BME Communities ‘Disproportionately Impacted’ By Universal Credit

The Race Equality Foundation (REF) has said the move to Universal Credit will have a severe impact on the lives of those from BME communities. The research says UC will leave black and minority ethnic families worse off due to more receiving benefits and tax credits.  The government have estimated 16% of UC claimants will be of BME backgrounds, which is higher than the percentage of the population as a whole. They have also stated that whilst Universal Credit looks to incentivise people into work, the Work Programme has failed to work for BME people. This has left them remaining either in workless households or on low and insecure employment. Read more on 24Housing.

Less Than One In 10 Housing Association Tenants Likely To Buy Under New Right-To-Buy

Researchers quizzed nearly 7,000 housing association tenants in the Big Tenant Survey carried out by Sheffield Hallam on behalf of Housing Partners. It found that two thirds of social housing tenants are not interested in exploring Right-to-Buy and of the third who are interested only 7% are assessed as being able to afford their property. The survey reveals that of the 33% of tenants who said they were very likely or fairly likely to take up the Right-to-Buy opportunity 71% were in workless households,  61% had a household income of less than £21,000 per year, 41% were on Housing Benefit, 22% were aged 55 plus and 7% were in rent arrears. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Is Housing And Employment Support A Natural Partnership?

In recent years, supporting residents to prepare for and find work has been an increasing priority for government and landlords. However, there is relatively little current analysis of the characteristics of residents, the barriers that they face and ‘what works’ in supporting them. Our recent report, ‘Worklessness, Welfare and Social Housing’ seeks to address these gaps. It proposes a new partnership between government and housing associations to support disadvantaged residents to prepare for and find work. It highlights how housing associations are uniquely placed to provide employment support to those living within their homes and communities. They have a long term interest in the wellbeing of their residents and have strong social and business drivers which support moving tenants into the security and dignity of work. Housing associations are also major employers in their own right, with established supply chains which can provide further employment opportunities. Read more on the ERSA website.

Worklessness and Social Housing: A Look behind the Numbers

Out-of-work people living in social housing are too often referred to as one big group with the same enduring stigma. Around half (52%) of working-age people who live in social housing are not working, compared to just 29% in private tenures. The sector undeniably houses a significant proportion of unemployed and economically inactive people. Unsurprisingly it also provides the important function of sheltering society’s most vulnerable people, for example disabled people and single parents. In many circumstances, worklessness is largely the result of these disadvantages. A key point to understand is that only 10% of this population can actually be classified as unemployed. A much larger group of 40% is economically inactive. So what’s the story behind these 40% economically inactive social renters who haven’t been looking for work? Read more on the Guardian website.

Housing Associations Play Vital Role In Tackling Worklessness

Housing associations' contribution to employment and skills has been recognised in a new report from the Centre for Cities. ‘Delivering change, What Housing Associations can tell us about employment and skills’ highlights how low skills and high unemployment clusters in social housing in cities and outlines a number of ways housing associations are contributing to tackling worklessness and growing skills. Bolstered by a number of housing-led case studies the report finds that housing associations’ role as major employers means they can offer a variety of ‘real’ jobs and work experience in-house or via their supply chains. Read more on the NHF website.

Social Rented Housing: Unemployed People – Parliamentary Written Answer

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of workless households in social housing.

Mr Mark Harper: The latest available data shows that there were 1.4 million workless households in the social rented sector.

UK Suffers 10-Year Slide As 13 Million Live In Poverty

The UK has slipped into a mire of poverty, joblessness, insecure work and private rented sector (PRS) housing over the last 10 years. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's (JRF) 'Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion' report shows that the coalition's alleged recovery of the UK's economy has left 13 million living in poverty - and half of all those living in poverty are in a working family. Though there has been a big fall in the number of over 75s living in poverty, the number of adults under 25 living in poverty has soared. Compared to 10 years ago, many more of those in poverty are now living in the PRS. The report highlights the way the housing market has had a negative impact on people in poverty.  Download the report from the JRF website.

Nottingham Had Highest Proportion of Workless Households in UK Last Year

Nottingham had the highest proportion of households where there were no adults in work in the UK last year, new official figures say. A total of 30.1% of households that included an adult of working age were workless last year, up from 26.4% a year earlier. The increase was largely down to a rise in the number of people giving sickness or disability as a reason for not working, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. It was the first time since ONS records began in 2004 that Nottingham has had the highest proportion of workless households. Read more on the ONS website.

Troubled Families Programme Expanded To Help Younger Children

Eric Pickles has announced details of an expansion of the government’s Troubled Families programme. Work will begin this year in 51 of the best performing areas, ahead of a national 5 year programme from 2015 to help more troubled families who cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds per year without intervention. Recent research shows that troubled families that have been worked with so far have an average of 9 serious problems such as truancy, crime, anti-social behaviour, worklessness and domestic violence. As well as expanding from working with school-age children to those under 5, the wider programme will also have a particular focus on improving poor health, which new data published today highlights is a particular problem in troubled families, with 71% having a physical health problem and 46% a mental health concern. Read more on the CLG website.

‘Double Lockout Bill’ Cuts Support For Workers and Jobseekers

A new report reveals that the government’s welfare benefit uprating legislation is based on bogus claims and is a poverty-producing bill that will further exclude the poorest workers, jobseekers, carers and disabled people from the mainstream of society. The report finds that:

· The bill is poverty-producing and means that both absolute and relative child poverty will increase

 · Contrary to arguments made by Ministers, welfare spending on workless families has been falling and most Jobseekers Allowance claimants find new jobs within months

· Contrary to popular perception, benefit fraud is at its lowest ever recorded level and the ‘scrounger’ stereotype is grossly inaccurate

 · The government must focus on the root causes of social security and tax credit demand and prioritise progress on full employment, living wages, affordable housing and affordable childcare

Download a copy of the report from the CPAG website.

Mark Prisk’s Speech to the NHF Conference

I should like to speak about how we can increase the supply of homes.  In the Spring, we introduced a series of key policies, including New Buy, which has the capability of helping up to 100,000 people.  And two weeks ago we set out a comprehensive set of measures to accelerate progress. Those measures include:

    *Building up to another 15,000 new affordable homes and bringing an extra 5,000 empty homes back into use;

    *Putting an additional £280 million into FirstBuy - so around 27,000 will now be able to buy their first home; and

   *Confirming Government Guarantees of up to £10 billion, for the development of many more new rented homes.

It shows that this Government is absolutely committed to providing the policies and resources needed to build the homes people want.  All of us need a home, somewhere that families can be secure and where children can grow.  And I shall want to address those social issues, whether it is the scourge of neighbours from hell, or the plight of the homeless.  However, increasing the housing supply, especially of affordable homes, also has an important economic purpose. Building affordable homes is a great economic multiplier - and your buying power can help sustain local businesses.  You also provide jobs and help tackle worklessness.   So, while the issue of building new affordable homes is clearly front and centre - I also want to say that I recognise the vital role you play in helping to protect the homeless, the vulnerable and the marginalised in society.  Read more on the CLG website.

Should Social Landlords Pass On The Bedroom Tax To Tenants?

The idea of social landlords reducing rents by universally reclassifying their properties against those hit by the bedroom tax may seem absurd, but let's do the maths.  We already know there aren't enough alternative one-bedroom properties for the 400,000 who qualify for them; there are only 60,000 relets of existing one bedroom properties each year.  Even if all one bedroom homes we have were only allocated to underoccupiers from now on, some would wait for seven years while being charged as much as £25 extra a week from an income of as little as £75. Add on council tax, utilities and existing debts, and it becomes an impossible, unaffordable situation for many.  The impact will be worst in the north of England, hit by higher levels of underoccupation and by other benefit cuts such as changes to employment and support allowance, tax credits, incapacity benefit and council tax. Recent estimates suggest that working age households will face an additional £4.50 a week in council tax, while across the north east of England 50,000 underoccupiers will need to pay an additional £30m a year in rent. The government's discretionary housing payment (DHP) fund stands at £1.25m, leaving a shortfall of at least £28m in help available for underoccupiers.  This won't improve much even when a promised DHP increase kicks in next year. Durham county council has estimated the impact of welfare reform as a whole on the local economy in 2013 at £150m, worse in following years. That's £150m less going into local pockets, businesses and services when it already has the highest worklessness and the lowest job creation rates in the country.  Read more of this opinion piece on the Guardian website.

DWP Worklessness Co-design – Final Report

The Worklessness Co-design Pilot was launched in June 2010. The aim was to bring together DWP and Jobcentre Plus with a small number of local authorities in England to explore how to work together better to tackle worklessness and develop a shared understanding of the evidence on what works. In January 2011 an Interim Report set out the progress being made. This report sets out the conclusions of the work and outlines opportunities to work with Jobcentre Plus and the range of services available to support the co-design of local solutions to worklessness. Download a copy of the report from the DWP website.

‘Social Housing Should Be a Launchpad’

Social housing should not be for ‘losers’ but should be a launchpad, Stephen Greenhalgh said. The leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council pointed to figures from research by academic John Hills showing that just 22 per cent of social housing tenants are employed, compared to 43 per cent in the early 1980s. He said social housing should do more than house people in the greatest need but should provide support for a larger cross-section of people. He also said: ‘We have in the past had increasing national control, every aspect of the council housing system determined from the centre, through rent restructuring, access to money through the HCA and also rent levels in the LHA system.’ Read more on Inside Housing.

Government Called On To Help Tenants off Benefits

The government should do more to encourage housing associations to help tenants off benefits and into work, according to a research fellow from a right-wing thinktank. Alex Morton, research fellow for housing and planning at Policy Exchange, said housing people alone is not a good enough reason for the government to subsidise housing associations. Mr Morton, speaking at a roundtable event, said: ‘Primark for example clothes the same amount of people who probably live in those housing associations [properties] but it does not mean it gets large amounts of subsidies or tax breaks or special refuge from government.’ Read more on Inside Housing.

Benefit Cap for Unemployed Survives Committee Vote

The government’s cap on the amount of benefits that a workless household can claim has survived a vote by MPs. The committee of MPs scrutinising the Welfare Reform Bill, which introduces a £26,000 cap on the amount of benefits that a workless family can claim, and £18,000 for a single person, have voted down an amendment which ministers believed would ‘emasculate’ the cap. Labour MPs Liam Byrne, Stephen Timms, Karen Buck and Margaret Curran had tabled a series of amendments to the cap. These included an exemption for families who had not received a reasonable job offer, exemptions for carers, and exemptions for social housing and temporary accommodation tenants. They also attempted to remove housing benefit and child benefit from the cap, which was unveiled last autumn by chancellor George Osborne at the Conservative party conference. Read more on Inside Housing.

IDS Promises Help To Families Hit By Benefit Cap

Families hit by the government’s £26,000 benefits cap for workless households will receive ‘intense’ help to prevent them losing their homes. Speaking at the second reading of the Welfare Reform Bill in the House of Commons, Iain Duncan Smith said the Department for Work and Pensions would make statements soon detailing the transitional arrangements for those hit by the cap. Under the cap, housing benefit payments are squeezed to fill the gap after all benefits have been paid. Read more on Inside Housing.

IDS Defends Universal Credit

The most radical welfare shake-up for a generation will help those "trapped in unemployment" get back to work, Iain Duncan Smith has said. The Work and Pensions Secretary said the coalition Government decided on an overhaul to benefits claims after inheriting a system which established disincentives for people to seek employment. In evidence to the work and pensions select committee, he said the government was committed to the cut, which will remove 10 per cent of a claimant’s housing benefit if they have been on jobseeker’s allowance for more than a year. He added: ‘At the same time [the claimants] will be in the work programme where they will receive intensive support, the view of the government is that this acts as an incentive not a disincentive.’ Read more on 24dash.

Housing Benefit Cuts Will 'Push Poor Out Of South', Experts Warn

Large swaths of southern England will become off limits to housing benefit recipients in a little more than a decade because of the government's proposed plans to cut welfare bills – triggering a huge migration of the poor to the north – according to a study by housing experts. The work, by the Chartered Institute of Housing, shows that before 2025 rents on most two-bedroom properties in the south will become unaffordable to those claiming local housing allowance. Within 15 years, much of London's commuter belt will become too expensive for the state to pay for the poor to live in. The capital would be unaffordable within a decade. The findings reinforce concerns expressed by Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury. Williams attacked the government's welfare plans, saying he was particularly concerned about the cuts in housing benefit. Williams said he had "a lot of worries" about the government's plans, due to be spelled out this week, to force the long-term unemployed to do four weeks of unpaid work. He said: "People who are struggling to find work and struggling to find a secure future are, I think, driven further into a downward spiral of uncertainty, even despair, when the pressure is on in that way." Read more on the Guardian website.

Workless Households across the UK - November 2010

In January to December 2009, there were three areas across the UK where more than three out of every ten households had no one in work. These were:
* Liverpool (32.1 per cent)
* Nottingham (31.3 per cent)
* Glasgow City (31.0 per cent)
Over the same period for the UK as a whole, 18.7 per cent of households had no one in work. There were large variations across the country with the lowest percentages in:
* Bedfordshire (9.2 per cent)
* Surrey (10.9 per cent)
This was the second consecutive year that Liverpool came out on top with the highest percentage of workless households, and was an increase of 1.2 percentage points on a year earlier. Glasgow City was also in the top three in 2008 and increased by 1.3 percentage points. For the UK as a whole the percentage of workless households increased by 0.9 percentage points. Read more on the ONS website.