The government announced measures to tackle the problems caused by unauthorized Gypsy and Traveller developments. It began consultation on a draft planning circular designed to ensure that planning authorities identified and made provision for the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers within their development plans.
Source: Press release 21 December 2004, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 3000) | Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Sites, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Links: ODPM press release | Consultation document (pdf)
Date: 2004-Dec
A good practice guide was published providing comprehensive advice to local councils, particularly housing and social service authorities, on how an efficient housing adaptations service could best be organized, as well as how it could be effectively delivered to meet the needs of the disabled person within a reasonable target time.
Source: Delivering Housing Adaptations for Disabled People: A good practice guide, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Guide | ODPM press release
Date: 2004-Nov
A report by a committee of MPs called for the government to reintroduce a statutory requirement for local authorities to provide sites for Gypsies and Travellers. It said that it was not satisfied that sufficient progress had been made by the government in identifying the most effective mechanism for the provision of such sites to ensure that the accommodation needs to travellers were met.
Source: Gypsy and Traveller Sites, Thirteenth Report (Session 2003-04), HC 633, House of Commons Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | LGA press release | RTPI press release (pdf) | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Nov
A report examined the challenges for Supporting People commissioners, their partner agencies and providers in tackling older homelessness, and proposed cost-effective solutions.
Source: Jenny Pannell and Guy Palmer, Coming of Age: Opportunities for older people under Supporting People, Homeless Link (020 7960 3010) and UK Coalition on Older Homelessness
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Oct
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the Supporting People programme. The committee's report included a number of recommendations to improve the value for money of the programme. The government said that it had developed a programme of work to address these recommendations, and to gather information on value for money for the Spending Review 2004.
Source: Government Response to the ODPM: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Committee s Report on the Supporting People Programme, Cm 6348, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Link to response removed | MPs report
Date: 2004-Oct
A report used the results of the religion question from the 2001 Census to build a picture of the size and housing circumstances of the Muslim population in England. It used other data sources and research alongside the findings of new qualitative research to present a picture of the Muslim housing experience. Muslim children were almost three times more likely than the rest of the population to live in overcrowded accommodation.
Source: Muslim Housing Experiences, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | Housing Corporation press release
Date: 2004-Sep
A report said that homelessness had risen over twice as fast among ethnic minority households compared to the general population since 1997. Over 30,000 BME households were homeless during 2003-04.
Source: The Black and Minority Ethnic Housing Crisis, Shelter (020 7505 4699)
Links: Report (pdf) | Shelter press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Sep
Three Gypsy families (backed by the government) won an appeal against a High Court ruling which had denied them access to a site where a planning inspector had decided that they should be given planning permission on human rights grounds.
Source: The First Secretary Of State, Doe, Yates and Eames v. Chichester District Council, Court of Appeal, 29 September 2004
Links: Text of judgement | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Sep
An issue of the journal Housing Studies considered various aspects of disability and housing.
Source: Housing Studies, Volume 19 Number 5
Links: Contents
Date: 2004-Sep
A briefing paper said that cuts in the funding of housing-related support threatened to undermine efforts by the government to promote independence among people with mental health problems.
Source: The Supporting People Programme and Mental Health, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8352)
Links: Briefing (pdf) | SCMH press release
Date: 2004-Sep
The government announced a funding package for the Supporting People programme. It would provide 1.72 billion in 2005-06 (a real-term cut of around 7.5 per cent), followed by around 1.7 billion in both 2006-07 and 2007-08. The government said that this demonstrated its commitment to improving the quality of life for those at risk by promoting independent living - providing housing-related support to vulnerable people, including home visits, alarm systems and advice on accessing benefit entitlements.
Source: Press release 31 August 2004, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 3000)
Links: ODPM press release
Date: 2004-Aug
A report by a committee of MPs endorsed the tighter regime of financial control introduced for the Supporting People programme, following a review of costs. But it warned that real-terms cuts in annual provision, applied blindly to each authority, could damage services for vulnerable people in an unacceptable way.
Source: Supporting Vulnerable and Older People: The Supporting People Programme, Tenth Report (Session 2003-04), HC 504-I, House of Commons Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2004-Jul
Three linked reports examined housing needs in Scotland. Housebuilding was outstripping household growth, with the result that Scotland had not experienced the same house price inflation as England. But there were problems around local house price 'hot spots', and continuing issues of homelessness.
Source: Review of the Evidence on the Scottish Housing Market, Scottish Executive (0131 556 8400) | Glen Bramley, Local Housing Need and Affordability Model for Scotland - Update, Scottish Executive and Communities Scotland | Affordable Housing: Owner occupier and tenant perspectives, TNS Social Research (0131 656 4037)
Links: Review report (pdf) | Bramley report (pdf) | TSN report (pdf) | SE press release | Shelter Scotland press release | CIH press release
Date: 2004-Jul
A report evaluated local strategies for developing supported housing services for vulnerable groups. 14 per cent of strategies were rated excellent, 32 per cent good, 36 per cent fair, and 18 per cent poor.
Source: Policy Research Institute and Centre for Urban Development and Environmental Management/Leeds Metropolitan University, Supporting People: Shadow strategy analysis - 2002-03, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Summary (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jun
A report identified serious gaps in the provision of housing advice services.
Source: Home Remedies: Challenges facing publicly funded housing advice, Citizens Advice (020 7833 2181)
Links: Citizens Advice press release
Date: 2004-May
An article said that unauthorised encampments failed to provide adequate standards for Gypsies/Travellers, and tended to perpetuate their social exclusion. A network of transit sites and stopping places was needed to accommodate travelling. The main barrier to provision was the planning system and, more fundamentally, resistance from the settled population.
Source: Pat Niner, 'Accommodating nomadism? An examination of accommodation options for gypsies and travellers in England', Housing Studies, Volume 19 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-May
An article reviewed government policy on accommodation for people with learning disabilities. Better incentives were needed for local authorities to provide support for people with learning disabilities to safely live in a home of their own rather than in residential care.
Source: Andy Stevens, 'Closer to home: A critique of British government policy towards accommodating learning disabled people in their own homes', Critical Social Policy, Volume 24 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-May
A research report reviewed the factors that contributed to the large cost overruns incurred by the transitional housing benefit scheme during the period from 2000 to 2003. (The scheme preceded the creation of the Supporting People programme for housing needs.)
Source: Supporting People: Review of the development of policy and costs of housing-related support since 1997, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Summary (pdf) | Help the Aged press release
Date: 2004-Mar
The government announced a new 690 million 'Key Worker Living' programme to give housing support to workers in key frontline public services - replacing the Starter Home Initiative. The new scheme would offer four simple options, including home-ownership packages and intermediate rental solutions, and would be marketed by one-stop-shops located in London, the South East and the East of England.
Source: Key Worker Living: Settle for More, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Guide (pdf) | ODPM press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Mar
A report examined the views, attitudes, perceptions and behaviour of older people who were in fuel poverty or who were concerned about heating their homes. Many were found to be unable to afford to keep their home warm in winter. Government-backed schemes to tackle cold homes had been designed without the input of older people. Few older people in England and Wales had heard of the Warm Front scheme (England) or the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (Wales), and those who had done so found the eligibility criteria confusing.
Source: Fay Wright, Older and Colder: Views of older people experiencing difficulties keeping warm in winter, Help the Aged (020 7278 1114) and British Gas
Links: Help the Aged press release
Date: 2004-Mar
The report was published of an independent review into the costs of the Supporting People Programme. It found 'strong circumstantial evidence' that local councils had been using the programme to finance services that used to be funded by health and social services budgets. On the basis of the findings of the review, the government said that local authorities would be expected to make efficiency savings of up to 2.5 per cent in 2004-05, in order to improve value for money. A proportion of the savings would be reallocated to councils to fund services which had come on stream in 2003-04. The government also announced an overall allocation to the programme for 2004-05 of 1.8 billion, which it said would fund housing-related support services for over one million vulnerable people, including victims of domestic violence, older people and those with mental health problems.
Source: Eugene Sullivan, Review of the Supporting People Programme: Independent report, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236) | House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 12 February 2004, column 84WS, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Press release 12 February 2004, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 3000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Hansard | ODPM press release | NHF press release | LGA press release | Community Care report
Date: 2004-Feb
A research study compared the different kinds of support offered by single-site foyers, dispersed foyers, and also floating support schemes to young people.
Source: Joan Smith, Dispersed Foyers: A research study, Foyer Federation (020 7430 2212)
Links: Link removed
Date: 2004-Feb
A think-tank report said that the health and education of the Travelling community remained among the worst in the country, and that unauthorised encampments were causing tensions with local communities. But it warned that many local authorities were reluctant to provide more than their fair share for fear of attracting Travellers and Gypsies from other areas.
Source: Heaven Crawley, Moving Forward: The provision of accommodation for Travellers and Gypsies, Institute for Public Policy Research, available from Central Books (0845 458 9911)
Links: Summary | IPPR press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jan
