The government will seek “greater oversight” of the quality of supported housing as it shifts funding responsibility to local authorities.

According to Inside Housing:

“A long-awaited consultation into reforming the funding of supported housing was published, ahead of a controversial cap on housing benefit at Local Housing Allowance levels.

In response to concerns that this cap could make supported housing schemes unviable, the government revealed in September that a “top-up fund” would be given to councils to make up for lost income.

Today’s consultation said this would give councils an “enhanced role” in commissioning supported housing in their area and allow them to “take a more coherent approach”.

It said supported housing funding “is not [currently] well designed to ensure effective oversight of quality or control of spending to ensure value for money”.

It added: “We want quality and a focus on individual outcomes to play a greater role in how we fund the sector.”

The government is consulting over whether there should be a national statement of expectations or a national commissioning framework “within which local areas tailor their funding”.

The consultation will run until 13 February next year and a Green Paper with the detailed arrangements for the local top-up model will then be published in the spring. It said its preference was for county councils and the Greater London Authority to administer the funds.

The final package will be announced in autumn next year ahead of the new model kicking in from April 2019. The government proposes putting shadow arrangements in place from April 2018 on the detail and allocation of funding.

The amount of top-up funding will be set “on the basis of current projections of future need”, the consultation said.

It said the funding should cover a “general definition” of supported housing, rather than having separate ringfenced posts for different client groups.

However, some stakeholders have raised concerns that certain vulnerable groups could be overlooked. The government is therefore looking at introducing statutory duties for councils to protect housing provision for specific vulnerable groups.

It said the government recognises short-term accommodation such as hostels and refuges have “particular challenges”. The government said it will work with the sector to develop further options to ensure providers of shorter-term accommodation “continue to receive appropriate funding for their important work”.

The government has set up four “task and finish” groups with membership from stakeholders and partners from across the sector and from across government departments. These groups will each be responsible for one area:

• Fair access to funding
• Local roles and responsibilities including ensuring value for money, quality and oversight
• Ensuring new supply of supported housing
• Short-term accommodation “

The government plans to create a new social housing regulator, separate from the Homes and Communities Agency.

A government spokesperson said this will be an “administrative” change that will not affect the regulator’s powers or operations.

The government concluded the HCA should continue to support housebuilding and increase the supply of land for housing, and the regulator should function separately.

The government has  launched a consultation into the proposal to set up the regulator as an independent body which will run until the end of January.

Last week the regulator launched a consultation into charging fees.

The move is well supported by sector figures – nobody has suggested that the red tape shodul not have been cut in th first place and it was just window dressing!

Key passage from the review

The HCA review found there was a compelling case for change of the regulator’s structure, given the way the HCA has evolved since it assumed responsibility for social housing regulation. Since the establishment of HCA’s investments arm (HCA-I) in 2014, the Agency has expanded into commercial investments. This has made the HCA, in some cases, both a secured creditor and regulator of registered providers.

This potential conflict of interest did not exist when the decision was made to incorporate social housing regulation within the HCA, as at that time the agency’s funding predominantly focused on grant-making.

The HCA’s governance arrangements and an operational ‘ethical wall’ have ensured that information is not inappropriately exchanged between the regulator and investment function. However, as the financial landscape of the sector evolves and becomes more complex, it becomes ever more important that the HCA and the regulator are best positioned to adapt to such changes, and that commercially sensitive information is sufficiently safeguarded.

THE CHANGING SHAPE OF ENGLISH SOCIAL HOUSING REGULATION:

Dec 2008: Housing Corporation is scrapped and its functions transferred to a new regulator, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA), and a new investment quango, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA)

Apr 2010: TSA’s remit is expanded to cover local authorities, arm’s-length management organisations and housing co-operatives

Oct 2010: Housing minister Grant Shapps announces the TSA will be scrapped and its functions merged into the HCA

Apr 2012: HCA takes over regulation, with a reduced consumer role

Mar 2016: The government announces a review of the HCA

Nov 2016: HCA publishes consultation proposing independent regulator

The new report, Stop the Scandal: the case for action on mental health and rough sleeping, shows over two thirds (68%) of these areas fail to commission specialist mental health services.

Stop the Scandal follows a previous investigation which found increasing numbers of people on the streets are also tackling mental health problems. Four in 10 people sleeping rough need mental health support and those with a mental health problem are more likely to live on the streets for longer.

Rough sleeper numbers have doubled in England over the last six years, increasing 102% since 2010. On any one night in autumn 2015 3,569 people slept rough across the country.

Clients from St Mungo’s have today written to health secretary Jeremy Hunt to request an urgent meeting about funding for specialist homeless mental health services.

The charity is also holding a reception in Parliament as part of its Stop the Scandal campaign to discuss the issue with MPs and Peers. Speakers include local government minister Marcus Jones MP, public health minister, Nicola Blackwood MP, and shadow housing secretary, John Healey MP.

Howard Sinclair said: “Rough sleeping is dangerous and ruins lives and people with mental health problems are particularly at risk amongst this group of very vulnerable people.

“Despite the mental health inequalities faced by people sleeping rough, most commissioners are not rising to the challenge with targeted mental health services.

“We know mental health services are extremely stretched but by focusing resources we can not only alleviate the human cost but potentially save money over the long term, if people receive the help they need at the time they need it.

“Our research indicates that four in 10 people sleeping rough have a mental health problem. By any measure these figures are unacceptable. We urge the government to take action and produce a new, ambitious strategy to stop the scandal of people sleeping rough.”

Here is the report:

Stop the scandal

According to 24 Housing:

“The report, which includes findings from in-depth interviews with 21 people who have recent experience of rough sleeping, also reveals that people are coming to the streets with mental health problems and sleeping rough is further damaging people’s mental health. Thirteen interviewees said they had problems with their mental health before they slept rough and seven had a pre-existing mental health diagnosis. Eight of the 21 interviewees spoke about a time they had considered or attempted suicide.

Analysing the findings, St Mungo’s client representative group Outside In has developed five principles to inform how services that work with people sleeping rough with mental health problems are commissioned and delivered; services must be accessible, attentive, understanding, caring and persistent.

St Mungo’s recommends that services in every part of the country that come into contact with people sleeping rough with a mental health problem adopt these principles”.

The report also recommends:

The prime minister should lead a new strategy to end rough sleeping, including funding to help local areas deliver specialist homeless mental health services
The ministerial working group on homelessness should produce a detailed plan for improving mental health services for homeless people, including steps it will take to ensure specialist homeless mental health services are available in all areas with the highest levels of rough sleeping
Local councillors and commissioners should ensure there is a clear service offer for people who struggle to access mainstream mental health services, including specific provision for people sleeping rough, and should ensure the mental health system is integrated with housing and support services
Health professionals, including GPs and mental health practitioners, should ensure they have a good working knowledge and understanding of homelessness and rough sleeping and should seek opportunities to work alongside people with lived experience of homelessness.

How much is the cap?

The benefit cap was reduced from 7 November 2016.

The total amount a couple or a single parent can receive in benefits will be:

• £442.31 a week, or £1,916.67 per month within London.
• £384.62 a week, or £1,666.67 per month outside London.

The total amount a single person who doesn’t have children, or doesn’t have children living with them can receive in benefits will be:

• £296.35 a week, or £1,284.17 per month within London.
• £257.69 a week, or £1,116.67 per month outside London.

The current cap is:

• £500 per week for single parents and couples.
• £350 per week for single people who don’t have children, or don’t have children living with them.

What effect will the cap have?

Before the reduction, households affected were predominantly clustered in London, due to higher housing costs: the move to a regional rate, as well as a reduction for all claimants who reach the cap means far more people will have their benefits cut.

The Department for Work and Pensions states that between the introduction of the cap in April 2013 and May 2016, 76,200 households had their benefits capped. Most of these households were in London, and most capped households included children.

The cap applies to people who are not in work – households are exempted from the cap if either of the following apply:

• The claimant or their partner are eligible for working tax credit.
• The claimant or their partner get universal credit, and their household income is more than £430 a month after tax and national insurance.

Who will be affected?

Analysis by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) shows the households affected by the existing cap are those living in particularly high cost areas. Almost 9,000 of those affected live in London, with a further 2,000 living in the south-east. It has also had an impact on larger than average families, with the CIH estimating that 5,000 families with four children have been affected and nearly 7,000 with five or more children.

The reduced cap will have much wider effect, as the impact of the cap will no longer be limited to London. At present, 586 households in Wales are caped – from 7 November, 5,844 families will be capped: in the east Midlands, Scotland and the north-east, the number of families capped rises almost ten-fold.

The larger the family, the bigger the proportionate impact. The household cap is not tapered by number of children in the family, so a family of five will be capped at the same rate as a single parent family, if their benefits and housing benefit reach the cap.

The CIH research estimates that 319,000 children live in houses that will be affected by the reduction in benefits. Even in the parts of the country where housing is cheapest, Wales and the north-east, there are over 12,000 one-to-four child families affected.

What is the likely effect?

As the cap to benefits is usually applied through a reduction in housing benefit the CIH report says that:

• Many three-child families will face substantial shortfalls, for example, those that rent privately stand to lose more than £100 per week in half of all local authority areas if they are a couple, or a quarter of all areas if they are a lone parent.
• Council tenants will face losses of more than £25 a week in almost all areas if they are a couple, although this falls to 20%of areas if they are a lone parent.
• In the private rented sector, many two child families will also face significant shortfalls in more expensive parts of the country. These will exceed £25 per week in 40% of local authority areas for couples and in 20% for lone parents.

It shows that the reduction in total benefits is going to hit some of the most vulnerable families of all sizes across England, Scotland and Wales. “These families will lose out when the cap comes into effect from 7 November and in many cases will straight away face a substantial gap between their rent and the help they receive to pay for their housing.”

Here is the consultation paper which is open for comment until January 2017.

The proposal includes figures of £5 per home for 1000 + homes and £300 flat rate for smaller as under 1000 homes:

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-introducing-fees-for-social-housing-regulation

Here is the report which suggests that homes being sold are reducing and young people buying is becoming rare:

TW082_RR_online_PDF

Here is the housing review – lots of info on homelessness, homes, hosuing issues and welfare:

UKHR Briefing 2016

Here is an important report for us northerners!

The NHC Commission for Housing in the North has released its full report: A New Framework for Housing in the North. It sets out three main priorities:
• A call for greater flexibility in policy making reflecting local needs.
• The need for new partnerships, skills and capacity support to realise the strong investment potential across the North.
The importance of revitalising places.

Here is the full report:

Commission-Report-Nov-2016

Here is a useful contribution from the CIH:

Brexit and how it might affect migration, housing need and eligibility