Policy update

MPs launch supported housing inquiry

 Two influential committees of Westminster MPs launched a joint inquiry into the funding of supported housing as controversy continued over the local housing allowance (LHA) cap.

The Work and Pensions Committee and Communities and Local Government Committee will look at plans to cap rents from 2019 with top-up funding to make up the difference. They are inviting evidence on issues including the position of refuges and sheltered housing, how localised support will work in England, and the impact on investment and existing tenants.

The wider impact of the LHA cap on social housing continued to cause controversy around the UK, with attention focusing on the effects on single people under-35 who will see their housing benefit restricted to the shared accommodation rate and on the decision to impose the cap on existing tenants in supported accommodation.

November saw the start of the introduction of the new lower overall benefit cap (£20,000 outside London) and a Supreme Court defeat for the UK government over the impact of the bedroom tax on disabled people.

ENGLAND

Housing gets top billing ahead of white paper 

The New Year began with a flurry of government announcements on housing in England ahead of a white paper that was due to be published as WHQ went to press.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) named sites for the first 14 ‘garden villages’ with the potential to deliver 48,000 homes plus three new garden towns. These are locally-led plans for new communities around England outside London: towns are developments of more than 10,000 homes while villages are settlements of between 1,500 and 10,000 homes.

The following day the DCLG confirmed funding for ‘thousands’ of starter homes in 30 local authority areas around the country. Starter homes will be sold at 20 per cent discount to first-time buyers aged between 23 and 40. The 2015 Conservative manifesto promised 200,000 of them by 2020 but ministers have hinted at some flexibility in the definition.

Finally, the government opened bidding has opened for the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016 to 2020. This is again for homes outside London, with investment decisions in the capital devolved to the mayor.

The programme will benefit from the extra funding announced by chancellor Philip Hammond in the Autumn Statement in November. Housing associations will get some extra flexibility in how they use their allocations but most of the money is still expected to go on home ownership schemes.

Radical action to deliver more homes was promised in the white paper. Communities secretary Sajid Javid has described housing as ‘my number one priority’.

Compulsory Pay to Stay scrapped

 Plans to force councils to charge higher Pay to Stay rents to high-income tenants were scrapped in a u-turn by ministers.

Tenants with a household income of more than £30,000 (or £40,000 in London) would have faced an extra 15p in rent for every £1 above those thresholds. However, the government also confirmed plans for compulsory fixed-term tenancies for new council tenants.

Pay to Stay will now be voluntary for local authorities as well as housing associations.

SCOTLAND

Minister confirms affordable homes funding

 Finance secretary Derek Mackay confirmed direct capital investment of £470 million to begin delivery of 50,000 affordable homes in his Draft Budget in December.

He also allocated £140 million for energy efficiency programmes to combat climate change and maintained funding for local authority budgets next year.

Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) director Annie Mauger said the decisions were welcome in the context of budgetary constraints and also highlighted the impact of the reduced benefit cap.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Plan to change housing association classification

Communities minister Paul Givan published a plan to reverse the reclassification of housing associations as public sector bodies.

Taking a similar approach to other UK governments, he launched a consultation on the legislative changes needed to ensure that associations are classified as private sector or independent social enterprises. The plan includes proposals to end the statutory house sales scheme or right to buy or make it voluntary.

Nicola McCrudden, Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) director for Northern Ireland, said: ‘CIH welcomes the swift action by government to address the reclassification of housing associations as public bodies – this is particularly important given that we rely solely on housing associations to deliver our social housing programme. If left unchanged, it would seriously impact on the ability of housing associations to build social homes at a time when there are serious pressures on the waiting list.’

WELSH GOVERNMENT
Final boost for housing and regeneration

Welsh Government’s Final Budget for 2017/18 confirmed an extra £53 million of capital funding to support Welsh Government’s target of 20,000 affordable homes over this term of the Assembly.

The extra money comprises £20 million in 2017/18 and £33 million for 2018/19 compared with the Draft Budget made in October. This increases the allocation to ‘increase the supply and choice of affordable housing’ from £84 million to £104 million in the next financial year and from £50 million to £84 million in 2018/19.

There was also an extra £50 million capital funding for regeneration to focus on Wales’ most disadvantaged communities and government priorities including the South Wales Valleys Taskforce, the Metro and city deals.

Regeneration capital funding will increase by £10 million in 2018/19, £15 million in 2019/20 and £25 million in 2020/21.

This partially restores cuts in the Draft Budget but the allocation for 2017/18 will still fall from £83.5 million in the Supplementary Budget in June 2016 to £17.5 million.

Minister confirms rent increase

Social rents in Wales will rise by 2.5 per cent in 2017/18 after the communities and children secretary Carl Sargeant confirmed that the existing rent formula will continue for another year.

The formula is based on the rate of CPI inflation plus 1.5 per cent. This contrasts with a 1 per cent cut in social rents in England.

Stuart Ropke, chief executive of Community Housing Cymru, said: ‘We welcome this announcement. Maintaining the rent settlement for 2017/18 will support housing associations to play their part in achieving the 20,000 affordable housing target during this term of Government.

‘A secure rental income stream alongside continued financial support from the Welsh Government is vital for the future viability of Welsh housing associations, and this security means that the sector can continue to build more homes towards the 20,000 target and deliver services in communities across Wales.’

Partners sign Housing Supply Delivery Pact

Welsh Government, Community Housing Cymru and the Welsh Local Government Association signed a Supply Pact to support the target of 20,000 affordable homes at the CHC conference in November.

Communities and children secretary Carl Sargeant also confirmed a £30 million increase in the Social Housing Grant programme budget for 2016/17, taking total funding to £98 million.

Of the 20,000 homes, 6,000 will come via Help to Buy, but housing associations have committed to deliver at least 12,500 and many local authorities will also be building significant numbers of homes for the first time in years.

The pact also promises thousands of training and employment opportunities and apprenticeships by 2021.

Carl Sargeant said: ‘I want to strengthen the partnerships through which we can meet the new target as this will strongly influence our approach to housing supply over the next five years. We plan to invest over £1.5bn in affordable homes during this term of government. Continued support for social housing is crucial. “Business as usual” is not an option but tried and tested schemes including the Social Housing Grant (SHG) Programme and Housing Finance Grant will play a key role in delivering affordable homes and assisting the most vulnerable to access and keep their housing.’

The minister also promised to do ‘whatever it takes’ to reverse the reclassification of housing associations as public sector bodies while reassuring tenants that there will be ‘no deregulatory free-for-all’.

WALES

Coastal secures £20m deal

A £20 million funding package from Affordable Housing Finance will enable Coastal Housing Group to expand its existing portfolio of residential schemes that are helping to regenerate town and centres across South Wales.

It hopes to invest in regeneration projects in and around retail and commercial district, following the success of similar developments in Swansea, Bridgend and Port Talbot.

This includes the Rhiw, a £9million development set to transform Bridgend’s town centre with the development of affordable housing, commercial space and a new multi-

storey car park. The new housing aspect will incorporate 28 apartments with dedicated parking for residents, which are designed to attract people either working in or near the town centre or commuters looking to live close to vital transport links.

Simon Jones, financial director at Coastal Housing Group said: ‘We are extremely grateful to Affordable Housing Finance for the financial support, which will go a long way in increasing our ability to deliver regeneration projects across South Wales. I would also like to extend my personal thanks to colleagues who worked so hard to secure this long- term funding.’

Affordable Housing Finance is a subsidiary of The Housing Finance Corporation. The £20million investment will be split between a bond issue and funding from the European Investment Bank, with the first £7million to be provided at a low interest rate for the next 30 years.

Steel workers remembered

Social care and housing group Linc Cymru has launched a community- led research project that will involve its tenants and service users working alongside academics and historians to unearth the hidden stories of more than 850 local steel workers who served in the First World War.

First World War – Steel remembered is a collaborative, two- year project that will take an in-depth look at the role of the Orb Steelworks in Newport during the First World War. The project was launched following the award of a £32,900 funding grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The project will set out to uncover the real-life stories of the Orb steel workers who marched off to war in 1914-1918 those who came back and those who are commemorated by the Orb Steel Works War Memorial.

Partners already signed up to the project include National Museum Wales, Gwent Archives and the University of South Wales, as well as several local schools, tenant groups from Linc and the Lysaght Community Focus Group.

The full programme is still to be finalised, but is expected to culminate in a fortnight-long, interactive exhibition held at the Senedd, sponsored by Steffan Lewis AM, in the Spring of 2018 and a final exhibition which will be held at the Lysaght Institute in Newport to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day later in the year.

New director for CIH Cymru

CIH Cymru appointed Matt Dicks as its new director.

A former political journalist, in 2009 he joined the National Assembly as  its media relations manager and has transformed the Welsh Parliament’s media operation.

In 2013 he joined the board of the Cadarn Housing Group,   the parent company of the Newydd Housing Association.

He said: ‘I am looking forward to working with a dedicated team at CIH Cymru, the board, and most importantly members, to work towards ensuring that the voice of those delivering sustainable affordable housing in Wales is heard loud and clear by the decision- makers in Cardiff and Westminster.  I will also focus on attracting new members to the organisation and providing further opportunities to existing members so that we can move forward together and meet the challenges that the housing sector faces in Wales.’

PUBLICATIONS: 10 TO LOOK OUT FOR

1) Prosperity without poverty: a framework for action in Wales

Bevan Foundation, November 2016

www.bevanfoundation.org/publications/prosperity-without-poverty-framework-action-wales/

2) Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2016

New Policy Institute/Joseph Rowntree Foundation, December 2016

www.jrf.org.uk/report/monitoring-poverty-and-social-exclusion-2016

3) ‘It’s no life at all’: rough sleepers’ experiences of violence and abuse on the streets of England and Wales

Crisis, December 2016

www.crisis.org.uk/data/files/publications/714_ITS_NO_LIFE_AT_ALL_violence asb_FINAL_sp.pdf

4) Managing and Delivering Gypsy and Traveller Sites: Negotiating Conflict

Chartered Institute of Housing, December 2016