A think-tank report examined the role of housing associations as actors in, and catalysts for, a 'vibrant and transformative' localism. It said that the localism agenda would fail unless the 'disconnect' between central government and local institutions such as housing associations was overcome.
Source: Pete Duncan and Sally Thomas, Acting on Localism: The role of housing associations in driving a community agenda, ResPublica
Links: Report | Summary | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Nov
A report highlighted the deficiencies of the existing arrangements for supporting the involvement of social housing tenants in stock transfers.
Source: John McCormack and Jen Pearce, Tenant Involvement in Stock Transfer: Improving education to unlock potential, Building and Social Housing Foundation
Date: 2012-Nov
A report examined how housing associations could empower tenants to help their communities. Proper training could give tenants the skills and confidence to (for example) collect their neighbours' views through simple surveys; give basic advice on welfare reform; plug gaps in elderly needs; encourage energy saving; and help with childcare.
Source: Anne Power, Eileen Herden, Bert Provan, and Laura Lane, Bigger than Business: Housing associations and community investment in an age of austerity, Orbit Group Ltd/London School of Economics
Links: Report part 1 | Report part 2 | Report part 3 | Summary | Orbit press release
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined how social housing tenants in England engaged in formal participation with their landlords through a distinctive body of 'combative beliefs' that articulated a commitment to collective action and collective provision as against the 'individualizing discourse' of the market.
Source: Quintin Bradley, 'Proud to be a tenant: the construction of common cause among residents in social housing', Housing Studies, Volume 27 Number 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
A study examined how the benefits of feed-in tariffs, and new and innovative funding mechanisms for energy efficiency, could be accessed by social landlords. Although some social landlords had been able to access feed-in tariffs to install solar panels, the policy was not designed with the social housing sector in mind or intended to address social benefits more generally.
Source: Tessa Clark and Stuart Hay, Renewable Energy: Getting the Benefits Right for Social Housing, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report | Findings | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Oct
A report by a committee of MPs said that it was not yet clear whether the Affordable Homes Programme in England would deliver better value for money in the long term. The reduction in the grant paid to providers for each home would be funded in part by housing providers being able to charge higher rents to tenants, leading to an estimated £1.4 billion increase in housing benefit payments over 30 years. The Programme therefore shifted costs from one government department to another. More work was needed to understand the impact of the Programme on tenants and its interaction with wider welfare reforms.
Source: Financial Viability of the Social Housing Sector: Introducing the Affordable Homes Programme, 13th Report (Session 2012–13), HC 388, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Labour Party press release | BBC report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Oct
A report by a committee of the National Assembly for Wales set out a series of recommendations designed to improve the quality of social housing in Wales. The Welsh Government should enable the introduction of independent, external verification of landlords' reported compliance with the Welsh housing quality standard.
Source: Progress in Delivering the Welsh Housing Quality Standard, Public Accounts Committee, National Assembly for Wales
Links: Report | WLGA press release
Date: 2012-Sep
A report described an integrated approach that enabled social landlords to measure the wider community and social impact of their activities.
Source: Kevin Gulliver and Dawn Prentice, Measuring-Up: The social value & community impact of social landlords, Human City Institute
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Sep
An article reviewed theoretical perspectives on the evolution of social housing and the rise of housing associations since the 1970s. It focused on the consequences of sector restructuring in terms of organizational homogenization and, at least as perceived, the growing dominance of giant landlords.
Source: Hal Pawson and Filip Sosenko, 'The supply-side modernisation of social housing in England: analysing mechanics, trends and consequences', Housing Studies, Volume 27 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Aug
An article examined the 'commodification' processes through which 'Right to Buy' housing entered the private rented sector. It estimated the additional annual cost of housing benefit support to this stock at over £1 billion per year. Plans to expand the Right to Buy scheme would simply increase revenue costs in return for no discernable social or housing supply benefit.
Source: Nigel Sprigings and Duncan Smith, 'Unintended consequences: local housing allowance meets the Right to Buy', People, Place & Policy, Volume 6 Issue 2
Links: Article | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Aug
A think-tank report recommended selling off social housing that was worth more than the average property in each region when it became vacant. This would generate £4.5 billion annually, which could be used to build 80,000-170,000 new social homes a year and reduce the housing waiting list by between 250,000 to 600,000 households in five years.
Source: Alex Morton, Ending Expensive Social Tenancies: Fairness, higher growth and more homes, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | CIH press release | CLASS blog post | Labour Party press release | LGA press release | NHF press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Aug
A report examined the 'huge array' of challenges facing housing associations in England and their residents. It highlighted the tensions between a policy of higher rents and reduced grant (on the one hand) and falling incomes and reduced benefits (on the other). It explored the funding options that associations might have, and called for rapid resolution of the policy framework around a number of these. There was a need to create a more permissive framework that encouraged innovation and experimentation.
Source: Peter Williams, Christine Whitehead, Anna Clarke, and Michael Jones, Freedom to Succeed: Liberating the potential of housing associations, Housing Futures Network
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Jul
The coalition government published its response to consultation on fraud in social housing. It said that it would support plans (in a private member's Bill given a second reading on 13 July 2012) to create a new criminal offence of unauthorized sub-letting with the prospect of imprisonment on conviction: but it had decided not to proceed with plans for a broader new offence of tenancy fraud.
Source: Social Housing Fraud: Summary of Responses to Consultation and Next Steps, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation responses | Hansard | CIH press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Jul
The responses were published to consultation on proposals to make it easier for local council tenants in England to take control of their local neighbourhood and services. The 'right to transfer' would allow tenants to request that the ownership of council homes in their neighbourhood be transferred to a local housing association. The 'right to manage' would give tenants the chance to take over the day-to-day management of housing services. Respondents generally welcomed the proposals.
Source: Giving Tenants Control: Right to Transfer and Right to Manage Regulations – Summary of Consultation Responses, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation responses
Notes: Consultation document
Date: 2012-Jul
An audit report said that the launch of the coalition government's new affordable homes programme had been a success, with providers committing themselves to building some 80,000 homes for the £1.8 billion of government investment, compared with the initial target of 56,000. However, key risks remained: nearly one-fifth of contracts with housing providers remained to be signed; more than half of the planned homes were not due to be delivered until the final year of the programme; and some providers were concerned that they might not be able to charge rents at the levels that they originally agreed.
Source: Financial Viability of the Social Housing Sector: Introducing the Affordable Homes Programme, HC 465 (Session 2012–13), National Audit Office, TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | HCA press release | Labour Party press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Jul
Date: 2012-Jun
The Welsh Government responded to a report by an Assembly Committee on the provision of affordable housing. It said that it accepted all the recommendations made.
Source: Response from the Welsh Government to the Report of the Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee: Inquiry into the Provision of Affordable Housing in Wales, Welsh Government
Links: Response
Notes: AM report (March 2012)
Date: 2012-Jun
Date: 2012-Jun
Date: 2012-Jun
A taskforce of MPs and peers explored ways in which housing could promote social mobility. The weight of academic opinion was that there was no evidence of social housing, as such, inhibiting social mobility. Nonetheless, there were strong arguments for avoiding the risk of this form of housing becoming stigmatized in ways that undermined the morale and self-esteem of those who lived there: creating more balanced communities through a mix of tenure and through sensitive allocation policies could protect against this potential threat.
Source: Richard Best and Laura Shimili, Social Mobility and Social Housing: Parliamentary Taskforce Report, Chartered Institute of Housing
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Jun
A study examined the services and support that housing associations in Wales provided to tenants, families, and communities over and above basic landlord services; and the overall contribution of housing associations to the broader policy objectives of the Welsh Government.
Source: Housing + Cymru, Housing Associations in Wales: Improving the lives of tenants and communities – A descriptive study, Welsh Government
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined the interaction between mandatory possession proceedings brought by housing associations and national as well as human rights law.
Source: Dave Cowan, Caroline Hunter, and Hal Pawson, 'Jurisdiction and scale: rent arrears, social housing, and human rights', Journal of Law and Society, Volume 39 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
A report said that there was significant potential to increase the impact and effectiveness of worklessness programmes led by housing providers. It recommended that housing providers improve the targeting of employability initiatives; place a greater focus on impact measurement; and build stronger links between housing provider-led initiatives and wider government-funded activity, including the Work Programme.
Source: Laura Gardiner and Dave Simmonds, Housing Providers Approaches to Tackling Worklessness: Assessing value and impact, Housing Associations Charitable Trust
Links: Report | HACT press release
Date: 2012-May
A think-tank report examined how social housing providers could face up to the dual challenges of increased demand and fewer resources. It said that they should be providing early, low-level support in an integrated fashion – helping to ensure that resources went further, and generating greater cost savings for the National Health Service, social care services, and the criminal justice system. The report focused on 'earlier' intervention and 'risk mitigation' – intervention at the moment a problem arose for a social housing tenant, using a greater range of ways to identify these problems; and intervention before problems had arisen, based on an assessment of potential risk factors.
Source: Claudia Wood, Jo Salter, and Phillida Cheetham, Under One Roof, Demos
Date: 2012-May
The coalition government published its response to consultation on the disposal and use of money raised by local authorities in England from selling council houses.
Source: Streamlining Council Housing Asset Management: Disposals and Use of Receipts: The Government Response to Consultation, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Response | Inside Housing report
Notes: Consultation document (August 2011)
Date: 2012-May
An article examined the growth of social enterprises in the social housing sector in Europe. Recent changes in the provision, funding, and management of social housing had led to the emergence of new types of providers. Although some of them could be portrayed using traditional 'state', 'market' or 'civil society' labels, many corresponded to hybrid organizational forms, encompassing characteristics of all three in varying combinations. Nonetheless, evidence suggested that there was a common thread linking these organizations together, namely their core missions and values, which could be classified using the term 'social enterprise'.
Source: Darinka Czischke, Vincent Gruis, and David Mullins, 'Conceptualising social enterprise in housing organisations', Housing Studies, Volume 27 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
A report by a committee of the National Assembly for Wales said that the Welsh Government should conduct an evaluation of its national housing strategy, to ensure that it was still fit for purpose, given the significant changes in the political, economic, and financial climate since it had first been published.
Source: Inquiry Into the Provision of Affordable Housing in Wales, Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee, National Assembly for Wales
Links: Report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Apr
The government began consultation on the possibility of adapting the existing real estate investment trust regime to support the creation of a social housing real estate investment trust business model – offering social housing providers an alternative source of financing to fund future housing developments.
Source: Consultation on Reforms to the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Regime, HM Treasury/Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation document
Date: 2012-Apr
A study found that there were wide variations in the approaches used by housing organizations to measure the impact of community investment activities. There was considerable impetus among housing providers to measure their impact – but little standardization of practice or approach.
Source: Vanessa Wilkes and David Mullins, Community Investment by Social Housing Organisations: Measuring the impact, Third Sector Research Centre
Links: Report | Summary | TSRC press release
Date: 2012-Mar
The social housing regulator in England published a new regulatory framework for registered social housing providers, reflecting a distinction between its economic and consumer regulation roles. On economic regulation, the regulator's main priority would continue to be to ensure that private providers were financially viable in the long term. But on consumer regulation, it would only intervene in future on a service delivery matter if there were evidence of actual or potential serious detriment to tenants.
Source: The Regulatory Framework for Social Housing in England from April 2012, Tenant Services Authority
Links: Framework | TSA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Mar
The Scottish Government published a charter setting down the standards and outcomes that all social landlords should aim to achieve when performing their housing activities.
Source: The Scottish Social Housing Charter, Scottish Government
Links: Charter
Date: 2012-Mar
The government began consultation on proposals to make it easier for local council tenants in England to take control of their local neighbourhood and services. The 'right to transfer' would allow tenants to request that the ownership of council homes in their neighbourhood be transferred to a local housing association. The 'right to manage' would give tenants the chance to take over the day-to-day management of housing services.
Source: Giving Tenants Control: Right to Transfer and Right to Manage Regulations – Consultation, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation document | DCLG press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Mar
An article examined the experience of housing associations within the context of the transfer of responsibility for delivering public services from statutory bodies to voluntary agencies. It addressed six key issues that might yield lessons for other voluntary organizations considering invitations to become mass service contractors in the 'Big Society': independence; user satisfaction and empowerment; the ability to tackle needs flexibly across the boundaries with other agencies; involvement in campaigning; recognition as part of civil society; and their ability to nurture the spirit of volunteering and giving.
Source: Andrew Purkis, 'Big Society contractors? Big questions for voluntary organisations', Voluntary Sector Review, Volume 3 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Mar
A report examined under-occupation in social housing, and the implications of proposed cuts to housing benefit for under-occupiers of working age from April 2013. Cuts to housing benefit would cause severe hardship for tenants and would not deliver the expected savings.
Source: Anna Clarke and Peter Williams, Under-Occupation and the New Policy Framework, Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research (University of Cambridge)
Links: Report | Summary | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Feb
The Scottish Government began consultation on proposals to give local councils and housing associations greater flexibility over housing allocations (by taking into account any property that applicants owned as well as their income); and more tools to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Source: Affordable Rented Housing: Creating flexibility for landlords and better outcomes for communities, Scottish Government
Links: Consultation document | Scottish Government press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Feb
A report examined leading practice in resident involvement in social housing in the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark. It looked at existing models for resident empowerment; and it explored practices for recording and measuring resident involvement, and the use of rewards and incentives.
Source: Hal Pawson, Janis Bright, Lars Engberg, and Gerard van Bortel (with Laurie McCormack and Filip Sosenko), Resident Involvement in Social Housing in the UK and Europe, Hyde Group
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Feb
A think-tank report (written by two senior MPs) said that around a million tenants in housing association properties should be given the right to buy their homes, in order to generate funds to help end the shortage of social housing.
Source: David Davis MP and Frank Field MP, Right to Buy 2.0, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report | BBC report | Inside Housing report | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Jan
A report examined the implications for social housing providers of the coalition government's proposed 'reforms' of housing benefit. It said that unless the £26,000 annual cap were indexed for inflation the affordable rent model – where social landlords could set rents at up to 80 per cent of market rate – would not work for larger homes. Plans to pay housing benefit to tenants rather than landlords would lead to an increase in arrears and larger borrowing costs. Measures designed to clamp down on under-occupation would require the rebuilding of the equivalent of 7.5 per cent of total rented stock as 1-bedroom properties by April 2013.
Source: The Impact of Welfare Reform on Housing, CASE (Consortium of Associations in the South East)
Links: Report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Jan
A report examined new ways of raising finance to support the development of affordable housing. There was 'substantial potential' for the development of institutional finance in the affordable housing sector.
Source: Peter Williams, Nick Salisbury, and Robin Caven, Opportunities for Institutional Investment in Affordable Housing, Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research (University of Cambridge)
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Jan
The government began consultation on proposals to criminalize fraud and abuse in social housing, such as unlawful subletting and key-selling.
Source: Social Housing Fraud: Consultation, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation document | DCLG press release | Labour Party press release | NHF press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Jan
A study examined under-occupation within social housing, and the implications of proposed cuts to housing benefit that would affect under-occupiers of working age from April 2013. Middle-aged tenants, parents with children who lived away at college or with their other parent, and disabled people were particularly likely to be affected. Tenants were currently unaware of the reforms, and lacked the information needed to make decisions over options such as downsizing. 37 per cent of tenants surveyed thought that they would be very likely to fall into arrears as a result of the 'reforms'.
Source: Anna Clarke and Peter Williams, Under-Occupation and the New Policy Framework, Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research (University of Cambridge)
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Jan
A report said that mergers of housing associations did not automatically create efficiency and improved services. There was little evidence that size, better services, and lower costs were related.
Source: Mark Lupton and Joanne Kent-Smith, Does Size Matter – Or Does Culture Drive Value for Money?, Chartered Institute of Housing
Links: Report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Jan
