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POLICY ISSUES IN HOUSING LAW
Homelessness (1)
On 29 June 2015, when responding to questions about homelessness in
England, the Under-Secretary for Communities said that, in relation to the
use of B&B accommodation, “a small number of authorities—about 5%—account
for 80% of the breaches. We are taking this very seriously and are
absolutely clear that the long-term use of bed-and-breakfast accommodation
for families with children is unacceptable and unlawful.” Later he said:
“Some excellent work is going on, with some authorities helping [private
tenants] to avoid homelessness. I want to build on the good work that has
been done, to ensure that nobody is made homeless as a result of an
assured shorthold tenancy.” For the exchanges, click
here Earlier the same Minister had said: “The
homelessness legislation in England provides one of the strongest safety
nets in the world for families with children and vulnerable people who
become homeless through no fault of their own” (Written Question UIN
488, answered on 3 June 2015)
Homelessness (2)
New research commissioned by the homelessness charity CRISIS shows that
tackling homelessness early could save between £3,000 and £18,000 for
every person helped: At what cost? An estimation of the financial
costs of single homelessness in the UK. For a copy of the research
report, click
here
Homelessness (3)
A newly updated Commons Library Briefing Note explains how each of the
four UK countries responds to homelessness. For a copy, click
here.
Housing Lawyers
On 1 July 2015, at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards, the Housing
category was won by solicitor Jayesh Kunwardia of Hodge Jones and Allen.
For his details, click
here The Newcomer category was won by Housing
Rights barrister Connor Johnston of Garden Court Chambers. For his
details, click
here
Right to Buy
On 29 June 2015, when responding to questions about the use of right to
buy receipts in England to fund replacement social housing, the Secretary
of State said: “Local authorities have three years from the date of sale
of each home to replace the property. In the first year following the
reinvigoration of the right to buy, there were 3,053 additional sales.
Within two years—by the end of 2014-15—3,337 replacements were started
or acquired.” For the exchanges, click
here A few days earlier, the Housing Minister had
explained that: “Statistics on quarterly Right to Buy replacement starts
of dwellings for each local authority district in England are published in
the Department’s live table 693 (to access that click
here).The estimates of ‘replacement’ starts on site and
acquisitions are a proxy for the number of replacement homes delivered
using Right to Buy receipts.” (Written Question UIN 3462, answered on 25
June 2015)
Extending the Right to Buy
There has been considerable speculation as to the legal basis on which the
Government will be able to compel housing associations and housing trusts
to sell their homes at a discount. Pressed to disclose the legal advice
that the Government had received, the Housing Minister said: “The
Government’s legal analysis surrounding the extension of the right to
buy for housing association tenants will be explained when its legislative
proposals are brought before the House.” (Written Question UIN 1060,
answered on 8 June 2015). News reports suggest that Guinness Housing, the
Peabody Trust, Affinity Sutton and Southern Housing met recently with
housing lawyers to understand how the policy would affect their historic
charitable stock. For further details, click
here
Private Sector Rents
Data captured in the course of rent officers’ statutory responsibilities
in functions related to Housing Benefit and Universal Credit – on behalf
of the Department for Work and Pensions – is used to produce the
official statistics on rents in the private rental market. For the
statistics covering 2014/14, click
here
‘Bedroom Tax’
Asked about the impact of the social rented sector size criteria, a UK
Government Minister said on 16 June 2015: “Across the seven months
between May and December 2013, around 22,000 households affected by the
removal of the spare room subsidy either moved to the private sector or
downsized within the social rented sector. The final independent
evaluation report will be published later this year. This will provide
more up-to-date information on how people are responding to the policy.”
For the exchanges, click
here
Housing & Children
On 1 July 2015, the four United Kingdom Children’s Commissioners
published their joint report for the UN Committee on the Rights of the
Child’s examination of the UK’s Fifth Periodic Report under the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child. It reports that “in some
parts of the UK there is insufficient affordable decent housing which has
led to poorer children living in inadequate housing and in temporary
accommodation” and it spells out the housing circumstances of children
in the UK. For a copy of the report, click
here
Shared Ownership
Researchers at the Universities of Bristol, Kent and York have produced a
new report “Exploring experiences of shared ownership housing (July
2015)” For a copy, click
here
Tenancy Deposits
Even MPs can find it difficult to recover deposits from former landlords
or their letting agents. Local press reports suggest that a landlord’s
refusal to return a tenancy deposit led to Oldham MP Debbie Abrahams
having her office credit cards temporarily suspended by the Independent
Parliamentary Standards Authority. For more details, click
here
Housing Benefit
The July issue of the DWP’s Housing Benefit Direct covers
Housing Benefit subsidy, Personal Independence Payments and Single Fraud
Investigation Service. For a copy, click
here
Discretionary Housing Payments
A newly updated Commons Library Briefing Note explains the facts about
DHPs. For a copy, click
here
Property Disputes
The Civil Justice Council has set up a new working group on property
disputes – chaired by Siobhan McGrath, President of the Property Chamber
of the First-tier Tribunal. For details of the terms of reference and
membership of the group, click
here
Involvement in Housing Policy Issues
A new report from Housing Rights sets out fresh thinking on
including ‘easy to ignore’ groups in housing policy and strategy
development. For the Executive Summary, click
here For the full report click
here
Housing & the Disabled
The organisation Habinteg has published a free briefing note
explaining the important changes taking place to Disabled Facilities Grant
(DFG) funding. For a copy, click
here. For the record of the Commons Parliamentary Debate on
welfare reforms and people with disabilities held on 30 June 2015, click
here For the briefing note provided for the debate by
the Commons Library, click
here
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