ROOF Blog

Crisis has warned that despite the budget deficit, 75% of the British public want the Government to address the growing gap between rich and poor. A YouGov poll commissioned by Crisis also shows that the majority of people in UK (60% of those with an opinion) say that the recession has made them more worried about the gap between rich and poor and the same proportion want to see the poorest protected from budget cuts as they can least afford to pay. Leslie Morphy, Crisis chief executive said: ‘With the election looming, politicians vying for votes must recognise people’s desire for a fairer society. They must not forget those who are poorest, amongst whom homeless people are some of the most vulnerable. They must pledge to protect them.’

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.

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.

Meanwhile, debt charities have attacked high street banks for repossessing homes to recover credit card debts of just several thousand pounds. Citizens Advice has warned borrowers struggling to repay credit cards or personal loans they are at risk of losing their homes because lenders are increasing securing debts against a borrower’s property. Citizens Advice said that creditors are using the courts to ‘intimidate’ vulnerable debtors into paying unaffordable amounts. It points to research showing that since 2000 there has been a 722 per cent increase in the number of charging order applications.

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’.

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.

Vulnerable tenants are falling into rent arrears, having their tenancies cancelled and facing homelessness because of the local housing allowance, Crisis found in a survey of private rented sector access schemes. The move to make payments direct to tenants has meant the most vulnerable find it harder to obtain suitable properties and more are having their tenancies terminated. The survey comes a year after the LHA was introduced.

A House of Commons’ select committee has warned that the state is failing in its duty to act as a parent to children in care by not protecting them from sexual exploitation, homelessness and crime. In its report the children, schools and family committee calls for a radical overhaul of the system to ensure that the most vulnerable children get the services they require. It says that concerns for the happiness and welfare of the 60,000 children in care should be at the heart of the system and that government is ‘too timid’ in demanding that health services and the criminal justice and asylum systems give special consideration to looked-after children.

A parliamentary joint select committee on human rights has warned that an increasing number of vulnerable people could become homeless under the new Policing and Crime Bill. The Bill will introduce powers to close brothels and curb antisocial behaviour by giving police the power to direct a child as young as 10 to leave an area without talking into account their safety or where they will go. The committee says the proposals risk criminalising rather than protecting some of the most vulnerable members of society.