Industry News
National ‘Statement of Expectations’ for supported housing published
The Ministry of Housing has published its National Statement of Expectations for supported housing as part of a concerted attempt to drive up standards of housing management in care settings. This new set of guidelines for local
authorities and supported housing providers, sets out good practice for the housing management aspects of supported housing provision. Many housing associations and the NHF worked with the Government on the statement, to help promote good practice in supported housing provision. The NHF says the statement will be a tool for
local authorities to champion good practice in the supported housing sector, and can be used to make the case for increased funding for this type of housing. The Government also announced £3m of new
money to fund pilots in five areas – Birmingham, Hull, Blackpool, Bristol and Blackburn, to improve the quality, enforcement, oversight and value for money in supported housing, focusing on short- term supported accommodation. The pilots will run until the end of March 2021. The supported housing pilots will involve
collaborative working between local partners and will carefully test different approaches to greater oversight of the sector and how higher standards could be enforced. The pilots are intended to improve the quality of non-commissioned provision in priority areas.
The Housing Ministry wants to hear
feedback from supported housing providers about the National Statement of Expectations. Officials will start by engaging with the social housing sector on an informal basis, followed by more formal survey in the Spring, to find out
whether the framework is useful to providers and local authorities. The NHF will be consulting member
HAs through its National Health and Housing Forum and regional Health, Care and Supported Housing Forums.
Mass evacuation of students from troubled west London estate
Hundreds of students living on a west London housing estate owned by Notting Hill Genesis, were evacuated at short notice and rehoused after a series of building safety problems emerged. The building safety issues are understood
to include problems with fire breaks in the cladding, but extends to other health and safety matters. NHG has commissioned specialist consultants to examine the buildings and identify the full extent of the problems. Students living on the 1,059-home Paragon
Estate in Brentford said they were completely unaware of any safety issues with their blocks. They attend the University of West London and had only moved into their accommodation as recently as September. NHG are one of the biggest social landlords in
the capital. The 66,000-home housing association said that recent inspections had uncovered issues so serious that resident safety at the blocks, which
The building safety issues are understood to include problems with fire breaks in the cladding, but extends to other health and safety matters
also houses 170 leaseholders and tenants, could no longer be guaranteed. This resulted in the almost immediate evacuation and rehousing of all 858 residents. The blocks were built by the private house
builder Berkeley Group before being sold to Presentation Housing Association in 2006 and then
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www.housingmmonline.co.uk
transferred to NHG. The six blocks contain a total of 1,059 homes. Kate Davies, chief executive of NHG, said: “We
are extremely sorry that we had to ask our student residents to leave the Paragon Estate, which we understand is causing disruption and worry to them at what is already a challenging time. We understand this is a distressing time and are offering free well-being advice and face-to-face counselling sessions to all student residents for the next 12 months. “All Paragon students have been found
alternative accommodation in other purpose-built student housing. We are supporting them as they move to their new homes and providing travel expenses and removal costs, including a packing service. There is no suggestion that any other buildings in the Notting Hill Genesis portfolio will require a similar approach to the one being taken at Paragon.”
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