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From the archive: social landlords reject Pay to Stay
Inside Housing looks back at what was happening in the sector this week five, 15 and 25 years ago
25 years ago
The moving around of homeless families is seen as a problem of the post-austerity modern age, brought to national prominence by the Focus E15 mums’ group.
But the practice dates back further. Twenty-five years ago Inside Housing reported on protests about the start of such a policy in Tower Hamlets (below). The council was discharging its duties to homeless families by offering them tenancies with private landlords outside the borough.
The Tower Hamlets Homeless Families Campaign described the policy as “evil”.
Amina Begum, spokesperson for the campaign, said: “This new policy is a disgrace. Instead of having a council rent of £40, families must pay a market rent of £150.”
Tower Hamlets said the policy would save money and release flats for people on the waiting list.
Picture: Getty
15 years ago
Offsite construction and factory-built homes are the order of the day today – and were much discussed back in 2003 as well. However, enthusiasm for the approach was not universal, and Inside Housing reported that the former development director of Pierhead Housing in Liverpool was spearheading a campaign to promote traditional bricks and mortar building instead.
Deputy prime minister of the time, John Prescott, was championing offsite construction in order to produce a step change in the number of homes built. But the Traditional Housing Bureau argued it was more expensive, brought higher maintenance costs and was not what tenants wanted.
“I don’t understand how we can be pressuring developers and associations to be building things that are 12 to 20 times more expensive with public money,” said Barry Holmes of Pierhead Housing.
The organisation commissioned an Ipsos Mori poll, which found 90% of people preferred to live in a property with “attributes that relate to brick and block”, although the nature of those attributes was not reported at the time.
Five years ago
The coalition government was pursing a ‘pay to stay’ policy, which would have seen social tenants charged market rent if they earned more than £60,000 a year.
The policy was unpopular with Inside Housing readers, with a survey of councils and housing associations finding that 26 would not or were unlikely to implement the policy, and 11 were undecided. Three were considering it, but no landlords said they planned to bring in the policy.
Landlords were concerned about high admin costs for a scheme that would affect only a small number of tenants.
Keith Exford, then-chief executive of Affinity Sutton, noted: “People’s circumstances are going to change so regularly it will be a nightmare to keep up with.”
