ROOF Blog

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.

The number of households funded by the government’s Supporting People programme – set up to help fund housing services to vulnerable people – has fallen by more than 15 per cent in the past five years. Communities and Local Government said the number of people being supported was higher at the beginning of the programme because services that were initially transferred into it, such as care homes, were later judged to be ineligible. Cost-cutting is seen as a more likely cause of the overall cut.

Click on this link for a short summary of the Green Paper launched yesterday. The full document and supporting papers can be downlodaded here.

A full transcript of Yvette Cooper’s speech and the responses from the opposition parties and individual MPs can be downloaded here.

Jack Dromey of union Unite said: "Gordon Brown has listened to the millions struggling to buy or rent a home. This is a recognition of the key strategic role of councils as a builder and provider of affordable homes for rent."

But Jill Craig, of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said housebuilding targets would be futile without changes to the planning system to release land.

And Tory Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps said: "The PM’s higher taxes have made it harder to get on the housing ladder. First time buyers pay an average of £1,500 in stamp duty, in 1997 it was nothing."

The National Housing Federation claimed the government had got its maths wrong: "They need to invest £11.6bn, not the £8bn proposed in the green paper," said David Orr, the federation’s chief executive. Attempting to squeeze 70,000 homes out of £8bn "could bankrupt the housing association sector within five years", as it would not be able to support the borrowing needed to build them.

Roof editorial board member, Steve Wilcox warned that the focus on first time buyers is overlooking the problem of older single person households who cannot afford to move into supported housing as they age. "There needs to be more thought about shared ownership for older households, not just for first-time buyers," said Wilcox in the FT.

The Local Government Association said moves to allow local authorities to build council houses again "would represent an historic break with the past". But it, too, queried whether the £8bn investment in affordable housing was sufficient to hit the homes target.

But the most disapproval to the Green Paper, perhaps not unsurprisingly given the weather, is against the decision to build new houses on flood plains. Again the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors commented saying that housebuilding targets would prove futile unless the infrastructure to support them was put in place, adding a warning that any use of flood plains would bring a big bill for flood defences.

The Green Party’s Darren Johnson said: "Our dash for homes could create streets of flood victims in the future." And the Association of British Insurers warned planners to think carefully about the siting of developments.

Fortunately we had the Daily Mail to hand to keep our eyes on the true issues in the housing crisis, and it hasn’t anything to do with weather!

A new report from the Young Foundation – Good Neighbours – calls for Housing associations to work more closely with local authorities to give their residents a louder voice in local communities.

The housing minister will attend Cabinet meetings, Gordon Brown confirmed in his acceptance speech as the new Labour leader yesterday, while housing will be a priority alongside health and education. The speech is covered in today’s papers including the Financial Times and Independent.

Government plans to build 200,000 homes a year display a ‘poverty of ambition’ according to Conservative housing spokesman Michael Gove speaking at Harrogate last week.

But Tory MPs and councillors are promising a big revolt if the party leadership tries to push through more housebuilding in the South East, according to today’s Telegraph.

The worst housing crisis in Britain? The Herald profiles the Isle of Arran, which is says has the longest waiting list in the country as a proportion of residents.

Housebuilder Persimmon said the housing market was set to shrug off recent interest rate rises as it reported higher profit margins this morning.

Buy-to-let landlords get £2bn a year in tax relief from setting mortgage payments against rental income, according to Saturday’s Guardian. But the Observer warns amateur landlords could be caught out by a crash.

HIPs for three-bed homes may come in as early as September, says Saturday’s Guardian. But the Observer says the delay in the timetable is causing chaos in the private rented market.

Ballot papers are going out to 30,000 tenants in Lambeth today over the London council’s plan for an almo.

Local authoritites should see their first increase in capital receipts for four years this year, according to DCLG figures released on Friday. However, much of the increase will come from a share sale and property deal rather than right to buy sales.