sponsored by Richard Harrington MP, to create a new criminal offence of subletting; and allow for proceeds of subletting to be reimbursed to the social landlord in whose stock the fraud was committed. Find full details on the Parliament website.

Tenants Show Appetite for Right to Buy

English councils warn sharp rise in sales will leave them unable to replace much-needed homes.  Right to buy applications have surged following the government’s decision to increase the discount to £75,000, according to an Inside Housing survey.  In London, where discounts have quadrupled in most areas, applications from tenants in April alone have exceeded half the number received in the previous 12 months, leading to fears that councils could lose large swathes of their housing stock.  Based on figures from 18 London boroughs, councils received an average of 39 applications in April, compared with 67 in the whole of 2011. At this rate, each council will receive more than 800 applications this year.  Away from the capital, Birmingham has received 172 applications, compared with 601 in total last year, while Sandwell received 60 applications in April - three times as many as April 2011.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Third of Re-Lets At 80% of Market Rate Could Create 7,800 New Homes

Up to 7,800 homes a year could be created on the back of housing associations charging rents at 80% of the market rate on a third of their re-lets, research by Hometrack suggests. This would generate a maximum of £793m of extra borrowing capacity a year. The data, which assumes that 20% of the cost of a unit is covered by subsidy, is based on all stock provided by all RSLs in the country. Hometrack concludes that the subsidy required to generate the homes would be £198m a year. The calculations are based on figures for stock owned by housing associations and their current turnover rates. The National Housing Federation (NHF) has warned that with a 63% cut to the housing budget, for the Government to deliver housing at scale, all tenants moving into newly built homes will have to be charged at the new, near-market rents, as well as one in four re-lets for tenants moving into existing social homes. Read more on 24dash.

Landlords Look to Expand Portfolios As Rent Demand Soars

Nearly a third of landlords are looking to increase the number of properties they have in the next 12 months as demand for rented accommodation soars and 43% think they will maintain their portfolios at their current size, according to LSL Property services, the UK's largest letting agent network. Landlords' confidence is being driven by growing demand for rental property, with 50% of landlords seeing an increase in the number of people who want to let a home during the three months to the end of October, while 69% expect demand to continue to grow during the coming year. The increase in demand, combined with a shortage of rental homes, pushed rents up to a record high in September, following eight consecutive months of rises. Landlords are also increasingly confident that their properties will not be empty for long periods in between tenants. Just under half of landlords said they thought it was a good time to invest in property, while only 1% said they thought it was a good time to reduce the number of properties they have. Read more on 24dash.

Councils Want to Merge Services to Save Millions

Three London councils are considering merging ‘every major service’ to save between £50 million and £100 million a year. Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea councils, are setting up working groups to look at merging children’s and environmental services, as well as adult social care and corporate services. The local authorities hope that the housing functions of the councils, which between them own 50,000 homes, will eventually also be included. The housing stock of Hammersmith and Fulham, and Westminster is managed by ALLMOs, while Kensington and Chelsea’s homes are managed by a tenant management organisation. Read more on Inside Housing.

English Housing Survey 2008 Housing Stock Report

CLG published the English Housing Survey (EHS) Housing Stock Report 2008 on Wednesday 27 October 2010. The EHS began in April 2008 and brings together two former CLG housing surveys - the English House Condition Survey and the Survey of English Housing. The report included the following highlights:
* In 2008 there were around 22.2 million dwellings in England. Over one in five (21 per cent) were built before 1919.
* Since 2001 there has been a significant reduction in the amount of disrepair in the stock.
* The energy efficiency (SAP) rating of the housing stock steadily improved from a mean of 42 SAP points in 1996 to 51 in 2008.
Download a copy of the full report from the CLG website.

Local Authority Stock and Non-Decent Homes Provisional Estimates

Provisional statistics on local authority owned non-decent homes provided by local authorities in England for 2009 - 10 were released on Thursday 26 August 2010. A full set of results from local authorities will be published in November - December. Key points from the release are:
* Based on provisional returns, the percent of the social housing stock that was non-decent on 1st April 2010 was 10.2% - down from 14.5% a year earlier.
* For local authority stock only, the percent of non-decent homes declined from 22% to 16.2% while for Registered Social Landlord stock the percent of non-decent homes declined from 8.3 to 5.3%
* Local authority owned stock was estimated to number 1.79 million homes on 1st April 2010, compared to 1.80 million a year earlier.
More than 10 per cent of social housing failed to meet the decent homes standard when the original deadline for compliance passed. The Labour government had initially intended that all homes should meet the criteria by the end of 2010, although it later backed away from that goal as it became clear it was unrealistic. Download the data from the CLG website by clicking on the logo below.