“Affordable” rent gives social landlords the financial incentive to evict the bedroom tax tenant
“Have you ever wondered why social landlords have not stood four square behind the social tenant in the bedroom tax? Could it be the governments ‘affordable’ (sic) rent programme gives social landlords a strong financial incentive to evict the bedroom tax tenant?” Joe Halewood explains why social landlords benefit from the bedroom tax but taxpayers don’t.
Bedroom tax for inept ‘social’ landlords is change quickly or die
“…(the) speed of the welfare reforms will see the social housing model I have known for the past 20 years, the model …will disappear because of the inept indifference of the alleged sector and their inability to respond to change and challenge.” Joe Halewood argues that social landlords need to change or die.
Frontline Friday 30th August 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 26th August 2013 - from housing policy and community engagement in health, to the political intentions behind the Government’s Lobbying Bill.
Housing quality and equality
“It might just be that it is impossible for public investment in social housing to keep up with the Joneses, when the Joneses are so much richer than those on low incomes.” Thomas Neumark examines how hard it is to improve the quality of social housing when society is so unequal.
The bedroom tax DHP – the catastrophic and unseen effect on social housing
The myths of the discretionary housing payment, the DHP, has never been fully considered yet it needs to have far more consideration by the tenant, the landlord (social and private) and local councils. To not look at DHPs is a huge mistake for all of these actors or stakeholders. The coalition have been saying to […]
The emerging consensus on private renting
What goes up may come down. Only 10 years ago, the growth of home ownership was believed to be inexorable: people would talk of it reaching 90% of households. But without much advance warning, it peaked in 2003 and has fallen from 71% of households then to 65% now (figures for England). Virtually all net housing growth […]
The Under Occupation Regulations, aka the Bedroom Tax, may result in perfectly good homes being demolished
Housing, it’s a funny old thing. And successive governments have struggled to come up with coherent strategies to deal with the challenges. It all began going horribly wrong with: a fundamental shift in the 1980s away from capital investment, replacing it with increasing revenue support, resulting in the spiraling cost of housing benefit (I have blogged […]
How to get rid of the bedroom tax overnight
The bedroom tax according to the coalition is treating the social tenant the same as the private tenant for housing benefit purposes. So let’s do precisely that and abracadabra the bedroom tax is history! To explain: social landlords simply rent their social properties through their private arms and their private companies as landlords and this […]
Rent is the new grant
At the CIH Conference last week, Housing Minister Mark Prisk said that the new funding settlement for housing would involve ‘something for something’. To get a small slice of the increasingly tiny Government subsidy for new rented homes, providers will have to make a bigger contribution from ‘their’ own resources. Government has been in confusion […]
Frontline Friday 28th June 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 24th June 2013. Let us know which posts we’ve missed and which other bloggers we should be following for next week’s list.
Market rents tell us nothing about what we should do in social housing
It is a common lament on Red Brick that the word ‘subsidised’ appears before the words ‘social housing’ on so many occasions with no explanation or justification or proper comparison with what really happens in the ‘market’ sectors. (See our previous post ‘Who gets subsidised housing?’). It is all part and parcel of a view […]
Increases in council tax and rents arrears, and rises in debt levels, are predictable yet avoidable
News today that council tax arrears are up 45% in a year sends shivers down my spine. 1.48 million homes were in arrears in April compared to 1.02 million a year earlier. Austerity and cuts to council tax benefit are to blame according to some, although the government has pointed out that changes to council […]
You thought the bedroom tax was bad! The much worse benefit cap starts in 4 weeks!!
“It is a stupid and reckless policy based on political dogma with no economic rationale at all.” Joe Halewood explains why the overall benefit cap will actually cost the taxpayer more and should be abandoned.
Bedroom Tax arrears – huge and why social landlords need a major rethink
The bedroom tax is in its 11th week and social housing is already in chaos. It doesn’t augur well for social housing in its entirety and that is not hyperbole or exaggeration. The scale of the non-payment and part-payments of the tenant rent shortfall the bedroom tax creates is giving shockwaves in the boardroom of every […]
Three reasons a freemium model would never work in housing
“…unless the sector actively chooses this conversation then we will ultimately find ourselves losing control of the discussion and having innovation imposed upon us.” Matthew Gardiner considers the objections to housing associations using some of their empty homes to provide a first step for people who are unable to pay.
Rent chaos
If you are lucky enough to become a tenant of a social landlord, what should determine the rent you pay? Should it be a national Government-set formula that takes account of local incomes and property values? Or the cost of providing the home? Or your landlord’s local policy? Or your income? Or what will enable […]
Bedroom tax and the significant ‘tenant power bloc’ that’s forming – landlords and IDS beware!
The level of anger and fight the tenant and activist has put against at the bedroom tax policy has surprised me. Tenants have been mobilised into huge numbers and quickly aided largely by social media. The first indications of non-payment and part-payment of the bedroom tax shortfalls are way above expected with Riverside stating 50% non-payment and […]
Will welfare reform address problems rather than creating greater ones?
This post is not about the pros and cons of welfare reform. I think many of the ambitions behind welfare reform are to be welcomed. Rather, this post looks at the practical implementation of these measures and some unintended consequences. Regarding the Bedroom Tax (I feel I can call it that given that on Monday […]
The benefit cap: the real cost to local authorities
“If the Local Housing Allowance caps of 2012 made preventing homelessness difficult, the Benefit Cap will make it impossible.” Romin Sutherland explains the conflict between two of the Government’s policies - and how it will hurt vulnerable families.
Switching from benefits to building
The welfare reform debate inside the Labour Party appears to have reached a crossroads …again. There are 3 basic positions vying for attention: those that think some cuts and reform are justified because of the deficit; those that think welfare reform is popular with the public therefore Labour should go along with it in order […]