Julie Nicholas, policy and public affairs manager at CIH Cymru, offers a preview of this year’s Welsh Housing Review
It’s been another big year for housing. The last 12 months have seen welsh government consult on introducing private rented sector licensing, increasing council tax on long-term empty homes and more recently second homes, extending the Mobile homes act provisions to local authority gypsy and Traveller sites, tenancy reform and a new regeneration framework.
Alongside the upcoming Housing Bill there have been new housing-related duties proposed for local authorities and registered social landlords in the new Social Services, Domestic Abuse and
Sustainable Development Bills, with a Planning Bill also on the way. The significant implications arising from the reform of the housing revenue account subsidy system could begin a new council housing development programme for the first time in 30 years.
Yes, it has been an interesting 12 months (and I haven’t even mentioned welfare reform yet). This year the Welsh Housing Review includes guest contributors, providing views from across the industry on contemporary issues. Let’s take a look at three of them:
Local government: Philosophising over change
Elke Winton, housing group manager at Torfaen County Borough Council, gives us a tour of the local government landscape in this extract from her Welsh Housing Review article
For local government housing across Wales, the perfect storm has been moving from strength to strength, and is about to reach magnificent proportions; facing increasing housing demand, changing and increasing statutory responsibilities at a time of reducing resources.
This will impact significantly on the housing role, function and administration for local government, and prudent authorities are planning for these changes now and considering their implementation and the impact on already scarce resources.
Strapped for cash, councils across Wales are already factoring ‘spend to save’ initiatives, disinvestment and ‘what we can no longer do’ strategies into medium term financial plans and service development. For the strategic housing authorities who have transferred their housing stock, it is crucially important to be able to communicate the message about the benefits of housing outside of operating as a primary landlord role; the emphasis has to be on the housing authority role to oversee the wider housing market and valuable investment programmes such as social housing grant, specific capital grant and Supporting People programme grant to assist in meeting housing need.
Housing authorities have been able to weather the storm so far by cultivating improved resilience and embracing new opportunities. By benefitting from a period of growth in innovation, collaboration and focus the housing authority has been a lead partner on many good practice examples; for example through forging new partnerships with organisations traditionally not viewed as key partners such as utility companies and energy efficiency organisations in the delivery of affordable warmth schemes.
Plato called necessity ‘the mother of invention’ and such innovations might perhaps have been less forthcoming in more prosperous times. Now, however these new local and regional approaches might become essential templates for the future.
Private rented sector: The only game in town?
Housing consultants Anne Delaney and Simon Inkson have been working with the Welsh Local Government Association on the private rented sector (PRS) improvement project. In an extract from their review contribution they call for a step change in the relationship between local authorities and the private rented sector
In the last decade, the size of the private rented sector in wales effectively doubled; during the same period social housing levels have reduced, with marginal growth in the owner-occupied stock.
We are beginning to see a cultural change from owner-occupation being seen as the norm. The demand for PRS housing will probably grow. New homelessness duties and welfare reform will mean greater demand. The gap between supply and demand for social housing is increasing and Welsh Government new build targets will not meet estimated levels of demand.
In short, authorities will in future rely on the PRS to meet housing need. Reliance on the PRS is no substitute for increasing supply in the social rented sector. But, at the moment, the PRS is about the only game in town (and can provide housing for those in need faster and at far less cost than new build).
In the 1990s, authorities realised there needed to be a step change in the way they worked with housing associations, and that robust partnership was the constructive way forward. We now need an equivalent step change in the way that we work with the PRS.
Funding affordable housing: What’s the problem?
Steve Partridge, finance and investment director at QSH, considers opportunities for maximising investment to deliver more affordable homes
You could be forgiven for thinking our housing crisis was over. But behind the headlines, where is this housing recovery actually focused?
Firstly, even a quick glance at the financial reporting from the volume house builders is revealing. Bigger developers are moving away from ‘affordable’ housing and chasing the bigger margins on larger and more profitable schemes. And ‘affordable’ in this context means affordable to the majority in some form of need including smaller units and what we would conventionally call ‘sub-market’.
Secondly, London and the South East seem to be where the main action is at. But does this extend beyond the M25? Of course there are always hotspots, and maybe Cardiff as an example, but until recently average price movements were sluggish at best.
Thirdly, and of most significance to those in need, the ‘boom’ is not translating into a big increase in new affordable housing and certainly not at the rate that we know we need.
Positive financial settlements for Welsh council housing offer opportunities for local authority involvement in new build in a meaningful way for the first time in over a generation. The ‘silver bullet’ of getting private finance into the delivery of affordable housing in meaningful volumes on the basis of sustainable and affordable models that work for authorities, associations, investors and banks is no longer an academic exercise while the old grant-regime proceeded but is now an absolute imperative. We have to find ways to do it because the alternative can only be further housing shortage and net housing need.
The Welsh Housing Review is available free to CIH members here