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From the archive – housing after apartheid, shared ownership Right to Buy and bedroom tax empty homes
Inside Housing looks back at what was happening in the sector this week five, 15 and 25 years ago
25 years ago
South Africa was undergoing a huge transformation, less than a year since apartheid had finally come to an end. Its first democratic elections had been held only months before.
Inside Housing reported on how Nelson Mandela’s new government was planning to address a challenge that was “second only to jobs” on the country’s agenda: housing.
Rent boycotts had been one of the tactics to end apartheid, and continued “on a reduced scale, out of habit, or in sceptical impatience at the prospects of improvements”.
Local authority housing had been “discredited by its association with the old regime”, we reported.
At the time, 1.5 million households in South Africa were thought to be homeless, with another seven million living in “informal” housing.
Unemployment was estimated at a massive 40-80%.
15 years ago
Often the archives reveal “everything new is really old”. Fifteen years ago, Inside Housing reported that the Labour government of the day was considering giving social tenants the chance to buy an equity share in their homes, at discounts similar to those of the Right to Buy.
In other words, a very similar idea to the “shared ownership Right to Buy” mooted last autumn by the Conservative government. (The idea for tenants to be able to buy 10% of their homes didn’t make it into the Conservatives’ election manifesto and the sector is still waiting to find out if it will be taken forward.)
Back in 2005, Inside Housing reported on its front page that the expectation was individual landlords could determine how much equity they could afford to offer tenants and the money raised would be reinvested in housing.
The National Housing Federation proposed the model to deputy prime minister John Prescott, to head off another Labour proposal to extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants. Inside Housing reported that the notion of extending the Right to Buy was causing division in the government.
Five years ago
Five years ago, the bedroom tax was having an unexpected impact – driving up housing associations’ spending on repairs.
Inside Housing’s front page splashed with the news that the 100 largest associations were spending £2.49bn on repairs, 4% more than the year before and above inflation.
Inside Housing reported that this was at least partly driven by tenants leaving their social homes – particularly in the North of England. The landlords then needed to spend more to do up these empty homes. Knowsley Housing Trust alone saw repairs spending jump 20% – £3m – on a “significantly” increased number of empty homes.
Look out for this week’s issue of Inside Housing for the latest iteration of this data, where you’ll be able to look up 218 housing association’s repairs spending.
