How was this allowed to happen? - General Election 2017 Where do we go from here? - Housing Quality Network

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How was this allowed to happen? - General Election 2017 Where do we go from here? - Housing Quality Network
HQN’S MAGAZINE FOR BOARDS, EXECUTIVES AND LEADERS   JULY 2017

How was this
allowed to
happen?
Jules Birch on the
Grenfell Tower fire

                                                                             General
                                                                        Election 2017
                                                                         Where do we
                                                                         go from here?

                                                                           Evidence
                                                               Four page research
                                                              and analysis pull-out
How was this allowed to happen? - General Election 2017 Where do we go from here? - Housing Quality Network
Contents
              July 2017                                                                         Special pull-out:
                                                                                                Evidence
            Published by:
                                                                                                The latest edition of HQN’s
                HQN                                                                             Evidence         magazine,
         Rockingham House                                                                       incorporating the latest
          St Maurice’s Road                                                                     housing research and
                York                                                                            analysis from leading
              YO31 7JA                                                                          academics.

                                                                                                 Issue 18 | July 2017
                                                                                                 In this issue: 1 Welcome / Too many women becoming homeless
                                                                                                 2 Welfare Reform: The challenges ahead for policy and practice

               Editorial:
                                                                                                 3 Disabled people’s perspectives on welfare conditionality 4 In brief

                                                                                                 EVIDENCE
                                                                                                 update
                                                                                                                                            THE LATEST RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS – IN PLAIN ENGLISH
           Alistair McIntosh                                                                     Welcome

               Jon Land
                                                                                                                             The start of a new parliament,                   recent election and on the welfare benefit cuts still in
                                                                                                                             with a new government in place,                  the pipeline – amounting to greater cuts than already
                                                                                                                             is generally a buoyant time in                   seen. And Dr Jenny McNeill offers case studies of the
                                                                                                                             politics. This time, however, the                difficulties faced by two disabled people trying to
                                                                                                                             mood has been sombre, with a                     claim Employment and Support Allowance.

               Jules Birch
                                                                                                                             weakened government, terrorist                       Homelessness remains a serious and growing
                                                                                                                             attacks and the Grenfell Tower                   problem in the UK, and the situation of homeless women
                                                                                                                             fire.                                            is under-reported. For the first time researchers have put
                                                                                                                                                                              together knowledge about women and homelessness
                                                                                                 The mood is also a reaction against the years of                             from across Europe. Dr Joanne Bretherton reports.

           Mark Lawrence
                                                                                                 ‘austerity’. Though social security and housing benefit
                                                                                                 have not been top political issues recently, they will                       Janis Bright
                                                                                                 form an important part of the debates to come.                               Editor
                                                                                                    In this issue, Professor Christina Beatty reflects on the                 Evidence

            Rob Gershon                                                                          Too many women becoming homeless
                                                                                                 Joanne Bretherton from the University of York comments                        avoid emergency services which are largely filled with

              Janis Bright
                                                                                                 on the first systematic attempt to bring together                             men, instead, they rely on the people they know. Women
                                                                                                 knowledge about women and homelessness across                                 may sofa surf more than men and there is growing
                                                                                                 Europe.                                                                       evidence they exhaust these informal arrangements
                                                                                                                                                                               before seeking formal help.
                                                                                                 Women’s homelessness is neglected. We think about                                Research shows that lone homeless women are highly

            Roger Jarman
                                                                                                 homelessness, as people sleeping on the street and                            vulnerable. Simultaneous mental illness and addiction,
                                                                                                 in emergency shelters. For many of us, our picture of                         high rates of domestic violence and abuse and
                                                                                                 homelessness is not a woman and her children, sleeping                        extremely poor physical health are common. American
                                                                                                 in a friend’s living room because they have nowhere                           evidence shows us that women (and men) do not start
                                                                                                 else to go.                                                                   their homelessness careers with these sorts of support
                                                                                                    Domestic violence is not seen as a homelessness issue.                     needs, instead such needs can result from recurrent or
                                                                                                 Yet women and women with their children are driven                            long-term homelessness.
                                                                                                 out of their homes, made homeless, by male violence.                             The homelessness statistics, which differ between
                                                                                                 Between 1998-2015, 66,660 households containing lone                          England and other parts of the UK, record people who
                                                                                                 women and lone women parents were accepted as                                 are helped under the homelessness laws, they are not

                  Email:
                                                                                                 homeless due to domestic violence in England1.                                a count of all homeless people. Lone homeless adults
                                                                                                    For women, homelessness often means staying with                           can find it difficult to receive assistance under these
                                                                                                 someone, family, friend, or acquaintance, because                             laws, which focus on protecting children and a narrowly
                                                                                                 there is nowhere else to go. Sofa surfing is the experience                   defined group of vulnerable adults. This means women
                                                                                                 of many homeless women.                                                       without children, or who have lost contact with their

     jon.land@hqnetwork.co.uk
                                                                                                    Internationally and in the UK, academic research                           children, often cannot access these systems. Because of
                                                                                                 is showing us that women react to homelessness in                             an emphasis on homelessness prevention people are less
                                                                                                 different ways to men. Women avoid the street, they                           likely to reach the point of being recorded as ‘homeless’.

                                                                                                 1 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness

           Tel: 07740 740417                                                                                                                                                                                     JULY 2017 |   EVIDENCE - 1

             Advertising:          Cover features
          All enquires to:                                                                      9 After Grenfell
       hqn@hqnetwork.co.uk         5 How was this allowed to happen?
         Tel: 0845 4747 004                                                                     HQN      chief    executive
                                   Jules Birch investigates the governance failures ‘at all     Alistair  McIntosh     sets
               Design:             levels’ that played their part in the Grenfell Tower fire    out his six-point plan for
                                   tragedy while Roger Jarman calls for a revamp of the         regulation following the
             Sam Wiggle            regulatory regime for social housing on the back of the      Grenfell Tower fire.
                                   disaster.

    Printed by Darecomm, York
                                                                 10 Where do we                 15 The Last Word
       Published four times a                                    go from here?                  HQN’s Residents’ Network
      year. All rights reserved.                                                                lead     associate   Rob
       Reproduction in whole                                     Mark Lawrence looks            Gershon says residents’
      or in part without written                                 back on a tumultuous           voices    need    to  be
         permission is strictly                                  few weeks for the housing      heard in the aftermath
             prohibited.                                         sector and explores what       of Grenfell and calls
                                                                 the General Election result    for an increased focus
                                                                 is likely to mean for future   on tenant involvement,
                                                                 housing policy.                empowerment and co-
                                                                                                regulation.

                                   Have you seen our new website?

                                   Visit www.hqnetwork.co.uk
    Cover photo: Jon Chiral

2               | JULY 2017
How was this allowed to happen? - General Election 2017 Where do we go from here? - Housing Quality Network
Fixing our broken housing hearts
                                                                         “We’ve got great news
                                                                        for you Mr 20,000-home
                                                                            landlord – 76% of the
                                                                         15 fire risk assessments
                                                                         we looked at were OK.
                                                                           No we didn’t actually
                                                                            go to the houses. But
                                                                              the files are tip top”
We’ve got to get a shift on. The            bad looks like. Stock condition              now. I’d pull the tenant involvement
Notting Hill Carnival starts on 26          surveys tell you all you need to             standard and beef it up. You must
August. That’s the next time the            know about net present values but            listen to tenants on safety. After
world will descend on Grenfell. So          nothing at all about safety. You             every tragedy you find someone
we need to have put our house in            would have thought the houses                that says ‘I told you so’. Better to be
order. Here’s what I would do.              needed to be pretty much free of             wise before the event.
   It’s time to tell the speculators that   fire risk to be worth anything. But              I’d take a good look at the VfM
enough is enough. We need a policy          too often that does not enter the            standard before it comes out
of use it or lose it in busy places. You    equation. And these risks do not             too. Make sure it spells it out that
can’t tell people in London there           make their way onto the assets and           scrimping on safety is wrong. And
are no homes for them when they             liabilities register.                        compel landlords to proactively
can see loads of empties with their             Then there’s the laboriously             manage safety in much the same
own eyes. Don’t rub people’s noses          constructed multi-coloured swap              way they deal with financial risks.
in it. That will end badly. Possession      shop risk maps that couldn’t hit a           The long forgotten white paper
of empty homes does more harm               barn door at five paces. They are            wants more hook ups to boost
than possession of drugs. So make           about as much use as that weather            efficiency. The HCA shouldn’t just
the punishment fit the crime. Or at         app on your phone. If it says 0%             check the finances of a merger.
least change the tax system.                chance of rain pack a brolly. And            It must cast a sharp eye over the
   We need to make safety the               don’t get me started on internal             new outfit’s safety management
number one job. The law setting up          audit reports done by kids with no           plans. You can get a lot of untidiness
the HCA didn’t make it a priority.          technical knowledge. To make                 here as the top brass spend all their
Sadly, the then Government wanted           matters worse the sample sizes can           energy heaving a deal over the line.
to put in place a Praetorian Guard          be tiny. We’ve got great news for                And If I was the HCA I would
to protect the lenders and to hell          you Mr 20,000-home landlord – 76%            certainly not be trumpeting about
with everything else. To be fair the        of the 15 fire risk assessments we           what a great idea de-regulation is
HCA has flexed what little muscles          looked at were OK. No we didn’t              just now.
it has in this area. It put Circle and      actually go to the houses. But the               As Joe Strummer, one of West
Luminus to the sword on safety. And         files are tip top. It’s a blessing that no   London’s finest squatters, once
it has warned about the dangers             one actually reads the things – too          put it – the future is unwritten. Of
of chopping the repairs budget to           often boards just look at the traffic        course we can do better if we all
pay for the rent cut. But it needs to       lights for simpletons on the cover           pull together. We have to build new
do more. When they carry out an             sheet.                                       homes, yes we need to look after
in-depth assessment they must look              Of course there are strong               the money, but our first priority must
at safety as the number one priority.       boards. But you all need to step up          be to keep people safe. One of his
What will they find?                        to the plate. I really do see some           most famous songs was about going
   There is a mixed picture. I’ve just      sloppy work on safety. These days            up and down the Westway at night.
read a report of a fire in a tower          covenant compliance is the work              After the fire there is a darkness in
in Birmingham where everything              for grown-ups. So other things get           that old sky. Never again.
worked as it should. Mind you,              less attention. Time is finite.
tenants were worried given what                 While the HCA has to hit the fast-
was in the news. So we can get it           forward button on safety, there are          Alistair McIntosh,
right. But we certainly know what           a few things they can pause for              Chief Executive, HQN

                                                                                                           JULY 2017 |             3
How was this allowed to happen? - General Election 2017 Where do we go from here? - Housing Quality Network
Business transformation –
 thinking differently
 FREE to Housing Quality
 Network members

‘Changing the way we do business’ is the mantra for many
housing organisations as they seek to adapt to a landscape where
new housing delivery, being more efficient and the sweating of
assets are the top priorities.
As part of a membership to      Business transformation – what we offer:
the Housing Quality Network,    • Free to attend best practice workshops and
you and your colleagues           roundtable events with other housing organisations
have the opportunity to share
                                • Innovation days with leading technology
knowledge and experience
                                  companies
from others working inside
and outside the housing         • Networking opportunities with fellow housing
sector as part of a new           professionals
networking group.               • Briefings and research
                                • Dedicated business transformation forum on the
                                  HQN website.

For more information please contact hqn@hqnetwork.co.uk or
call 01904 557150.
How was this allowed to happen? - General Election 2017 Where do we go from here? - Housing Quality Network
How was this
allowed to
happen?
Jules Birch looks at the multitude of governance failings
surrounding the Grenfell Tower fire and wonders why we
have failed to learn lessons from the past.

Sometimes it takes one terrible incident to expose
failures that were already in plain sight.
   In the 1980s we got used to it. Valley Parade in 1985,
King’s Cross and the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987 and
Piper Alpha in 1988 exposed a collective complacency
about safety and an individual willingness to cut corners
and ignore regulation.
   Afterwards we wondered how we could ever have
had football stadiums with wooden stands or tube
stations with wooden escalators and how we had ever
allowed such lax safety on cross-channel ferries and
North Sea oil rigs.
   The fire at Grenfell Tower looks as bad, if not worse,
than any of those disasters from the past. Add the horrific
pictures, the gruesome detail and the chaotic disaster
response by the authorities and you have something on
the scale of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

                                             continued >>

                                                                            Photo: Natalie Oxford

                                                              JULY 2017 |   5
How was this allowed to happen? - General Election 2017 Where do we go from here? - Housing Quality Network
Failure                                                       Regulations on fire safety stipulates that materials
                                                                  used on the outside of buildings more than 18 metres
    Already the fire is looking like a failure of governance      high should be of ‘limited combustibility’ but it remains
    on every conceivable level. The Royal Borough of              unclear whether the cladding system used on Grenfell
    Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) is within a whisker of          Tower was compliant with it or not.
    being taken over by commissioners. An emergency                   Building control inspection was deregulated in the
    taskforce had to take over relief operation. The council      1980s to allow private approved inspectors to compete
    proved incapable of holding a meeting in public, hiding       with local authorities. The fire inspection regime in
    behind advice from its lawyers that this could prejudice      England was similarly opened up in 2005 at the same
    the public inquiry. The chief executive, leader and           time as responsibility for fire risk assessments was
    deputy leader have all resigned.                              transferred from local fire services to building owners
       The homes were managed by Kensington & Chelsea             and landlords.
    Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) but it seems                 As we went to press the cladding on 181 tower blocks
    equally paralysed and its chief executive has also            had failed fire tests at the Building Research Establishment
    stepped down to focus on the inquiry. In theory it is an      (BRE) despite passing the system of regulation, control
    arm’s length management organisation but in practice          and certification at the time it was installed. The 100%
    all the key decisions on the refurbishment of the tower       failure rate prompted the Local Government Association
    seem to have been taken by councillors.                       to question the testing method. Needless to say, the BRE
       A TMO ought to be more focused on tenants than a           was itself privatised in 1997.
    conventional landlord but instead it has been accused             Despite a strong recommendation from the coroner
    of ignoring the concerns of Grenfell residents. A system of   in the Lakanal House inquest in 2013 and a pledge by
    regulation that once focused on giving tenants a voice        former housing minister Gavin Barwell in 2016, a review
    has been pared down into one that allows intervention         of England’s Part B has still not appeared. If governance
    in cases of proven ‘serious detriment’ to consumers           starts at the top, the rapid turnover of housing ministers –
    but focuses mainly on financial viability and value for       six since 2010, 15 since 2000 – has not helped.
    money. The Audit Commission, which once inspected                 It’s the same story with sprinklers. When the Welsh
    local authorities and their housing management, was           government made them compulsory in all new
    abolished in 2015.                                                                   residential buildings (though not
                                                                                         refurbished ones) it faced a barrage
                                                                                         of criticism from housebuilders and
    Questions                                “Already the fire is                        English ministers complaining about
                                                                                         ‘red tape’.
    Meanwhile, questions of governance       looking like a failure                          But switch the focus away from
    in its widest sense apply well beyond                                                the national level and the causes
    the council and the TMO. Decisions       of governance on                            of the Grenfell Tower fire and there
    taken by the contractor, consultants                                                 are governance issues for social
    and subcontractors are already the       every conceivable                           landlords at a very local level too.
    focus of intense scrutiny.                                                               Immediate      questions     were
        There are questions that go to       level”                                      raised about cladding installed by
    the heart of a construction industry                                                 the same contractor on five tower
    culture that is relentlessly focused on                                              blocks on Camden’s Chalcot estate
    cost and is based on subcontracting work into smaller         but residents were also evacuated over concerns about
    and smaller packages and passing risk down the line.          fire doors and gas pipe insulation.
    The terms of the contracts, supervision of the work and           Some landlords have decided to retrofit sprinklers in
    the specification of the materials will be an inevitable      their blocks following the Lakanal recommendations but
    focus of the inquiry.                                         most have not.
        But the fire has also shone a light on the whole system
    of regulations and assessments that govern building
    projects. You might have thought that the refurbishment       Compromised
    of a 24-storey tower block with only one staircase might
    be even more heavily regulated than the construction          The Right to Buy has also made it more difficult to
    of a new building but you would apparently be wrong.          manage tower blocks that were designed on the
        The architects of 1960s and 1970s tower blocks knew       assumption that one landlord would be in control. New
    the fire risks in tall buildings and they were designed on    buyers may decide to make internal alterations that
    the principle of compartmentation so that a fire and          unwittingly compromise fire safety or replace one-hour
    smoke from one flat would not spread to the rest of the       rated fire doors with less institutional, but non-fire rated
    building. This is what lies behind the advice to residents    alternatives. They may make internal alterations that
    that they should stay put and wait to be rescued. We          compromise fire safety (as at Lakanal House). And they
    knew from previous incidents and from the inquest into        make it more complicated for landlords to fund work on
    the fatal Lakanal House fire in 2009 that changes to the      the safety of the block as a whole because they have to
    exterior of the building can compromise its fire safety.      go through the tortuous process of getting contributions
        Yet our system of regulation appears at best              from leaseholders.
    ambiguous. Guidance on Part B of the Building                    The impact of the Grenfell Tower is being felt all over

6            | JULY 2017
How was this allowed to happen? - General Election 2017 Where do we go from here? - Housing Quality Network
Photo: Jon Chiral
Tributes placed at the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire

the country, by tenants wondering if their blocks are safe
and by landlords and their boards wondering if they            Time for consumer
have paid enough attention to fire risks.
                                                               regulation to be re-booted
Public inquiry                                                 By Roger Jarman, former Head of
                                                               Housing, Audit Commission, and
At Grenfell itself, exactly who was responsible for what       member of the Cave Review of
and when in the management of the homes and the                social housing regulation
procurement of the refurbishment work will be a key
focus of the public inquiry led by retired judge Sir Martin    Ten years ago Professor Martin
Moore-Bick. A separate police investigation is looking at      Cave published his seminal report
whether to bring criminal charges, potentially including       on housing regulation – ‘Every
manslaughter, against anyone involved in the decisions         Tenant Matters’. This marked the
that led to the disaster.                                      high point in the evolution of social
   However, both have already faced criticism from             housing regulation in England.
residents: the judge and inquiry for being too narrowly           As the title suggests, the service user was put at the
focused and the police for being reluctant to confirm a        very heart of the regulatory framework devised by
higher death toll than the current 80.                         the Professor and his team. The report’s blueprint was
   The disasters of the 1980s provide a powerful reminder      enshrined in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008
of where even this kind of governance can go wrong.            and the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) was created as
The decade ended with the deaths of 96 Liverpool               a standalone agency to regulate the sector as a whole
supporters while watching their team in an FA Cup              covering both local authorities and housing associations.
semi-final at Hillsborough in 1989. The police, media and      The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) was set
political establishment infamously blamed the tragedy          up to fund and manage state investment in the social
on the behaviour of the fans.                                  housing sector.
   It took years of campaigning by the families for the           The TSA had a wide range of regulatory tools; many
truth to finally emerge via a second independent inquiry       focused on ensuring social housing tenants received
and a second inquest that concluded that the fans              the best possible service from their landlords and that
were unlawfully killed. Finally, 28 years after Hillsborough   they had as much control over service delivery by their
and two weeks after Grenfell, the Crown Prosecution            landlords as possible. But the TSA had barely been
Service announced that it was bringing charges against         established when the coalition government assumed
six people involved on the day including senior police         power in 2010 and the dismantling of the new regulatory
officers.                                                      regime began.
   The residents of Grenfell Tower, dead and alive,               Indeed Grant Shapps (the housing minister in the
deserve the truth and they deserve justice. The rest of us     new government) had boasted that the TSA was ‘toast’
need answers to ensure that this never happens again.          when he was opposition.
                                                                                                           continued >>

                                                                                                    JULY 2017 |            7
How was this allowed to happen? - General Election 2017 Where do we go from here? - Housing Quality Network
A rearguard action saved the regulatory function
    from complete abolition after lobbying from the City’s        “We      need    a     regulatory
    financial interests ensured that the pared down function
    would focus its much reduced resources on assessing           framework that puts tenants first
    the financial viability and governance of housing
    associations (local authorities would hardly feature in       and looks at the performance
    this brave new world).
       This demonstrated the power of the finance sector          of all landlords not just housing
    as it sought state assurance that its multi-billion-pound
    investment in housing associations was secure. At the         associations”
    same time tenant bodies like TAROE had their state
    funding withdrawn and Cave’s proposals for a National
    Tenants’ Voice to represent tenant interests in discussions
    with government and landlord bodies were ditched.             instance, a large number of gas safety certificates were
                                                                  out of date.
                                                                      Even the sanctioning of providers failing the consumer
    Bonfire of the Quangos                                        standard mirrored the framework for financial regulation.
                                                                  Lazily, the regulator judges that providers not meeting
    The new arrangements were put on a legal footing              its consumer standards should have their governance
    in the Localism Act 2011. The TSA and the Audit               rating downgraded. Because the HCA has no remit
    Commission (which ran the housing inspection service          over the governance of local authorities, this measure
    in conjunction with the TSA) were abolished as part of        does not even apply to local housing authorities or their
    the ‘Bonfire of the Quangos’. Housing regulation – now        managing agents (such as ALMOs or TMOs).
    part of a reconstituted HCA – was to be based on the
    HCA’s governance and financial viability standard (and
    latterly on the value for money standard too).                Co-regulation
       Tenants’ interests were not entirely ignored. Consumer
    regulation had a set of standards that providers were         And with its co-regulatory approach, the HCA has
    supposed to follow but those responsible openly               simply monitored the actions of providers attempting to
    acknowledged that this part of the regulator’s remit          rectify their faults. Despite having a plethora of powers
    would be reactive only.                                       to deal with underperforming providers - new managers
                                                                  can be appointed, fines can be levied, inspections can
                                                                  be commissioned to forensically assess the problems
    Serious detriment                                             identified to name but a few - very few of these regulatory
                                                                  tools (if any) have been used by the HCA to date.
    ‘Serious detriment’ had to be proved before any form
    of intervention would be considered. Invariably the
    HCA only became aware of breaches in the consumer             Opportunity
    standards when providers had ‘fessed up’ that, for
                                                                  In the light of the Grenfell Tower disaster we need a re-
                                                                  boot of consumer regulation. The HCA is about to be
                                                                  broken up and regulation separated once more from
                                                                  investment (as recommended by the Cave Review
                                                                  when they were previously undertaken by one body -
                                                                  the Housing Corporation).
                                                                     So we have a real opportunity to re-visit the
                                                                  conclusions of Professor Cave and also mirror the
                                                                  regulation of school, hospitals and care homes where
                                                                  the key objective of the regulator is to judge services
                                                                  from the perspective of the user (be it the pupil, patient
                                                                  or care home resident).
                                                                     We need a regulatory framework that puts tenants first
                                                                  and foremost and one that looks at the performance
                                                                  of all landlords and is not focused on just housing
                                                                  associations. And a regulator that not only oversees
                                                                  the safety and security of tenants but also a regulator
                                                                  that assesses the quality of the services delivered by
                                                                  landlords.
                                                                     We do indeed need a regulatory system where every
                                                                  tenant matters – and one geared less to the interests of
                                                                  the banking sector.

                                                                  < Professor Martin Cave

8            | JULY 2017
How was this allowed to happen? - General Election 2017 Where do we go from here? - Housing Quality Network
Issue 18 | July 2017
In this issue: 1 Welcome / Too many women becoming homeless
2 Welfare Reform: The challenges ahead for policy and practice
3 Disabled people’s perspectives on welfare conditionality 4 In brief

EVIDENCE
update
                                           THE LATEST RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS – IN PLAIN ENGLISH

Welcome
                            The start of a new parliament,                   recent election and on the welfare benefit cuts still in
                            with a new government in place,                  the pipeline – amounting to greater cuts than already
                            is generally a buoyant time in                   seen. And Dr Jenny McNeill offers case studies of the
                            politics. This time, however, the                difficulties faced by two disabled people trying to
                            mood has been sombre, with a                     claim Employment and Support Allowance.
                            weakened government, terrorist                       Homelessness remains a serious and growing
                            attacks and the Grenfell Tower                   problem in the UK, and the situation of homeless women
                            fire.                                            is under-reported. For the first time researchers have put
                                                                             together knowledge about women and homelessness
The mood is also a reaction against the years of                             from across Europe. Dr Joanne Bretherton reports.
‘austerity’. Though social security and housing benefit
have not been top political issues recently, they will                       Janis Bright
form an important part of the debates to come.                               Editor
   In this issue, Professor Christina Beatty reflects on the                 Evidence

Too many women becoming homeless
Joanne Bretherton from the University of York comments                        avoid emergency services which are largely filled with
on the first systematic attempt to bring together                             men, instead, they rely on the people they know. Women
knowledge about women and homelessness across                                 may sofa surf more than men and there is growing
Europe.                                                                       evidence they exhaust these informal arrangements
                                                                              before seeking formal help.
Women’s homelessness is neglected. We think about                                Research shows that lone homeless women are highly
homelessness, as people sleeping on the street and                            vulnerable. Simultaneous mental illness and addiction,
in emergency shelters. For many of us, our picture of                         high rates of domestic violence and abuse and
homelessness is not a woman and her children, sleeping                        extremely poor physical health are common. American
in a friend’s living room because they have nowhere                           evidence shows us that women (and men) do not start
else to go.                                                                   their homelessness careers with these sorts of support
   Domestic violence is not seen as a homelessness issue.                     needs, instead such needs can result from recurrent or
Yet women and women with their children are driven                            long-term homelessness.
out of their homes, made homeless, by male violence.                             The homelessness statistics, which differ between
Between 1998-2015, 66,660 households containing lone                          England and other parts of the UK, record people who
women and lone women parents were accepted as                                 are helped under the homelessness laws, they are not
homeless due to domestic violence in England1.                                a count of all homeless people. Lone homeless adults
   For women, homelessness often means staying with                           can find it difficult to receive assistance under these
someone, family, friend, or acquaintance, because                             laws, which focus on protecting children and a narrowly
there is nowhere else to go. Sofa surfing is the experience                   defined group of vulnerable adults. This means women
of many homeless women.                                                       without children, or who have lost contact with their
   Internationally and in the UK, academic research                           children, often cannot access these systems. Because of
is showing us that women react to homelessness in                             an emphasis on homelessness prevention people are less
different ways to men. Women avoid the street, they                           likely to reach the point of being recorded as ‘homeless’.

1 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness

                                                                                                                JULY 2017 |   EVIDENCE - 1
While the homelessness statistics are not perfect, we                    staying with someone else because they have no home,
   can use them to get an idea of numbers. Between 1998                         are hard to count because they move around.
   and 2015, 1,475,150 households were found homeless                              The solutions to women’s homelessness are both
   and in need of assistance in England. We know that                           simple and complex. The simple aspect centres on the
   995,360 of these households were homeless families                           UK’s chronic shortage of affordable, adequate housing
   and/or had a pregnant woman living in them. Analysis                         with security of tenure, which the evidence shows ends
   of the homelessness system has shown that around 65%                         almost all family homelessness. For lone women with
   of homeless families accepted as homeless are lone                           complex needs, specific interventions like Housing First, a
   women parents, which means somewhere in the region                           carefully and sensitively managed package of support,
   of 647,000 lone woman-headed homeless families were                          may be needed. Homelessness prevention, particularly
   accepted as homeless in England from 1998-20152. In                          when eviction and unplanned moves can be stopped,
   the third quarter of 2016, 74,630 of statutorily homeless                    is another area that can be better developed. Support
   households were in temporary accommodation, 33,630                           for women at risk of domestic violence is fundamental to
   of whom were female-lone parent headed families                              preventing and reducing women’s homelessness.
   and 5,620 of whom were women living alone (53% were                             The Women’s Homelessness in Europe Network
   women lone parents or lone women).                                           (WHEN) has brought together the information on the
       Of course, this is not all of women’s homelessness.                      current state of knowledge on women’s homelessness
   There are women in homelessness services, women                              in a new edited collection, Women’s Homelessness in
   made homeless by domestic violence in refuges and                            Europe which is available from Palgrave Macmillian.
   approximately 20-30% of rough sleepers are women.                            The first systematic attempt to map our understanding
   Again, UK and international research is showing us that                      in more than 20 years has highlighted the likely extent
   women experience sofa surfing at possibly higher rates                       of sofa surfing by women, the failure to record women’s
   than men.                                                                    homelessness and the need for better understanding to
       Putting exact numbers on women’s homelessness                            enhance prevention and services.
   is a challenge. Women sleeping rough hide, because
   if they are seen on the street they are at potential risk,                   Joanne Bretherton is a Research Fellow in the Centre for
   and women who experience sofa-surfing, temporarily                           Housing Policy, University of York

   2 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness and Pleace, N. et al (2008) Statutory Homelessness in England: The
   experience of families and 16-17 year olds London: DCLG https://www.york.ac.uk/media/chp/documents/2008/Family%20Homelessness%20final%20report.pdf

   Welfare Reform: The challenges ahead for policy and
   practice
   Professor Christina Beatty from Sheffield Hallam                             benefit income affects their ability to maintain housing
   University reflects on the absence of welfare reform as                      costs over time especially in a time of rising rents or if
   an issue in the general election, and what the future                        living in a high rent area. Many families affected by
   impact of cuts could be.                                                     welfare reform are in work, but do not have savings to fall
                                                                                back on. This means that low-income households find it
   Given welfare reform has been central to contemporary                        increasingly difficult to ‘just about manage’ or to ‘get
   political and policy debates since 2010, when a major                        by’ when they are hit by a financial crisis - such as losing
   overhaul of the benefits system was announced by the                         a job, a reduction in hours, the washing machine packs
   Coalition Government, it has been surprisingly absent as                     in or the car breaks down. Over time, the resilliance or
   a big issue in the run up to the recent General Election.                    coping mechanisms become stretched to breaking
      Only in the latter stages of campaigning have issues                      point as further reductions in entitlement and eligibility
   concerning the impact of continued austerity and                             are introduced.
   welfare reform on the vulnerable, the sick and disabled,                         The scale of cuts across a whole array of working age
   low-paid workers, families and children come to the                          benefits is unprecedented (Figure 1). The level of support
   fore. Even then, politicians tend to focus on specific                       available to low-income households, compared to that
   elements of the reforms, for example the ‘bedroom                            which would have been available if the reforms had
   tax’ or the two child limit for Tax Credits. This is often the               not been introduced, has reduced significantly. The
   trap that politicians, policy makers and practitioners                       Coalition Government implemented cuts equivalent
   tend to fall into. Focusing on individual elements of the                    to £14.5bn per year by March 2016. An additional
   reforms - say for housing professionals to focus primarily                   £11.7bn per year of cuts have been announced by the
   on reforms related to the Housing Benefit system or the                      Conservative Government since 2015. Only about a
   implemention of Universal Credit and direct payments -                       quarter of these reforms have been implemented so far
   misses the bigger picture.                                                   and there are significant cuts to come before they are
      It is the cumulative impact over time of the totality of                  fully realised. If the reforms go ahead as planned, they
   the reforms that poses the biggest risk to low-income                        will not be fully implemented until 2021. Even if there is
   households. The continuous downward pressure on                              a change of Government the manifestos indicate that

EVIDENCE - 2       | JULY 2017
Figure 1: Estimated annual financial loss from welfare reform, GB

                        Tax Credits                                                              4,210                         Benefit freeze                                                           3,580

                      Child Benefit                                                   3,030                 Universal Credit Work Allowances                                                    3,190
                1 per cent uprating                                              2,700
                                                                                                                                  Tax Credits                                        2,255
              Housing Benefit: LHA                                  1,670
                                                                                                           Personal Independence Payments*                                   1,680
 Personal Independence Payments                             1,190
                                                                                                              LHA cap in social rented sector                  535
Employment and Support Allowance                      650
                                                                                                          Employment and Support Allowance                 450
               Council Tax Support              370
                                            360                                                                                  Benefit cap              340
     Housing Benefit: 'bedroom tax'

       Non-dependant deductions            210                                                                     Mortgage interest support             245

            Household benefit cap         100                                                                             HB: 18-21 year olds       30

                                      0     500        1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500                                          0        500     1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500

                                                             Estimated loss £m p.a.                                                                                    Estimated loss £m p.a.

Pre-2015 reforms impact by March 2016                              Post-2015 reforms impact by March 2021
*Additional post-2015/16 impact of pre-2015 reform
Sources: HM Treasury, Impact Assessments and Sheffield Hallam estimates based on official data

the majority of the proposed reforms in the pipeline are                                                 rented sector from 2019 they will inherit the LHA rates
likely to proceed.                                                                                       that have been in place since 2015.
    These welfare reforms have occurred alongside                                                           As you read this piece, with the general election over,
increased conditionality, a harsher sanctions regime                                                     we will know which of the manifesto proposals with
and the introduction of Universal Credit which includes                                                  regards to welfare reform are likely to be implemented.
longer waiting periods before being eligible for support,                                                The result may be no change or limited change to the
as well as the introduction of direct payments for                                                       policies already implemented or still in the pipeline.
housing entitlement. These factors are compounded                                                        However, this may be an opportune time to gather
by the growth in precarious low-paid work and self-                                                      evidence which highlights the very real but often
employment which has ocurred alongside a long-term                                                       unintended consequences of welfare reform. Changes
stagnation in wages and increasing inflation. Recent                                                     in policy can be made at any point of the political cycle,
figures from ONS highlight this phenomenon with                                                          but now seems as good a time as any to take stock and
inflation running at 2.7%, wage increases at 2.1% and no                                                 reassess the situation.
uprating of working age benefits (often used to top up
low-paid work) which are frozen for four years.                                                          This article draws on research undertaken by Professor
    This four year freeze on uprating benefits also applies                                              Christina Beatty and Professor Steve Fothergill on ‘The
to Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates. This will make it                                                Uneven Impact of Welfare Reform: The financial losses to
even more difficult for tenants reliant on Housing Benefit                                               places and people’ which was co-funded by the Joseph
living in the private rented sector (both those in work or                                               Rowntree Foundation and Oxfam. Both authors of the
out-of-work) to find properties within the local LHA rates.                                              report are based at the Centre for Regional Economic
In the vast majority of Broad Rental Market Areas these                                                  and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University. An
have already fallen below the the 30th percentile of                                                     accompanying dataset is available on the scale of the
private market rents in the area. When the LHA system                                                    financial losses and numbers affected for every local
is applied to Housing Benefit for tenants in the social                                                  authority in Britain.

Disabled people’s perspectives on welfare
conditionality
Dr Jenny McNeill reports on two case studies taken                                                       depression for most of her life. She is also a recovering
from interviews carried out as part of the Welfare                                                       alcoholic. University educated, Brenda worked until
Conditionality: Sanctions, Support and Behaviour                                                         10 years ago but has since struggled to find secure
Change study.                                                                                            employment. She became increasingly depressed at
                                                                                                         this and started drinking heavily, which worsened her
Brenda and Steve (not their real names) are among                                                        mental health. When we first interviewed Brenda, she
58 disabled people interviewed as part of our study                                                      was claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA).
conducted with 480 welfare service users. They live in                                                      Brenda had initially felt “excited” about offers of “extra
different locations and have different impairments,                                                      support” to find work. However, this changed when she
but their accounts illustrate the challenges inherent in                                                 was referred to attend the Work Programme (WP), which
claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).                                                         clashed with a referral appointment for specialist drug
   Brenda is 50 years old and owns her own home. She                                                     and alcohol treatment. Although she informed the DWP,
has been diagnosed as bipolar and has suffered from                                                      she was sanctioned for non-attendance, which led to a

                                                                                                                                                                             JULY 2017 |        EVIDENCE - 3
suicide attempt:                                                    medicals ... and it was fine to start off with. Then… I had
      “When I’d had my benefit stopped … that’s when I                 another medical there and they rejected it. They said I
   emailed the adviser, and I basically had been up all                was fit for work... They could not understand that I was
   night, and I’d drunk quite a lot, and I felt suicidal, and          in hospital, and how am I supposed to work when I’m in
   I actually wrote to her and said, ‘I feel suicidal about            hospital? … they still expected that some employer is
   this’, which sounds really extreme, but I just thought I’m          going to employ me while I’m doing that.”
   living in a crazy world where I try and get help and I’m                Like Brenda, Steve described feeling the continual
   punished for trying, and I’m actually going to be more of           threat of being sanctioned: “It’s just they never leave
   a drain on society if I continue to drink and can’t work,           you alone. They’ll try everything. If they don’t get a letter
   whereas if I get help, get sorted, hopefully, I will be able        on time, if they don’t get a phone call, they’ll stop your
   to contribute, be a meaningful member of society.”                  benefit, and it’s wrong.”
      At our second interview, Brenda had been placed                      Steve felt that he was unfairly treated and that there
   in the Work Related Activity Group for ESA and was                  is a lack of appropriate support and empathy within the
   therefore still expected to actively engage with the WP.            current benefit system:
   When we visited Brenda for a third and final interview,                 “That’s what I felt with the DWP. I’m not a person, I’m a
   she still lived with fear of being sanctioned; she describes        number.... I’m not only coping with an illness that affects
   it as like living “on tenterhooks.... I just feel like if I put a   your daily life, but I’m also affected [by] somebody [who]
   foot out of place, the money will be withdrawn”.                    has just clicked a button and just stopped my benefits,
      Steve was living with his parents following a relationship       stopped the bit of income that’s coming in.... It does start
   breakdown. He had worked until two years before,                    to affect, mentally as well.”
   when he sustained an injury requiring multiple surgeries
   that left him unable to work.                                       Welfare Conditionality: Sanctions, Support and
      Steve’s story encapsulates a number of issues that               Behaviour Change is a major five-year programme of
   are common features for many who apply for ESA and                  research, funded by the Economic and Social Research
   undergo the Work Capability Assessment. He describes                Council. www.welfareconditionality.ac.uk
   his frustration at applying for ESA and being rejected,
   even as someone still undergoing hospital treatment:                Full paper by WelCond researchers Dr Jenny McNeill,
      “I had no option but to go to the local jobcentre to try         Universities of Sheffield & York, Dr Lisa Scullion & Katy
   and claim a benefit. They put me on JSA to start off with.          Jones, University of Salford, and Dr Alasdair Stewart,
   Then they said ‘no, we need to make a claim for ESA’... I           University of Glasgow http://www.ingentaconnect.com/
   was on that for a while and then they sent me for some              content/tpp/jpsj/pre-prints/content-ppjpsjd1700008

   In brief
   CaCHE opens                                                         Troubled Families Programme
   A consortium led by Glasgow and Sheffield universities              A paper by Sue Bond-Taylor explores the experiences
   has won a prestigious funding award to set up a new                 of families within the Troubled Families Programme
   housing research centre. The centre, which has funding              in responding to professional concerns about the
   for five years from the ESRC, officially begins work in             condition and maintenance of the family home,
   August.                                                             in People Place and Policy https://extra.shu.ac.uk/
                                                                       ppp-online/domestic-surveillance-and-the-troubled-
   Wales legislation                                                   families-programme-understanding-relationality-and-
   Pete Mackie, Ian Thomas and Jennie Bibbings reflect                 constraint-in-the-homes-of-multiply-disadvantaged-
   on ‘a year of pioneering Welsh legislation in practice’             families/
   in preventing homelessness, in the latest edition of the
   European Journal on Homelessness http://www.feantsa.                Grenfell Tower fire
   org/download/article-4592410342917616893.pdf                        After Grenfell, regulation must not be a dirty
                                                                       word, says Ben Clifford from UCL in a piece for The
   Homelessness event                                                  Conversation                       http://theconversation.com/after-
   Feantsa, the European homelessness organisation,                    g re n f e l l - re g u l a t i o n- mu s t- n o t- b e - a- d i r t y-wo rd-
   is holding its annual conference in Barcelona on 22                 80031?sa=google&sq=housing&sr=6
   September. Details http://www.feantsaresearch.org/en/
   conference-presentations/2017/09/22/12th-european-
   research-conference-on-homelessness?bcParent=760

   Evidence newsletter editor: Dr Janis Bright
   www.hqnetwork.co.uk
   email: evidence@hqnetwork.co.uk
    follow us on twitter @hqn_ltd

EVIDENCE - 4     | JULY 2017
After Grenfell –
what a new regulatory
regime should look like

     Tenants and politicians of all hues are getting angry with us.
     Yes, you can say some of this is wrong and misplaced. But we
     do know only too well that some things have got to change.
     I’m not at all interested in recriminations, I just want to see us
     move quickly to do all we can to stop any more accidents.

     Here’s my six point plan for a new regulatory regime:

     1.   It would cover all rented homes (in the real world private renters and
          social tenants live in the same streets and the same blocks and face
          the same issues)

     2. It would place a duty on leaseholders to co-operate with and pay for
          safety works (it is insane to look at safety only in the rented homes – we
          need to wake up to the fact that the right to buy happened)

     3. Safety would move to the top of the agenda with a new mindset (the
          way in which we relentlessly scan and stress test for financial problems
          should be applied to safety)

     4. It would listen to and act on tenants’ views especially where there
          is a shortage of rented homes and they have no consumer power
          (maximising the use of social media – but recognising the fact that the
          top end of the market sorts itself out so it doesn’t need us)

     5.   It would ensure that a cadre of professionals, such as clerks of works
          and fire risk assessors, are trained and ready to nip problems in the
          bud (these people would have direct access to boards and cabinets)

     6.   It would safeguard the money and look after the interests of lenders –
          but not as a sole or all-consuming duty.

     Alistair McIntosh

                                                                                 JULY 2017 |   9
General election 2017:
     Where do we go from here?
     Mark Lawrence looks back on a tumultuous few weeks for the country - and the housing sector in particular.

                                                            It’s fair to say the 2017 general election didn’t go the way
                                                            many predicted - least of all the Conservative Party.
                                                                Despite the surprising gains from Jeremy Corbyn’s
                                                            Labour, Theresa May and the Tories managed to cling
                                                            on to power but only with the help of the DUP.
                                                                A diminished May returned to Downing Street but the
                                                            question is - for how long? And with Brexit becoming all
                                                            consuming where does that leave housing?
                                                                If the general election result was a disaster for the
                                                            Tories, a genuine tragedy shocked the entire nation six
                                                            days later - and inadvertently bumped housing up the
                                                            political agenda.
                                                                The devastating fire at Grenfell Tower overshadowed
                                                            all other news during some very dark days in June. The
                                                            Prime Minister’s leadership was put to the test, and once
                                                            again it came up short.
                                                                A failure by both national and local government to
                                                            respond promptly and effectively in the immediate
                                                            aftermath of the fire raised question marks about the

     Theresa May                                                 Jeremy Corbyn

10                 | JULY 2017
priority given to the families of the victims and the              with rather than against the sector - Barwell pledged to
hundreds made homeless.                                            review part B of the building regulations, which cover
     It is just one of the many issues surrounding the fire that   fire safety, as part of the process following the Lakanal
will be dissected in the coming months and years, along            House fire. However, despite much lobbying the findings
with the suitability of cladding in tower blocks, building         of the review have never seen the light of day.
regulations and the long-term under-investment in social
housing. The trouble is, we are not likely to get answers
anytime soon.                                                      Running scared?
     The cumulative political effect of the general election
result and the Grenfell tragedy is yet to be seen but there        So what of Barwell’s successor? Alok Sharma is the 15th
is little doubt that the country (and housing especially) is       housing minister since 2000 and an unknown quantity.
currently operating in a policy vacuum.                               Coming from a junior role in the foreign office, the
     A watered down Queen’s Speech focused largely on              Reading West MP has had little to say on housing in the
Brexit while the latest housing minister merry-go-round            past, bar a few brief exchange in the Commons.
over at DCLG saw a complete novice take over the role.                Due to Grenfell, he has been thrown in at the deep
     Not that the government had much choice in                    end since his appointment. Just barely days after being
replacing the previous incumbent Gavin Barwell                     “honoured” to be named the Housing and Planning
who had lost his Croydon Central seat after Labour                 Minister, he was accused of running scared from media
overturned his wafer-thin majority of 165.                         questions about the disaster.
                                                                      And you couldn’t really blame him if he did want to
                                                                   shut himself in a cupboard. He was heckled by local
Hero or villain?                                                   residents when he appeared on Victoria Derbyshire’s
                                                                   radio show two weeks after the fire then mauled by Piers
In the days after the election, fulsome praise was heaped          Morgan in a car crash interview on GMTV witnessed by
on Barwell both by his Conservative colleagues and                 millions. Unsurprisingly, he has also been mocked and
senior housing figures. Widely regarded as one of the              ridiculed on social media.
nicest and most receptive politicians you could wish to               That said, if there is one place the housing minister is
meet, news of his defeat was greeted with some dismay.             guaranteed to get a warm welcome, it’s the Chartered
    Barwell was quickly brought back into the thick of the         Institute of Housing conference. What better opportunity
action, however, when he was appointed Theresa May’s               then for Mr Sharma to put a difficult week behind him
chief of staff following the resignation of her close allies       and get onside the people who really matter?
Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill - who became scapegoats                   Except he pulled out at the last minute, completely
for the Conservatives’ election defeat for their role in           undermining any goodwill the sector may have had
making a hash of the party’s manifesto.                            towards him while at the same time raising serious
    It had been a busy couple of days for Barwell but just         question marks about his ability to do the job.
as it looked like he had managed to claw victory from                 It was the first time in 22 years the housing minister has
the jaws of his election defeat - he too was engulfed in           not addressed the conference, with Local Government
the increasing controversy surrounding the Grenfell fire.          Minister Marcus Jones stepping in to give a 10-minute
    It emerged that during his tenure as housing minister -        speech with no questions from the audience.
where he won plaudits for ‘getting the brief’ and working             Many housing professionals thought the failure to turn

                                                                                                                  continued >>

Gavin Barwell                                                           Alok Sharma

                                                                                                           JULY 2017 |             11
up showed a disrespect to the sector, at the very time        basis of much of what is to come. That said, confirmation
     he should be keeping housing professionals on board.          of the rent settlement for housing associations post-2020
     No matter what happens post-Grenfell, the government          would be a big help.
     desperately needs more homes to be built and it also              The white paper also signalled a possible change
     needs existing homes to be made as safe as possible, as       in approach towards local authority involvement in
     quickly as possible.                                          housebuilding.
                                                                       As Natalie Elphicke, chief executive of the Housing
                                                                   Finance Institute, said at a recent conference
     Arms race                                                     appearance: “It seems as if the mindset on getting
                                                                   local authorities to build again has been successfully
     In the lead up to the election, the main political parties    changed.”
     were involved in some sort of housing supply version              Some councils, such as Stoke on Trent, have already
     of the arms race, where everyone tried to outdo each          met with the DCLG to discuss different ways of using their
     other on how many homes they were going to build.             Housing Revenue Account, including discussing whether
        Labour said 500,000 new social rent homes would be         lifting the borrowing cap will be possible.
     built, with another 500,000 standard homes; the Liberal           As for the private rented sector, the government has
     Democrats promised 300,000 homes of all tenures every         introduced a Bill in the Queen’s Speech to get rid of
     year while the Conservatives said they would build 1.5m       “unfair” letting agent fees.
     homes by 2022.                                                    There was also a commitment to give more stability to
        What was interesting, however, was the unlikely nod        some tenancies in the market, with the minimum being
     the Tories gave to social housing and the role of councils.   raised to three years. However, current plans will only
        “We will never achieve the number of new homes we          apply to new build PRS properties, not existing ones.
     require without the active participation of social and            For the housing sector at large, issues still surround
     municipal housing providers,” their manifesto stated          the continued uncertainty over the future of supported
     before adding: “We will enter into new Council Housing        housing, the Local Housing Allowance Cap and welfare
     Deals with ambitious, pro-development, local authorities      reform.
     to help them build more social housing.”                          The line from Marcus Jones in his short CIH speech on
        However, as always with Conservative promises              “creating a sustainable funding solution for supported
     around affordable housing, there is a caveat: “We will        housing” was met with groans from some in the audience.
     build new fixed-term social houses, which will be sold        Housing providers have worked hard with DCLG to put
     privately after 10 to 15 years with an automatic Right to     offers on the table, but so far no deal has been reached.
     Buy for tenants.”                                                 The sector is also grappling with the introduction of
                                                                   Universal Credit, with latest research from the National
                                                                   Federation of ALMOs and the Association of Retained
     ‘Social housing’ debunked                                     Council Housing finding that 86% of UC claimants living
                                                                   in council properties are in rent arrears.
     Not only that, but the bold use of the term ‘social
     housing’ in the manifesto was quickly debunked. In an
     interview with Inside Housing, Gavin Barwell confirmed        Can DUP help UK with UC?
     that rents would actually be set “at affordable levels”.
         We are also unlikely to see much of a rowback on          With the DUP now directly supporting the government,
     the extension of Right to Buy to housing associations         many in the sector hope they can influence national
     either. This was particularly evident in the hours after      housing policy and reflect what the DUP have done to
     new minister Sharma was announced, with the majority          offset the effects of the new benefits system in Northern
     of responses to his tweet about being housing minister        Ireland.
     focusing on the inaction of his party to enforce the             When Universal Credit is introduced in the province
     policy.                                                       this September, there will be automatic payment of
         It would be a major own goal by the party if they were    rents direct to landlords, and twice-monthly payments
     to abandon their plans, and a line in the manifesto is        to claimants.
     a veiled hint it could still be part of the plans: “We will      CIH Northern Ireland Director, Nicola McCrudden,
     continue to support those who struggle to buy or rent         said the offsetting of the reforms “make a real difference
     a home, including those living in a home owned by a           to people’s lives”.
     housing association.”                                            She added: “A practical way that the party could
         The manifesto also looks to go one step further from      continue to help people at the national level is by
     the Homelessness Reduction Act, passed earlier this           seeking that the Conservative Party reverse its planned
     year, with commitments to halve rough sleeping by 2022        cuts to housing benefit for people living in social housing,
     (which would still be a higher level than in 2010) and        which will apply from April 2019.”
     eradicate it by 2027. But with limited funding in place,         All in all, with limited support from Whitehall, housing
     it looks like a hard ask for meaningful change to take        providers need to find their own solutions to effectively
     place.                                                        serve residents and local communities. Effective
         In truth, few believe there will be a radical approach    partnership working between housing associations,
     to housing policy in the next few years. Sajid Javid has      local authorities and SME builders is regarded as the key
     already said that the Housing White Paper will form the       to success but still doesn’t happen often enough.

12            | JULY 2017
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