ROOF Blog

A strategy to avoid people becoming homeless by providing earlier intervention has been unveiled by the Welsh Assembly. The 10-year homelessness plan will change the way housing services are delivered so they can respond faster to people in need – to stop them from losing their homes and for those who do find themselves homeless for access to improved accommodation and other services.

The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has said private developers, local councils and housing associations must work better together to manage land supply more efficiently to boost the supply of affordable housing. It argues that a poor grasp of land economics, an over reliance on section 106 agreements and an aversion to risk is hindering the provision of land, and added that housing organisations must invest in skills to value land, assess a project’s viability and negotiate better.

A panel has been set up to ensure that new homes meet the needs of an increasingly ageing population. The housing our ageing population panel for innovation comprises of architects and specialists who will research good practice across Europe that will create housing for older people and improve the availability and choice of sustainable homes and neighbourhoods.

Homeless charity, Crisis, has been investigating the experience single rough sleepers face when seeking help from local councils. Most were discouraged from filing in formal applications to register as homeless, and many were deterred from even seeing a housing officer. A spokesperson from the charity said that there was widespread practice of councils using the priority need test as an excuse not to give single homeless people the minimum levels of advice and assistance to what they are entitled to.

The needs of vulnerable people will be protected in the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) regulatory framework. Speaking at the national sheltered and supported housing congress, head of the TSA Peter March said that coordination between tenant, landlords and their stakeholders is key to ensuring vulnerable tenants get the best service possible. The TSA consulted with more than 27,000 tenants to develop the standards which will apply to all social landlords from April 2010.

The Scottish law on homelessness that makes housing an enforceable right should be adopted across the UK, a United Nations’ report on social issues has said. The report said it is troubled by Britain’s ‘chronic shortage of housing, in particular social housing for the most disadvantaged and marginalised individuals, [such as those] with disabilities’, and singled out the Homelessness Scotland Act 2003 as ‘best practice’.

An upcoming report from the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) calls for those involved in delivering affordable housing to see the recession as an opportunity to review and improve policy and practice. Councils, in particular, were told they currently lack the skills to assess the economic viability of affordable housing schemes, and needed to make more realistic demands.

A report out today from the Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed that many people are not claiming benefits because the application procedure is too long and confusing. The report called for the DWP to move application forms and other services online and take steps to simplify them.

According to a report from the Fabian Society due out on Friday, millions of people have been condemned to live under ‘social apartheid’ by the previous 30 years of poor housing policies. Successive governments have pushed poorer people into ‘social concentration camps’ set away from private housing, jobs and shops. Children on the estates are more likely to be unemployed, suffer mental health problems and die younger than those in private housing.

Meanwhile the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (Arla) announced it is introducing a licensing scheme for its members and a code of practice. Under the scheme agents will have to hold a professional qualification relating to lettings, take part in continuing professional development, have indemnity insurance and an annual independent audit carried out on client’s funds. If an agent went out of business any money it owed to clients would also be protected. The scheme would ‘create the gold standard for letting agents in the UK’, Arla said.