The third of a series of reports on the Survey of English Housing for 2003-04 focused on social renters and private renters. Private renters paid, on average, about twice as much rent as social renters ( 117 per week compared to 59 per week): but they earned, on average, more than twice as much as social renters.
Source: Alun Humphrey, Joseph Hewton, David Wall, Robin Oliver and Shuvro Bose, Housing in England 2003/04: Part 3: Social Renters and Private Renters, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 4400)
Links: Report | ODPM press release
Date: 2005-Dec
The government announced that local authorities in England would receive 4.8 billion to improve the quality and management of their council homes in 2006-07, a 2.46 per cent rise over the previous year.
Source: Press release 20 December 2005, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 3000)
Links: ODPM press release
Date: 2005-Dec
A report said that smaller housing associations were finding it difficult to survive in the Supporting People environment, because of their lack of infrastructure. They found it difficult to maintain quality services without funding increases, and were concerned about staff leaving them to join larger bodies.
Source: Judy Lowe, Value Added: Small providers and Supporting People, Housing Associations Charitable Trust (020 7247 7800)
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2005-Nov
A report provided an updated estimate of how many social rented homes were needed to meet the recommendations in the Barker Review of housing supply and the government's target to halve the number of people in temporary accommodation by 2010.
Source: Alan Holmans, Sarah Monk, Aoife Ni Luanaigh and Christine Whitehead, Building for the Future 2005 Update, Shelter (020 7505 4699)
Links: Report | Technical note
Date: 2005-Nov
A report said that maintaining council housing up to the decent homes standard and improving services to tenants were at risk because arm's-length management organizations (ALMOs) did not have the guarantee of a long-term future.
Source: ALMOs - A New Future for Council Housing, Chartered Institute of Housing (024 7685 1700), National Federation of ALMOs, and HouseMark
Links: Report | CIH press release
Date: 2005-Nov
A discussion paper said that the policy of giving people the right to buy their council or housing association home was not fully understood in Scotland, due to the lack of a proper evidence base.
Source: Right to Buy in Scotland: Impacts of the current policy framework and options for reform, Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (0131 225 4544)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2005-Oct
A report said that children had to share a bedroom with their parents in almost three-quarters of overcrowded families in social housing.
Source: Full House?, Shelter (020 7505 4699)
Links: Shelter press release | ALG press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Oct
A report provided evidence on the wider role of housing associations, in terms of the non-social housing that they owned and managed and the range of non-housing activities that they undertook. It identified the relative scale and importance of these activities, examined variations between housing associations of different type and size; and assessed the extent to which housing associations were involved in both non-social housing and other non-housing activities.
Source: The Wider Role of Housing Associations: Further evidence, Sector Study 43, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Oct
A report examined the contribution of arm's-length management organizations to efficiency gains by local authorities.
Source: Steve Smedley, How ALMOs are Making Efficiency Gains, HouseMark (024 7646 0500)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Oct
A report said that mergers between housing associations should be built upon a clear customer focus, but there was no magic structure for success.
Source: David Mullins and Louise Craig, Testing the Climate: Mergers and alliances in the housing association sector, National Housing Federation (020 7278 6571)
Links: Report (pdf) | NHF press release
Date: 2005-Sep
A report suggested some practical and legal solutions to the problem of multiplicity of stock ownership by housing associations.
Source: Martin Knox and Jonathan Cox, Many Landlords One Neighbourhood, National Housing Federation (020 7278 6571)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Sep
Following consultation, the government announced a revised HomeBuy scheme (to promote equity sharing). There would be a new product called 'Social HomeBuy', enabling social tenants to buy a share in the property that they already lived in.
Source: Press release 11 August 2005, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 3000)
Links: ODPM press release | NHF press release (pdf)
Date: 2005-Aug
A research report identified and explained the factors that led housing authorities to improve and sustain their performance.
Source: Best Value in Housing: What makes LAs improve and sustain their performance?, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report (pdf) | Report | Summary
Date: 2005-Jun
An interim evaluation report said that a pilot programme to deliver efficiencies in social housing grants could result in up to 6,000 extra homes being built over two years, without any increase in investment.
Source: Investment Partnering: An evaluation of the pilot programme, Chartered Institute of Housing (024 7685 1700) and Tribal HCH
Links: Summary (pdf) | CIH press release
Date: 2005-Jun
A report said that vulnerable and homeless people were losing out under choice-based social housing lettings (the system where social landlords advertised properties, and applicants made bids for homes).
Source: Catherine Grannum, A Question of Choice: Issues and good practice in choice-based lettings, Shelter (020 7505 4699)
Links: Report (pdf) | Shelter press release
Date: 2005-Jun
A research report said that social landlords needed to employ management strategies to prevent rent arrears; and, where they were continuing to build up, to help tenants from an early stage to recover the arrears - including agreement to a debt management plan, and referrals to debt advice or mediation.
Source: Hal Pawson et al., The Use of Possession Actions and Evictions by Social Landlords, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report (pdf) | Report | Summary | ODPM press release
Date: 2005-Jun
A report by a group of MPs said that the government would fail to meet its 'decent homes' target unless it allowed councils to invest directly in their housing stock.
Source: Support for the ?Fourth Option? for Council Housing, House of Commons Council Housing Group, c/o Austin Mitchell MP (020 7219 4559)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | UNISON press release
Date: 2005-Jun
A discussion described and analyzed new models for delivering Housing Corporation funded investment. In particular, the paper proposed ways in which the Corporation could use its new powers under the Housing Act 2004 to pay grants to bodies other than housing associations, complementing and enhancing existing funding approaches.
Source: Jeff Zitron and Mark Davies, Efficiency in Delivering the Housing Corporation's Investment Programme, Chartered Institute of Housing (024 7685 1700)
Links: Discussion paper (pdf) | Summary | CIH press release
Date: 2005-May
A pamphlet summarized research on the role of arm's-length management organizations in managing local council housing stock.
Source: Rachel Terry, Ian Doolittle and John Perry, ALMOs A new future for council housing, Chartered Institute of Housing (024 7685 1700), National Federation of ALMOs, and HouseMark
Links: Pamphlet (pdf)
Date: 2005-May
A report examined how housing associations were changing their repairs services to respond to tenants requirements and the government s efficiency agenda.
Source: Andrew Thomas, Philip Johnson and Richard Veale, Right First Time: How housing associations are improving their responsive repairs, Chartered Institute of Housing (024 7685 1700)
Links: CIH press release
Date: 2005-May
A report said that local authorities with 'arms length management organizations' should be allowed more financial freedoms if the organizations were to continue beyond the delivery of the decent homes programme.
Source: Rachel Terry, Ian Doolittle and John Perry, ALMOs: A New Future for Council Housing, Chartered Institute of Housing (024 7685 1700), National Federation of ALMOs, and HouseMark
Links: Report (pdf) | CIH press release
Date: 2005-Apr
A study looked at whether increasing use of Section 106 planning agreements (where planning permission for private developments was conditional on a contribution to affordable housing) had been at the expense of other forms of affordable housing provision. It concluded that Section 106 policy was increasingly important in the delivery of affordable homes, because housing associations found it difficult to secure sites through the methods previously used.
Source: Sarah Monk et al., Land and Finance for Affordable Housing: The complementary roles of Social Housing Grant and the provision of affordable housing through the planning system, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report (pdf) | JRF Findings 0155 | JRF press release
Date: 2005-Mar
The Northern Ireland Executive began consultation on proposals to transfer management of its social housing development programme to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. It said the transfer was designed to enable it to concentrate on the development of strategies, policies, and legislation to improve housing across Northern Ireland.
Source: Consultation on the Proposed Transfer of Management of the Social Housing Development Programme to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, Northern Ireland Executive (028 9052 0500)
Links: NIE press release
Date: 2005-Mar
A discussion paper set out the government's proposals for 'light-touch' measurement of the efficiency gains made in social housing.
Source: Social Housing Efficiency: A discussion paper, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Paper (pdf)
Date: 2005-Feb
An article described the process of transferring local authority homes to quasi-private landlords. It suggested that the process imposed greater long-term risks on former council tenants and town hall staff, while also generating considerable costs for the taxpayer. The process also excluded the many tenants who either rejected transfer or were not given the choice, and therefore exacerbated inequalities. There were immediate and substantial benefits for transferred tenants: but this had to be weighed against the loss of a municipal public service.
Source: Norman Ginsburg, 'The privatization of council housing', Critical Social Policy, Volume 25 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2005-Feb
A study compared the residential mobility of social tenants and households entering low-cost home ownership in Greater London and the northern regions of England. Households in general were more mobile in London than in the rest of the country: but housing association tenants moved less in London than elsewhere. Almost the reverse was true in the north, with general mobility around average, but housing association tenant mobility much higher than average.
Source: Who Moves and Where? A comparison of housing association tenants in London and northern regions, Sector Study 40, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jan
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on social housing in Northern Ireland.
Source: Social Housing Provision in Northern Ireland: Government Response to the Committee's Sixth Report of Session 2003-04, First Special Report (Session 2004-05), HC 225, House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2005-Jan
