ROOF Blog

A freedom of information request by Andrew Slaughter, London MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd’s Bush, has found presentations made by the Conservative leader of Hammersmith and Fulham council to senior Tory figures calling for limiting social housing to the old, infirm and disabled in a bid to solve the ‘concentration of deprivation’. Council leader Stephen Greenhalgh suggested a range of ‘radical reforms’ including wanting to see social rents rise to market levels; welfare payments based on need rather than rent paid; an end to tenure for life by those in need of social housing; five-year reviews of existing tenants to check on changing circumstances; and demolition of some of the borough’s largest council estates.

The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has claimed that designing eco-towns to be more inclusive would cost no more if it was factored into the planning process early on, and has produced guidance on how to it. It says that eco-towns should provide for all inhabitants regardless of age, disability, faith or gender, and avoid creating barriers that prevent them from becoming part of their communities. A spokesperson for TCPA said it was essential for each town to be socially as well as environmentally sustainable.

An independent report has found that a government programme providing housing support to vulnerable and homeless people has resulted in ‘significant’ savings in the cost of other services. The report said the £1.6 billion invested through Supporting People has saved other services more than £3.4 billion through reduced costs in homelessness, tenancy failure, crime, health and residential care. It has also lead to other benefits including reducing the risk of social exclusion, increasing educational chances for children and improving the quality of life for vulnerable people.

New research from the National Housing Federation reveals north England’s rural population has been ‘overlooked’ by policy makers, while facing the dual challenge of ‘staggeringly’ high house prices and ‘crippling’ low incomes. The research found that 86 per cent of the north’s most expensive house price districts are predominantly rural and almost 66 per cent of England’s most deprived rural areas are in the north. The federation has called for the government to create a ‘northern rural way initiative’ to combat the current economic crisis.

A Salvation Army report has warned a generation of young people are binge drinking to such an extent they are at risk of social exclusion and homelessness. The report, Seeds of Exclusion 2009, says it is concerned for a new generation of young homeless adults who appear to be self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. Relationship breakdown and lack of supportive relationships are cited as the main reasons for homelessness. However, the research indicated that 59 per cent of those questioned reported an alcohol addiction, rising to 66 per cent among the 18- to 25-year-olds.

Research by the Legal Action Group (LAG) has accused the government of failing to help the most vulnerable during the economic downturn as the extra legal aid cash made available in July (£10 million) has been spent in the wealthiest areas in England and Wales. LAG found that the most deprived areas, including Liverpool, Hackney and Manchester missed out on extra spending for social welfare cases, whereas ‘almost all’ the most prosperous boroughs, including Surrey and West Berkshire benefitted. More than 70 per cent of the funding was spent in 20 per cent of the most prosperous boroughs.

The government has committed more than £250 million to tackle crime, stimulate educational achievement and boost job opportunities in England’s most deprived communities. The bulk of the money (£186 million) will be invested in 39 new deal for communities programmes during this financial year, with the balance of £70 million available the following year. The programme has been credited during the past 10 years with making a real difference to communities – bringing burglary down by 30 per cent and improving GCSE results by more than 10 per cent.

Fundamental reforms in social housing are needed to tackle concentrated areas of deprivation, a report from Localis has said. The report said that councils and registered social landlords need to fix broken neighbourhoods and should be given the ‘right to manage’ their housing stock. It also wants the role of social housing to be better defined – separating a ‘duty to house’ and a ‘duty to help’ - and called for an end to the varying tenures and rent levels between the private and social rented sectors.

The government’s spending watchdog the Audit Commission warned that the recession and rising unemployment will cause a wave of social problems in the coming year. The commission found the recession is already causing more homelessness in one-third of local authorities, while two-thirds predict the problem to worsen next year. The report said that the slowdown in house building, due to a cut in local authorities’ funding, had reduced the amount of new social housing and therefore the number of social properties available to let. Two-thirds of councils have reported an increase in applications for housing and other benefits.

Social deprivation, child poverty, and long-term reliance on benefits in parts of Britain have increased over the past decade, a report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) found. Of the 56 poverty indicators tracked by JRF – including the number of children in low-income families, young adults unemployed and children excluded from school – three-quarters have stalled or are getting worse, and the onset of the recession is making the position worse.