Mansfield will save £83,000 each year in ‘big society’ venture
Council officers to run homelessness enterprise
Housing officers in Mansfield are going to form a new company to house homeless people in the private sector.
The social enterprise scheme is one of the first wave of pathfinder mutual companies unveiled by the government this month.
The project’s details will be finalised next month. It will see a newly-formed company, run and possibly even owned by Mansfield Council workers, take control of the authority’s existing multi-agency rental solutions scheme, known as Mars. The scheme provides homeless people with private rental accommodation, bringing empty homes back into use.
The enterprise, one of 12 announced last week as part of the coalition government’s ‘big society’ policy, will develop income streams through charges to landlords who participate. It will eventually become self-financing and save the council £83,000 a year - the current cost of running Mars.
Jane Forster, income generation officer at the council, said 121 people have been housed and 48 empty homes have been brought back into use since Mars was launched in December 2007.
Ms Forster, who spearheaded the project, said the scheme had saved landlords more than £330,000 to date by filling empty homes, reducing depreciation and vandalism, and bringing in rental income.
‘With the cuts to supporting people funding we became interested in what social enterprises can do in terms of generating income,’ she said.
Mars provides financial assistance to tenants, including loans through Mansfield-based Maun Valley Credit Union, as well as a support service.
Ms Forster added: ‘The thing that really makes it work is the tenancy support and one month’s rent in advance. Landlords are filling homes they wouldn’t ordinarily be able to let.’
To be eligible for the scheme, landlords’ properties have to comply with the government’s housing health and safety rating system.
Mansfield has about 500 empty properties and the highest homeless need in Nottinghamshire outside the city of Nottingham itself, with 446 applications for housing in 2009.
Ms Forster said the model, if successful, could be rolled out to other parts of the council, such as care services.
Under Mars, tenants sign an initial six-month assured short-hold tenancy and 12-month contracts after that, meaning there is no security of tenure, a problem recognised by Ms Forster.
‘The idea is that people renew the tenancies. It is better than being homeless,’ she said.
The scheme was met with a lukewarm reaction by Kay Boycott, director of policy and campaigns at homelessness charity Shelter.
‘Shelter is concerned by the growing role the private rented sector is playing in housing homeless families,’ she said. ‘If local authorities are to increasingly use private renting to prevent homelessness then the government must recognise the urgent need to improve standards in the sector so it offers people a decent place to live.’
Mars at a glance
121
tenancies signed to date
48
empty homes brought back into use
£83,000
current annual cost to the council
£595,071
income to landlords
£336,864
saving to landlords so far
500
estimated number of empty homes in Mansfield
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Readers' comments (4)
Anonymous | 07/09/2010 9:46 am
And so the privatisation of homeless services begins!! I wonder if the costs mentioned above include the outlay required to cover the bonds and rent in advance that this 'scheme' no doubt provides?? Wait is this wool being pulled over my eyes??
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Harry Lime | 07/09/2010 10:00 am
The simple fact is that with the dearth of supply of social housing, the private sector HAS to be looked at as an option. Quite often there is no front funding outlay for bonds etc as landlords are usually happy for councils to underwrite the scheme and only pay out when people abscond, damage property etc, which is usually rare. The main drawback with private renting is the lack of security of tenure or the comfort that your tenancy will be renewed.
Anything that will bring up the standard of private rented accommodation should be applauded in my view. Many residents are usually happy to take such properties. A private property in a "normal" street or a socail tenancy in the middle of a sink estate? I know which I'd prefer......
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Sidney Webb | 07/09/2010 10:47 am
If it brings empty housing back into use, and provides housing for homeless, then support it.
It is an interesting indication though how the private sector, without public sector expertise and funds, can not achieve the outcomes itself. This point really needs to be understood by those who profess the private sector as the saviour of all things, including our current government.
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number maker | 07/09/2010 12:56 pm
The concern i have is that this becomes another gatekeeping tool for local authorities in avoiding taking a homeless application. There may be difficulties ahead in convincing landlords to pay for a service that presumably doesn't cost anything at the minute, especially if the lettings agent undercut them.
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