Key Proposals In The Social Housing Green Paper

·         New 'league tables' of housing providers based on key performance indicators, surrounding services such as repairs and neighbourhood management. This could be linked to housing grant.

·         Consideration to scrapping of the current 'serious detriment' test, to allow 'Ofsted-style' tougher consumer regulation

·         New home ownership options such as allowing tenants to buy as little as 1% of their property each year through shared ownership. This would only apply to new shared ownership purchases.

·         Ditching of plans to force social landlords to offer fixed term tenancies rather than lifetime tenancies in social housing

·         Ditching of plans to force councils to sell off their most valuable social housing when it becomes vacant

·         The potential introduction a new stock transfer programme from councils to 'community-led' housing associations

·         The return of guaranteed debt funding to help the development of affordable homes, and longer term 'strategic partnerships' for developing housing associations

Download the Green Paper from the GovUK website.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/733605/A_new_deal_for_social_housing_web_accessible.pdf

Councils To Lose Voting Rights And Have Board Membership Limited

The government quietly put legislation introducing the changes to parliament last week. They will affect dozens of stock transfer housing associations. Under the proposals, dubbed The Regulation of Social Housing (Influence of Local Authorities) Regulations 2017, councils will lose powers of veto over housing associations and the right to vote at general meetings. They will also have board membership limited to a maximum of 24% of the associations’ boards. This second change will force boardroom reshuffles at many housing associations up and down the country which were established with a third of local authority membership. Read more on Inside Housing.

Councils Hit Out At LSVT Association Deregulation

Councils have warned that deregulation proposals would prevent them holding stock transfer associations to account and make future stock transfers less attractive to tenants. The government tabled an amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill which would allow the secretary of state to limit or remove the ability of councils to “exert influence” over large scale voluntary transfer (LSVT) associations.  This includes giving housing associations the power to remove board members appointed by a council and removing local authorities’ ability to appoint or remove board members to stock transfer association boards. Several councils have hit out at the plans. Read more on Inside Housing.

Tenants To Vote On Plans To Transfer Housing Stock

Steps to transfer Hammermsith and Fulham housing stock to a new housing organisation have taken a step forward after gaining council backing. A Cabinet meeting voted to back the recommendation of the Independent Residents’ Commission on Council Housing , which was published last month.

H&F will now give a vote on whether or not to pass the ownership of all of its 17,000 homes to council housing residents. The findings of the report suggested the council may struggle to raise the money needed to adequately repair and maintain council homes, whereas a new resident-led housing association should be able to secure the investment needed. However, a transfer will not take place unless a majority of tenants vote in favour of the transfer. Read more on the H&F website.

Residents’ Commission Says Council Houses Should Be Transferred To Community Ownership

Hammersmith & Fulham’s pioneering Residents’ Commission on Council Housing has recommended that the council transfer ownership of its homes to a local, not-for-profit, community-owned housing organisation. The proposals are contained in the final report of the independent commission, established to report on the future of council housing in Hammersmith & Fulham. The council will make a final decision at a cabinet meeting on 7 December. Read more on the Hammersmith & Fulham website.

£45 Billion Raised From RTB Sales

Pressure is mounting on the government to explain official figures on social housing replacement. It follows publication of research commissioned by the Commons communities and local government committee into the impact of Right to Buy on social housing stock. More than £45bn has been raised in total capital receipts RTB sales up to 2010/11, according to the report. It goes on to say that the number of dwellings owned by local authorities in England declined by 3.4 million in 34 years between 1980 and 2014. This was due “both to the RTB and the transfer of stock from the local authority to the housing association sector.” Download the report from the Parliament website.

Tenants Serve Transfer Notice on Council

Council tenants on two estates facing demolition have served notice of plans to transfer the homes into community ownership, as they seek to halt a controversial £8bn regeneration scheme. The regeneration of the area surrounding the Earls Court Exhibition Centre by developer Capco has been opposed by residents of nearby West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates since it was first approved in 2011. The tenants have notified the council of their intention to transfer the homes into community ownership under Section 34 of the Housing Act. The legislation forces councils to cooperate with tenants’ stock transfer requests. However, under the rules, the council can object to ministers if it “can show clear evidence of a significant detrimental effect on the local authority’s ability to provide housing”. Read more on Inside Housing.

Landlords 'Only Able To Replace One In Five Right to Buy Homes'

Housing associations are only able to replace one in every five homes sold under the preserved Right to Buy. Figures from four stock transfer landlords, all of which already have stock subject to the revamped Right to Buy, showed 343 homes had been sold since discounts were increased, with receipts funding just 71 replacements. Phoenix, a housing association based in Lewisham, south London, has sold 82 homes since discounts were increased, and has been able to fund just 12 replacements with £2m of retained receipts. Read more on Inside Housing.

Council Social Housing Handed Over To Firm

The local authority in Gloucester is transferring the ownership of its social housing to an association. Gloucester City Council said the deal with Gloucester City Homes (GCH) will lead to £110m additional investment in city homes over the next 30 years. The handover follows two years of consultation with the occupiers of 4,800 properties in the city who voted in favour of the move. GCH has managed the council's housing stock since 2005. Read more on the BBC website.

Town Hall Rubber Stamps Housing Transfer

The transfer of 8,500 homes from the council to private ownership has been formally approved. Salford council rubber stamped the transfer of town hall-owned properties to Salix Homes at its full council meeting. This came after a tenant ballot in November when tenants voted in favour of the stock transfer. The transfer is expected to take place at the end of March and Salix Homes, which already manages the homes on behalf of the council. Salix says it will invest millions into the homes to bring them up to a decent standard by 2020 and maintain them. Read more on the Manchester Evening News website.

Stock Transfer Moves Step Closer

A stock transfer of 12,500 London council homes to a housing association or community-run landlord has moved closer. Cabinet members at Hammersmith & Fulham Council decided to press ahead with a stock transfer options appraisal for the future ownership of the council’s housing stock. Cabinet members also agreed to establish a residents’ commission to oversee the process. The Labour administration has pledged to fulfil a manifesto promise ‘to work with council housing residents to give them ownership of the land their homes are on’. Read more on Inside Housing.

Stock Transfer Ballot to Go Ahead

Council tenants in Salford will be able to vote on whether their homes are transferred to a co-operative, releasing £75m of investment. City mayor Ian Stewart announced today the ballot will go ahead ‘soon’ to transfer Salford City Council’s 8,500 homes to Salix Homes. The decision should mean that the arm’s-length management organisation, which currently manages the council’s stock, will become a ‘mutual’, jointly owned by tenants and employees. Read more on the Salford Council website.

Ballot Go Ahead Recommended

Plans which could release millions of pounds of housing investment could get the go ahead in Salford. After extensive consultation with tenants, Salford City Mayor Ian Stewart will consider the recommendation to hold a ballot. Tenants will be able to decide whether to transfer the ownership of 8,500 homes from the council to Salix Homes which will see £75 million pounds invested in homes and communities in the next five years. The offer document, setting out details of the proposal, was delivered to tenants at the start of August, giving them a month to reply with any comments on the document. Read more on the Salford City website.

Tenants Vote Yes To Housing Transfer

Durham County Council tenants have voted in favour of transferring the ownership and management of their homes to Dale & Valley Homes, Durham City Homes and East Durham Homes as part of the new County Durham Housing Group. 82% of those who took part in a confidential ballot supported the transfer proposal, with 51% of tenants using their vote. The single ballot of almost 22,000 tenants was run independently from the council by Electoral Reform Services Limited.  Read more on the Durham County Council website.

Thousands Could Lose Homes If Salix Transfer Goes Ahead

Salford Council and Salix have been spending tens of thousands of pounds on propaganda urging tenants to vote `Yes' in a ballot, which would see 8,800 properties transferred from Council ownership to an independent company.  Neither the Salix propaganda leaflets, nor the Offer Document, make any mention of a few paragraphs contained on page 32 of the 76 page official Business Case, not so easily available to tenants. Under the title of the Strategic Case for the transfer, the document quite clearly states that "Salix Homes would have greater freedom, for example, in the range and types of tenancies provided and locations/lettings policy." It adds that there will be the "development of a new tenancy policy" which will "work to change the view that social housing is a home for life towards being a resource for a particular time". Read more on the Salford Star website.

Cabinet Agrees To Proceed With Tenant Vote in Durham

Durham County Council’s Cabinet has given its approval to carry out a ballot of secure and introductory tenants on the future management and ownership of their home.Following extensive consultation, Cabinet took the decision to ask almost 22,000 secure and introductory tenants to vote on whether they would like the council to remain as their landlord or transfer ownership of their home to their current housing services provider. In the coming weeks tenants will be asked whether they agree with the council’s proposal to transfer the ownership of their home via the County Durham Housing Group Limited to Dale & Valley Homes (an ALMO) in the west of the county; Durham City Homes in the city centre and surrounding areas; and East Durham Homes (an ALMO) in the east, making each of these organisations local landlords. Read more on the Housingnet website.

£100 Million Fund Will Put Power in the Hands of Tenants

Council tenants wanting more influence and control over their homes will have access to a share of £100 million to do just that, Housing Minister Kris Hopkins has announced. Mr Hopkins said the fund will help unlock further investment in maintaining and building social homes across the country. Since November 2013, tenants living in council housing have had a right to request that the management of their homes be transferred to a housing association - and that the council cooperate in that process.  Tenant groups wanting to exercise this Right to Transfer will now be able to bid for a share of this £100 million fund to help that process, with the money becoming available from next year. The £100 million fund is also available for councils wishing to transfer their stock, with proposals that provide good value for money and have the support of residents. Read more on the GovUK website.

Right to Buy Scheme – Parliamentary Written Answer

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what steps his Department is taking to monitor the effect of the Preserved Right to Buy on the number of affordable homes;  

(2) how many homes have been sold to date through the Preserved Right to Buy; what steps his Department takes to ensure such homes can be replaced; and how many homes sold under Preserved Right to Buy have been replaced to date.  

Kris Hopkins:In the first year of the reinvigorated scheme (2012-13), there were 2,458 preserved right to buy sales.  As housing associations are independent organisations, and stock transfer agreements are private commercial contracts, we do not mandate what they do with receipts they receive from preserved right to buy sales. It is the Department’s expectation that these receipts should be used to help fund new homes for affordable rent, and we would encourage housing associations to work in partnership with local authorities, and use other sources of cross-subsidy, to help achieve this.

Government Agrees £65m Debt Write-Off for Council Homes Transfer

The government has today agreed to write off £65.1 million of debt to allow a council to transfer 8,500 homes to its former ALMO. Salford Council hopes to transfer the properties to Salix Homes under new stock transfer rules, published last November, including an offer to cancel historic housing debt. In exchange for the write-off, Salix Homes has committed to invest £75 million to bring all properties up to the government’s decent homes standard by 2020. The deal will be put out to consultation before a tenant vote later this year. To benefit from the debt write-off, the whole process must be completed by March 2015. Read more on Inside Housing.

£30m for New Housing As ALMO Takes Ownership of Council's Stock

The Housing Minister has announced a proposed transfer of 4,800 council homes into the full ownership of an ALMO. It is hoped the move will lead to up to £30 million being unlocked and invested in new homes for Gloucester - the first new social housing the area has seen since the 1980s. Gloucester City Homes, which has managed Gloucester City Council's homes since 2005, will take control of the housing stock as the council finally relinquishes all responsibility. Under the terms of the deal, by transferring the homes to GCH, the council will see its £50m in historic housing debt wiped out by the government. However, the transfer must now go to a tenants’ vote, which will ultimately decide if GCH takes complete control. Read more on the GovUK website.