Priorities for the new government

Geeta Nanda , chief executive, Thames Valley Housing

What should be top of the new government’s agenda for housing associations?
Housing associations are versatile organisations. We have always worked with the poorest and most vulnerable while responding to market failure when it happens. We’re independent organisations with a long, stable history and substantial assets. We work in both thriving markets where it is hard to get well-housed, and in areas where investment is urgently needed to keep people from leaving. We manage, own, develop, invest, co-invest, support and we are not all the same.

So how can government make best use of this broad sector?
The first thing we need is stability and long-term decisions. Models for developing affordable housing rely on long-term investment, particularly when there are low levels of subsidy. We need clarity on our rental revenues to give us the confidence - and the markets - to allow this. We also need access to land and planning to build the homes. We can only operate at a rate in which the construction industry can cope, so work with us to bring through land and let’s experiment together on new ways of construction. That doesn’t just mean through factory-built homes, but through robotics, too.

We need recognition that building supported housing for the most vulnerable and those who are ageing links in with revenue models. We can’t build something only for it to lie empty because we can’t afford to run it. Give housing associations stability on revenue funding and access to early intervention funding, and we will help people stay in their homes, not take up hospital beds, thereby reducing NHS costs.

Support us to work in markets no one else will or to regenerate areas that are too long-term for others. If we work though market cycles we will need support when things get tough. And we need to know that despite government changes, support will remain for those communities.

We are up for radical thinking and experimenting, we take pride in building long-term partnerships, we employ and house a large percentage of the population. Work with us and listen to us to support new ideas and models. We have the same aims, which is to build homes for people so they can build their lives.

Wednesday 28 June

What do the business models of the future look like?

11am, Charter 1

Natalie Elphicke, chief executive, Housing & Finance Institute

As the dust settles on this year’s general election campaign, what are the four things that councils need from government to succeed?
Flexibility: what works for Chelsea doesn’t necessarily work for Clacton or Corby. The role of the council in driving and shaping housing differs in different local markets. After all, all housing is local. To deliver the best outcomes, there needs to be recognition and support for difference. That could mean local financing and infrastructure deals, and local borrowing headroom flexibility, as well as a range of tenures and flexible portfolios.
Partnerships: councils shouldn’t have to, and shouldn’t do, everything themselves. Partnership working and collaboration are important. Housing associations can be good partners and collaborators to councils.

Procurement reform: procurement processes, including for developer panel and whole area contracting, remain a serious business obstacle to speedy delivery and to broadening business participation. There is an opportunity to reform procurement as Britain leaves the EU. In the meantime, there is a need for greater guidance and simplification.

Capacity support: the role of councils in enabling housing delivery is central and essential. But it is still fairly new and complex territory for some councils. We help facilitate this by working with councils, housing associations, investors and developers on capacity support, network building and the art of the possible.

Central government providing support in these four areas would drive success, allowing councils to drive delivery of high-quality homes for current and future generations.

Tuesday 27 June

The development directors’ panel

1.30am, Charter 4

Charlie Norman, chief executive, St Vincent Housing Association

We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get valuable supported and older person’s housing onto a stable footing - let’s not waste it. The arguments about the inequity of proposals to apply the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate to this national asset have shone a spotlight on these vital preventative services. We have made all the arguments (including coherent messages at the cross-party Department for Work and Pensions/Communities and Local Government committees).

The new government should work with the sector to think creatively about existing and future provision, and:

Abandon the application of the LHA rate as an arbitrary measure for capping spend. It has absolutely no resonance with the actual costs of these rents and service charges - the homes cost more to build and run and have nothing to do with local market rents.
Work with willing partners such as the National Housing Federation, Placeshapers and the Greater Manchester Housing Providers to devise a sensible long-term funding structure.
This structure should be based on a new nationally set supported housing allowance - banded to reflect the actual costs of running these schemes.
If any top-up funds are required,
concrete and long-term ringfence needs to be in place which is guaranteed by government.
Consider new capital grant schemes to invest in new provision - more into bricks and mortar to maintain current rent and service charge levels.
Agree a national set of standards for quality and value for money.
Separate out short-term accommodation through block funding schemes locally.
Work with the sector to properly test the new proposals before roll-out - the Greater Manchester Housing Providers have offered to test the model.
Properly fund existing provision and future need - it will save money for health and social care, and other public services if properly funded.
Our supported and older person’s provision gets right to the heart of our social purpose - borrowing long-term funds, running schemes at low and no margins and really promoting independent living for those who need it most.

Thursday 29 June

The future of funding for supported housing

10am, Charter 1

Faye Greaves, policy and practice officer, CIH

Our new government has an ideal opportunity to maintain the impetus after the cross-party commitment to progressing the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 into law.

There should be no doubt that more needs to be done to drive this positive work forward.

All homelessness indicators reflect a growing problem that requires a pragmatic, long-term solution.

Statutory acceptances are up 44% in the six years to 2015/16, rough sleeping has more than doubled over the same period and there’s been a sharp rise in the number of households living in temporary accommodation.

On top of this, successful activity to help people resolve their situations is falling - last year prevention and relief cases were down by 3%. It’s getting harder for councils to help people resolve their housing difficulties.
The introduction of new laws does present a great opportunity to drive a wider reform agenda, placing prevention at the forefront of all efforts to tackle homelessness.

But a wider reform agenda needs public policy to be properly tied together. We’re therefore urging the new government to:

Create a cross-departmental strategy on homelessness backed by resources.
Equip councils to deliver what is being expected of them in the act.
Introduce policies targeted at tackling the true drivers of homelessness.
Prioritise measures to tackle rough sleeping.
Without wishing to oversimplify a complex problem, many of the above can be achieved by developing policies that address issues of funding, affordability, supply and poverty, and by rethinking welfare policies that undermine well-intended measures to tackle homelessness.

Homelessness is complex, and there are no quick fixes, but political will is an absolute must if we’re ever going to reach a time when homelessness can be tackled properly.

Wednesday 28 June

Looking ahead: the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017

2pm, Charter 3

Sinéad Butters, chief executive, Aspire

Affordability is a much debated concept and manifests differently across the UK. But whatever the literal and evidential interpretation, we all know what it is. Setting rents at 80% of market rent is not affordable in high-value areas, and in others, like ours, it is less than social rent which in itself is in the bottom quartile nationally.

So how can government ensure a fair and consistent approach to affordability across the country?

To start with, Placeshapers (where I’m chair) would say leave it to those who know: the place-makers, combined authorities and local players. Markets are complex and a single one-size solution fits no one. Secondly, banish this Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap nonsense which has no relevance in some areas, and offers no value whatsoever where caps are ridiculously high as markets rents are high. Where they are low, in fragile, fractured markets, it means our older and vulnerable people are at risk of losing their homes and under-35s unable to work may have nowhere to live.

So affordability, keep it local, trust local players to understand and self-determine, and scrap the current LHA cap for supported housing and under-35s. Build more affordable rented homes where rents are set cognisant with local conditions, markets and incomes. Drive local authorities to release land and drive planning gain. Link rents to incomes to ensure a living rent that works alongside a living wage.

Complex? Yes. Possible? Absolutely.

Wednesday 28 June

How do we deliver genuinely affordable housing?

12pm, Exchange Auditorium

Jenny Osbourne, chief executive, Tpas

There is no doubt about the consensus that we need to be building more homes… and quickly.

Social housing tenants are acutely aware of the reality of the crisis - rising homelessness, short-term tenancies, fragmented communities and more of their family and friends pushed into the unstable and unaffordable private rented sector.

We need more social rents that are genuinely affordable in the area they are being built to enable more people to have a secure home and a chance to maintain a decent standard of living. It’s a basic human need that is not being met for so many.

And we need landlords to provide more than just a house but also ensure that people can be properly connected within their communities. We need to prioritise meaningful engagement with communities before, during and after new developments are built and we must value what involved, stable and supported communities can achieve. Engaged residents deliver better services and value for money. And that requires long-term investment.

Housing policy should recognise the importance and need for supporting people within their homes and should restore an appropriate level of funding for this.

It’s time for joined-up health and social care, and housing action on this.

Thursday 29 June

What’s not to like about tenant engagement?

9am, Charter 1

Helen Reddington, head of Helena Living, Torus Group

Shared ownership has found its voice and we have the alignment of political will, lender appetite and customer demand to firmly establish it as the fourth mainstream tenure.

It is finally being recognised for the important role it plays in giving the choice and security that comes with being a homeowner. For increasing numbers of people it is the only way they will achieve their dream of homeownership; recent research by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and Orbit found that 71% of people renting privately are interested in buying a home.

Excellent work has been done by the National Housing Group to simplify the product and reduce barriers, making it easier to understand and access, encouraging new lenders into the market and improving customer service. But to maintain customer and lender confidence, providers must have comprehensive product knowledge, undertake robust market research to deliver the right homes in the right places and be able to meet customers’, lenders’ and regulators’ expectations in delivering shared ownership well.

Shared ownership must be simple for customers and lenders to understand by using standard leases and encouraging providers to sign up to the CIH shared ownership charter - a voluntary code that helps providers shape their offer and provides consistency for customers. It also puts a responsibility on providers to collect and share data that can be used to influence policy to further strengthen the product.

To help providers upscale delivery to the sector’s ambition of 30,000 shared ownership homes a year by 2021, we still need to engage some of the big mortgage lenders and offer more 95% loan-to-value products to make shared ownership accessible to the range of people it can help.

Wednesday 28 June

Delivering an excellent approach to shared ownership

11am, Charter 3

Sue Powell, head of service development, Riverside

It is five years since we introduced the flexible (fixed-term) tenancies at Riverside, although their use has been limited. We have found they often suit local circumstances but offer few advantages to the majority of tenants who stay or move on in line with their own needs.

However this may soon change with the prospect of Local Housing Allowance caps looming, especially for new tenants under 35. Our board recently agreed to the more widespread use of two-year tenancies for new tenants, whose benefits may not be sufficient to cover their rent from April 2019 - not because we want to terminate their tenancies at the first opportunity, but rather we have a duty to be straight with our customers and support sustainable tenancies through work and money advice to help them stay financially afloat.

With the general election behind us, will the Conservative pledge to introduce a new short-term funding model for new rented homes, on the basis of ‘churning’ stock after 10 to 15 years, result in an increased use of fixed-term tenancies? Social landlords must have the freedom to allocate their homes and use the most appropriate form of tenancy to suit the circumstances, working this through at a local level.

Government will always shape our funding environment but we must retain the freedom and flexibility to respond, using the range of tenancy options available to us, so that we minimise risks while staying true to our core purpose.

Tuesday 27 June

Fixed-term tenancies - looking back and thinking forward

2.30pm, Charter 3