The HCA Fees Statement outlines regulatory priorities, the associated budget breakdown and the fee per social housing unit:
Rehousing post Grenfell
Kensington and Chelsea have come under criticism from residents about moving on those who live in temp accommodation from the surrounding streets.
Here is the report:
A4 Draft Walkways Rehousing Policy (Appendix)
Under the suggested policy, tenants would not be given priority for rehousing while remaining in hotel accommodation provided after the fire – meaning they would either be required to move into temporary accommodation or back into their old home before being found a new place to live.
There are currently 161 households from the Walkways living in emergency accommodation.
New supported housing funding – consultation from govt
Here is the paper.
It distinguishes between sheltered and extra care, to short term emergency accom and longer terms disabilities etc.
We urge you to respond to the consultation by 23rd January – there are multiple consultations in this document
Funding_supported_housing_-_policy_statement_and_consultation
Single Homeless – Circ 26,000 a night are facing homelessness
A report from Crisis shows how people are stuck in a cycle of homelessness after being denied access to housing.
Here is the report:
Moving On is a report produced by Crisis studying the scale of single homelessness in England and the barriers single homeless people face accessing social housing. This study has been produced to inform a wider programme of work being carried out by Crisis to improve the availability of homes that single homeless people can afford in both the social and private rented sectors.
Key Findings
- The number of single people who experience homelessness in England each year is around 200,000, with a minimum estimate of 120,000 and a maximum of 345,000.
- The average number of single people experiencing some form of homelessness on any one night is estimated to be 77,000 – with a low estimate of 50,000 and a high estimate of 110,000.
- Around two-thirds of single homeless people have support needs that mean their immediate destination should be some form of housing with tailored support such as supported housing or a Housing First solution. The rest have no acute support needs and the primary barrier to ending their homelessness is housing.
- 75,000 single people with low or no support needs experience homelessness each year, with a minimum estimate of 40,000 and a maximum estimate of 140,000.
- The average number of single people with low or no support needs who are homeless on any one night is 26,000, with a low estimate of 17,000 and a high estimate of 38,000.
- Social lettings to single homeless people in England fell from 19,000 a year in 2007-8 to 13,000 in 2015-16. The proportion of new lettings to single homeless people relative to the number of new lettings overall has fallen disproportionately, from 12% to 8% of all new lettings over the same period.
- This drop is due to changes in policy on the allocation of social housing, alongside problems caused by the reducing affordability of social housing, restrictions on housing benefit entitlement, and housing providers’ response to these.
- Restrictions on social housing eligibility and allocations. Councils are encouraged by national guidance to restrict access to social housing to those with a local connection, and some councils and housing providers are using powers granted by the Localism Act (2011) to exclude applicants with a history of rent arrears, antisocial behaviour or criminal convictions.
- Restrictions related to household income and affordability. The use of affordability and other financial eligibility criteria by some housing providers has the effect of screening out those on the lowest incomes. At times social housing providers have little choice; the impact of restrictions on housing benefit eligibility can mean that in parts of the country low income households are literally unable to pay their rent.
Recommendations
- National government must end the use of blanket housing register exclusions that shut out people in housing need.
- National government must ensure there is a supply of mainstream housing that single homeless people can afford.
- City regions and local authorities, working with social housing providers, should:
- monitor and report publicly on the flow of social housing lettings to single homeless people;
- review the impact of social housing eligibility restrictions and restrictions related to affordability on the flow of lettings to homeless people.
Rowe, S. and Wagstaff, T. (2017) Moving on: Improving access to housing for single homeless people in England. Crisis: London
24 Housing reported in summary:
“On any given night in England, 26,000 single people are facing homelessness across the country. Most of them have very few support needs and just can’t find a home, according to Crisis, the national charity for homeless people.
The charity’s new research shows that this group of homeless people – some of whom are excluded from council housing registers due to reasons such as past rent arrears – are ending up trapped in a cycle of homelessness or stuck in temporary shelter for months, or even years on end, as the social housing shortage and sky-high renting costs leave them with no place to call home.”
Big Society Update
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Forward Policy on Housing?
Here is a useful round up of forward policy from the Conservative party conference.
Thanks to CIH for this:
Northern energy
IPPR have just produced a report for northern energy.
Here is the report:
ippr-north-a-northern-energy-strategy-a4-digital-04
This is what they say:
“Our vision for the north of England is that by 2050 we will be the leading low-carbon energy region in the UK, with an energy economy worth £15 billion per annum and 100,000 green jobs providing affordable, clean energy for people and businesses across the North.
The Northern Energy Taskforce came together with the belief that the energy sector should continue to be a fundamental strength of the economy of the North; not only continuing to power the nation in its low carbon future, but in innovation and demand management. Above all, in a region where fuel poverty is all too evident, the North can develop an energy system which meets the needs of all consumers, resolving the so-called “trilemma” of low carbon supply, security and price. A year and three reports later, that belief has hardened into conviction.
With the right leadership and direction, we believe that our vision to create an energy economy worth £15 billion and create 100,000 jobs by 2050 is within our grasp. Unleashing the northern energy economy is essential to achieving the nation’s climate change commitments and has the potential to deliver affordable energy for businesses and households alike.
This Northern Energy Strategy, the final report of the Northern Energy Taskforce, is a road map for how we can achieve this.
It contains recommendations for national, regional and local stakeholders, including the formation of Energy for the North. As the taskforce winds up its work, we hope that mayors and local leaders, working with Local Enterprise Partnerships and other energy stakeholders, seize the initiative and form this new body to carry forward this urgent and important work.”
School exclusion and social exclusion – is there a link?
Here is the new report from IPPR.
They say
“Nowhere is Britain’s social mobility failure more obvious than in the example of school exclusion in England.
Excluded children are the most vulnerable: twice as likely to be in the care of the state, four times more likely to have grown up in poverty, seven times more likely to have a special educational need and 10 times more likely to suffer recognised mental health problems. Yet our education system is profoundly ill-equipped to break a cycle of disadvantage for these young people.
A new programme should be established, committed to delivering the best in education to the most vulnerable children. Run by a dedicated education charity, leaders graduating from this new programme – The Difference – would be a catalyst for change throughout the education system.”
Here is the report:
HCA consumer standard report 5
The HCA said it received 532 referrals in 2016/17, a 15% increase on the previous year.
105 were investigated and seven led to the regulator ruling that there had been a breach – three more than last year.
The regulator said it “acknowledges” that its report will be read in the context of the Grenfell Tower fire and that it will be “important” for providers to respond to the conclusions of the public inquiry and police and fire investigations.
Here is the report from the consumer standard.
Consumer_Regulation_Review_2016_to_17
The HCA said where providers breach a consumer standard their systems are often “poorly designed, poorly implemented, or both”.
Here are details of the seven providers that breached a consumer standard in 2016/17:
St Vincent’s Housing Association – failed to act on a large number of high priority fire safety actions from fire risk assessments. The regulator downgraded the association’s governance to G2. Once changes were made by the board, the association was upgraded again to G1.
Circle – the regulator said Circle had “chronic and long-standing difficulties” with its repairs and maintenance service. Numerous tenants and local MPs complained to the regulator. The provider has now merged with Affinity Sutton to form Clarion Housing Group.
Luminus – downgraded to a non-compliant G3 after the regulator found more than 1,000 properties had not had a valid gas safety certificate for at least some part of the previous two years. Following the downgrade, chief executive Chan Abraham resigned and Luminus is now in merger talks with Places for People.
Paradigm Housing Group – a number of properties were without valid gas safety certificates, some for a number of years.
Manningham Housing Association – the association did not have a “robust” system in place to maintain gas fittings and flues. This was discovered by the HSE but the association did not report it to the regulator. It was downgraded to a non-compliant G3.
Tower Hamlets Community Housing – Hundreds of fire safety actions were not implemented and some had been outstanding for more than two years. It was downgraded to a non-compliant G3.
Expectations – properties did not meet the Decent Homes Standard and there were fire safety concerns.
How the housing sector will evolve: report
The London school of Economics has produced a report on the future of the housing sector.
The report has two distinct objectives: to look forward to how the role of the sector might evolve into the medium term, given the more challenging environment that associations are likely to face; and to help clarify how individual associations can best meet these challenges and at the same time, become far more resilient to economic and political change.
Here is the report: