ROOF Blog

Buying a home has become a pipe dream for millions of young Britons – with half believing they will have to wait up to a decade or more before getting a foot on the property ladder, and only then with the help of their parents, according to a new poll. The YouGov survey, commissioned by the National Housing Federation, revealed that 86% of 18-30 year-olds could not currently afford to buy a home if they wanted to, despite recent falls in house prices. Federation chief executive David Orr said: ‘The three main parties must commit to building significant numbers of affordable homes for rent and sale to avoid locking an entire generation out of having their own home. The next government must view housing in the same terms as health, education and policing – and protect it from budget cuts, given the scale of the crisis’.

Millions of older people could be spared traumatic hospital stays and costly long term care if they were given more help to live independently in their own homes, according to the National Housing Federation. The Federation warned older people were often denied the support they needed to continue to live at home – increasing the risk that they will end up in hospital or in a care home in the long run. Federation chief executive David Orr said ‘By investing more widely in simple preventative measures which help older people live safely at home for as long as possible, the number of hospital admissions and care home places could be cut significantly as a result.’

The government is expected to announce modest rent reductions for around two million housing association tenants, despite a survey of tenants showing that most are against a rent cut.

The associations – the main providers of social housing – fear that such cuts will lead to a sharp fall in the level of affordable house building because they will be unable to raise the necessary loans for new building.

But ministers are determined to press ahead with the first ever rents cut, despite an opinion poll by the National Housing Federation (NHF), which represents the associations, showing that almost 70 per cent of tenants do not want a reduction.

The NHF says that even a small cut will reduce their income, already well down as a result of the recession, by millions of pounds.

NHF chairman, David Orr, said: ‘Faced with such a shortfall, associations could be forced into cutting back dramatically on the key services tenants really value, such as anti-social behaviour programmes, job training schemes and education initiatives.’

Housing and mortgage groups, including chairman of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association John Heron and chief executive of the National Housing Federation David Orr, spoke before a Communities and Local Government select committee on the effect of the credit crisis on the mortgage market, and said the government had missed an opportunity to boost house builders and mortgage lenders. They argued that measures introduced in the Budget were insufficient to stop the downward slide affecting the markets. Mr Heron called for more support for buy-to-let lenders, while Mr Orr called for ministers to try to keep rents high, even if deflation occurs elsewhere.

Thousands of developers’ surplus new-build homes are being rejected by housing associations because they aren’t of a high enough standard. The government set up a national clearing house to help housing associations buy some of the estimated 100,000 unsold new-build homes in the UK to take pressure of the 4.5 million people on council housing waiting lists. However, Gavin Smart of the National Housing Federation said that many of the homes they were being offered to purchase did not meet the high environmental standards and size specifications expected for social housing.

More than 100,000 young adults will leave rural towns and villages in England in the next three years due to a shortage in affordable houses research by the National Housing Federation (NHF) has found. It estimated 103,000 people aged 24 to 35 will migrate out of rural places to urban locations by 2012, because they cannot afford to live there. Around 100,000 new affordable homes are needed to be built to meet demand in rural areas in the next 10 years. The Federation is launching a new campaign today aimed at tackling the housing crisis in the countryside.

The Tenants Services Authority should not over regulate housing associations, chief executive of the National Housing Federation David Orr has warned. Mr Orr said he welcomed the creation of the TSA, but said it must be clear about the purpose and limitations of regulation. He said the TSA should be wary of encroaching too far on associations’ rights and responsibilities.

The number of people living in overcrowded homes in England will soar 15 per cent to 2.6 million by 2011 as unemployment and repossessions bite, the National Housing Federation warned today. It says an extra 350,000 people would be living in overcrowded conditions in the next two years, exacerbated by the economic slowdown which has left as few as 70,000 new homes being built this year - down from 140,000 in 2008/09. Regionally, the most severe living conditions are in London, where 6.6 per cent of all homes are officially classified as overcrowded.

Waiting lists for social housing in England are set to reach a record level by 2011, the National Housing Federation has warned. An extra 200,000 families over the next two years – including 80,000 people who will lose their home due to repossession or unemployment – will push the total to around two million people. The waiting list has increased from one million in 2001. The NHF added that house building will fall by 50 per cent in 2010 to just 70,000, further increasing pressures.

A third of housing associations are paying people to sit on their boards, in a move heralded as having an ‘overwhelmingly positive’ effect. Research from the National Housing Federation has found that 35 per cent of associations now pay all or some of their board members, and this figure is greater among the larger more complex social landlords. However, ‘the traditional voluntary ethos remains alive and well’ in many others.