Policy developments in other parts of the UK
UK
Local support for universal credit
The Department for Work and Pensions has published details of the support that will be available for vulnerable claimants under universal credit.
The Local Support Services Framework sets out how people will be protected and supported as they move on to the new benefit. A network of JobCentre Plus, local authorities and other organisations will provide bespoke services to claimants who might need help with their budgeting or getting online.
Guidance outlining who might be eligible for alternative arrangements to the standard universal credit payments has been shared with stakeholders, MPs, peers and the Social Security Advisory Committee. All cases will be considered on an individual basis but payments direct to landlords, more frequent than monthly payments or split payments between different household members could be considered for people in vulnerable circumstances. These could include those with a history of addiction, mental health conditions or at risk of domestic abuse.
The framework is available in English at www.dwp.gov.uk and in Welsh here
Scotland
Extra allocation for housing
The Scottish Government has allocated an extra £38 million to housing for 2013/14 and boosted the total budget for the next three years by £200 million more than it originally announced last September.
Finance secretary John Swinney said: ‘The Scottish Government has been absolutely clear that we aim to deliver at least 30,000 affordable homes during the lifetime of this parliament and this funding will help ensure this commitment will be met.
‘Despite Westminster cuts to our capital budgets the Scottish Government is delivering just as much new social housing – and more new affordable housing – as in the period up to 2007 when budgets were rising every year.’
The extra £38 million was announced as MSPs voted on the final budget for 2013/14. Some £20 million will be invested in affordable housing supply with the rest going to adaptations and energy efficiency.
David Bookbinder, head of policy and public affairs at CIH Scotland, said: ‘This is more good news for investment in affordable housing. The original £630 million budget meant that housing was taking an unfair share of overall budget cuts, but we’ve seen a process of redressing the balance and that means that ministers clearly get the message about housing and its importance to the economy.’
Northern Ireland
Housing Executive to be broken up
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive will be broken up and its 90,000 homes are set to be transferred to housing associations following a fundamental review of its future.
In a written statement to the assembly, social development minister Nelson McCausland said: ‘A fundamental review of the NI Housing Executive by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2011 found that the current model and structures no longer allow optimal delivery of either strategic housing or landlord services. I commissioned PwC to undertake a further series of meetings with stakeholders and the general consensus from participants was that the “Do nothing” option was not a realistic solution.
‘Whilst the Northern Ireland Housing Executive has had a long history of delivering social housing and has enjoyed the widespread support of Northern Ireland society, the current model is simply not sustainable, does not make best use of public resources nor does
it allow sufficient flexibility and focus on supporting tenants and meeting their needs now and in the future.’
Under the new proposals, the Department for Social Development will have responsibility for overall housing strategy, policy, legislation and funding. It will be supported on strategy and policy by a Regional Housing Body staffed by housing professionals and effectively carrying out the non-landlord functions of the Executive. An Independent Social Housing Rent Panel will agree annual rent levels based on a rental policy.
England
Converting offices to homes
Communities secretary Eric Pickles has unveiled new measures to allow empty and underused offices into homes without the need for planning permission.
Under permitted development rights that will be in place for three years, developers will not have to apply for change of use from offices to housing. However, local authorities will be able to seek an exemption if they can demonstrate there would be substantial adverse economic consequences.
Eric Pickles said: ‘We want to promote the use of brownfield land to assist regeneration, and get empty and under-used buildings back into productive use. Using previously developed land and buildings will help us promote economic growth, provide more homes and still ensure that we safeguard environmentally protected land.’
Publications
10 to look out for
1- New Times, New Business – housing provision in times of austerity – Centre for Housing Research, University of St Andrews
<phttp://ggsrv-cold.st-andrews.ac.uk
2 – Widening the spectrum of retirement housing in Tower Hamlets – Tower Hamlets Older People’s Housing Commission, January 2013
3 – Welfare reform, universal credit and exempt accommodation – Support Solutions, January 2013
4 – Analysing the impact of the UK Government’s welfare reforms in Wales – Stage 2 analysis – Welsh Government, February 2013
5 – An ex-ante analysis of the effects of the UK Government’s welfare reforms on labour supply in Wales – Institute for Fiscal Studies, February 2013
6 – Plugging the gap – turning strangers into neighbours – RSA, January 2013
7 – Building the Homes and Communities Britain Needs – Future Homes Commission, summary of how recommendations will work in Welsh context, February 2013
8 – Who Lives in the Private Rented Sector? Analysis of households’ characteristics, January 2013 – Building and Social Housing Foundation
9 – The Power of Prepaid – Demos, January 2013
10 – English housing survey headline results 2011 to 2012 – Department for Communities and Local Government, February 2013
Welsh Government
Capital investment boost
Housing investment will be boosted by £30 million as part of £91.5 million of new capital funding announced by finance minister Jane Hutt.
The extra funding will go to affordable housing and other housing priorities such as an alternative approach to delivering housing adaptations and land for housing schemes. Extra investment in flood defences will also help protect homes.
Jane Hutt said: ‘Since we published the Wales Infrastructure Investment Plan last May we have generated an additional investment package of around £1.1 billion to fund our infrastructure priorities. This is a significant amount of money and shows our determination to stimulate economic growth, create jobs and reduce poverty in Wales.’
Council tax support funding
The Welsh Government found an extra £22 million to help people facing a cut in their council tax support next year.
The decision announced by local government minister Carl Sergeant brought Wales into line with Scotland in not passing on a 10% cut in funding by the UK government.
Several English local authorities have also found ways to protect their residents but tenants and home owners in many more will be facing demands for an average of an extra £3 a week on top of cuts in other benefits from April.
Carl Sergeant said the additional funding would come from a call on Welsh Government reserves and departmental budgets that had become possible as a result of careful financial management. ‘Following changes to the welfare system brought in by the UK government which included a 10% cut in the amount of funding for council tax support, the scheme I published in December would have meant a cut in income for people who could least afford it,’ he said. ‘This concerned me and my Cabinet colleagues greatly.’
Finance minister Jane Hutt added: ‘Flexibility available to us at the year end means that we are able to provide additional resources and return the council tax support budget to the level it was before the UK Government made its cuts. This will provide important support to individuals who are facing such difficult times as a result of benefit cuts.’
NewBuy Cymru
Housing minister Huw Lewis has called on lenders and homebuilders to sign up to deliver the NewBuy Cymru scheme.
Speaking at a special event at the Millennium Stadium to inform the industry of the details of the scheme that have been worked up since the official announcement in November.
NewBuy Cymru will be available to all buyers in Wales, subject to fulfilling lending criteria and having a deposit of 5%, and will support the purchase of up to 3,000 new build homes up to a value of £250,000. Supported by a Welsh Government guarantee, it could enable an investment in housing of up to £500 million over five years.
Huw Lewis told the lenders and builders: ‘We now need you all to become active to make NewBuy Cymru a great success. Not only do we need you to sign up to the scheme, but also to actively market it. This will help the scheme to deliver to its full potential for both the economy and for families and individuals across Wales and I look forward to being able to officially launch NewBuy Cymru in the near future.’
Homes for Wales bulletin
In February 2013, the Welsh Government published its first Homes for Wales bulletin. The bulletins will be published regularly and will provide brief updates on the Welsh Government’s commitment to reform housing legislation and improve lives and communities.
They include information on proposals for legislation and on other, non-legislative developments.
To request a copy, email housingbulletin@wales.gsi.gov.uk. The same email address can be used to provide feedback on the bulletin and suggest topics for inclusion in future issues.
Welsh procurement policy
Building on recommendations in the McClelland Review, the Wales Procurement Policy Statement sets out nine principles for how the public sector should carry out procurement from being professionally resources to using procurement to deliver ‘community benefits’ to support the Welsh economy.
Finance minister Jane Hutt said: ‘Over the past year we have seen that good procurement can drive efficiencies and at the same time bring about local community and economic benefits. Public leaders must not settle for adequate procurement activity. In Wales we already have some of the best practice available and we all must strive to achieve excellence in our procurement to get the maximum benefit from every penny we spend.’
Available at http://wales.gov.uk
New regeneration framework
A large number of organisations and individuals submitted responses to the consultation by the Welsh Government on Vibrant and Viable Places: New Regeneration Framework. Housing, Regeneration and Heritage Minister Huw Lewis will launch the new framework shortly after this issue of WHQ is published.
As well as the framework itself, a summary of the consultation responses will also be published by the Welsh Government and will be available on the website at http://wales.gov.uk
Consultation papers
A number of Welsh Government consultation papers will be of interest to WHQ readers:
- Sustainable Development Bill – white paper – Responses by March 4
- Non-material amendments to planning permissions – Responses by March 15
- Implementing the Mobile Homes Act 1983 on local authority Gypsy and Traveller sites – Responses by March 29
- Wales and the EU – Partnership for jobs and growth – European Structural Funds 2014-2020 – Responses by April 23
- Consultation on legislation to end violence against women and domestic abuse – Responses by 22 February
Welsh Government consultation papers are online at http://wales.gov.uk/consultations
Wales
Redesigning the Welsh terrace
In December 2012, RSAW and its competition partners the Welsh Government, CADW, RCT Homes and Grwp Gwalia Cyf announced Hatcher Prichard Architects with Ramboll (consulting engineers) as winners of the ReDesigning the Terrace Competition.
RCT Homes will now work with the winning architects to develop the scheme and, subject to its financial viability and ability to be delivered within the plot identified, will build the resulting design as a pilot study.
Winning architect Shaun Prichard of Hatcher Prichard said: ‘The terrace is synonymous with life in Wales. Valleys of dense, back to back housing patterns have long perpetuated close knit communities as captured in the work of artists down the ages.
Epitomised in the beautiful paintings of Ernest Zobole, we would humbly suggest that the strength of these communities and their reliance on the strong vernacular model of the terrace is as relevant today as ever.’
RSAW President Andrew Sutton, said: ‘We were delighted with the standard of entries and impressed with the innovative approaches taken to the challenge of balancing our built heritage with our sustainability goals on small sites.
‘It’s especially exciting that the competition has two registered social landlords on board with one considering taking the winning scheme beyond a design concept.’
More information available at http://hatcherprichard.co.uk
Water efficiency guidance
New guidance on water efficiency has been launched by the Energy Saving Trust and Environment Agency Wales to support retrofit works under the Welsh Housing Quality Standard.
The publication on water and associated energy efficiency works is aimed at social housing providers and highlights the importance of conserving water and the benefits that retrofit measures can bring. The publication outlines standards, trigger point opportunities and case studies and demonstrates how to undertake successful installations and engagement to secure behaviour change.
Last year OFWAT indicated that 30% of households in Wales spend more than 3% of their income on water and sewerage bills. It’s likely that a significant proportion of these households are also experiencing fuel poverty.
Available at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk
NPT Homes teams up with local schools
Estate rangers and the tenant empowerment team from NPT Homes have been working with local comprehensive schools in Neath Port Talbot to deliver lessons on anti-social behaviour and its effects on communities.
The team have delivered lessons to over 200 pupils in secondary schools across the borough. With help from the ‘Respect your Life’ textbook, which was sponsored by the social landlord, they have been working with young people to encourage them to live safely and avoid the dangers of crime and anti-social behaviour.
Head of specialist services Cheryl Benjamin said: ‘This team is dedicated to tackling anti-social behaviour and promoting safer communities for our tenants and they are very keen to help young people understand how anti-social behaviour affects communities and what a positive role they can have in improving the areas they live in.’
New homes in Flintshire
The first phase of an estate of new homes in Flintshire was completed in time for residents to settle in before Christmas.
The new development in Treuddyn includes 18 affordable family homes for local people plus another 23 homes developed privately by Lovell. Flintshire County Council secured Welsh Government social housing grant to help fund the 18 homes built under the affordable housing scheme with the remainder of their cost being privately financed by the Pennaf Housing Group. Group member Clwyd Alyn Housing Association will now manage the18 homes allocating them to people on their waiting list who meet local eligibility criteria.
Cabinet member for housing at Flintshire County Council, Councillor Helen Brown, said ‘This is an excellent example of how the council can facilitate development of affordable housing through partnership working and I am delighted that high quality new housing has been provided for the Treuddyn community.’
The team behind the new homes in Treuddyn, including representatives from Flintshire County Council, Clwyd Alyn Housing Association and Lovell
Fresh horizons for asset management
United Welsh has entered into a partnership with repair and maintenance contractor Mears to manage delivery of its services through a new wholly owned subsidiary.
Celtic Horizons is clamed to be the first wholly owned subsidiary of its kind and will deliver total asset management over 11 local authority areas in South Wales. The contract will start from April 2013 and has a total potential value of £145 million over 15 years.
The aim was to develop a model that will improve customer service standards and reduce the time it takes to resolve enquiries from the first point of contact. It was decided that a wholly owned subsidiary would benefit tenants and give them greater involvement in the delivery of estates services.
Members of United Welsh staff and around 15 tenants and tenants’ representatives engaged with the process, which saw a number of organisations tender for the management and delivery of the subsidiary. Mears emerged as the preferred partner to manage services including gas servicing, repairs, grounds maintenance and caretaking.
Anthony Whittaker, chief executive of United Welsh, with Jane Nelson,
executive director of Mears