Policy developments
Human Rights at Home
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published guidance on the Human Rights Act for social housing providers. The guidance is intended to be a practical tool, to build understanding and confidence in the ability of officers to spot and deal with human rights issues. It provides examples of how human rights can be relevant throughout the housing journey from allocation to the termination of a tenancy. It also provides a checklist to help social housing providers review their policies and practices for human rights compatibility and address any issues effectively.
The guidance is online at www.equalityhumanrights.com
DWP impact assessments
The Department of Work and Pensions has published impact assessments on a number of the proposed changes to the welfare system. The impact assessment of the under-occupation of social housing changes to housing benefit identified a range of costs related to the implementation of the proposals:
- the majority of claimants (over 70%) are likely to experience reductions of less than £15 per week, based upon 2013/14 prices
- the impacts on local authority and housing association tenants are similar
- it is estimated that approximately 32% of working-age housing benefit tenants in the social rented sector are likely to be affected by the measure across Great Britain (42% in Wales)
- the movement of tenants within the social rented sector as a result of this measure will be determined, not just from their own willingness to move, but on the availability of suitably sized accommodation in the area, and the approach taken by their landlord to enable such moves to happen. At the current time, it is unclear how this will affect the choices of claimants that are likely to be affected by the measure
- social landlords may incur various costs as a result of the introduction of the size criteria, including costs to run schemes to help affected tenants move, void periods and costs of collecting the shortfall in rent
- local authorities administering housing benefit are likely to incur additional costs which are likely to include modifications to housing benefit IT systems, changes to publicity material, training, increased numbers of applications for Discretionary Housing Payments and more queries and appeals from affected claimants
DWP equality assessments are online at www.dwp.gov.uk
Publications
10 to look out for
1 – Charity Bank/Community Housing Cymru (March 2011) The Collective Entrepreneur – Social Enterprise and the Smart State – sets out a vision of a Wales in which new forms of social enterprise play a significant role in driving growth and jobs in Wales, as well as delivering a new generation of public services in health, housing, education and social care www.charitybank.org
2 – Building and Social Housing Foundation (April 2011) Housing benefit claimant numbers and the labour market – highlights how sensitive Housing Benefit expenditure is to changes in the labour market www.bshf.org
3 – Chartered Institute of Housing (April 2011) The local authority role in housing markets – aims to prompt and inform a dialogue between local authorities, registered providers, and other stakeholders with a role in the local housing market www.cih.org
4 – ResPublica (Mary 2011) – At the Crossroads: a progressive future for housing associations – argues that both government and housing associations should take the opportunity to reconsider the role, purpose and potential of the sector www.respublica.org.uk
5 – Chartered Institute of Housing (April 2011) Improving financial inclusion and capability in social housing – good practice and advice for social landlords http://members.cih.org
6 – Centre for Local Economic Strategies (December 2010) Productive local economies: creating resilient places – explains the resilience framework developed by CLES and provides some early conclusions from pilot research carried out across the UK www.cles.org.uk
7 – Joseph Rowntree Foundation (April 2011) Improving housing outcomes for young people: practical ideas – presents 27 practical examples drawn from the housing sector www.jrf.org.uk
8 – Human City Institute (May 2011) Living on the Edge: financial exclusion and social housing – based on interviews with 252 social housing tenants www.humancity.org.uk
9 – Welsh Government (May 2011) Population Estimates by Ethnic Group, 2001-20 09 – statistics setting out population estimates by ethnic group show that, between 2001 and 2009, the percentage of people in Wales from minority ethnic groups increased from 2.1% to 4.1% <a href=\"http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/statistics/headlines/population2011/110518/?lang=en
\” target=\”_blank\”>http://new.wales.gov.uk
10 – ARCH (May 2011) Home Truths: Tenants’ Tales of Council Housing – features interviews with tenants about their experiences of council housing
www.arch-housing.org.uk
Welsh Government
Advice on providing services to people with ASD
The Welsh Government has produced two guides for housing practitioners to assist them in providing services for people with ASD. The guides are for homelessness practitioners and housing advice workers and for people working in housing management. They provide lots of information and practical suggestions on how services can be tailored for people with ASD.
The guides are online at http://new.wales.gov.uk
Progress with WHQS
In March 2011, the Welsh Government published its findings on measuring progress in improving social housing in Wales. The results of a monitoring exercise found that:
- 78% of housing association homes (including the recent stock transfers) can meet WHQS by 2012/13
- 87% of local authority homes can meet the standard by 2012/13, excluding those with no votes and those going to ballot. When those authorities with no votes and those balloting are included, 39% of local authority homes can meet WHQS by 2012/13
- for those associations working to the 2012 deadline, 86% of their homes are likely to meet the standard by 2012/13 and 98% by 2016/17
- all five of the housing associations with an extended deadline for meeting the standard until 2014/15, (Cartrefi Conwy, Merthyr Valleys Homes, Newport City Homes, Tai Calon and Tai Ceredigion), will have 100% of their homes meeting the standard across all of the key components by that date
- four out of the twelve authorities that still owned their stock as at March 2011 were predicting achieving WHQS by 2012/13, one more in 2014/15 and another in 2016/17. At the time of writing, three local authorities were planning to ballot tenants, one had transferred its stock and two local authorities had balloted and received a no vote. Carmarthen has an extended deadline of 2014/15 to meet WHQS and Powys 2017/18. The document noted that neither Swansea nor Wrexham have a viable business plan
The report is online at http://new.wales.gov.uk
Code of Guidance consultation
The Welsh Government is consulting on a revised version of the Code of Guidance for local authorities on the allocation of accommodation and homelessness. The Code is used by local housing authorities when preparing allocation policies and dealing with homelessness cases and is also relevant to housing associations and the work they do in partnership with local authorities. In addition, many of the activities discussed in the Code require joint planning and working between local housing authorities, social services departments, health authorities, other referral agencies, voluntary sector organisations and other bodies.
Consultation responses are requested by 30 June; the consultation paper is online at http://new.wales.gov.uk
Fairer health outcomes for all
March 2011 saw the publication of Fairer Health Outcomes For All: Reducing Inequities in Health Strategic Action Plan. The Welsh Government’s public health strategic framework, Our Healthy Future, called for a new approach in tackling gaps in health and wellbeing. In line with the Welsh Government’s ambition to create a fair and just society, it called for a focus on inequities rather than inequalities in health. Whereas ‘health inequalities’ refers to differences in health outcomes between groups (for example, a higher rate of lung cancer incidence in different areas), health inequities focuses on the moral aspect – where such differences could be avoided, it is unfair and immoral that we tolerate them.
The vision of Fairer Health Outcomes for All is improved health and wellbeing for all, with the pace of improvement increasing in proportion to the level of disadvantage.
To achieve this vision, the aspiration of the Welsh Government is, by 2020, to improve healthy life expectancy for everyone and to close the gap between each quintile of deprivation by an average of 2.5%.
The document is online at http://new.wales.gov.uk
Regulation
All registered social landlords across Wales received financial viability judgements from the Welsh Government in March 2011. The Welsh Government has not published these judgements; it is up to individual RSLs to do so. Most RSLs received a ‘pass’ judgement and a small number a ‘pass with monitoring’ judgement.
All RSLs were asked by the Welsh Government to submit self-assessments by the end of March 2011. Individual RSLs have received written feedback and self-assessment was the main focus of Community Housing Cymru’s regulation network meeting in May 2011. Members of the Welsh Government’s regulatory team will now be meeting with individual RSLs.
Wales
WHQS update
- Tenants in the Vale of Glamorgan voted by a narrow margin against stock transfer. The ballot result was announced on 5 April 2011; 49.2% supported the transfer and 50.8% were opposed with a turnout of 68.4%
- Newport City Homes celebrated its second anniversary in March 2011 – over 4,500 homes have benefitted from the investment programme being delivered by the organisation’s main partner contractors; Ian Williams, Mi Space, PH Jones, SERS, Solar Windows, Wrekin Windows and Wates Living Space
- In order to understand the health benefits of its WHQS programme to tenants and benefits to local health services, Carmarthenshire Council has initiated a health impact study. The initial pilot study has shown:
- improvement in mental health – 21% of tenants of unimproved properties reported being treated for depression, compared with only 7% of the tenants living in completed properties
- improvement in respiratory infection- 67% of tenants living in completed properties reported they were free from respiratory infection like coughs and colds compared with 52% in unimproved properties
- fewer people going to their GP – 23% of respondents in unimproved properties visited their GP more than four times in a three month period compared with 14% in completed properties
The report on the pilot is online at www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk
TPAS Cymru guidance and research
TPAS Cymru:
- has produced a new Solutions publication on tenant inspectors
- has published guidance for Local Tenant Participation Strategies in 2011
- will be publishing a toolkit on monitoring and evaluation; TPAS Cymru is looking for examples of good practice that could feed into the toolkit
- is undertaking research supported by the Welsh Government on the current shape of tenant participation within social housing landlords in Wales. The purpose of this research is to assess progress in tenant participation by comparing the current state of tenant participation with the position in 2005, described in the Welsh Assembly Government publication Evaluating Tenant Participation in Housing Management and Design
- will be carrying out assessment of the second round of Local Tenant Participation Strategies, on a similar basis to the assessment produced for the first round by TPAS Cymru. TPAS Cymru will be consulting landlords and tenants on a revised set of assessment criteria
The TPAS Cymru website is www.tpascymru.org.uk
Working with schools
As part of Newport City Homes’ Aspiration Project, the organisation invited Year 6 pupils of St Woolos Primary School to visit its Nexus House offices. The aim of the visit was to introduce the children to the different roles and opportunities for employment within the organisation and inspire them to make the right choices for themselves during the next stage of their education in secondary school. www.newportcityhomes.com
Tai Calon building bridges
Seven young people from the Brynfarm and Gurnos Estates, Brynmawr, got a taste of the construction industry as part of the ‘Building Bridges ‘project, organised by Tai Calon in conjunction with the Construction Youth Trust. The project provided the young people with a 5 week taster course in basic construction and carpentry skills. As a result of the project five of the young people are now enrolled to complete either a BTEC in carpentry or an OCN in plumbing. www.taicalon.org
Monmouthshire Homesearch
Launched at the end of March 2011, a new way of finding a home in Monmouthshire involves a common housing register and common housing policy between Monmouthshire Housing Association, Melin Homes, Charter Housing and Monmouthshire County Council. The choice-based lettings approach is based on a banding system. www.monmouthshirehomesearch.co.uk
Awards, awards
TPAS Cymru 2011 participation award winners
The winners of the 2011 TPAS Cymru awards were:
- Wales Communication in Housing – Landlord – Youth Homeless Outreach Service, Bus Stop Project, North Wales Housing, Cymdeithas Tai Clwyd and Cartrefi Conwy Partnership
- Wales Communication In Housing – Tenants and Residents Association – Danymynydd Residents – Digital Storytelling
- Outstanding Achievement In Participation – Pip Williams
- Mainstreaming Tenant Participation – Charter Housing Association’s Forward Together Panel
- Tenant Participation Projects – Barracksfield MUGA Project
- Empowering People to Improve Services – Tenants and Residents in Action – Tai Calon
- Active Inclusion – Monmouthshire Housing Association’s Tenant Forum
- Inspirational Colleague – Rob Carey, Monmouthshire Housing Association
- Improving the Environment – The Growing Space, Pyle
After the award ceremony, John Drysdale, Director of TPAS Cymru said ‘it’s great to see the increase in developments and improvements in practice in tenant participation over the last year. The projects nominated for the TPAS Cymru Participation Awards 2011 show that there are lots of new ideas to share and appreciate. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners at this years awards.’
Design award
Mid Wales’ first scheme to be completed within the Brecon Beacons National Park at Clos Esgob, Trecastle, has been awarded the 2011 Local Authority Building Control South Wales Building Excellence Award in the Social/ Affordable Housing Category.
Best companies
A number of Welsh housing organisations have achieved best companies accreditation:
- two star status was achieved by Coastal Housing Group, Llamau Ltd, Pennaf Housing Group and Wales & West Housing Association
- one star status was awarded to Cadwyn Housing Association
Pictured is Michael Sheen with Dewis staff and service users during their digital storytelling project
Pictured are Sheila Jennick and Rhiannon Richards from Celtic Home Care, Simon Jones and Judith North, both Corporate Directors at Seren, celebrating the purchase of Celtic Home Care, a family run company providing home care, personal care and night time support for older and other vulnerable people, by reach supported living
Pictured are plasterers working on council properties in Heol Tregoning and Westbury Street, Morfa, Llanelli, where a grant has allowed the council to improve homes with external insultation funded by British Gas and the Welsh Government Arbed scheme