ROOF Blog

A London-wide consortium of homelessness charities has launched a new programme, skills for jobs for homeless people that aims to break down the barriers homeless people face in finding employment. The programme offers support and training for homeless and vulnerably housed people and matches them with suitable employment opportunities. Research shows that only 2 per cent of homeless people are in employment but 77 per cent want to work.

Meanwhile Communities and Local Government (CLG) said 1.77 million families were on the waiting list for a local authority property in April 2008. This number is 100,000 more households than 12 months earlier. The figure represents 8.4 per cent of all households and is the highest number recorded since 1997. Despite the rise in demand, the government admitted that the number of council-owned homes plummeted 117,000 during 2008 to 1.87 million. The Local Government Association said one family in every 12 is now on a council waiting list, and believe this figure will rise as the number of people losing jobs and being unable to afford mortgage payments increase. CLG argues that council housing waiting lists are not an accurate guide to the number of families in urgent housing need.

Communities and Local Government (CLG) has called on councils not to sack planners despite a fall in planning applications. It follows news that Bournemouth is axing 13 positions as a result of a 34 per cent drop in applications, while others are reviewing planning jobs. A Local Government Association survey recently found that 83 per cent of councils across England have seen a fall in income from applications, and a CLG spokesperson expressed concern that councils are losing their planning expertise.

Meanwhile, research from the Building Societies Association shows that 46 per cent of people now believe it is a good time to buy a property, up from 34 per cent in September and 27 per cent in July. There is a perception that mortgages are now more affordable, with just 37 per cent of people worried about affordablity issues, down from 70 per cent in July. But four out of ten people think house prices have further to fall. Lack of job security was seem as a biggest barrier to buying a home for 58 per cent of people.

The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has launched a new toolkit that will give local councils and housing providers practical guidance on helping residents become ‘more economically active’. Figures show that more than half of social housing tenants of working age are without paid work - twice the national rate. The author of the toolkit said the solution to getting people working again is in trying to ensure that housing, employment and skills services are interlinked.