Homelessness Action Team November 2008 update

Private rented sector review

The CLG commissioned review of the private rented sector completed by Julie Rugg and David Rhodes from the University of York was published in October. This is potentially a very significant review because, given the timing of its publication, it is likely to feed into the Housing Reform Green Paper that is expected by the end of the year.

The review is wide ranging and thorough – it runs to 178 pages! Some of the headlines in the review’s recommendations include:
• Good landlords should be encouraged to grow;
• Tenancy relations services become part of councils’ small business advice units;
• A residential real estate investment trust should be created;
• The tax regime should be reviewed to support landlords in improving their homes;
• Landlords should be encouraged to increase the number of homes they own through changes to stamp duty; and
• Social lettings agency should be established in each local authority area

We can’t run through these in detail here. However, the review covers the use of the PRS to meet the needs of homeless households so this and the suggestion to establish local social lettings agencies are probably worth a little more coverage.

In terms of the use of the PRS to house homeless households the review discusses the limited supply of homes that are aimed at the ‘housing benefit market’, especially as this market can face competition from immigrants, NASS contracts or leasing for temporary accommodation. The review, therefore, highlights the need to consider the incentives that will lead to an expansion of the number of homes aimed at this market. The difficulty is that often these different agencies that need to use the PRS end up offering a range of competing incentives to attract landlords.

As a result of this the review says that “social lettings agencies could be established to deal with all the private renting procurement required by statutory agencies in a given area. These agencies should charge a standard management fee, and move the housing benefit market away from a culture of ‘incentive inflation’.”

Elsewhere in the report there is the suggestion that housing associations should be more encouraged to enter the marketplace and sell their rental management skills to private landlords and property investors.

This really is just a taster of what is in the report which can be found at http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/chp/Projects/PRSreview.htm.

Update on area housing plans

As we’ve explained before, the HAT is running a project to pilot the development of Area Housing Plans in 5 localities; Haringey, Exeter, Bristol, Hillingdon and Swindon. The development of these plans draws together partners to gain a shared understanding of the key local issues around homelessness and the housing reform agenda, agree key actions on shared priorities and monitor progress. The Area Plans aim to be very practical and to concentrate on delivery.

The pilots are progressing well and suggest that that plans will prove to be a valuable tool in developing effective partnership working. Some of the early lessons from the pilots are:
• The opportunity to make greater reductions in the number of homeless households in temporary accommodation.
• The need to have good baseline information on the range of services available in an area.
• Key data, collected consistently, is vital to understand local issues and trends.
• The development of shared SMART actions to stretch current performance.
• Agreement to joint performance monitoring and reporting.

The project aims to produce an interim report in March next year, together with a template and toolkit to assist others. However, we know others are interested in pursuing this approach sooner than this so if you would like to find out more please contact us.

Common housing registers

We receive fairly frequent queries about the use of Common Housing Registers (CHRs). We know many areas successfully use CHRs and others are looking to introduce them. CHRs can have a number of advantages, improving:
• Access to all the housing available to all those seeking housing;
• Consistency of access to housing provided by a range of landlords;
• Communications and the flow of information in the lettings process;
• Collection and consistency of data; and
• Understanding of the housing needs in an area.

We want to pull together some of the good practice around operating CHRs so please contact us with your examples, highlighting your top-tips so others may learn from them. You can approach any of us or email hatenquiries@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk.

Partnerships in Cherwell

Here’s some top tips from a successful partnership. Earlier this year Cherwell District Council launched No Place Like Home, an initiative aimed at preventing young people from becoming homeless in North Oxfordshire. No Place Like Home works with young people to resolve their problems and offers them support and resources to remain within the family home.

A feature of the campaign is how imaginatively it has engaged with both young people and those individuals and agencies who provide the services they need when problems arise which can lead to homelessness. Young people aged between 12 and 18 took part in a competition by using various media such as painting, sculpture, music, drama and dance to express their views on homelessness and family life. Cherwell District Council housing staff working with media students at Oxford and Cherwell Vale College produced a DVD which shows the impact of family issues on their housing and experiences at school.
Imagination supported by hard work and a willingness to listen has produced an active partnership working with young people. This includes local businesses, the police, neighbouring Authorities, youth services, schools and colleges, the voluntary sector and faith groups. Top tips from the partnership include:

• Produce a joint policy and strategy document.
• Establish joint planning and delivery mechanisms e.g. service level agreements, monitoring grids, hard and soft targets, etc.
• Assess and resource the project adequately - don’t set it up to fail.
• Understand and work to the strengths of the partnership.
• Ensure good data and effective casework structures exist.
• Be proactive, engage, develop a dialogue, go to where the problems are, and be visible.
• Actively manage relationships - don’t just react to problems maintain an open dialogue.
• Support people and agencies when necessary. Invest time and effort in doing this.
• Be sincere, avoid tokenism and be clear that what is on offer is what is required.
• Manage conflict and apply best practice approaches to resolving tensions within the partnership.
• Manage risk, being clear what the risks are and where they are managed.
• Praise and celebrate success. A little and often motivates and maintains momentum within the partnership.

Further information on No Place Like Home can be found from http://www.cherwell.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3205 or by contacting Marianne North, Housing Needs Manager at Cherwell District Council, marianne.north@cherwell-dc.gov.uk

HAT goes to TSA

For the last couple of years the HAT has been based in the Housing Corporation. From the start of December the team will be based within the Tenant Services Authority (TSA). Our role is also being broadened as part of this move so we will cover issues around overcrowding, worklessness and enhanced housing options as well as homelessness. All these issues are closely linked and we have always covered them when working with organisations but our role will more clearly include this wider range of issues.

The brings a number of other changes:
• We will work with any social landlords (local authorities, ALMOs and housing associations);
• This will be the last HAT update in its current form but it will reappear in a new form after the move;
• The guidance and discussion material that we have developed will gradually move over to the TSA’s website. However, to start off with you may need to follow the link to the old Housing Corporation website to find some of these documents;
• Our email address will change but our mobile phone numbers will stay the same (see below); and
• The name of the team is likely to change and we'll let you know when it's been finalised.

Events

These are some of the events being organised that may be of interest to those working around homelessness. If you know of future events please let us know so we can include them.

CIH Lettings and Homelessness Conference
Alton Towers Resort, 18th - 20th November 2008

3rd National youth homelessness conference
Croydon Council, 8th December 2008

NHF Unlocking potential – How to tackle worklessness conference
London, 11th December 2008

CIH Everything you need to know about temporary accommodation seminars
London, 15th January 2009
Manchester, 27th January 2009

Capita’s 11th National Homelessness Conference
London, 27th January 2009

CIH Temporary accommodation and the law workshops
London, 10th February 2009
Birmingham, 11th March 2009
London, 7th April 2009
Manchester, 6th May 2009
Bristol, 10th June 2009