WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR SERVICE HOUSING?
To help allay growing concerns amongst Service personnel and their families that the MOD was moving away from provision of publicly-funded housing, Colonel Marian Lauder, Head of Accommodation and Welfare at MOD outlines the MOD’s strategy for housing provision.
O STRATEGIC DIRECTION
ver the next few years a number of new factors will affect both the demand
and supply of Service Families Accommodation (SFA), to the extent that it is now necessary to take a more strategic approach to housing delivery in the future. Some of these factors are within our control, such as decisions on where we will base our units, formations and headquarters; others are externally driven but require us to respond, for instance emerging legislation on the status of unmarried partners. Attitudes within the Armed Forces are also changing in some important ways, matching aspirations of the wider population. One of the most pressing concerns of Service personnel and their families is the difficulty they face in entering the housing market.
The MOD is therefore developing a strategy for all living accommodation (SFA and Single Living Accommodation) that seeks to ensure good quality publicly funded accommodation. In addition, a suitable allowance package will be available to meet the needs of those who continue to pursue a mobile lifestyle as a family, whilst also providing assistance to those who opt for greater stability through home ownership.
HOME OWNERSHIP The MOD has already made some progress in enabling home ownership for some who could not previously have afforded access to the housing market. Schemes such as the Key Worker Living Programme (KWLP) and
the commercially provided shared equity scheme (Forces Housing Solutions) are already available and have been advertised through the Joint Services Housing Advice Office and Service publications. Whilst the KWLP is currently limited to London, the South East and East of England, talks are in progress with other English regions and the Devolved Administrations, to identify any scope for extending these benefits to other areas. Initial responses have been positive.
The MOD is currently examining other opportunities through banks and Housing Associations to provide preferential deals for Service personnel to assist with house purchase through conventional mortgages, rental schemes and other shared equity products. As and when negotiations demonstrate the viability of these schemes, they will be advertised.
As part of the MOD’s ongoing Strategic Review of Remuneration, there is also an opportunity to examine the allowances that support mobility (such as disturbance allowance and continuity of education allowance). Also those that support home ownership (for example the long service advance of pay) and repackage them in a way that enhances their impact. This work is ongoing and decisions will not be taken until the end of 2007/early 2008, following wide consultation.
The review team fully recognises the impact these allowances have on families’ decisions and the consequent value they place on them. Therefore, the review has acknowledged the need to achieve the right balance between supporting the enduring requirement for significant numbers of Service individuals to be mobile, whilst
acknowledging that growing numbers will have geographical stability.
SFA
The MOD remains committed to providing SFA (or substitutes, where appropriate) to support accompanied service in the UK and overseas and has no plans to withdraw this entitlement. However, the MOD also recognises the need to exercise more flexibility in the method of supply, in order to respond to a range of pressures on the estate. A programme of work is underway to examine the scope for innovation in design and procurement methods.
This will look at how we might work with Local Authorities, Housing Associations and commercial providers to deliver good quality housing through partnerships, using combinations of rental, purchase and PFI routes. Underpinning this will be a set of personnel criteria that should ensure any new means of delivery provides a good quality of life for the occupant and equity of treatment for all Service families.
For the existing SFA stock, the upgrade programme will continue. The press coverage of families’ accommodation at the start of 2007 served to confirm to Ministers the importance of this issue and Defence Estates have used this opportunity to ensure Ministers were fully and accurately briefed. In consultation with the Commands, Defence Estates have proposed an upgrade programme for 2007/08 which maintains the planned level of investment and apportions larger sums of money per house in order to deliver real improvements where the Services have advised that their need is greatest. In addition, around 6,000 houses will benefit from lifecycle replacement work (which falls short of the definition of a full upgrade but
H o u s i n g
34
Winter 2007
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56