Industry News


Government launches ‘shared ownership’ right to buy for HA tenants


outlined at the Conservative Party Conference. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick


T


announced that tenants should have the right to purchase a share of their property – starting at a minimum of 10 per cent and able to increase in further amounts of as little as one per cent, up to outright ownership. It is understood the new shared ownership right


to buy will be made automatic for all newly built rental homes, with a voluntary arrangement being sought for existing HA tenants. This could apply to as many as 2.6 million households. Mr Jenrick said: “I want to ensure that residents


living in new housing association homes are given the opportunity of climbing onto the property ladder by giving them the right to shared ownership of their homes. “As Conservatives, we know that owning a home


is not just about the four walls around you, it’s about investing in your family, saving for the future and putting down roots in a community. We are on the side of hard-working people who want the sense of security that comes with homeownership.” The announcement did not go down well with


social housing spokespeople, who said it distracted from the pressing need for new affordable housing and warned that it could make building social homes more difficult, particularly if lenders reacted badly to it.


NOT A NEW IDEA The possibility of extending the right to buy through a shared ownership scheme has been around for about 30 years, with various possible schemes being explored but this is the first time such advanced plans have been mooted.


Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the National


Housing Federation, said: “Housing associations share the Government’s commitment to help more families into home ownership. Over the next five years, we will support record numbers into shared ownership working in partnership with local and national government.” “We are concerned that these proposals could


make it harder for associations to build new social rent homes. Our priority will be to ensure that any changes allow us to safeguard the country’s existing social rent homes but also to continue to build these homes for future generations.” “With homelessness at the highest level in ten


years - we need more than ever to protect our existing homes for social rent, and to build more of them.” She added “Lenders to the social housing sector


view and value shared ownership homes differently to social rent homes. This announcement could affect not just the sector’s existing loans, but also the


“With homelessness at the highest level in ten years - we need more than ever to protect our existing homes for social rent, and to build more of them.”


Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation


amount the sector can borrow in the future to build new homes.” “Before the Government proceeds with these


proposed changes, it is absolutely critical they take the time to understand how the sector’s lenders may react and how this may impact on our ability to build new social rent homes.”


Waiting for Universal Credit fuels poverty and food bank use


Ministers have been asked to overhaul the Universal Credit system after fresh claims that the built-in five week wait for payments is causing poverty and increased food bank use. The main food bank charity, the Trussell Trust,


are claiming the automatic delay before benefits are made could have a rapid, devastating and long- lasting impact on claimants’ finances, housing security and mental health. The Trust said claimants who are unable to cope


without income during the waiting period faced destitution. They were unable to afford food, frequently went without meals, failed to pay utility bills, ran up rent arrears and risked eviction. Universal Credit bundles together six working-


age benefits into one monthly payment. It was originally due to be fully operational in 2017 but the current deadline is 2023, when about 7 million people will depend on it. Food bank use has soared by a third in areas


where universal credit had operated for a year, it said, drawing on data from 414 food banks. Demand for food parcels increased by 40 per cent where universal credit had been in place for at least 18 months, and 48 per cent where it had been established for at least two years. The research cited the case of a man with severe


mental illness, who did not eat for nine days after being left with no income after claiming universal credit. His health had declined to the point where


10 | HMM October/November 2019 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


he “didn’t feel well enough to leave the house to get a food bank voucher”. Repayable advance loans issued to claimants to


tide them over simply created long-term difficulties for claimants as they paid them back, in effect leaving them “deciding between hardship now or later”. “Universal credit should be there to anchor any


of us against the tides of poverty. But the five-week wait fatally undermines this principle, pushing people into debt, homelessness and destitution,” said Trussell Trust chief executive Emma Revie. The Trust called for a significant reduction in the


five-week wait to ensure claimants were paid much sooner.


he Government has revealed it wants to give housing association tenants the right to buy shares in their homes under proposals


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