Unlock the potential

Like many councillors, I am all too aware of the housing crisis the country faces. In areas such as the London borough of Enfield, there are thousands of households on waiting lists with little chance of being offered a home. Charities Crisis and Shelter have pointed out that many councils struggle to tackle the scourge of homelessness.

Homelessness is a suburban problem as well as an inner city one. Councils like Enfield may not have the problems of street sleeping, but there is a substantial problem of ‘hidden homelessness’, with whole families staying with family and friends.

We must build more homes, and Enfield Council is doing this by bringing derelict property on London’s north circular road back into use and by promoting its place-shaping programme. But we also need to look at more immediate ways of tackling the housing crisis by making better use of private housing stock. Inside Housing is right to have highlighted the need to make better use of empty homes through its Empty Promise campaign, but other changes are needed too.

The Housing Act puts a duty on councils to provide emergency housing for the homeless but it prevents them from using private tenancies in order to discharge this duty. Removing this anomaly would reduce the demand for temporary housing and allow councils to make better use of all stock in their areas.

Homeless people whose councils are able to adequately house them within the private sector should then no longer be defined as homeless, breaking the link between homelessness and access to social housing and giving councils flexibility to allocate social housing to a greater range of households in need.

Government funding streams still favour expenditure on capital projects. Rebalancing expenditure towards revenue funding would open the private sector housing market to meet housing need. This would boost the supply of quality private sector housing available in an area of acute shortage, removing the main barrier to private sector rental homes such as the deposit and rent in advance.

Other incentives are needed too: abolishing basic loss payments and exempting councils from stamp duty in connection with compulsory purchase orders, would give an incentive to bring empty properties back into use, as would a VAT exemption on the repairs needed.

The challenge of homelessness is significant and housing policy needs urgent reform. Changing the way councils can access good-quality private accommodation and strengthening powers to bring empty properties back into use, will reduce pressure on limited social housing stock, tackle homelessness and release quality private rented homes for thousands waiting on local housing registers.

Matthew Laban is cabinet member for housing and community safety at Enfield Council