The complete works
Social landlords are employment generators, providing training, work placements and jobs - all with massive savings for government. What’s not to like? Lydia Stockdale takes the House Proud campaign on a job hunt
Social landlords were busy tackling worklessness long before the phrase ‘credit crunch’ was coined. But with the term now firmly part of the vernacular, providers cetainly have their work cut out.
The latest official figures show there are now almost 2.5 million unemployed people in the UK and the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance is 1.64 million - the highest since the Labour Party came to power in 1997.
In January, Inside Housing and the Chartered Institute of Housing launched the House Proud campaign, which presents policymakers with the case for continued investment in housing in the run-up to the general election and beyond. It has never been easier to argue the importance of the housing sector’s contribution to tackling unemployment.
Last year National Housing Federation research revealed that social landlords in England invest £45 million every year in initiatives to tackle unemployment, benefiting more than 67,000 tenants annually. And for every person helped into work, the government saves £8,000 in benefits and lost tax revenue. That’s a massive saving of up to £536 million.
‘Housing associations are creating thousands of jobs, training opportunities and work placements for tenants within their communities every year,’ says David Orr, chief executive of the NHF. ‘They have quickly established themselves as employment generators - providing the skills, work placements and support people desperately need to get back into work during these tough economic times.’
Having a roof over your head is a necessity for anyone trying to get or hold on to a job, yet housing’s role goes beyond bricks and mortar. Some social landlords actually help residents set up their own enterprises, providing them with funding and advice. Others create apprenticeships and fund work placements and some act as job brokers and provide training.
Along with councils and arm’s-length management organisations, housing associations operate locally, meaning they understand the particular needs of people in their areas. ‘Being based right in the heart of their communities, they can offer these vital opportunities to people on their doorstep,’ explains Mr Orr.
Phil Duffield, business advisor at Willow Park Housing Trust, is based in a local community centre. He argues that housing associations are ideally placed to provide information, support and access to funding. ‘Mainstream agencies tended to come in on a short-term contract, when their funding ran out they disappeared. We’re right here,’ he says.
Social landlords know their customers - they know who is unemployed and needs help and support into employment. The most recent major study conducted into the role of social landlords in tackling worklessness was the Hills Report published in 2007. It discovered that 70 per cent of social tenants’ incomes fall within the lowest two-fifths of overall income distribution in the UK.
The report also revealed that 80 per cent of new tenants aged between 16 and 24 are out of work. Of course since then, unemployment has risen markedly. The government recognises the importance of social landlords’ role in tackling worklessness. The Department of Work and Pensions has entrusted £15 million of its £1 billion future jobs fund to the NHF in partnership with environmental development charity Groundwork UK. They are expected to allocate the funding to individual housing associations to create 6,345 jobs.
The move is part of a growing recognition of the housing sector’s capacity to co-ordinate programmes that tackle worklessness. In 2007, the National Audit Office found that just over one-third of workless households contain no one with any qualifications, that half of all adults living in workless households have some form of long-term disability and more than 60 per cent of workless households have been jobless for more than three years.
A new £40 million job and skills drive announced by the Communities and Local Government department last November aims to help families who haven’t worked for years to climb out of poverty and into employment. The extra working neighbourhood funding, an extension of an existing programme, will allow 61 councils to work with housing associations to help people off long-term benefits, providing the support and skills they need.
Local authority housing departments, ALMOs and housing associations take the job of helping people out of unemployment very seriously, and they’re building up their skills. For example, in 2008 the CIH signalled the direction the sector was headed in by launching its toolkit for Tackling Worklessness.
During the same year Aspire Housing in Staffordshire took its relationship with local training provider PM Training to another level - it bought the company. The housing association now trains 1,000 people from north Staffordshire every year - around half are unemployed. Seventy-one per cent of those classed as ‘workless’ move into formal apprenticeships run by companies or full-time jobs. This is well above the success rate achieved by other training providers in the region, where the average number of trainees moving into stable employment is 42 per cent, says Will Nixon, director of regeneration at Aspire and chief executive of PM Training.
Mr Nixon says the housing association’s success is down to ‘clarity of corporate direction.’ Improving levels of skills and more employment among residents is good business sense for housing associations. It can lead to lasting economic renewal of an area, which has a positive impact on the asset value of stock. Increased income through higher levels of employment can lead to lower rent arrears, securing the landlord’s income stream.
Social landlords may have their work cut out, but helping residents into employment is worth everyone’s while.
The CIH says
Many housing providers operate in areas where worklessness causes problems, and they are well placed to help address it through their day-to-day operation as well as through a range of specially developed initiatives.
Policy and funding created by government is of central importance as to whether housing providers can be proactive in tackling worklessness. The housing benefit system needs reform so that it is financially safe for tenants to try to move into work.
Funding for specific initiatives should be available to all types of housing provider and encourage partnership working, and funding streams should be rationalised and place an emphasis on consistency and sustainability over the longer term. An integrated and long-term policy and funding environment will help to maximise the contribution that the housing sector can make to tackling worklessness.
Abigail Davies is head of policy at the Chartered Institute of Housing
Bespoke support in the north west
For the past five years, Derwent and Solway Housing Association in Cumbria has been running its Routes2Work programme, which aims to reduce unemployment among local residents. To date it has used £2.5 million of funding from a variety of sources including the Department of Work and Pensions’ future jobs fund, to help 3,000 people in west Cumbria into work.
Manager Julie Wedgwood explains that her team of six works closely with local Jobcentre Plus services to offer ‘bespoke packages of support’ to people. Some residents need help accessing childcare, others need information on how to access in-work benefits. Sometimes individuals need assistance in overcoming the psychological barriers that develop during long-term unemployment, while others need help with application forms and preparing for interviews.
Routes2Work acts as a job broker, working closely with local employers. Its relationship with local employers mean their customers are given chances they perhaps wouldn’t otherwise get.
‘One guy who was homeless came to us looking for a job. Because of a trusted relationship with a local hotelier, we were able to get him a live-in position as a handy person,’ recalls Ms Wedgwood. ‘Three years on and he’s still there.’
Joe Fidler, 52, is another success story. The owner-occupier was pulled into a machine in the factory he worked in 10 years ago. When he eventually recovered from the accident he spent three years trying to get a job, but found ‘nothing around here’, he says.
Then he discovered Routes2Work. ‘They’ve really tried to get me work,’ he says. ‘They put me forward for jobs. When I felt a job wasn’t right for me they understood and still kept on trying for me.’
In September 2009, a caretaker role came up at Derwent and Solway Housing and Mr Fidler got it. When an estate supervisor job came up on the other side of Maryport, he transferred there. ‘I really look forward to work every day,’ he says. ‘Every day is different. It’s been brilliant.’
Successful schemes
Paid placements for young people
Birmingham-based Family Housing Association offers 34 six-month, paid work placements to young people in the city through the Department for Work and Pensions’ future jobs fund. The young people work across the business as painters and decorators, customer service advisors and
project workers.
The placements are filled through referrals from the Jobcentre. Family provides in-house training in confidence building, CV writing, interview skills and team building, and all participants can gain an NVQ.
When 22-year-old Mark Robinson joined Family’s scheme as an administration assistant, he had been unemployed for four years and had almost given up hope of finding a job. ‘I had been in receipt of jobseekers’ allowance for four years and thought there were no job opportunities out there for me. I felt it was pointless looking for work as good jobs were few and far between,’ he says.
‘I went to my local Jobcentre to sign on as usual and my Jobcentre Plus advisor told me about the future jobs fund scheme. I was most interested in the job at Family Housing.’
Developing enterprise
Willow Park Housing Trust is based at the heart of its south Manchester community, in the Benchill Community Centre. From his base, business advisor Phil Duffield promotes, supports and develops self-employment as an alternative to unemployment.
Since January 2005 he has helped 120 business start-ups in the area, providing 145 jobs. ‘Around 65 per cent of people are unemployed when they come to see me,’ says Mr Duffield. ‘Some people are just too nervous, and I work with them for nearly two years before they start. Others want basic information about tax or national insurance.
It costs Willow Park around £2,000 per start-up, says Mr Duffield. New businesses have included a drama academy and numerous handymen enterprises.
Mr Duffield is currently working with a resident who is developing his own cooking sauce. ‘The whole purpose is to raise the aspirations of the people in the area,’ he says.
Ian Whitehead, 48, is an earlier success story. He set up AB & C plumbing four years ago. Willow Park helped him access £1,500 in funding to buy the tools the unemployed former metal polisher needed to get started. ‘The help Phil gave me was tremendous,’ Mr Whitehead says.
House Proud statistics: worklessness
Each unemployed person costs the taxpayer £8,000 per year, including £3,000 in lost tax revenue*
UK spend on social security and tax credits was £169.6 billion in 2008/09, almost equalling the entire public sector wage bill for 2008.**
English housing associations spent £209.5 million between 2003 and 2008 on almost 900 work and training initiatives. Social landlords contributed £104.46 million and raised £105.06 million from partners.***
*Professor Paul Gregg, Bristol University **Institute of Fiscal Studies ***Housing Corporation
The campaign aims
House Proud makes the case for housing.
It has three aims:
- First, we want 250 backers signed up to a House Proud petition.
- Second, we want each of the three main political parties to include a housing pledge in their election manifestos. (The housing minister and his Conservative and Liberal Democrat shadows have already promised House Proud they will do this).
- Finally, we want to get the sector fighting housing’s corner as the election approaches. Make housing a key election issue at every opportunity, and encourage staff, residents, friends and family to do the same.
To join the campaign, visit www.insidehousing.co.uk/houseproud/
How to get involved
- Sign our online petition in support of our three aims to gain 250 backers at www.insidehousing.co.uk/houseproud, get housing pledges into the three main parties’ manifestos and get the sector to talk up housing as a key election issue.
- Vote for your favourite housing pledge in our online manifesto poll, also at www.insidehousing.co.uk/houseproud. We’ll pass the winner on to the main political parties.
- Pledge to drop House Proud statistics into as many conversations as possible.
- Ask prospective MPs what they’re doing about housing and persuade them to sign the House Proud petition.
- Send us your stories, videos, blogs and statistics about how housing has proved its worth in your area.
