You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Housing associations plan more supported housing following LHA cap U-turn
Several large housing associations have indicated that they will increase their development of supported housing, after a government U-turn ended years of uncertainty over its future funding.
The government first announced plans to cap housing benefit in the social housing sector at Local Housing Allowance rates in November 2015 – a move which would have made many supported, sheltered and extra care schemes unviable.
After years of lobbying and alternative proposals – including top-up funds administered locally – the government finally ditched the planned reforms in an announcement last week.
READ MORE
This uncertainty has pushed many organisations away from committing to new developments, but this week some of the sector’s largest developers told Inside Housing they would resurrect plans.
A spokesperson for Riverside said: “The number of schemes under development has been impacted due to the uncertainty around the future funding that we have experienced for the past three years.
“It is likely that schemes that have been put on hold will now be brought back into our development programme.”
A spokesperson for Notting Hill Genesis – formed this year through a merger of Notting Hill and Genesis – said the proposals had impacted on the development plans of both organisations before the merger.
“The proposals have impacted on scheme viability. As a result a number of schemes which might have otherwise progressed did not pass initial viability assessments and make it to later stages,” a spokesperson said. “It is difficult to assess the exact impact but at least two schemes were considered over the past year which were not progressed.
“The abandonment of government plans around supported and sheltered accommodation means that we will be able to return to assumptions used to develop properties prior to these announcements – as a benchmark between 2010 and 2015 our legacy organisations developed seven extra care schemes or 398 units.”
L&Q, the largest developing housing association in the sector, said the organisation would “consider developing other units following the government’s announcement”. It currently has three extra care and four supported living developments in its pipeline.
Bromford and Places for People, meanwhile, added that they had not reduced their development plans due to the uncertainty.
A spokesperson for Bromford said: “To be honest, we took a fairly pragmatic view and carried on with our pipeline of retirement living (extra care) and My Place (supported living) schemes.
“We didn’t expect quite such a positive outcome to the consultation but felt that the two client groups we are working with were not going to go away and that more provision is desperately needed.”
Additional reporting by Mark Smulian and Greg Pitcher
