Southern associations’ case on welfare reform

Nine major housing associations providing affordable homes in the South East of England, in a partnership known as CASE, have launched a research paper entitled ‘The impact of welfare reform on housing’ which concludes that:

“as the Department for Communities and Local Government embarks on a programme to increase housing supply, the Department for Work and Pensions is preparing to implement policies that are certain to do the opposite.”

Writing in the Guardian, Moat’s Chief Executive Brian Johnson points out that there are not enough one bedroom properties across the south east to make the proposed underoccupation policy work by 1 April 2013. CASE members would need to re-build the equivalent of 7.5% of their total rented stock as one bedroom properties to house all their under-occupying residents ‘correctly’.

Johnson observes that the proposals on under-occupation will lead to a severe shortage of the "right size" homes for people, meaning that many will begin going into debt on 1 April 2013, and comments:

“Surely, punishing people when they want to do the right thing but are unable to cannot be regarded as good public policy.”

The report predicts that the introduction of direct payments to residents will significantly increase arrears. As well as the obvious detrimental impact on the tenants concerned, the associated bad debt will increase the cost of borrowing for housing associations, as lenders move to manage the increased risk, affecting the sector’s build capacity. The research suggests a loss of 106,000 potential new homes as a result of direct payments alone.

Finally, the introduction of the benefit cap means that the Affordable Rent model does not work for larger properties, and will mean a halt to the building of four bedroom homes.

The paper concludes by recommending the adoption of a number of House of Lords amendments in the final Welfare Reform Act, the scrapping of plamns to introduce direct payments and an easing of the proposed  benefit cap.

May pledges further action on ASB

Home Secretary Theresa May, speaking today at a police reform event, revealed that the government is working with a number of local authorities to trial the so-called 'community trigger' to force police and local authorities to deal with anti-social behaviour (ASB). She explained that the pilots would begin in the summer.

The community trigger will be activated if five separate households in the same neighbourhood complain about a problem neighbour - though claims deemed malicious can be rejected by local Community Safety Partnerships, and there must be at least three instances of ASB for the 'trigger' to be activated.

The Home Office first announced community triggers in 2011 - one of several tools to replace 18 pre-existing powers.

May said in her speech today:

"It's too easy to overlook the harm that persistent anti-social behaviour causes."

"The trigger will give victims and communities the right to demand that agencies who had ignored a problem must take action."

According to the BBC, Shadow Home Office minister Gloria DePiero criticised the speech as a "belated and weak announcement". She continued:

"After two years of doing nothing to tackle anti-social behaviour, the home secretary has to do better than a few pilots that won't start until the summer, and which seem to suggest that anti-social behaviour should not be taken seriously if only two or three people complain."

May also referred in her speech to trials carried out in eight police force of a new approach for handling ASB complaints. The pilots have achieved encouraging initial results, and have been able to identify high-risk individuals who might otherwise have slipped through the net. The Home Office will now work with police forces nationwide to share the lessons of the trials.

National review of crime statistics

Hailed as 'the first review of its kind' a recent report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) reviewed police crime and incident reports in England and Wales, looking at:

• incidents reported by the public converted into crimes
• use of the 'no crime' category by the police.

HMIC reported that:

"Two aspects of ASB management were found to be widely variable: the recording of crimes from ASB incidents, and attempts to identify repeat and vulnerable victims at the point of first contact."

The report also found that "ASB incidents that should have been 'crimed' appear low overall, especially in some forces," strongly suggesting that in some cases incidents are dismissed as 'nuisance' behaviour, rather than as harassment or public order offences.

However, the sample size used for the report was small, so HMIC plans to do further research and publish new findings later this year.

Shapps plugs data gap with NHBC

Housing minister Grant Shapps has publicised a memorandum of understanding between his government department and the National House Building Council (NHBC).

The agreement means the DCLG can obtain much-needed housing data that it is unable or unwilling to collect in-house.

NHBC data covers quarterly house building figures in England. With the DCLG's expertise, the data will be developed to provide better demographic information on property type, size, type of construction and quality of new build properties.

The zero-cost data sharing SLA will raise the profile of existing NHBC statistics and enhance them with data from local authorities and other agencies. The agreement also allows for further research and analysis of housing statistics by the NHBC Foundation.

Pickles backs move to stop 'Pilgrims'

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has backed the newly launched Trade Union Reform Campaign (TURC) in its aim to stop union reps being paid by their employers to carry out union activities, using public facilities free of charge and having union dues deducted directly from their pay.

Last year there was controversy when it emerged that Jane Pilgrim, a nursing union official who had criticised the government's health policies, was a full-time union official paid by the NHS (and of running a private health consultancy in her spare time).

Since then, full-time taxpayer-funded trade union officials have become known as "Pilgrims", with an Early Day Motion and a Ten Minute Rule Bill being introduced to the House of Commons condemning such practices.

Pickles told the campaign's launch meeting:

"The public want their council tax frozen and their bins emptied every week. They don't want it spent on political campaigning"

"I'd rather spend money on a teacher than someone masquerading as a teacher."

The Huffington Post reported that David Cameron has asked for a report on the number of pilgrims to be prepared for him, and that Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude is preparing a policy document for the government on reducing "facility time" for union reps. TURC is demanding that, until its objectives are achieved, all public money, resources, paid and unpaid time off given to trade unions should be accounted for and regularly published.

To coincide with the launch of TURC, the TUC published a policy document claiming that for every £1 spent on trade union facility time in the public sector, between £2 and £5 is returned in accrued benefits on the measures of the costs of dismissal and exit rates.

The Daily Mirror drew attention to the recent publicity surrounding TURC's chairman in its headline "David Cameron backs Nazi-scandal Tory's anti-union campaign".

Community groups to bring empty homes back into use

Communities Minister Andrew Stunell has today invited community and voluntary organisations to apply for a share of £100m to bring empty homes back into use as affordable housing.

This funding is part of the Government's Affordable Homes Programme 2011-15 and is intended to deliver at least 3,300 affordable homes by March 2015.

Communities Minister Andrew Stunell said:

"The Government is committed to bringing this national scandal to an end. That's why the programme I've launched today will give communities a chance to breathe new life into their neighbourhoods. This is an opportunity to create high quality new homes to ease the local waiting list, boost local skills and revive local pride."

The Housing Strategy published in November 2011 says this funding will be allocated either via a national intermediary grants giving organisation or the Homes and Communities Agency via formal bidding rounds. This is so both not-for-profit voluntary and community groups and registered providers of social housing are able to access the funding.

The guidance sets out the requirements, assessment criteria and timetable for applications by not-for-profit community and voluntary groups who do not intend to become registered providers.

The government expects that up to £30m of the total £100m could be given over to community groups. The deadline for applications is 17 April 2012.

Committee reports on heath and social care spending

The House of Commons Select Committee on Health has today published its review of public expenditure in health and social care.

The cross-party Committee, chaired by Conservative former Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell, found that it was only possible to meet the NHS's target of generating 4 per cent efficiency gains year on year for four years - £20bn by 2015 (the so-called Nicholson challenge) by making fundamental changes to the way care is delivered, to introduce more integrated, patient focussed care.

The report states that "health and social care must be seen as two aspects of the same service and planned together in every area for there to be any chance of a high quality and efficient service being provided which meets the needs of the local population within the funding available."

The Committee found that local authorities are having to raise eligibility criteria in order to maintain social care services to those in greatest need. Councils were cutting social care budgets by an average of 6.6 per cent while raising charges for services such as home help. Money which should have been spent on integrating the NHS and social care had gone on propping up current services.

Savings were being made in the NHS by "salami-slicing" existing processes instead of rethinking and redesigning the way services are delivered. It concluded that the controversial move to GP commissioning being piloted by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is complicating the push for efficiency gains. "Although it may have facilitated savings in some cases, we heard that it more often creates disruption and distraction that hinders the ability of organisations to consider truly effective ways of reforming service delivery and releasing savings."

The Committee found "precious little evidence" of urgency being given to achieving greater service integration between health and social care that the needs of the country's ageing population demands.

Lords vote to exclude child benefit from welfare cap

The government was defeated in the House of Lords last night on a motion from the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds John Packer to exclude child benefit as part of a household's earnings for the purposes of the benefit cap.

The Lords were debating clause 94 of the Welfare Reform Bill, which seeks to introduce a household benefit cap.

The first amendment put to a vote was a Labour proposal that would protect people deemed to be "threatened with homelessness" and in priority need, which Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith had described in the Commons as a "wrecking amendment". The amendment was defeated by 250 votes to 222, with 17 Liberal peers voting against the coalition government.

Next up was the Bishop's motion on child benefit which, after would reduce the savings made by the benefit cap by £113 million (0.06 per cent of the overall welfare budget). The amendment was carried by 252 votes to 232. 26 Liberal Democratics voted against the government on this occasion, including former Lib Dem leader Lord Paddy Ashdown and Shirley Williams.

The Lords then came to Lord Best's amendments which would have introduced a 'period of grace' for claimants who would become subject to the cap after being made unemployed, and have would exempted homeless households in temporary accommodation from the cap. However, after Lord Freud gave some rather vague promise to take these issues into account in the transitional arrangements to be introduced by regulation after the passage of the bill, Lord Best withdrew his amendments. Other amendments were also withdrawn after debate.

The government has now suffered five significant defeats on the bill. A DWP spokesman told the Guardian:

"We are very disappointed by this decision and it clearly flies in the face of public opinion.

"There has to be a limit on the amount of money benefit claimants can receive. We think that limit is set at a fair rate of £26,000 – the equivalent to someone earning £35,000 before tax, a salary that many working families would be happy to receive.

"If you take child benefit out of the cap it will simply become ineffective, failing the very principles of our reforms, which is to bring fairness back into our welfare system while ensuring that support goes to those who need it. We are determined our reforms will be implemented in full and we will take this back to the House of Commons to reverse tonight's decision."

Councillors urged to tackle 'ticking housing time bomb'

A new report from the Local Government Association and the Homes and Communities Agency aims to advise and encourage local councillors to use their housing and planning powers, including new powers conferred by the Localism Act, to take the initiative in meeting local housing needs and aspirations.

Meeting local housing demand  lays out many of the options available to councils.

Cllr David Parsons, Chairman of the LGA's Environment and Housing Board, said:

"Nothing should be off the table when it comes to delivering the new homes which can result in local people leading healthier and happier lives.

"The ticking housing time-bomb in the country can be defused if councils are allowed to get on the front foot and utilise the options available to them. All partners, including Government and the HCA have an important role in ensuring councils have the tools and flexibility to deliver effectively for their communities."

30,000 social tenants to have benefits capped

As the Welfare Reform Bill debate rages between the Houses of Parliament, the Department for Work and Pensions has published an Impact Assessment for the Household Benefit Cap. It states that almost 30,000 social tenants will have their household's benefit payments capped.

The assessment contains new data compiled by the DWP that supersedes previous data based on surveys. It seeks to explain why the government is introducing the policy and assess how it will affect people and how much it is likely to cost.

It claims that the £500 per dwelling per week cap will affect 67,000 households - 44% of whom are in the social rented sector.

There are some ways to avoid the cap - households on working tax credits, disability living allowance and constant attendance allowance are exempt.

The DWP reckon that "In reality, many households will react to these changes, and avoid being capped by either working enough hours to qualify for Working Tax Credit, renegotiating their rent in situ, or by finding alternative accommodation."

The assessment estimates that policy will save £275m in its first year from the government's £192bn spend on welfare payments - a saving of 0.1%.

EU regulations threaten mortgage debtors

Proposed changes to the European Union's capital requirements directive will have an adverse effect on the UK mortgage market, which may result in higher interest rates and increased numbers of home owners defaulting.

The Financial Times reports that the proposals, known as CRD IV and intended to harmonise definitions and make it easier for investors to compare risk across the EU, will lead to home loans being declared in default when they are 90 days in arrears. UK mortgage lenders currently define default as 180 days in arrears.

The concern is that this will allow lenders less time to work with borrowers struggling to meet repayments. The tighter rules will also mean that, with a higher proportion of loans deemed to be in default, the financial institutions' capital financing costs will increase by 15-20 per cent. The FT reports that the British Banking Association opposes the planned change, claiming that it will not reduce risk for investors.

The CRD IV proposals were published in July 2011.

Abolishing quangos to cost double original estimate

Whitehall's spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) has today published a report putting the cost for abolishing 262 public bodies at £830m, not £425m government proposed in October 2010.

The NAO report raises concerns that government departments do not have a good enough grasp of the ongoing costs of functions being transferred to other parts of government or of the one-off transitional costs of the changes.

Government departments will need to find gross savings of around £3.5 billion if they are to meet the government's net savings target of £2.6 billion, after the costs of transition have been taken into account, from abolishing or restructuring public bodies.

Through the Public Bodies Reform Programme, run by the Cabinet Office, departments are taking over the functions of 65 public bodies and transferring those of another three to local government. Departments propose to abolish 262 bodies, by such means as mergers, transfers out of government and ceasing functions.

Head of the NAO Amyas Morsesaid said,

"The Cabinet Office and departments will have successfully achieved the largest restructuring of public bodies for many decades, and provided clearer accountability to elected politicians for some spending, if they succeed in carrying through all the changes they plan."

"However, they are not doing enough to secure value for money. I would expect departments to have a better grasp of the costs of reorganising bodies and of carrying on functions that have been transferred."

Lords debate government's Housing Strategy

The House of Lords has today debated the government's Housing Strategy published in November 2011.

In a live blog the Guardian followed the lunchtime debate. Lord Stoneham (Liberal Democrat), who tabled and opened the debate, said:

"Housing needs to be higher on our national agenda. So many issues impinge on it and it underpins everything in society. There is a huge demand for more housing to be met. And we are not meeting it."

"I believe the government is right to review the housing strategy, and the document has some encouraging schemes, but it's a bit like a box of Liquorice allsorts. It's all full of very tasty items, but is not a satisfying meal."

He also asked for more attention on tackling the problem of retirement homes and older people's housing, and for the government to fully commit to the Green Deal's objectives.

Baroness Hanham (Conservative) responding on behalf of the government said the Housing Strategy is an "excellent report" and that she strongly supports the aim of people to buy their own homes.

Lord Whitty (Labour) said the strategy "did not add up to anything like tackling the central problem" and the government should look at "a new and more ambitious approach".

In concluding the debate Lord Stoneham said,

"Housing should be a focus for the coalition. It is important to job recovery and meeting a very important social need."

"I hope very much the ministerial team will take up the challenge of finding and fighting for new vehicles for funding that will enable us to build more housing in this country."

Downsizing plans for elderly homeowners

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has today in The Telegraph announced plans to encourage elderly homeowners to downsize to smaller properties and allow councils to rent their homes to local families.

Local authorities would take over responsibility for maintaining and renting the properties at affordable rates, transferring any profit to the elderly person or their estate.

The Telegraph says this mirrors a government-backed pilot scheme run by Redbridge Council in east London. Under the scheme, the Council helps elderly people move into a new property, such as sheltered accommodation. In return, the Council rents the house to families in need and manages the tenancy.

Shapps told The Telegraph that councils should look to replicate the Redbridge 'FreeSpace' project, he said:

"For too long the housing needs of the elderly have been neglected. Older people who should be enjoying their homes have watched helplessly as their properties have become prisons, and many have been forced to sell their homes and move into residential care".

"They can live independently for longer and enjoy more disposable income without selling their home, and other families can benefit from living in an affordable home."

Redbridge Councillor Ian Bond (LibDem Deputy Leader of the Council) provides an outline of the 'FreeSpace' project on the conservativehome blog.

FirstStop, which is funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government, has published a report that analyses different options for meeting the housing needs of older people, including the 'FreeSpace' project.

Localisation issues in Welfare Reform - HB direct payments

The government has published its response to an inquiry into localisation issues in Welfare Reform by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee.

The Welfare Reform Bill, if passed, would abolish elements of the discretionary Social Fund and Council Tax Benefit, replacing both with localised schemes run by local authorities, and would see Housing Benefit, a current local authority responsibility, centralised within the Universal Credit.

The government believes that the integration of housing costs into a centralised Universal Credit will provide a suitable level of support and be a major simplification that will greatly help claimants to take responsibility for their finances.

It is important, says the goverment, that the design of Universal Credit contains safeguards to help protect social landlords’ income streams. For this reason the government will run a number of demonstration projects (beginning in Spring 2012) to test out elements of a direct payment process and to gather the information necessary to design safeguards in Universal Credit.

The independent evaluation is to be led by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University, and the government is currently in the process of deciding on volunteer local authorities and housing associations.

Shapps rejects top-down strategy for regeneration

In his response to an inquiry into regeneration by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, Local Government and Housing Minister Grant Shapps rejected the Committee's call for a top-down national strategy for regeneration.

Shapps insisted that decisions on regeneration activities and schemes should rest with local people, and said:

"We can't go back to the top-down, centralised system of the past which attempted to impose a one-size-fits-all approach to regeneration with little regard for the needs, circumstances and wishes of local people.

"That's why I'm determined that communities, not Whitehall, can take the lead in shaping the future of their areas. Backed by a range of new freedoms and flexibilities introduced in a mere 18 months, residents, businesses, councils and social enterprises can take charge of how their neighbourhood develops and flourishes."

The government says it has 'made considerable progress with its growth and localism agendas' since the publication of its toolkit, Regeneration to enable growth: What Government is doing in support of community-led regeneration in January 2011.

An updated and refreshed toolkit published last week aims to help local communities, councils, and businesses to navigate their way through the many tools, powers and incentives available to them as they shape plans for their area and their community.

Housing regulations - should they be scrapped?

Just two months since the publication of the Tenant Services Authority's revised regulatory framework document the Cabinet Office yesterday launched a Housing and Construction Red Tape Challenge theme.

Communities Minister Baroness Hanham is asking members of the public and interested parties such as builders, businesses, homeowners, tenants and landlords to look through housing and construction regulations and see how the system can be simplified.

Some of the questions include:

• Should we scrap the regulations altogether?
• Could their purpose be achieved in a non-regulatory way (eg through a voluntary code?) How? 
• Could they be reformed, simplified or merged? How?

Baroness Hanham said:

"For years builders, businesses, landlords and residents have had to navigate an increasingly complicated set of rules and regulations to do things by the book. Now we're giving them the chance to tell us what they would like us to change so that building a new home or property is a smoother ride."

The housing and construction theme seeks to ensure that the systems behind the regulatory framework will run in the most effective and light touch way, whilst maintaining the necessary safeguards, and ensuring that the sector continues to provide high-quality homes. It has been broken down into four areas:

• Private rented sector - landlord and tenant relationships, including leasehold properties, and rented properties.

• Social housing - regulations that affect providers of social housing and other types of housing for vulnerable people.

• Construction related regulations - such as those related to Construction Contracts and Construction Products.

• Building regulations and related legislation - regulations that set standards for the design and construction of buildings.

The closing date for responses is 16 February 2012.

Investigation into the Affordable Homes Programme

The National Audit Office has launched an investigation into the financial viability of social housing providers participating in the Affordable Homes Programme for 2011-15.

Speaking to Inside Housing Mick Kent, Chief Executive of Bromford Group, said:

"There were some very big winners and some housing associations with long and distinguished track records that got either nothing or very low allocations."

Inside Housing said some "housing associations have criticised the bidding process, which saw more than a third of the total funding earmarked for London."

The investigation will look at the role of the Department for Communities and Local Government, Tenant Services Authority and Homes and Communities Agency and will determine whether they are effectively addressing risks to the financial viability of the social housing sector.

The National Audit Office expects to publish its report on the Affordable Homes Programme in the spring 2012.

Shapps plans to criminalise 'social housing abuse'

Just over two years since Labour called time on tenancy cheats, Housing Minister Grant Shapps has promised to prosecute tenants who sub-let their social home without permission.

By aligning tenancy fraud with housing benefit fraud, Shapps hopes social landlords will "wake up to the problem" and make increased use of existing and proposed powers to free up social homes for people in housing need.

The DCLG's consultation proposes a number of considered measures including:

• a maximum penalty for tenancy fraud of two years imprisonment and/or a fine of £50,000
• allowing investigators to compel third parties (eg employers, banks and utility companies) to provide reasonable information
• confiscation of profits and restitutionary payments to landlords
• extending local authorities’ powers of prosecution to cover tenancy fraud related issues - though not housing associations
• a proper definition of 'intention to return'
• bringing assured tenancies into line with secure tenancies, so status cannot be regained once the whole of the property has been sublet.

No accurate data exists on how many properties are affected, but the DCLG reckons the number to be between the Audit Commission's 50,000 and Experian's 160,000 estimates.

The consultation refutes the argument that tenancy fraud is confined to high rent areas such as London. It states that, in lower rent areas, tenancy fraud is more often a favour to friends or family to help them ‘jump the queue’.

The NHF has been quick to respond to Shapps's announcement, with particular praise for proposed restitutionary payments.

Although the DCLG proposals are new, the government has been publicising tenancy fraud crackdowns since July 2009, with it popping up again in March 2010.

A number of commentators have also noted the cyclical nature of this policy announcement. Journalist @jules_birch tweeted on 1 January that the Telegraph used the same photo when the story was trailed in Dec 2010 and Dec 2011.

Housing sector hits out at Grant Shapps' comments

Senior housing figures have challenged the Housing Minister Grant Shapps' controversial comments about social housing tenants.

Last week after the Communities and Local Government department published guidelines on social housing allocations the Minister said:

"For years the system for social housing has been associated with injustice – where rewards are reaped for those who know how to play the system best. Despite this terrible image a lazy consensus in social housing has ensured that, for an entire generation, no one has bothered to do anything about it."

In an open letter, published in the Guardian, to the Minister the Chief Executive of Bromford Group said Shapps' views were an "insult" to his staff and tenants. Mick Kent challenged Shapps to provide evidence for his "sweeping criticisms" of the sector. and wrote:

"We support your intentions – and agree some things need to change – but cannot accept the allegation that social housing providers have been failing to address the issues we face. As housing minister you must intervene where you identify failings but can you evidence the basis for such sweeping criticisms?"

Midland Heart Chief Executive Tom Murtha and Affinity Sutton Chief Executive Keith Exford have also openly criticised the Housing Minister, reports Inside Housing.

Solent Housing say "it is about time that the Minister should stop making 'brave and bold' announcements, stop seeking out scapegoats and start to be accountable for what he has promised." It has set out ten questions to the Minister in it's Blog and is waiting for a response from Shapps.

Give HA tenants the right to buy

The Institute for Public Policy and Research has published a briefing document calling for a change in legislation to give housing association tenants the right to buy.

Jointly penned by MPs Frank Field and David Davis, 'Right to buy 2.0' is largely a right-of-centre account of the current housing market, with sparing amounts of analysis.

The briefing's premise is the 'Conservative principle' that "Giving everyone the opportunity to get onto the property ladder is central to....increasing social mobility."

The briefing is particularly downbeat about the social housing sector. Echoing commentators with similar principles, it says social housing is in crisis because:

• Social housing tenancy turnover is too low
• Not enough social housing is being built
• Rent subsidies are too high (ie rents charged are too low)
• A 'risk' that right to buy receipts retained by landlords won't pay for replacement properties
• The right to acquire is complex and restrictive

The briefing puts forward two solutions to Britain's housing crisis:

• Lift the cap on right to buy discounts
• Extend the right to buy to all housing association tenants

It concludes:

"By encouraging those who can afford it to buy their homes and by then using all the proceeds to increase and improve the social housing stock, we can take some of the most vulnerable households off the waiting lists, out of temporary accommodation, and give them stability and security. At the same time, we can bring home ownership back within reach."

Shapps shakes up allocations

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has launched a consultation seeking to re-frame councils' social housing allocation policies in line with local priorities and central government preferences.

The consultation documents propose to replace current allocations and choice based lettings guidelines with something that "encourages authorities....to ensure that social homes go to people who need and deserve them the most."

The main thrust of the consultation proposes significant amendments to Part 6 of the Housing Act 1996, so that housing authorities in England allocate accommodation in accordance with a scheme "which must be framed to ensure that certain categories of applicants are given reasonable preference for an allocation of social housing."

With this, "housing authorities in England are given the power to determine what classes of persons are or are not qualified to be allocated housing."

In addition to this fundamental change, the consultation poses questions on:

• transferring underoccupying tenants
• an appropriate measure of overcrowding
• dealing with ex-armed forces applicants
• community contribution (ie applicants in work)

The consultation is open until 30 March 2012.

1.3m tenants face rent shortfall

CIH research has found that Local Housing Allowance (LHA) limits will put 800,000 properties out of reach to 1.3m private tenants across the UK.

In some areas LHA claimants make up a higher proportion of the market than the caps - meaning more tenants chasing fewer properties.

The research states that,

"These changes will mean that housing benefit claimants face the unenviable choice of debt, cutting back on basic living expenses or face the risk of homelessness as they are confronted with being unable to afford to pay their rent."

"The capital cities in all four countries are severely affected – yet these are also the places where there are the most job opportunities. The changes will force people to move from where there are jobs to areas where there are far fewer."

The Guardian has published the source data and some analysis of the figures showing:

• in Newham, east London there are twice as many claimants as there are low cost homes
• in Birmingham 34,500 benefit claimants will be chasing 23,000 low-cost houses
• Liverpool's 21,000 LHA claimants will only be able to afford 12,000 homes in the city

The article notes that the problem is particularly acute in university towns and cities. Nottingham, Newcastle and Leeds all appear to equal numbers of cheap rental properties and welfare recipients but the poor have to compete with students.

Helping older people to live at home for longer

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has released £51 million to help older people sustain their housing, with a particular focus on those leaving hospital.

The extra cash will provide a boost to Home Improvement Agencies who will help with:

• housing advice
• handyperson services
• energy efficiency
• adaptations and home repairs.

Shapps is keen to ensure that vulnerable people can live safely and independently in their homes, and he wants councils to consider the needs of ageing residents in local housing plans to ensure their homes are fit for purpose.

The Minister has allocated £1.5 million to FirstStop - which helps older people to plan their future housing needs - and an extra £20 million for Disabled Facilities Grants.

DWP troubled families contracts go live

The Department for Work and Pensions has just announced a £200m outreach service to help troubled families overcome barriers to employment.

The money, which has been allocated by the European Social Fund, is being paid to eight companies to operate 12 contracts across England. The centralised tender process started in June 2011 and the contracts went live in December.

Based on the same principles as the Work Programme, providers will be paid by results. The support offered includes skills to help people find work, debt management and help with housing issues.

Providers are paid in three stages - when they have engaged an individual and got them to agree their own personal action plan, when that action plan has been completed and when they have moved into employment through the Work Programme.

The DWP statement references other governmental work to help troubled families, such as the PM's 'troubled families' plan as it coincides with Cameron's post-riot priorities.