Housing Monthly Diary Archive

Legislation

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April 2000
Housing Green Paper Published

The Government published its long-awaited Housing Green Paper. Key proposals of the Green Paper are summarised below:

Local Authorities

• A stronger role for local authorities in housing , enabling them to take a strategic view of needs across all housing in both the public and private sectors. Particular mention is made of strengthening the strategic role of local authorities that have transferred their housing stock.

• Higher emphasis on the role of local authorities in conducting regular assessments of current and future demand for housing and of carrying out regularly assessments of the condition of the housing stock in their areas.

Sustainable Home Ownership

• Assistance to enable key workers and others on low incomes to buy their own homes in areas where the demand for and cost of housing is high, under a new Starter Home Initiative.

• Assistance for unemployed homeowners in obtaining work, through improvements to the benefit help provided with payment of mortgage interest.

• Better targeting in renovation and improvement of private sector housing, with local authorities having more flexibility in the grants system and greater use of loans and low-cost maintenance services.

Private Rented Sector

• Help for well-meaning landlords to improve their expertise and standards, and strengthening their position in the market place. Key to this will be voluntary accreditation, lettings schemes and best practice guidance.

• Examination of the potential for tax measures in helping to make the sector work better and make investment in rented housing a more attractive proposition.

• Tackling problems of exploitation by the minority of bad landlords, in areas of low demand where there is adequate alternative housing, through discretionary powers to license privately rented homes.

• Initiatives aimed at ensuring that unscrupulous landlords do not profit from Housing Benefit while neglecting their responsibilities. Proposed actions include placing conditions on the receipt of Housing Benefit or limiting payment of Housing Benefit direct to landlords, where this would not unduly restrict the choice of properties available to tenants.

Social Housing Standards

• Transfer of up to 200,000 homes each year from local authorities to registered social landlords - subject to support by tenants.

• Creation of new arms-length companies to manage local authority-owned housing, with the best performing authorities which have established such companies given extra scope to borrow - providing that there is a proven record of efficient management and investment and a clear business plan for the stock.

• Consistent and rigorous application of Best Value and tenant participation compact principles across social housing.

Affordable Housing

• Changes to the allocation of Housing Corporation funding for new social housing, aimed at ensuring that greater account is taken of local demand and likely future changes in demand.

• Application ofthe Construction Task Force's recommendations and new construction techniques to Housing Corporation-funded developments.

• Assistance in creating sustainable communities through increased emphasis on mixed tenure in new social housing projects.

• Production of best practice guidance on the use of planning powers for affordable housing.

Social Housing Lettings Policies

• Funding of a pilot customer choice-based lettings systems in different areas of the country.

• Promotion of active management of housing choices and targeting advice, advocacy and support at households in most housing need.

• A widening of the scope for movement across local authority boundaries, and between local authorities and registered social landlords.

• Flexibility for local lettings policies to deal with particular problem estates and other local priorities.

Homelessness

• An extension of the statutory safety-net to a wider group of vulnerable homeless people eg. care leavers and others with an institutionalised background, the victims of domestic violence and 16 and 17 year-olds.

• More flexibility for authorities to help non-priority homeless people, such as childless couples and single homeless people, in areas where sufficient housing is available.

• Some choice of settled accommodation for homeless people - in line with a more customer focused lettings system.

• Greater flexibility for local authorities, aimed at ensuring sustainable solutions for homeless people and making better use of their own stock.

• An extension of authorities' duty to provide advice and support, and requiring them to take a multi-agency strategic approach to preventing and responding to homelessness.

Tenure Arrangements for Social Housing

• Long term social tenancies must retain security but there needs to be consideration of the options for unifying the secure and assured tenure regimes.

• Consideration of the options for new flexibilities, to enable local authorities and registered social landlords to make better use of their stock, especially in areas of low demand.

Social Housing Sector Rents

• Average rents held at around their present level.

• Some rents to increase, to reflect improvements in quality as a result of extra investment.

• Some rents to change, to remove unjustifiable differences between rents charged for homes owned by registered social landlords and local authorities.

Restructuring Rents in the Social Housing Sector

• Social sector rents, while remaining affordable, need to be restructured. They should reflect more closely the size, quality and location of homes, taking account of property values - so that tenants pay a comparable rent for a comparable home.

• Any restructuring should be phased over 10 years or so, to help minimise disruption and hardship for tenants and landlords. Proposed changes should complement a choice-based approach to lettings policies and prepare the way for possible long term changes to Housing Benefit.

• Any changes in rents (up or down) should be limited to no more than £ 2 per week in any year as a result of rent restructuring. Particular attention should be paid to the possible impact on vulnerable groups, such as pensioners.

Housing Benefit

• Development of a single claims process for benefits, to reduce duplication and speed up processing times.

• Improvements to information sharing between DSS and local authorities.

• A reduction in the complexity of the Housing Benefit rules (eg. by fixing benefit awards for a set period).

• Development a new funding regime, based on performance against targets in individual local authorities, to cut fraud and error.

• A new single national fraud hotline service.

• An increase in the incentive to work, by targeting earnings disregards on key areas or groups of people.

• A broader definition of the Single Room Rent, to ensure that single young people have a secure foundation from which to find work.

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