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The Week in Housing: Will the government wake up to the fact that ‘so-called affordable housing’ is beyond many people’s reach?
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The Week in Housing: Will the government wake up to the fact that ‘so-called affordable housing’ is beyond many people’s reach? #UKhousingA weekly round-up of the most important headlines for housing professionals #UKhousingGood afternoon.
A group of MPs said the quiet part out loud this week after a cross-party committee said that most forms of “so-called affordable housing are not truly affordable for many people”.
Residents and first-time buyers who have been pointing this out for as long as I’ve been at Inside Housing often had their concerns overlooked.
The government shouldn’t really need a 73-page report in the current environment to realise that affordable housing – with rent up to 80% of local market rents and discounted market sale housing sold for up to 80% of local market values – is beyond the reach of most people.
Even the sector’s much-coveted shared ownership model is “not a long-term affordable option for many of the buyers to whom it is marketed”.
The government has not yet responded to the report; the time for it to listen is long overdue.
Government grant is still directed at affordable housing when the real need is for social rent. This was pointed out again by Shelter as the housing charity’s latest research found that it would take 119 years to clear social housing waiting lists at current building rates.
With people waiting for social housing stuck in temporary accommodation for years on end, Alison McGovern, minister for local government and homelessness, said she expects councils to take “more control” when it comes to the quality of this housing for homeless households.
No part of the UK is free from the temporary accommodation crisis. In Northern Ireland, the number of households living in such housing was up 79% in five years, according to the latest data.
Back in Westminster, the government set terms of reference for its new Supported Housing Advisory Panel, which will oversee the implementation of new laws.
There were some big commitments from senior ministers in Scotland and Wales this week.
The Welsh cabinet member for housing said a plan to embed a right to adequate housing into law in the country is “fundamental” to changing how people think about the topic.
Siân Gwenllian also told Inside Housing that she will “work relentlessly” with landlords to deliver the government’s target for 20,000 new social homes by 2030.
In Scotland, housing and social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said there is “no intention of cutting the affordable homes commitment” by the government after the deputy first minister admitted that cuts will be needed to tackle a £5bn funding gap in the administration’s budget.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Housing Regulator said it was “important” that social landlords have clarity on net zero standards as uncertainty is delaying development decisions.
This warning came as house builders in country revealed they are “very worried” about their future land supply due to a delay in councils producing plans setting out where new homes should go over the next 10 years.
With the government under pressure to meet its housing targets, particularly for social rent, the National Housing Federation urged the chancellor to bring forward funding for the government’s £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP), warning that scaling back bids now could stall the sector just as it is ready to build.
The warning comes after Homes England asked housing providers to re-profile bids to the oversubscribed fund.
At the same time, a Homes England director revealed that the sector is lobbying central government for more funding for supported housing as revenue is needed to deliver it successfully.
The government’s housing and regeneration agency has pivoted to a regional delivery model, and one major sector body believes housing-led regeneration could unlock more than 500,000 homes in the North of England, but only if long-term is funding devolved to accelerate delivery.
On the cost of development, a new report pointed out that councils and housing associations pay more than the private sector to build new homes due to “slow or inflexible” procurement processes.
With local authorities struggling to build, Inside Housing published an analysis of the state of councils’ finances and what it means for their development ambitions.
In one of two big interviews this week, Clarion’s development chief talked about the landlord’s housebuilding ambitions, SAHP bids and why housing associations make perfect master developers.
A common criticism of the government’s “build, baby, build” approach is that there are currently hundreds of thousands of empty homes across the UK that could be brought back into use. London Assembly members heard that this is fuelling distrust and nimbyism, while creating a barrier to the government’s target of building 1.5 million homes.
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) had a busy week after it called for landlords’ input over the sector’s “challenges and tensions” ahead of a formal consultation on its economic standards next year. You can read five things we learned about the planned revisions here.
The English regulator also finalised a new tenant satisfaction measure for electrical safety checks.
A lease-based provider that previously took the RSH to court received compliant governance and viability gradings.
At the same time, the regulator awarded a Liverpool landlord the highest consumer grade and removed a regulatory notice from a major city council.
And Preston City Council officially completed its registration as a housing provider with the RSH.
Our second big interview this week was with Ed Daffarn, who lived in Grenfell Tower for 16 years. Ahead of the ninth anniversary of the tragedy, he explained to Inside Housing why he believes “so little has changed for social housing tenants since Grenfell”.
Have a good weekend.
Stephen Delahunty, news editor
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