What will the Housing Bill do for vulnerable people in Wales?
THERE HAS BEEN much talk over recent months about the forthcoming Housing (Wales) Bill and whether it is radical enough to make the difference that many working in housing would like to see in Wales. On its introduction to the Senedd, there are certainly many aspects of the Bill that are welcomed by the sector as a whole. But what about vulnerable people and the organisations that support them? Will this new Bill represent a sea change for them? As the representative body for organisations working with vulnerable people, this is naturally a key area of focus for Cymorth Cymru.
The reform of homelessness law to place a stronger duty on local authorities to prevent homelessness is to be lauded, despite some initial disappointment that the new legislation ‘does not go far enough’ by abolishing priority need status and local connection. As a membership organisation, we are constantly in dialogue with our members and recent conversations have highlighted a number of specific challenges facing organisations working with Wales’s most vulnerable citizens. With these concerns echoed across Wales, it is fair to ask if the Bill will have an impact on issues that span a much wider scope than simply housing.
Challenge: Commissioning that works and keeping our eye on
Commissioning has become something of a hot topic lately in the sector, especially in relation to Supporting People as it balances on the cusp of a new, co- productive way of working. Cymorth Cymru held an event in late October to look specifically at this issue, with the aim of bringing together decision makers and those who are subject to commissioning decisions. We discovered that there is a lot of common ground and a shared vision of the way commissioning should be carried out. However, current advice within some local authorities means that commissioners are often forced to do things in ways that do not put vulnerable people right at the heart of the process, so the outcome is not always as positive as it could be.
As long as poor commissioning remains a significant concern to most providers across Wales, the subject is likely to appear on many Regional Collaborative Committee (RCC) agendas, with some regions making significant headway towards achieving local authority-wide support for a favoured approach. Cymorth will continue to work positively and collaboratively to support Supporting People’s strategic development, so that its partners enable more focussed, appropriate and joined up services, and it is not merely a mechanism to deal with year on year budget cuts.
Challenge: Housing benefit for supported accommodation
Expectations of a quick answer to the complex issue of housing benefit for supported accommodation have long since been abandoned and, with the ongoing delays to the introduction of universal credit, it seems that a workable solution is being pushed further down the DWP’s ‘to-do’ list. Work is, however, happening on drafting an adequate definition of ‘exempt supported accommodation’. Recent drafts are reported to include all supported accommodation where a housing association is the landlord but not include schemes where the local authority is the landlord. It should be emphasised that this is a draft definition from DWP and Cymorth Cymru will be working closely with partners from Wales and across the UK to ensure that all supported accommodation is excluded from universal credit, the benefit cap and the ‘bedroom tax’, as was originally intended.
Though still far away, a workable definition of ‘exempt supported accommodation’ will still only be a short- term solution as the Welsh Government is currently looking at the various options as part of reaching a long term definition. The pros and cons of full devolution of funding (devolving housing benefit for supported accommodation in its entirety) or partial devolution (devolving just the intensive housing management portion without the rent) are being carefully considered to ensure the best possible solution for Wales.
Following its introduction, the Housing (Wales) Bill will have to pass through another four stages before it becomes law in August 2016, leaving plenty of time for debate of both the Bill itself and other related issues pertinent to the sector. On the face of it, it would seem that the Bill will have little remit to tackle some of the wider challenges outlined by Cymorth’s members. However, building on recent work like that of the Silk Commission, we need to continue to think ‘bigger than the Bill’ and take a hard look at all the other – sometimes more hidden – issues it connects with, and make sure that they, too, are addressed, keeping the vulnerable in Wales front and centre.
For more information on Cymorth Cymru and full contact details go to www.cymorthcymru.org.uk