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Industry News


Housing body says poor people are being denied access to social homes


R


ules and processes designed to decide who gets access to social housing could be failing people in the greatest need, according to


new research from the Chartered Institute of Housing. In ‘Rethinking Allocations’, CIH policy and


practice officer Faye Greaves found that faced with not enough genuinely affordable homes, councils and housing associations are forced to ration the shrinking stock of housing they have – and this is excluding some very vulnerable people. As a result some poor prospective tenants not


being offered housing because they are seen as likely to run up big rent arrear debts. Others are rejected when social landlords identified they had unmet mental health or addiction problems, often because of cuts to local NHS and housing support services. Individuals with unmet support needs are seen as “too high a risk to tenancy sustainment”. Ms Greaves said: “For decades, we have failed to


build enough homes, and our welfare safety net is no longer fit for purpose. More and more people are turning to local authorities and housing associations for help to access social housing. “But that leaves housing providers having to find


a balance between people in acute need, local priorities and their need to develop sustainable tenancies. What we found is that relying solely on processes can end up having the opposite effect to that intended.”


EXTRA FACTORS The report, which was sponsored by South Liverpool Homes, recommends that local authorities should ensure applicants’ unique circumstances and housing histories are considered when making decisions about whether someone can


access a list and what priority they are given. It also recommends:


• Housing providers should consider making a proportion of their properties part- or fully- furnished;


• Providers should review their lettable standard to explore ways to improve the marketing of properties, particularly in areas of low demand; and


• Local authorities and housing associations should work in partnership to strengthen the role of nominations agreements in how they balance competing objectives.


CIH chief executive Terrie Alafat said: “This is an important and timely piece of work. It may seem obvious to put people at the heart of deciding about something so essential as their home, but the pressures that housing providers face can lead to them relying on processes alone. This report is a reminder of the risks of that and gives good examples of how to avoid them.”


GOVERNMENT ACTION POINTS South Liverpool Homes chair Steve Jennings said: “The housing crisis has produced an increasingly complex challenge for those charged with allocating local authority and housing association homes. As a sector we must remember we are dealing with people who need a home, so we must put them at the heart of any process to allocate the ones we own and manage.” The report also calls on the Government to:


• Include affordability in the statutory ‘reasonable preference’ groups;


• Develop a single code of guidance for local authorities on the allocation of social housing in England;


• Work with local authorities and housing associations to develop toolkits that supports the delivery of support-focussed pre-tenancy processes and the development, monitoring and review of nominations agreements;


• Make a significant investment in a ten-year programme for social house building, as recommended by CIH, Shelter, Crisis and the National Housing Federation;


• Suspend the Right to Buy to prevent further loss of social rented homes and allow councils to retain receipts from Right to Buy sales; and


• Restore local housing allowance to cover the most affordable third of rents, so more people have the financial support they need to afford a decent home in the private rented sector.


RTB sales fall to their lowest level in six years


The number of council homes sold to tenants under the statutory Right to Buy scheme has fallen to its lowest level for six years according to Government statistics. Councils sold 2,313 homes under the scheme in


the three months from April to June this year, representing a seven per cent fall on the same quarter last year and the lowest number of sales in the first quarter since 2012/13 when 2,181 homes were sold. However, this is still ten times the figure for sales recorded in the final quarter of 2008/09 when just


277 council homes were bought by tenants shortly after the economic crash and the start of austerity. The first quarter drop continued the recent


decline in sales, as councils sold 2,612 homes to sitting tenants in the previous quarter, between January and March 2019. During the last six years sales peaked at 3,470 in the third quarter of 2016/17. The figures released show that councils received £194.7m in receipts from the sales, also a seven per cent fall on the same quarter of last year. The average receipt per property was £84,200. On a more positive note councils started work on


or acquired 1,290 new homes, up 38 per cent on the same quarter last year. This is traditionally a slow quarter for starts and acquisitions with this year’s total being the highest first quarter figure since 2012/13. This builds on last year’s improved performance when English councils directly built 2,560 homes in


2018/19 - the highest figure since 1992/3 when they built 2,580 homes. But councils have only been able to replace about


a fifth of the homes sold since 2011/12 and this is impacting hugely on their ability to provide housing for homeless and vulnerable families. In all almost two million former council homes


have been sold to tenants since the scheme was introduced in the early 1980s. As many as 40 per cent of these are now understood to be owned by private landlords, with large numbers being let back to councils for housing low income tenants in at higher rents with housing benefit picking up the bill.


Currently councils only retain a third of RTB


receipts with the rest kept by the Treasury. The Local Government Association has campaigned for councils to be able to keep 100 per cent of RTB receipts and to set discounts locally.


www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM October/November 2019 | 11


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