Housing Research & Action Group
GROUP UPDATE: JUNE 2016
Implications of Housing and Planning Act
At time of the subgroup’s last meeting final details approved in the Act by the Commons were not clear. The Lords (Labour, LibDem and Cross Bench) had made a number of positive attempts at some improvements – though the effects of the Bill on provision of social housing will remain depressingly negative.
Future SubGroup Plans - Waverley
A prime objective of the group will be to monitor and as appropriate publicise the effects of this Act (and other changes introduced by the Government such as the 1% reduction in rents) on Waverley locally. With this intention the group have asked Waverley a number of initial questions – particularly on the scale of problems caused by ‘high value’ Council house sales, the funding of their replacements, the effects of diversion of new affordable units required by the planning system into starter homes, and the scale of the effects of ‘Pay to Stay’. Answers are interesting as a start, but in many cases simply say in effect that as yet it is not clear what the effects will be.
Future SubGroup Plans – National Policy / Housing Crisis
Given the scope of issues which bear upon the Housing Crisis, it was decided that the subgroup should work on trying to move towards a common Centre Left policy in one area – private tenure. Group members will pull together LibDem, Labour and Green manifestos and other policy statements as a start for this. Contact has also been made with the private tenant lobby group Generation Rent to establish a connection with work they are doing.
GROUP UPDATE: MARCH 2016
There are two major issues which the group has reviewed so far:
The Housing and Planning Bill: This covers Housing Association Right to Buy and selling of High Value Council Houses, Starter Homes and Council Tenancy changes. It has been approved by the Commons. It is in its Committee stage in the Lords with some amendments tabled and further amendments to be considered on 1st March.
NPPF (Planning Framework) Changes. These were out to consultation until Feb 22nd. In view of the significance of these issues the group has focussed on these – although it has also initiated a search for Housing related data in Waverley.
Housing and Planning Bill
We used the response to the Bill by CRISIS as our basis: this response gives a good summary of the key features of the Bill.
Housing Association Right to Buy / Sales of High Value Council Houses
‘The Bill will enable Government to compensate Housing Associations (HAs) through the sale of high value Council homes for the sale of homes to tenants as part of the voluntary right to buy (RTB) programme agreed between the Government and Housing Associations’. (In addition there is a part of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill which will force Local Authorities to reduce rents by 1% - and hand over the funds to Central Government).
The group agreed its overall objection to all aspects of this part of the Bill and urges the Lords to put forward amendments to reject or mitigate the worst effects (such as by replacement of sold Council Houses 1 for 1 (2 for 1 in London) by social rented not other ‘affordable’ housing).
The group agreed that locally it needed to draw out data on the effects of the Bill in Waverley (including the 1% reduction in rents).
Starter Homes
Starter Homes will be sold at a discount (clause 2 (6)), of at least 20% of market value and capped at £450,000 in Greater London and £250,000 outside of London, to first time buyers under the age of 40. (Buyers will be able to sell their assets after 5 years at full market value). The Bill will enable the Government to require councils to prioritise the provision of Starter Homes above the supply of other affordable tenures, including social rented housing.
The group was agreed that almost all aspects of this initiative were unacceptable. Starter homes do not address the needs of the most disadvantaged – they will be unaffordable in half the country to households with below median income and will displace the provision of other ‘affordable’ homes. That scarce resources will be lost after 5 years to those benefiting from the discounts is particularly outrageous.
Higher rents for ‘Higher income’ Council and Housing Association Tenants
The Bill introduces a new mandatory requirement to charge "high income" (£40,000 inside London and £30,000 outside London) council and housing association tenants a market rent. HA’s will retain the additional funds to invest in new housing but Council’s will have to pass all except administrative costs back to Government.
Other Clauses of Housing and Planning Bill
There is a clause which makes all new (Council and Housing Association) tenancies 2 – 5 years (with some exceptions for transfers) and bans any new secure tenancies for life. The group did not review this. There are also clauses in the Bill relating to private tenancies, such as dealing with rogue landlords and how a landlord can gain possession of his property. The group has not reviewed these clauses.
Housing and Planning Bill Summary
The group agrees that there are really major issues in the Housing and Planning Bill, and would wish that the Lords decided to reject the Bill within the convention that it can reject bills which are not part of clear manifesto commitments. Starter Homes were not in the manifesto and hence such rejection would be appropriate. Housing Association Right to Buy WAS in the manifesto so an approach from the Lords of trying to mitigate its worst effects would be appropriate. There is a difference of opinion on the issue of higher rents for higher earning tenants: the group could unanimously challenge some of the details of the proposals, but not (as a group) the general principle.
HOUSING AND PLANNING BILL REFERENCES
Formal response on the Bill by CRISIS
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmpublic/housingplanning/memo/hpb04.htm
Guardian article on effects of the Bill
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2016/jan/05/housing-and-planning-bill-power-grab-developers