A think-tank report said that housing policy needed to be seen as part of broader social policy that aimed to get people back to work and in a position to help themselves, their families, and communities. It was part of a 'three-legged stool' whose other legs were welfare-to-work programmes and the benefits system. Social housing could act as a 'huge disincentive' to going back to work, and was blocking mobility. Social housing tenants should be rewarded for decent behaviour by giving them a stake in their property.
Source: Housing Poverty: From social breakdown to social mobility, Centre for Social Justice (020 7620 1120)
Links: Report | CSJ press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Dec
Researchers collated information on the sources of standard housing data, so that planning authorities could improve their understanding of housing affordability.
Source: Christine Whitehead, Sarah Monk, Anna Clarke, Alan Holmans and Sanna Markkanen, Measuring Housing Affordability: A review of data sources, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Dec
The Scottish Government began consultation on the way in which it provided subsidy for new affordable housing. It proposed a more 'strategic and competitive' approach for delivering investment.
Source: Investing in Affordable Housing: A consultation, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Consultation document
Date: 2008-Dec
A total of 53,730 additional affordable homes were supplied in England in 2007-08 – an increase of 21 per cent from 44,570 in 2006-07, and the highest number since 1996-97.
Source: Affordable Housing Supply, England, 2007-08, Statistical release 18 December 2008, Department for Communities and Local Government (020 7944 3000)
Links: Statistical release
Date: 2008-Dec
The government published the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill. The Bill was designed to place a duty on local councils to 'promote democracy' and monitor local economic conditions; make it a legal duty for them to respond to petitions; and provide for the setting-up of a 'National Tenant Voice' to ensure that tenants' views were 'central' to housing decision-making.
Source: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL], Department for Communities and Local Government, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | DCLG press release | CPRE press release | NLGN press release | LGA briefing | RSN press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Dec
A longitudinal study in Scotland examined the health and social impacts on tenants which resulted from moving into new-build socially rented housing.
Source: Ade Kearns, Mark Petticrew, Phil Mason and Elise Whitley, SHARP Survey Findings: Social and Community Outcomes, Scottish Government (web publication only) | Ade Kearns, Mark Petticrew, Phil Mason and Elise Whitley, SHARP Survey Findings: Physical Health and Health Behaviour Outcomes, Scottish Government | Ade Kearns, Mark Petticrew, Phil Mason and Elise Whitley, SHARP Survey Findings: Mental Health and Well-Being Outcomes, Scottish Government | Ade Kearns, Phil Mason and Mark Petticrew, SHARP Survey Findings: Changes in Residential Circumstances, Scottish Government | Marcia Gibson, Hilary Thomson, Mark Petticrew and Ade Kearns, Health and Housing in the SHARP Study: Qualitative Research Findings, Scottish Government
Links: Report (Social) | Report (Health) | Report (Mental health) | Report (Residential circumstances) | Report (Qualitative)
Date: 2008-Nov
A report said that the housing system was 'fundamentally broken' and needed far-reaching, wide-scale, holistic reform to deliver fair, affordable, and flexible housing in the future. It called for all new social housing tenants to be subject to regular reviews of their status – including vulnerable groups and older people. Tenants should move out of their homes or face rent increases if their circumstances improved.
Source: Rethinking Housing, Chartered Institute of Housing (024 7685 1700)
Links: Report | CIH press release | Inside Housing report (1) | Inside Housing report (2)
Date: 2008-Oct
A think-tank report examined the role of the Tenant Services Authority (the new social housing regulator in England), and made recommendations on how it could help to better empower housing tenants.
Source: Tenant Empowerment: What the new regulatory regime must deliver, New Local Government Network (020 7357 0051)
Links: Report | NLGN press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Oct
A report said that up to 1 in 10 people in England benefited directly from neighbourhood services provided by housing associations – such as food co-ops, energy efficiency programmes, credit unions and business start-ups, playgrounds, community centres, and sports grounds.
Source: iN Business for Neighbourhoods: The evidence – The scale and scope of housing associations activity beyond housing, National Housing Federation (020 7278 6571)
Links: Report | Summary | NHF press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Sep
An independent report examined how to extend the scope of the Tenant Services Authority (the proposed new regulatory body for social housing) to include local authority social housing.
Source: Ian Cole, The Cole Report: Delivering cross-domain regulation for social housing, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Sep
An article examined the market and welfare impacts of rent restructuring policy in the housing association sector. The 'market' component of the rent formula played a more substantial role in affecting rent levels despite the 'welfare' measures in the policy – the greater emphasis on local earnings, the restriction of annual rent increase, and the imposition of rent ceilings. Given that social housing in England was essentially a residual mode of provision, a more flexible approach in balancing these two conflicting principles in rent setting was needed.
Source: Connie Tang, 'Between 'market' and 'welfare': rent restructuring policy in the housing association sector, England', Housing Studies, Volume 23 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Sep
A report presented detailed findings from a study that explored possible explanations for the relatively high levels of worklessness among tenants in social housing.
Source: Del Roy Fletcher, Tony Gore, Kesia Reeve and David Robinson with others, Social Housing and Worklessness: Qualitative research findings, Research Report 521, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-Aug
A report examined the scale and nature of restructuring in the housing association sector in the period 2002-2007. It also examined impacts on sector-wide concentration of stock ownership. Internal restructuring had resulted in a 50 per cent increase in typical housing association size (from 800 to 1,200 dwellings).
Source: Hal Pawson and Filip Sosenko with David Mullins, Sector Restructuring, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jul
A report examined mobility and social housing – who moved between houses within the sector, who moved out of social housing completely, and what the different motives of each group were.
Source: Mobility and Social Housing, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jul
A report called for an end to the practice of funnelling the rent proceeds from local authority homes into a central government fund. It said that the money could be used by councils to build thousands of homes in areas where there was highest demand – instead of being re-distributed to other parts of the country for spending on other projects.
Source: My Rent Went to Whitehall, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Report | LGA press release
Date: 2008-Jul
The Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 was given Royal assent. The Act provided for the creation of the Homes and Communities Agency, which would support the delivery of social and affordable housing, in line with the government pledge to build 3 million new homes by 2020. The Act reformed social housing and social housing regulation to promote better services for tenants; and also modernized powers on establishing new settlements such as 'eco-towns'.
Source: Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, Department for Communities and Local Government, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | Explanatory notes | HOC research brief | Housing Corporation press release | CIH press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Jul
Two linked reports (by an official advisory body) examined trends in housing affordability, and their impact on demand for social and affordable housing.
Source: Affordability Still Matters, National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (023 9295 8152) | Impact of Worsening Affordability on Demand for Social and Affordable Housing: Tenure choice and household formation, Research Findings 2, National Housing and Planning Advice Unit
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | Literature review
Date: 2008-Jul
The Housing Corporation published its annual report for 2007-08. The Corporation's investment programme had delivered 51,095 new affordable homes – 3,832 more than the target, and 25 per cent more than the previous year.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2007-08, HC 941, Housing Corporation, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Housing Corporation press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Jul
A report examined what kind of affordable housing people wanted, which aspects of their homes they liked and did not like, and highlighted issues that needed to be addressed to improve housing to better meet the needs of tenants and shared owners. The desire for a larger home emerged more strongly than any other factor: it was much rarer for tenants to be seeking a smaller home, despite the lower running costs this might entail. Families especially were likely to say that they needed more space.
Source: Life in Affordable Housing, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jun
A report called for a huge increase in affordable housing supply in rural Wales. There was an increasing unmet housing need in rural Wales: homes were getting more expensive; more people were homeless; and there was even less social housing in rural areas than in towns and cities.
Source: JRF Commission on Rural Housing in Wales: Final Report, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (01904 629241)
Links: Report | Findings | JRF press release | CIH press release | CHC press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jun
A report (the 'Essex Report') examined the barriers and opportunities presented by the Assembly Government's priority to deliver significantly more affordable homes in Wales by 2011. It said that the existing regime for generating affordable housing was no longer 'fit for purpose'.
Source: Affordable Housing Task and Finish Group, Report to the Deputy Minister for Housing, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Report | CIH press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jun
A new official statistical release was published, containing for the first time information on affordable housing supply in England. A gross total of 44,330 additional affordable homes were supplied in England in 2006-07. This was slightly lower than in 2005-06, but significantly higher than in previous years. (New affordable homes were defined as additional housing units or bed spaces provided to specified eligible households whose needs were not met by the market.)
Source: Affordable Housing Supply, England, 2006/07, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Statistical press release
Date: 2008-Jun
A report said that the impact of a slowdown in the economy combined with the crisis in the banking system could lead to 2 million households, or 5 million people, on the waiting list for social housing within less than two years.
Source: Councils and the Housing Crisis: The potential impacts and knock-on effects of the credit crunch on councils and their housing role, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Report | LGA press release | Shelter press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-May
A report examined demographic, spatial, and economic impacts on future affordable housing demand. Demand was high, despite a lack of marketing or promotion of the tenure. Only a small proportion of owner-occupiers wanted to live in social housing: but private renters were more divided, with around one-half of lower-income groups saying that they would like to live in it.
Source: Anna Clarke, Alex Fenton, Sanna Markkanen, Sarah Monk and Christine Whitehead, Understanding Demographic, Spatial and Economic Impacts on Future Affordable Housing Demand, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Date: 2008-May
A report examined the use of a protocol, introduced in October 2006, to prevent unnecessary and premature use of court action by social landlords in dealing with rent arrears. The protocol had had a broadly positive effect in preventing unnecessary court action: but the extent of compliance varied, and the protocol needed to be more thoroughly embedded in court procedures.
Source: Unfinished Business: Housing associations' compliance with the rent arrears pre-action protocol and use of Ground 8, Citizens Advice (020 7833 2181)
Links: Report | Citizens Advice press release
Date: 2008-May
Researchers examined possible explanations for the relatively high levels of worklessness among tenants in social housing. The vast majority of respondents reported that living in the social rented sector did not present a barrier or disincentive to work. There was no evidence that levels of labour market attachment shifted when respondents moved between tenures; and there was no consistent evidence of 'cultures of worklessness' in deprived areas.
Source: Del Roy Fletcher, Tony Gore, Kesia Reeve and David Robinson, Social Housing and Worklessness: Key Policy Messages, Research Report 482, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | DWP press release
Date: 2008-May
A report examined the profile of residents of affordable housing. Most people coming into the sector were aged under 45, and came either as newly forming households or from private rented housing. In the previous 10 years the incomes of social housing tenants had increased more quickly than those of owner-occupiers, although their average incomes were still much lower. There were more single people and lone parents in social housing than in other sectors. Fewer than one-half of working-age households in social housing had jobs. Social housing tenants were more likely to have an illness or a disability. BME communities were more likely to live in social housing.
Source: Who Lives in Affordable Housing?, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-May
A report examined how the stock of housing aimed at particular needs and owned and managed by housing associations had changed since the 1988 Housing Act. It was difficult to plot how the associations' role in providing suitable accommodation for vulnerable and older households had developed over time because definitions had changed in line with priorities and funding arrangements. The stock had undoubtedly grown in absolute terms, although it had declined considerably in proportional terms as associations had taken a more central position in providing for general needs. Over 40 per cent of associations owned accommodation for older people: but fewer than one-quarter owned any supported housing.
Source: Christine Whitehead and Caroline Kiddle, Supported Housing and Housing for Older People: Client groups and distribution, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-May
The government announced (in the draft Queen's Speech) plans to introduce a Community Empowerment, Housing and Economic Regeneration Bill, designed to create greater opportunities for communities and individuals to influence the design and delivery of local public services; reform local and regional governance arrangements to promote economic regeneration; and extend the powers of the new social housing regulator to cover local authority landlords.
Source: Preparing Britain for the Future: The government's draft legislative programme, Cm 7372, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Draft Queens Speech | Amendments | DCLG press release (1) | DCLG press release (2) | LGIU press release | NHF press release | RTPI press release | CPRE press release | Shelter press release | BPF press release
Date: 2008-May
The initial findings of research suggested that there was no evidence that social housing allocation in England and Wales favoured foreign migrants over United Kingdom citizens. New migrants to the UK over the previous five years had made up around 3 per cent of the total population, but less than 2 per cent of the total of those in social housing. 90 per cent of those in social housing were UK-born.
Source: Press release 9 April 2008, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000) and Equality and Human Rights Commission
Links: LGA press release | Letter | Inside Housing report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Apr
The Housing Corporation published a strategy for older people's housing. It said that it would use its investment and regulatory powers to promote the provision of homes within existing and new communities that responded to an ageing society and older people's particular requirements for support, care, and self-determination.
Source: Investing for Lifetimes: Strategy for housing in an ageing society, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Strategy
Date: 2008-Apr
The government announced a package of measures designed to 'strengthen the link' between access to housing services, training, and jobs. £70 million would be allocated to 69 homeless projects across England to ensure that those getting hostel accommodation were also supported and encouraged to find employment.
Source: Press release 20 March 2008, Department for Communities and Local Government (020 7944 3000)
Links: DCLG press release | Shelter press release | Crisis press release | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Mar
An action plan made proposals designed to ensure that housing organizations in Scotland did more to meet the needs of their tenants and communities. It suggested that the Scottish Government could make participation in 'social enterprise' activities part of the performance standards for housing associations and local authorities.
Source: Housing and Social Enterprise, Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (0131 225 4544)
Links: Action plan
Date: 2008-Mar
A paper reported findings from a study of social housing from the end of the Second World War to 2003. It investigated the nature of the relationships between social housing tenancy and many aspects of disadvantage. The negative correlations commonly associated with social housing were not inevitable or inherent to provision of housing by the public sector. For those born in 1958 and after, there were links between tenure and life chances that went beyond correlations between social housing in childhood and later disadvantage.
Source: Leon Feinstein et al., The Public Value of Social Housing: A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between housing and life chances, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618)
Links: Paper | Housing Corporation press release
Date: 2008-Mar
A report examined how the stock of housing aimed at particular needs and owned and managed by housing associations had changed since the 1988 Housing Act. It was difficult to plot how the housing associations' role in providing suitable accommodation for vulnerable and older households had developed over time, because definitions had changed in line with priorities and funding arrangements. The stock had undoubtedly grown in absolute terms, although it had declined considerably in proportional terms as associations had taken a more central position in providing for general needs.
Source: Jennie Spenceley, Christine Whitehead and Caroline Kiddle, Supported Housing and Housing for Older People: Client groups and distribution, Sector Study 60, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Mar
The Housing and Regeneration Bill was given a third reading. The aim of the Bill was to create the Homes and Communities Agency, which would support the delivery of social and affordable housing. This would allow the government to implement its pledge of 3 million new homes by 2020 as stated in the housing Green Paper. The Bill would also reform social housing and social housing regulation to promote better services for tenants. It would also provide the opportunity to modernize powers on establishing new settlements such as eco-towns.
Source: Housing and Regeneration Bill, Department for Communities and Local Government, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 31 March 2008, columns 443-574, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | HOC research brief | Hansard | Shelter press release
Date: 2008-Mar
The Housing Minister (Caroline Flint MP) suggested that new working-age applicants for social housing might be asked to sign 'commitment contracts' pledging to seek employment as a condition of retaining their tenancy. She said that social housing should be based around the principle of 'something for something'.
Source: Speech by Caroline Flint MP (Housing Minister), 5 February 2008
Links: Text of speech | Fabian Society press release | NHF press release | LGA press release | Housing Corporation press release | Shelter press release | Crisis press release | CPAG press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Telegraph report | Personnel Today report | FT report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Feb
A collection of essays examined the potential opportunities and risks facing the social housing sector. The focus was on the future roles and performance of housing associations, and how the sector could adapt and grow – including developing new approaches to funding affordable housing, and improving partnerships with both local government and the private sector.
Source: Denise Chevin (ed.), Moving Up A Gear: New challenges for housing associations, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Feb
The government published the results of consultation on the functions of the new Homes and Communities Agency. It confirmed that the HCA would take responsibility for regeneration programmes from English Partnerships, and for the provision of new affordable housing funded by social housing grant from the Housing Corporation. It would have operational responsibility for the delivery of major housing and regeneration projects.
Source: Delivering Housing and Regeneration: Communities England and the future of social housing regulation: Consultation – Summary of Responses, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Consultation responses | Consultation document | Hansard | DCLG press release
Date: 2008-Jan
