One year on: assessing the value of the new shared ownership model

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Richard Houghton Director JLL Affordable Housing Valuation – North

A year is an awfully long time in politics.

It was back in September 2021 that the UK government sent shockwaves through the affordable housing sector by revealing a new shared ownership model.

Fast-forward 12 months – and three housing secretaries – and housing associations are dealing with myriad pressures. But what’s been the impact of the shared ownership changes? And how can we value properties under this model?

What’s changed

Many of the changes sought to increase accessibility and flexibility for customers, but have also raised questions about the long-term viability of the model.

To recap, the key changes of note are:

  • the minimum initial equity share is reduced from 25% to 10%
  • there is a 10-year repair warranty during which the shared owner will receive support from their housing provider/landlord to pay for essential repairs
  • a new 1% gradual staircasing model will enable shared owners to buy more shares in smaller instalments over the first 15 years
  • a reduction in minimum larger share purchase from 10% to 5%
  • shared owners will be able to take control of the resales process at an earlier point
  • and, finally, a lease must now be granted with a term of 990 years.

What’s the value impact

So how does this new model impact valuations?

First, we need to consider how we value Shared Ownership as a tenure. Typically, we apply a discounted cashflow approach, with the value derived from two sources: the rental income received from lessees on the RP’s retained element; and capital receipts from lessees when staircasing.

The year one rent is taken as the starting point, with real growth applied, less any non-recoverable costs (there are usually some in practice, despite the wording of leases).

The capital receipts are normally modelled to reflect a cautious profile over the cashflow, currently at 25% initial tranche sales to reflect a sensible average and typical transaction. Separate discount rates are applied for rental income and receipts, whilst benchmarking and sense-checking is undertaken against similar valuations and transactional evidence.

The main risks arising from the changes are as follows:

  • Minimum initial equity sale decrease from 25% to 10% – Reduced first tranche receipt however higher rents (3% of RP retained equity) Potentially reduced covenant strength, with possible increased arrears/bad debts
  • Minimum staircasing tranches reduced from 10% to 1% – Reduced capital receipts and increased admin/ management costs. Potential for a stronger rental profile
  • 10 year landlord repair contributions – New added cost with increased admin/management, additional repairing liability

The changes that have been implemented are clearly weighted towards the lessee, which in itself is no bad thing, given that providing quality housing opportunities across a wide range of tenures is a fundamental objective within the sector.

That said, the newly presented risks and the increased administrative and operational costs will create additional pressures for housing providers delivering new shared ownership homes. As a result of the additional repair cost liability, and the potential to reduce the net rental income position, there will be a need to remodel.

Conversely, where first tranche sales are completed on lower equity shares, the income over the length of a lease could be more valuable, certainly in a market where investment appetite for long-dated, index-linked income remains strong. Despite the negative impacts on value, there are some balancing factors which potentially soften reductions.

Getting the message across

From the Registered Providers themselves, the message has been clear – that the potential for reduced capital receipts on initial and ongoing tranches is perceived negatively, as are the additional repair liabilities. This will require an adjustment to delivery models which may impact land appraisals and, ultimately, business plans. The level of downward pressure on viability and values will however be dependent upon the average position adopted for first tranche sales as well as the staircasing assumptions.

And what about investors? Essentially, the shared ownership tenure offers investors income hedged against inflation, albeit the same risks do present themselves under the new model, with the potential for increased arrears and bad debts, capital receipts from tranche sales reduced, and the increase in management and repair costs.

Despite all these factors, the fundamentals for those interested in the tenure remain intact – an alternative asset class with strong ESG credentials, as well as the possibility of inflation-linked returns and exposure to house price growth. Whilst questions have been raised over the changes, these can all be explicitly modelled and, as a result, market sentiment remains strong with investors undeterred.

JLL has been involved in some of the largest portfolio transactions of shared ownership homes over the last 24 months; what has been clear is that pricing remains strong, and, from conversations across our client base and wider residential market, there is currently no evidence of pricing change in the s.106 market as yet. It is this latter area which is likely to see some price adjustment.

Admittedly, tangible evidence of pricing under the new model is a little way off at present, as stock numbers to date are limited. In the immediate term however, a lack of supply will likely continue to drive demand.

Finally, the lenders within the sector will be discussing the same considerations dominating every other boardroom table; changes to facility cover ratios, and reduced shared ownership proportions permitted within security pools, will be something to keep an eye on.

What impact these changes will have upon those considering home ownership remains an unknown quantity. Will we see lower equity sales and smaller staircasing activity?

Based on recent discussions within the sector, consensus certainly pointed towards the potential for that, depending on the market dynamics in any given location; but in a lot of instances, it is felt that activity from both new and existing lessees, will continue a similar pattern as it always has.

There are many different tangents that can be explored whilst discussing Shared Ownership, with affordability and regional variances just two things that spring to mind. But, whilst it forms part of the government’s delivery strategy, it is important to understand fully how the model can be applied to meet some of our housing needs.

There are no end of headwinds facing the sector at present, and to be perfectly honest, this article was written before the latest maelstrom, but from both a valuation and viability perspective, hopefully the new model in isolation can be considered more of a stiff breeze as opposed to a force 8 gale that has development programmes struggling to stay upright.

Help and advice delivered simply and clearly

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My Advice Gateway is a free resource that helps people quickly find information on claiming benefits, accessing help and support and looking for a job or training opportunities.

Many of our partner schemes have links to the website allowing their customers to access key financial information at a time of rising costs and economic uncertainty.

The website is supported by Locata. It has many links to authoritative advice or the precise application form a customer needs.

One key section sets out the way benefits are currently claimed and paid and explains how universal credit works and all the Government help available under the Cost of Living Support 2022.

Each section has multiple sub-sections to make it easy for the reader to find exactly what they require.

For instance, the Money & Debt section has sub-sections on Banking, Borrowing, Legal Help, Managing Debt, Money & Debt Advice, Mortgages, and Savings.

Each sub-section then has a series of articles providing all the key information in a straightforward manner with links to relevant additional material.

My Advice Gateway also provides a quick way to see what help is available from the charity sector.

Charities play a significant role in many of our essential services such as the health service, community and education, but they also provide free authoritative advice on a wide range of issues, such as providing help and support for the elderly, the disabled, those that are ill and people in need of housing help.

However, the best way to appreciate the free advice on offer is to have a play within the website yourself. Why not check it out by clicking on this link <link to https://myadvicegateway.org/>

If you would like to know more about My Advice Gateway, please email us at enquiries@locata.org.uk

Giving officers on the ground control of their IT systems

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A video showing how the “tasks and questions” procedure can help local authority officers design, build and deliver their own workflows is available by clicking the image.

More and more councils are taking control of their customer facing IT systems and configuring their own workflow processes using Locata’s unique intuitive software.

Local authority officers are encouraged to develop their own tasks within the system to suit the processes that work best in their local area.

This means that councils do not need to compromise on their software system as they cast around to find the approximate “best fit” for their local needs.

Instead, the Locata software can be easily adapted using its unique “task and question” procedure to deliver each local authority’s precise requirements.

Kirsty Farmer, Housing Manager at New Forest DC, has been overseeing the introduction of a new Locata module called Private Sector Housing (PSH) at her council.

“I am not from an IT background and have not configured a system before. However, the tasks and question functionality is very simple to use,” she told Locata’s National Users Group (NUG) earlier this month.

“I have been able to tailor the system to how I want the team to work, rather than the confines of the system dictating the way we work.”

The functionality giving control to users of the Locata system was first developed with a module called HPA2, developed for officers to reflect the new duties placed upon them by the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.

Locata worked with a Development Group formed by practitioners from 27 councils. The officers on the group made it clear during the development of HPA2 that each would need the ability to configure the system slightly differently from each other, based on their own local need.

The resulting homelessness system with its unique “tasks and questions” functionality impressed local authorities across the country and is now used by more than 120 councils.

The platform that HPA2 was built on has now been re-purposed for a series of new modules, including Temporary Accommodation and Rents Accounting, Third Party and Housing Related Support, and Private Sector Housing – each giving officers unique control over their workflows.

“The implementation of the PSH module allowed me to review all of our processes”, Kirsty Farmer told the NUG meeting. “The beauty of the ability to amend the system so freely means I can change processes and fields at any time.

“Previously we would need to instruct our IT department and the software provider, wait a number of weeks and agree a cost to make even the most simple of changes, even if they were possible in the first place.

“With the Locata PSH system I have been able to create multiple case types and add workflows accordingly to manage cases that were often held outside of our previous system.”

Locata is also planning to move its much admired and widely used Choice Based Lettings software over to the new platform to give housing officers even greater control of the way they work as part of a “Complete Lettings Digital Solution”.

To find out how our unique software can benefit your council, please contact Locata at info@locata.org.uk

Rent Caps – What are the Potential Impacts?

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Richard Houghton Director Valuation Advisory – Affordable Housing JLL (richard.houghton@eu.jll.com)

After a long period of guessing and surmising what may unfold, the government finally provided some insight on their directive for rental policy, outlining three options for a social housing rent cap next year. It is certainly not the most welcome news for those pulling together business plans, but at least there is some visibility on what 2023 may hold. The juggling act of meeting operational requirements, high levels of service dependency and the continual pressure to invest in existing stock whilst delivering new developments presents a significant challenge on all fronts.

Over the next few weeks, the government is consulting with the sector on capping social rent rises at either 3%, 5% or 7%. Whilst this intervention aims to protect residents from the current storm of soaring inflation, conversely it removes some of the limited protection available to Registered Providers to counteract the rising service delivery costs. The rent settlement agreed in 2017 reinstated a period of rental growth stability following a period of rent cuts, allowing annual rental increases at a maximum of the consumer price index plus 1%, but with inflation sitting at 10% plus, this could potentially result in 11% rises on current rents.

With the cost of living crisis arguably felt most acutely by our social housing tenants, a delicate balancing act is required to address affordability, but at what cost?

The initial cap suggested by the government would come into effect from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, but the consultation also seeks views on whether to set a limit for 2024-25. The consultation will close on 12 October 2022. Following the consultation, we understand firm direction will be announced later in the year, hopefully providing some time for landlords to factor this into their business plans for April 2023.

Here at JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle), we have been modelling shadow appraisals for some of our existing RP clients to assist with financial planning and stress testing to help inform their boardroom discussions.

When modelling the different rent caps, the assumed level of inflation and its projected impact on net income is fundamental to the outcomes and, to this end, we have adopted Citibank’s recent prediction of 18% UK inflation in early 2023, which we would hope models a very worst-case scenario. Despite some variances depending upon the age of stock, investment programmes and rent levels, our initial projections across mixed tenure social housing stock have generally returned similar results regardless of location. These results are summarised as follows:

 

Indicative Projected EUV-SH Values 1 April 2023

Assumed management cost increase 10%

Assumed repair and maintenance cost inflation: 18%

 Impact on valuations compared with previous April 22 reporting.

 

3% Rent Cap 5% Rent Cap 7% Rent Cap
EUV-SH Apr 23 EUV-SH Apr 23 EUV-SH Apr 23
-6.5 – 7.5% -3.0 -3.5% 0.5 – 1.00%

Whilst we appreciate that such a high level of inflation combined with a rent cap would have a material impact on business plans, based on this analysis, we would suggest that on valuations at least, a rent settlement of between 6.5% and 7% may well mitigate the effect of a potentially high inflation figure of around 18%.

Although we at least have some details to start considering, as ever, there appear to be more questions than answers. However, the JLL team are keen to share views and provide assistance as the sector works through the impact of the rent caps and prepares its response to the consultation, so please do get in touch if you would like to discuss this further.

 

Bolton’s new system linking housing applicants to providers of support

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Bolton Council is the latest local authority to put Locata’s Housing Related Support (HRS) module at the heart of its management of housing support applications.

The system will go live this Friday and will help officers manage a pathway of referrals into accommodation with support or floating support.

Bolton’s new HRS module assists the officer as they manage the applicant through to a provider who will give them the service they need.

It also monitors the applicant’s progress, recording the outcomes of all steps and stages, automatically providing full reporting and other management information direct to the officer.

HRS has an inbuilt “provider” database including details of the services each provide. There is also a custom login portal for third party providers of housing related support services, allowing local authority partners to accept new clients into their services and report on progress.

The system massively reduces the amount of manual information needed to be entered by officers as data is exported between modules with just one click of a button.

The information required by support providers is very similar to that already gathered as part of the homelessness service, so Locata has ensured that the workflows of the HRS module are aligned with that of our homelessness module, HPA2.

This not only makes the transition between products seamless, but officers already using HPA2 require little training on how to use HRS as it has been built on the same system platform.

Locata has also recently released a new feature which enables officers to export fields and questions between modules. This means that when clients are exported from one module to another the information matches in all the relevant fields.

To find out more about our HRS module and HPA2 please email us at enquiries@locata.org.uk

Tough times and trade-offs – Campbell Tickell guest blog

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3%, 5%, 7%, or as you were at CPI +1% – which could mean 12% rent increases for English social housing in 2023. Which is it to be?

Government insists it is an open consultation – but has made its position clear, that it is minded to implement a 5% cap on social housing rents. This would involve scrapping the final two years of the current CPI +1% settlement, and the cap is likely to run for two years. When the cap was last scrapped, in 2015, we were just two years into a 10 year settlement, when government opted to require a 1% per annum cash reduction for four years (which equated to around CPI -3%). So we’ve seen this before.

The difference this time is that the anticipated reduction is not about pursuing a more generalised policy of austerity in public spending, and keeping benefit bills down. This time it’s about recognising the disastrous effects on social housing residents of this year’s colossal hike in costs of living, in particular the effect on fuel bills. Bluntly, people need help.

The question is, what is the wider cost of that help, and are there unintended consequences? Who is to pay in order to keep rents relatively more affordable?

I discussed the position the other day with a senior executive of a substantial housing provider. The organisation had been modelling the potential effect of a 5% cap. They had established this would lead to a reduction of between a quarter and a third in their annual surplus.

Does this matter? Can’t housing providers wear it? For George Osborne’s 2015 four-year rent reduction, it was understood the Department had been consulting and modelling two options: a 1% per annum rent cut in cash terms, and a 2% cut. The conclusion of this was that housing providers could just about weather 1%, but if it went to 2%, that would kill new development stone dead.

This is the problem we face now. The RP sector may be generating several billion pounds of surplus a year. But that doesn’t make it money that is freely available. The surpluses are needed to fund major repairs and reinvestment programmes, and to enable new housing development. For some organisations, their loan covenants – critical to funding new-build schemes – require that they generate surpluses above certain levels on a continuing basis.

Carry through a 5% rent cap for two years, and what can we expect to see? A number of outcomes can be identified:

  • Planned maintenance programmes will be lengthened, and major works will be delayed;
  • Decarbonisation works will be put on hold – and we should remember it has been estimated that it will cost £104bn to achieve net zero across UK social housing by 2050 (if even that deadline is soon enough);
  • New development will fall significantly – and bear in mind that RPs typically provide one-fifth of new supply each year – at a time when homelessness, including street homelessness, is rising;
  • The picture will be especially stark for councils, which lack the reserves that RPs have to draw upon;
  • Many small RPs, especially supported housing providers, will be in danger of becoming unviable – while the number of larger RPs able to bale them out will diminish, leading to a risk of some RPs going bust.

This is not to argue that social housing residents, who are likely to face enormous problems getting by – the stark choice of ‘heat or eat’ – should be expected to wear 12% rent increases next year. It does mean government should look seriously at what funding can be made available to social landlords, to enable them to continue providing good quality homes and support, and develop the new homes the country needs

Campbell Tickell hosts a WhatsApp group of over 220 housing CEOs from across the UK and Ireland. The platform has been alive in recent weeks with contributions from senior leaders – facing that 5% cap – gravely concerned about their ability to access the funds to ensure their homes are safe and fireproof, continue to advance decarbonisation, continue to build to meet housing demand, and indeed continue to keep their organisations viable.

If government is serious about the health, safety and quality of the homes in which social housing residents live, the need to continue towards net zero and eradicate fuel poverty, and the need to develop new homes to meet demand and address homelessness, it has to act.

Different approaches are possible. It could be about grant support to enable social landlords to keep rents low while meeting their safety and new supply expectations – after all, the savings in benefits to the Treasury of lower rents would be considerably more than the combined savings to tenants. It could be via a ‘catch-up’ mechanism, allowing higher rent rises over a five or even 10 year period following the initial two year limitation. And indeed, as Paradigm Housing CEO Matthew Bailes has argued, it could make better sense to fund support via a windfall tax on energy companies than by what is in effect a tax on non-profit social landlords.

Most immediately for the housing sector, responses to the Department’s consultation are needed by Wednesday 12 October. The more informed the responses about the effects on individual organisations, the better.

Greg Campbell is a Partner at Campbell Tickell.

greg.campbell@campbelltickell.com

A 5 Point Plan to a ‘No Regrets’ Net Zero Retrofit Strategy – Sava guest blog

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Developing a Net Zero retrofit strategy without regret.

All straightforward in the world of sound-byte isn’t it. ‘No Regrets’, ‘Fabric First’, ‘Worst First’ and so on.

Then we have the reality of taking a critical view of our housing stock, often with a limited dataset and out-of-date information which is held in multiple locations with duplication and cloning thrown into the mix.

The social housing sector are committed to the notion of hitting a minimum EPC band C by 2030 and then to achieve Net Zero by 2050. This in itself can make a ‘No Regrets’ approach a difficult proposition because the measurement of an EPC band and of carbon impact are fundamentally different.

We need to think about the band C target as a milestone to be reached by 2030 as a part of the longer-term journey towards Net Zero. This will change the way we plan our improvement strategy.

In simple terms, design our retrofit improvement planning for Net Zero and work backwards. This gives us the visibility of where we want our homes to be and what they will look like and will better inform the decisions we make today around improvements.

An example might be that if we were designing a Net Zero home and looking to insulate the loft, we may decide upon installing 450mm of loft insulation, whereas if we were planning to get a property to an EPC band C we might be recommending 250mm of loft insulation. If we know that we will eventually need 450mm, then installing that measure prior to 2030 not only supports our band C targets but also saves future duplication of time, effort, and money further down the line.

Getting hold of the data to inform our decision making.

This is all much easier to plan if we have a quality assured data profile of our whole stock – which, in reality, most housing providers don’t currently hold. The best investment over the next 12 months and beyond is on data acquisition.

There are multiple sources from which we could source a sufficient dataset to return an energy rating and carbon score.

Whether housing providers conduct this work internally with data analysts or work with organisations who provide this expertise, it is time well spent to end up with 100% of stock providing an energy rating. This will allow us to ask questions of that dataset, such as ‘What does a retrofit plan look like for each of these homes and how much will it cost?’

This starts to build confidence in not only what our homes will need to look like but also informs our skills needs internally. If for instance, it looks like we are going to have 3,000 air source heat pumps installed across specific stock over the next 20 years, where are the engineering skills to support this? Do frontline staff need to have appreciation training on some of these technologies, ought we be starting to inform tenants on the future of housing and how heat pumps work? It’s all hugely valuable insight for how we map out the future shape of our organisations.

We are then able to do financial cross checking, such as what would the financial impact be over the next 20 years if I don’t even consider low temperature, low carbon technology for at least the next 10 years? Is this an achievable strategy? Once you start asking these questions of your energy analytics software and internal expertise you can then work towards a Net Zero improvement plan that you can stand by.

Even where we are applying for funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and have specific heat demand targets to meet and particular property types to target, it still shouldn’t stop us making sure that we are considering a ‘No Regrets’ approach before we submit the bid. Knowing what we want the property to eventually look like will assist in a stronger bid application and will stand the property in better stead for its next phase of improvement.

A 5 Point Plan to a No Regrets Net Zero Retrofit Strategy

If you are yet to embark on the Net Zero journey, the 5-point-plan below is a good place to start:

  1. A dataset for 100% of your stock that returns an energy rating. It’s a tough job but it’s an essential investment. Whether this is an internal project, or you work with a specialist organisation like Sava, it should be the first piece of work you undertake.
  1. A single version of the truth. If you use an asset management system, work to integrate your newly cleansed dataset into your asset database. It means that every time you make any property improvement in the future, it will inform your energy data and will recalculate your energy rating accordingly.
  1. Net Zero is our target, band C is just part of the journey. Build an improvement strategy that visualises the future of your stock and work back towards an incremental improvement plan that is costed out, achievable and avoids the ‘regrets’ of duplicated effort.
  1. Invest in specialist analytics software. Invest in a powerful calculation engine that runs your improvement planning software and helps map out and inform your retrofit journey – such as Sava Intelligent Energy.
  1. Knowledge is power. Low carbon technology is inevitable. Speak to manufacturers, attend training sessions, consider having some of your team attend retrofit co-ordinator training. Start to think about how you help educate tenants. They will need to understand this new technology to ensure they do not fear it.

Here at Sava, we provide free technical webinars specifically designed to improve your knowledge of energy analysis and maximise the value you get from your property data. You can view our upcoming webinars here: https://sava.co.uk/software/technical-webinars/.

Please feel free to get in touch with us at technology@sava.co.uk to find out how we can help you to develop your Net Zero retrofit strategy through our software and consultancy solutions.

Locata guest blog – Turning the TAP on for greater temporary accommodation efficiency

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A screenshot of the TAP dashboard within the HPA2 system

Increasing numbers of councils have been signing up for Locata’s TA – Plus (TAP) which gives officers far greater options managing Temporary Accommodation.

TAP is a “bolt-on” to the HPA2 module (Locata’s homelessness system) and provides an expandable workflow platform for Tenancies and Properties that can be easily customised.

This means that a local authority that has purchased the bolt-on can configure their own management functions, such as compliance certification, within their own system.

TAP also provides HPA2 users with:

  • The ability to schedule credits and debits against an account at the required frequency e.g. daily, weekly
  • A Property Journal for storage of compliance information such as Gas Safety Certificate, EPCs and so on
  • The ability to create communications templates specifically for Properties and Tenancies, automatically populating with the relevant Property and Tenancy fields.

“We’ve found that TAP has helped us manage our temporary accommodation much more efficiently,” said Richard Fowler, Business Systems Officer at North Devon Council, which was one of the early adopters of the bolt-on.

“We like the dedicated workload dashboard and the fact that tasks for property and tenancy records are totally configurable,” he added. “It can also be used to record inspection outcomes”.

“We believe we now store TA information in the most relevant place and can record and better report on our void/tenancy inspections as well as monitoring repairs against property records.  And the repeatable tasks come into their own when setting up adhoc inspections and repairs.”

TAP was originally called “Enhanced TA”, but the name did not reflect the extra functionality it brings as a bolt-on (or add-on) to the HPA2 module.

Current users of TAP will be interested to note that we have recently created the ability to add both Client and Property elements into the Tenancy workflow.

This allows certain relevant information to be carried through from one tenancy to another.

To find out more about our HPA2 module and TAP please email us at enquiries@locata.org.uk

World-renowned artist officially opens Teesside autistic school

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The ‘Welcome to My World’ painting which was unveiled by Mackenzie Thorpe during the official opening of the Mackenzie Thorpe Centre.

Children and staff from a school for autistic children in Middlesbrough celebrated the official opening of the school recently to coincide with World Autism Acceptance Week.

 The Mackenzie Thorpe Centre is the North East Autism Society’s (NEAS) newest school at South Bank and provides care and support for up to 30 children aged 5 to 19.

The school opened its doors in September 2020 and welcomed its first cohort of students but due to Covid and lockdowns, NEAS, in partnership with Redcar Borough Council, decided to wait until restrictions eased before organising an official opening.

World-renowned artist Mackenzie Thorpe, who the school is named after and is also a proud patron of NEAS, officially opened the school in front of children, parents, staff and other special guests.

Mackenzie Thorpe, originally from Middlesbrough, is renowned for his art in galleries all over the world, unveiled a special piece commissioned especially for the opening entitled, ‘Welcome to My World’. The painting, which features the famous Transporter Bridge, will be displayed in the school and children also got involved by burying a time capsule in the school grounds which included face masks and hand sanitizer so those digging it up in years to come will learn about what it was like to live in 2022.

Lawyers from Ward Hadaway’s Built Environment Team facilitated a five-year lease for NEAS from Redcar Borough Council, who has also made a significant capital investment into the school.

The Mackenzie Thorpe Centre is the latest transaction Ward Hadaway has delivered for client NEAS. The completion follows the repurposing of Kiora Hall – a historic Edwardian Building on Ragpath Lane in Norton last year. This transaction included facilitating a 25-year lease with Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council.

Katy Milner, Managing Associate in Ward Hadaway’s Built Environment Team in Newcastle, said: “I was delighted to have been invited to attend the official opening of this wonderful new school and to meet the incredible children and staff and celebrate their achievements over the last twelve months.

“It was disappointing that Covid prevented the school from an official opening back in 2020, but having the inspiring and talented Mackenzie Thorpe to carry out the official honours, listening to his touching address and seeing the smiles on everybody’s faces made it all worthwhile.

“I am delighted that Ward Hadaway was able to play a big role in supporting NEAS to secure the lease on this building and help them achieve their vision. I wish them every success for the future and look forward to working with them on more exciting projects.”

John Phillipson, Chief Executive of NEAS, said: “In less than two years we have been able to open two schools on Teesside, which will go a long way in supporting families of autistic children and young people – although there is still more to be done to make education more accessible for neurodivergent children across the region.

“The official opening of the Mackenzie Thorpe Centre not only gave us a chance to celebrate our new school, but also to thank our partners, including Ward Hadaway, whose support and expertise is essential to the development and success of new services.”

Keeping homelessness officers up to speed with HPA2

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Locata’s homelessness system is now being used by more than 115 local authorities across the country.

The HPA2 system was launched in 2018 to help officers with their new duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.

The system was essentially an upgrade to Locata’s existing Homelessness Prevention and Advice software that had been built 10 years previously with the help and support of several local authorities.

One of the reasons so many homelessness teams use HPA2 is the speed and precision of updates to the system, often driven by new requirements from the Government.

For instance, in February we upgraded every HPA2 system with new functionality to help with the Rough Sleeper Initiative.

This update was free and allows each council to send live data to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (D-LUHC) through the DELTA system about rough sleeping in their area.

It also means that HPA2 users can report, monitor and deliver effective casework on rough sleeping by using the pre-built tasks and questions in the system.

We have also recently rolled out a small set of new features to HPA2 to help homelessness officers capture information about Ukrainian nationals.

This is on top of a recent update to ensure good data gathering and integrity across cases where vulnerable people have support needs as well as a complete revision of all the 155 homelessness template letters in the system informed by changes in caselaw since 2018.

This ties into new work we are undertaking to tailor a series of training courses that will give advice and support to homelessness officers, designed to cover the homelessness process and any legal aspects of case management. Underpinning the courses will be a quiz on all aspects of the duties required of homelessness officers that will be easy to use and fun to engage with.

There is a series of videos showing how HPA2 works, if you would like to know more. Simply follow this link.

Alternatively, please contact us by email at this address enquiries@locata.org.uk