Cuts in housing benefit for young single people under 35 have forced shared housing on to the agenda for social landlords. Anna Clarke reports on the findings of two new pieces of research.
House shares are increasingly commonplace for young – and not so young – single people in the private rented sector. Groups of friends get together to rent a home, or landlords may let out single rooms individually. Private landlords have been keen to meet this demand, recognising that for many people a room is all they can afford, or possibly all that they want at this particular time in life.
Social landlords, however, have not been so quick to the party. Shared housing within the social rented sector remains a rarity. Two pieces of research – one recently published and the other that soon will be[1] – have explored why this is, and whether there might be more that social landlords can do to help young people find accommodation they can afford.
The issue has recently become much more pressing because from April 2018 housing benefit payable to social tenants becomes capped at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) levels. The levels for young single people aged under 35 were pegged to the cost of renting a single room in the private rented sector – which is significantly lower than social rents for one bedroom flats throughout Wales (and indeed most of the UK).
Both projects have found examples where shared housing run by social landlords is working. Possible ways of running successful shared housing within a social rented context included:
- Having a ‘lead tenant’ or ‘supportive housemate’ who receives either free or reduced rent and can act as a house contact for the landlord, and help ensure the smooth running of the house
- Including a room to accommodate visiting non-resident children
- Schemes to promote lodgers or match lodgers to householders.
Some housing providers were interested in building specialist shared housing, a bit like student housing models, though the research concluded that it may be more viable financially and more flexible to convert existing housing to use as shared housing as needed, much like private landlords do.
A key difficulty for social landlords in offering shared housing lies in allocation systems – social landlords have an obligation to prioritise those in need for housing, but if shared housing is to run smoothly without intensive support, tenants need some control over who they share their home with. Shared housing therefore needs a different kind of allocation system from other social housing, balancing these two obligations. The research found examples where shared housing had failed to do this, and had proved unsustainable. This experience had deterred some social landlords from further involvement. Possible ways forward include:
- Allowing young people to apply together in groups
- Working with care leavers and hostels to encourage residents to apply with friends
- Operating a separate register for those seeking shared housing, to avoid offers being declined by people on the housing register who do not want shared housing
- Issuing separate tenancies, but allowing tenants to choose a new housemate from a housing association-approved shortlist of applicants
- Allowing applicants who are repeatedly not chosen by prospective housemates to become the first tenant in a new shared house, and to choose their own housemates, or if more appropriate allocating alternative housing to such tenants (possibly with the use of Discretionary Housing Payments to meet any rental shortfall).
The research found that a minority of young people have a preference for living in shared housing, enjoying the sociability and informal support from housemates. It could be particularly good for very young care leavers, not yet ready for living alone and appreciative of the company. For most young people in Wales it is a compromise between what they want and what they can afford, but they largely agree that shared housing provides a good housing solution for young people.
Young people’s incomes are generally low and the research found that the large majority of 16 to 25 year olds are not able to afford self-contained housing without support from either their parents or the state (or borrowing in the form of student loans). Shared housing offers one possible option that can help reduce poverty and allow those in work to benefit from their earnings.
Key recommendations from the research in Wales for social landlords were to:
- Alert current tenants to the forthcoming changes, including adult or teenage children of tenants who may be affected in the future
- Do more to promote shared housing as an acceptable and normal style of living for young people – looking to the student and young professional markets for inspiration
- Include housing suitable as shared housing in development plans
- Start converting existing stock to shared housing in line with current demands for such housing, anticipating that demand will increase after April 2018
- Focus on small house shares, as larger properties with six or more rooms are unlikely to be easy to manage with their client group. Three bedroom homes may, however, be more economically viable than two bedroom homes
- Ensure that issues around council tax liability are carefully considered when developing business plans for shared housing
- Include utility bills within rent charged to tenants.
- Ensure that shared housing has a communal living room, locks on bedroom doors and kitchen cupboards and more than one bathroom, or at the very least a separate toilet and bathroom or (if practical) ensuite bathrooms.
- Provide carpets, curtains, white goods and basic furniture in the communal areas
- Explore further the possibilities for tenant-led housing cooperatives and self-build schemes
- Offer young people in shared housing the option of a self-contained one-bedroom flat once they have been in employment for a period of time (eg a year) and to those who wish to live with a partner or who become pregnant, in recognition of shared housing’s role as part of a housing career.
It was also recommended that the Welsh Government review the legislation around Houses in Multiple Occupation that currently make it harder for both social and private landlords to convert properties to shared housing. A desire to reduce the availability of shared housing would seem incompatible with the income levels and welfare eligibility of young single people.
Overall, the research concluded that there are real challenges for social landlords in providing shared housing, but they are not insurmountable and doing so may make a useful contribution to tackling the poverty of young people.
Anna Clarke is senior research associate at the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research (CCHPR), University of Cambridge
[1] These were: The role of housing and housing providers in tackling poverty experienced by young people in the UK, a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and Public Policy Institute for Wales as part of their What Works in Tackling Poverty Programme; and a Feasibility study of the prospect of developing a viable housing model for those entitled only to access the shared accommodation rate, funded by Community Housing Cymru and the Welsh Local Government Association. See www.cchpr.landecon.cam.ac.uk/Projects/Start-Year/2016/Feasibility-study-develop-viable-housing-model-those-entitled-only-access-shared-accommodation-rate/Final-Report
Note: The average weekly rent is the average of the standard rent chargeable, before deduction for rent allowances, and also excludes service charges or other charges for amenities (e.g. central heating, hot water supply or laundries) and water rates. There is no data for social landlord service charges in Wales but the average weekly service charge eligible for housing benefit in England is £6-7. If charges are similar in Wales that would mean a significant increase to the shortfall.