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CIH chief executive: housing and welfare policy must align to deal with COVID-19 impact
The government must work to align housing and welfare policy to deal with the socioeconomic impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought, the Chartered Institute of Housing’s (CIH) chief executive has said.
In his inaugural address at the Virtual Housing Festival, Gavin Smart called for the government to take action on welfare policy.
He said: “There is more to do on welfare reform; we have been making this argument for a long time but progress has been slow.
“We must ensure that housing and welfare policy are better aligned and better support our aim that everyone should have access to a home that meets their needs.”
Mr Smart highlighted the benefit cap and bedroom tax as key policies that should be looked at by government, and argued that the COVID-19 pandemic has “laid bare the failings in our housing system”.
The benefit cap was introduced in 2012 to limit the total amount that one household can receive in benefits. It was lowered further in 2016 to £20,000 or £23,000 in London. The CIH previously claimed that the policy was “fundamentally unfair” and that it slashed the income of the poorest families in the country.
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Elsewhere, Mr Smart expressed his concern over the government’s recently announced planning reforms, arguing that they will be “difficult to implement in the middle of a pandemic”.
In particular, Mr Smart questioned the government’s announcement that it would be replacing Section 106 and the Community Infrastructure Levy with a single, fixed levy.
“Section 106, while not perfect, guarantees the delivery of on-site, in-kind planning gain and delivers mixed communities. Government has talked about a replacement mechanism but we need to see much more detail on this,” he said.
He also used the speech to criticise the expansion of permitted development rights, which is currently being proposed by the government.
He said: “Extending permitted development rights risks being a significant backwards step.
“Too much of the housing delivered under [permitted development] has been very poor in quality and design – not the kind of homes we should be building for our future.”
