Rough Sleeping Initiative
On 28 January 2020 the MHCLG announced that in the third year of the Rough Sleeping Initiative funding to councils will increase by 30 per cent to £112 million. According to MHCLG, analysis shows that numbers of rough sleepers are 32 per cent lower in funded areas than they would be without the Initiative. The third year of the Rough Sleeping Initiative will fund up to 6,000 bed spaces and 2,500 support staff. For the announcement, click here.
Homelessness services
On 29 January 2020 the Local Government Association reported that “more than two-thirds of all council homelessness services in England [are in] the red”. Figures compiled by the LGA show that nearly seven in ten council homelessness services are having to spend more than they planned on homelessness support, including the increasing cost of using bed and breakfast accommodation to place families. The LGA says that council spending in England on placing families in B&Bs rose by more than a fifth in the last year alone, from £93.3 million in 2017/18 to £114.9 million in 2018/19, and that there are 7,110 homeless households currently in bed and breakfast accommodation – a 15-year high. For the report, click here.
Statutory homelessness in England
On 31 January 2020 the House of Commons Library published a briefing paper providing statistics on statutory homelessness in England and explaining local authorities' duties to assist homeless households. The paper includes an overview of, and comment on, Government policy in this area. The most recent statistical release covers the period between April and June 2019. For the briefing, click here.
Homelessness: Commons debate
On 29 January 2020, there was a House of Commons opposition day debate on homelessness. For the Hansard record of the debate, click here. The House of Commons Library collated various briefings on the issue in advance of the debate. For those briefings, click here.
Grenfell Tower Inquiry
On 29 January 2020 the Grenfell Tower Inquiry confirmed that the start date of module 1 oral evidence has been put back in the light of an application asking the Inquiry to consider seeking an undertaking from the Attorney General that oral evidence given by witnesses during the course of this phase of the Inquiry will not be used against them in criminal proceedings. Whether it will be necessary to put the start of oral evidence back further will depend upon the outcome of the application. For the application, click here.
Social housing lettings: April 2018 to March 2019 – England
On 28 January 2020 the MHCLG published statistics on new social housing lettings in England provided by local authorities and private registered providers, for the period between April 2018 and March 2019. The statistical release shows:
- There were 314,000 new social housing lettings in 2018/19, ie a 0.3 per cent or 1,000 lets increase from the previous year. This flattening in the trend ends the continued fall from the peak of 396,000 new social housing lettings in 2013/14 (a 22 per cent fall).
- The new social lettings in this release account for 8 per cent of the 4 million households in social housing, compared to 23.5 million in England.
- New social housing lettings decreased by 17 per cent whilst stock increased by 3 per cent from 2008/09 to 2018/19.
- Two-thirds of new social housing lettings in 2018/19 were to tenants not living in social housing immediately before.
- There were 1.16 million households on local authority waiting lists on 1 April 2019, an increase of 4 per cent on 1.11 million in the previous year.
- Over half of households (56 per cent) with a new social letting in 2018/19 were on the waiting list in that area for less than a year.
- Statutorily homeless households were 18 per cent of new lettings in 2018/19.
- Lifetime tenancies comprised over two-thirds of new social lettings in 2018/19, mostly given by local authorities.
- Employment in lead tenants of new General Needs lettings increased from 32 per cent to 39 per cent between 2008/09 and 2018/19.
- On average households in a new social letting in 2018/19 spent 33 per cent of their income on rent, with average rent of £85 per week.
For the statistical release, click here. For official tables on rents, lettings and tenancies, presented by type and other variables, including by geographical area or on a temporal basis, click here. For tables on dwelling stock (including vacants), click here.
Forces Help to Buy Quarterly Statistics: October to December 2019
On 30 January 2020 the Ministry of Defence published statistics for the Forces Help to Buy (FHTB) scheme for 1 October to 31 December 2019. During that period:
- 1,929 First Stage applications were received.
- 826 Second Stage applications were received.
- 883 payments were made to Service personnel.
For the full statistics, click here.
‘No fault’ evictions – Wales
On 28 January 2020 the Welsh Government published a summary of responses to its consultation on increasing the minimum notice period for a ‘no fault’ eviction. 855 responses to the consultation were received from a range of sectors. For the summary, click here. For the consultation document itself, click here.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill
On 29 January 2020 the House of Commons Library published a briefing paper analysing the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill. It includes background information and stakeholder comment. The bill was introduced to the House of Commons and given its first reading on 8 January 2020. Second reading took place on 22 January 2020. For more information about the bill, see Housing Laws in the Pipeline. For the briefing, click here.
Accommodation for older people – Wales
On 30 January 2020 the Welsh Government published an independent report assessing the housing and accommodation needs of older people. It identifies current provision of and future demand to 2035 for different types of specialist housing and accommodation for older people. The assessment of future demand estimates that across Wales there is likely to be a shortfall by 2035 of:
- Approximately 15,000 units of housing for older people, specifically:
- 5,000 units of age-designated social housing
- 5,000 units of contemporary sheltered housing for social rent
- 5,000 units of retirement housing for sale.
- Approximately 5,000 units of housing with care:
- 3,500 units of extra care housing for social rent
- 1,500 units of extra care housing for sale (including shared ownership).
- Approximately 7,000 nursing care beds.
- No net need for additional residential care beds.
- Approximately 120 ‘step up/step down’ housing units.
For the report, click here.
Local housing allowance rates for homeless young people
On 4 February 2020 there was a House of Commons 30-minute debate in Westminster Hall on local housing allowance rates for homeless young people, led by Caroline Lucas MP. For the Hansard record of the debate, click here and then click on ‘4 February’. In July 2019 the House of Commons Library published an information pack for a debate at that time on local housing allowance and homelessness; for the pack, click here.
Local housing allowance rates from April 2020 to March 2021 – Wales
On 31 January 2020 the Welsh Government published tables of local housing allowance rates which will be effective until 31 March 2021. The tables, organised by area and size of accommodation, set out: (1) the LHA rates applicable for April 2019; (2) the 30th percentile figures (derived from twelve months’ worth of lettings information collected up to the end of September 2019); (3) the current LHA rates uplifted by the Consumer Price Index for September (ie 1.7 per cent); and (4) the LHA rates effective from 1st April 2020 (ie the lower of the figures shown in (2) and (3)). For the tables, click here.
Housing Benefit: speed of processing 2019 to 2020
On 29 January 2020 the Department for Work and Pensions released statistics on the average number of days taken to process a new Housing Benefit claim or a change in circumstance of an existing claimant for July to September 2019. The release shows that in the quarter:
- 95 per cent of Housing Benefit claims processed arose from a change of circumstances on existing claims and the remaining 5 per cent were new Housing Benefit claims.
- The average time taken to process a new Housing Benefit claim was 17 calendar days and is the lowest it has been to date. This is five days lower than in the same quarter of 2018/19.
- The average time taken to process a change of circumstance on an existing Housing Benefit claim was six calendar days. This is two days lower than in quarter 2 of 2018/19.
For the statistical release, click here.
Regulator of Social Housing: consultation on equality objectives
On 30 January 2020 the Regulator of Social Housing launched a consultation on its equality objectives. For more details, see Housing Law Consultations.
Dishonest housing application leads to fine – Hillingdon
On 29 January 2020 the London Borough of Hillingdon reported the case of a woman who had made three applications for housing in the borough, despite living in Canning Town, east London. She pleaded guilty at Ealing Magistrates' Court to making a dishonest application for housing. Those applying for council housing must have lived continuously in the borough for 10 years. She was fined £300 and ordered to make a contribution to the council's prosecution costs of £50. She was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £30. For the report, click here.
Deputy Mayor for Housing appointed – London
On 31 January 2020 the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced that Tom Copley has been appointed as his new Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development. Mr Copley has served on the London Assembly since 2012 and is Chair of the London Assembly Housing Committee. For more details, click here.
Impact of short-term lets
On 31 January 2020 ARLA Propertymark published Impact of Short-Term Lets, which looks at the scale of the UK’s short-term lets sector and the wider implications on the private rented sector. The report finds that nearly half a million properties could be left unavailable for residents looking to rent in the private rented sector, as more landlords exit the market and move into short-term lets due to the raft of legislative changes they have been faced with. According to the report, the number of active listings on Airbnb in the UK rose by a third to 223,000 in 2018 from 168,000 in 2017. London has the largest market in the UK, with the number of active listings rising four-fold from 18,000 in 2015 to 77,000 in 2019. ARLA Propertymark set out a list of recommendations to limit the impact of short-term lets on the private rented sector. For the report, click here. For an article about it, click here.
Private renters
On 30 January 2020 Shelter published results of a survey which showed that more than three-quarters of private renters in England (77 per cent) – equivalent to 6.6 million adults – would like to make small improvements to their home. The Shelter and B&Q research reveals the top four home improvements private renters would like to carry out:
- Painting (51 per cent)
- Putting personal items up on the walls, eg pictures, photographs, and mirrors (50 per cent)
- Changing or putting up curtains or blinds (37 per cent)
- Tidying up the garden (25 per cent)
For more details, click here.
