Locked out

One of the great demographic trends on the way is the rise of generation X or Y, commonly called ‘generation rent’. Its members have the misfortune of trying to access the housing market at a time when it is functioning less well than usual, and increasingly they are having to look to the private rented sector.

Some housing associations - like Genesis - are providing homes at market rents. This is obviously a commercial activity as no public subsidy is available to meet capital costs. As such, it is deemed to be non-traditional activity by the regulator and therefore attracts special attention as seen in the Home and Communities Agency’s recent discussion paper: Protecting social housing assets in a more diverse sector.

Why should this be so? Why has the role of housing associations not been redefined to recognise that housing need has changed? It strikes me as bizarre that households with incomes of up to £77,000 in London and £60,000 elsewhere can qualify for shared ownership housing, which has benefitted from social housing grant. Indeed, when considering pay-to-stay, the government indicated that salaries up to £60,000 were acceptable for social housing tenants. But when it comes to housing people with salaries considerably lower than this, paying rents above social and affordable housing levels is deemed to not be core business for housing associations. There is a clear disconnect here.

The majority of registered providers were established to house those who did not qualify for council housing and could not afford to buy. I realise a lot has changed since and associations have a responsibility to help local authorities tackle homelessness and take nominations from them, but this should not and need not be to the exclusion of other parts of society. After all, as a sector, we do proudly boast about creating and maintaining sustainable mixed communities: the emphasis should be on ‘mixed’.

At Genesis our vision is ‘to be a leading property-based service provider’. This entails providing services across a wide range of customers. Providing accommodation for ‘generation rent’ at market levels fits squarely within our philosophy. We believe it is time to revisit the purpose of housing associations so we are dealing with the issues of today and the future, not stuck with old fashioned views of our role. And while we are at it, what about the Charity Commission looking again at the groups of people who can benefit from the work of charitable housing associations?

Neil Hadden is chief executive of Genesis Housing Association