To read the full report, click here.

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Housing in the North, the cross-party group that meets to discuss and advance northern-focussed housing policy in Parliament, came together this week to formally approved the final report of the APPG’s Inquiry into Property Standards in the North’s Private Rented Sector.

Researched and written on behalf of the group by the Northern Housing Consortium, the report – No Home Left Behind – represents 18 months of working in close collaboration with Local Authorities, Housing Associations, Combined Authorities, those representing both tenants and landlords, and third sector organisations.

No Home Left Behind concludes:

• The Private Rented Sector regulatory framework is a comprehensive but complicated mixture of statute and case law that hinders enforcement and allows poor conditions to flourish.
• The ability to identify landlords and poorly conditioned properties are essential to professionalising the sector and should be made central to efforts to reach minimum energy efficiency standards.
• Local Authorities are held back in their ability to effectively use enforcement tools by severe budget constraints. Local enforcement teams should be maintained by properly resourced services with the right level of professionally qualified staff.
• A long-term commitment to regeneration through a Housing Quality Investment Fund would support local collaborative partnership working to drive wider improvements in housing quality across tenures and bring a new focus to raising the standards of the North’s existing stock.

A range of recommendations are made to Government, covering:

• The Regulatory Framework, including a review of current legislation, a national landlord database, and exploring the opportunities to link rental subsidy to property condition.
• Tenant Empowerment, including the immediate introduction of the Renters Reform Bill and abolition of Section 21, and support for the growth of Social/Ethical Lettings Agencies.
• Enforcing Standards, including increased and sustained funding for Local Authorities and greater local control over Selective Licensing.
• Opportunities for the Future Role of the private rented sector, including the transformation of ECO funding to create a local authority led area-based scheme to tackle fuel poverty and the formation of a Housing Quality Investment Fund to level-up housing quality in the North and work towards a green recovery.

Ian Mearns MP, Chair of the APPG Housing in the North, commented:

“With the Inquiry we hoped to gain an understanding of the reasons for continued poor standards in parts of the Private Rented Sector in the North.

“Whilst many PRS tenants live in good quality accommodation, many others do not. And the APPG hopes it has developed a set of practical proposals to ensure the sector is a positive choice and experience for all households.

“We are grateful to all the organisations and individuals who contributed to this timely and important work”

Tracy Harrison, Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium, commented:

“Housing stock in the North is often older, colder, and inefficient to heat. These types of properties form significant parts of the private rented sector and result in very poor conditions for tenants.

“At the same time, diminished resources in local authority enforcement teams, a complex regulatory environment and reluctance from renters to exercise their consumer powers, means Local Authorities are really facing an uphill struggle to try and stay ahead of the worst landlords.

“As Secretariat, the Northern Housing Consortium was delighted to work with, and on behalf of, the APPG for Housing in the North on this final report and suite of recommendations. Thanks must also go to Northern Housing Consortium members whose sizeable evidence and testimonies underpin the strength of this body of work”

To read the full report, click here.

The APPG Housing in the North provides a forum for Parliamentarians to discuss and advance housing and related policy across the three northern regions and seeks to ensure the needs and ambitions of northern communities are addressed in national housing policy development.

As Secretariat, the Northern Housing Consortium supports the APPG in facilitating a work programme that has in recent years concentrated on the regeneration of mixed tenure communities, housing an ageing population, and the impact of poor-quality housing on health and wellbeing.

To receive all the latest information on APPG activities, including future meetings, please visit:

https://www.northern-consortium.org.uk/services/policy/parliament/appg-for-housing-in-the-north/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NHC updates relating to Coronavirus

 

We want to reassure you that the wellbeing of our employees, members and communities is our top priority during the Coronavirus lockdown. We maintain our member-focus, but we have implemented a number of measures to keep our staff and members safe during this time.

All our member services including procurement and events are continuing to operate effectively and as normal but on a remote or virtual basis. All our staff continue to work from home safely where they have been working since the 17th March. We have taken the decision to extend full staff homeworking until at least the end of August 2020, during which time there will be no physical events, no staff travel to member sites, and no office-based working. Our office site at Loftus House is secure and occasional pre-approved individual visits by certain members of staff for business-critical purposes will be allowed.

Following government guidance published on the 11th May 2020 in relation to employer return-to-work considerations following the Covid-19 lockdown, we have produced an NHC Covid-19 risk assessment on the basis of occasional business-critical visits to our office site and a set of protocols to be followed by staff in these circumstances. These protocols have been shared with staff by email and on our intranet. We will be working with our landlord RTC to ensure the safety of those that enter the building and in provision and promotion of frequent handwashing and hygiene practices. There are no circumstances under which we would expect any member of staff to be required to be less than 2 metres from other staff or visitors. We would expect staff time in the office to be minimal and operate on a remote check-in check-out system with line managers. Staff needing to visit the office will be able to access the office by car, foot, or bike and without using public transport. We have provided staff with links to government guidance including the latest guidance on face coverings.

In addition to office hygiene protocols we have also increased our measures to protect the mental health and wellbeing of our staff whilst working from home. As part of this, we are encouraging staff to take their well-earned annual leave during this period, supported by an event and meeting free week during week commencing 24th August 2020. Whilst there will be no engagement activity of any type planned for this particular week, please be assured that we are as busy as ever working with our membership and the sector to identify membership needs and deliver relevant events and services across this difficult period.

 

Our member meetings

All face-to-face meetings are taking place virtually or over the phone.

Our roundtables

Although we’re in uncertain times, we are committed to providing you with opportunities to come together online so we can collectively support each other during this period.

We have already held webinars with the Housing Minister, the CEO of the Regulator of Social Housing and the Housing Ombudsman. Further online roundtables for different staff groups across the membership are being arranged all the time. The best way to keep up-to-date is to subscribe to our newsletter.  A full listing is also available at www.myNHC.org.uk.

Please let us know if there are specific issues we can help with by emailing enquiries@northern-consortium.org.uk and we’ll do our very best to include all suggestions.

 

We have moved our conferences online

Our Resident Involvement and Health and Building Safety conferences, both planned for June, will run online – please book as normal and we’ll keep you updated. We’re planning to run live presentations for 2-3 hours, then follow up with full presentations from all speakers on videos which you can access as and when you want to.

Our flagship Northern Housing Summit will take place on the 3rd November. Whatever stage we find ourselves at by November, this year’s Summit will address the latest challenges, and will help the North’s housing sector prepare for the future, bringing members and industry experts together.

We want to support you through the coming months, so please let us know if there are any specific issues or topics you would like us to feature in our roundtables programme and we’ll be able to respond quickly and do what we do best – connecting our members to share, learn, and lead the way.

For the latest information on any NHC event visit www.mynhc.org.uk.

 

Procurement solutions

• We have been liaising with all our supply partners over recent weeks to ensure we understand any potential disruption to services and will continue to monitor the situation & will give early notice to any members if they are likely to be affected.
• It’s business as usual, so we will still carry out all of our member meetings – we’ll just do it virtually! Your account executive will be in touch with you with details of how to join any upcoming meetings you have arranged.
• We have moved all procurement events online. If you are booked onto one of our upcoming events, we will be in touch with you with details of how to join us virtually.

 

Finance and information for current NHC suppliers

All staff are currently working from home for the foreseeable future and we may also have staff unavailable at short notice.

To help us to be able to pay your invoices as efficiently as possible please could you email invoices rather than sending them through the post. Please send all invoices to finance@northern-consortium.org.uk. This email address is monitored by multiple people so if individuals aren’t available your invoice will still be processed.

Invoices received electronically will be processed promptly and will be paid on the next available payment run. We will not be making any payments by cheque payments at this time.

Hard copy invoices that we received prior to 16th March have been processed as normal, however any hard copy invoices after this date are unlikely to have been received or processed. In this case, if you are unable to send an electronic copy, please contact us at the finance email address, or contact us on 0191 566 1000, in order that we can make alternative arrangements and ensure prompt payment.

We would also appreciate it if remittances advices could be sent to finance@northern-consortium.org.uk.

If you have questions about the payment of your invoices, then please email us and we will respond as soon as we are able.

We know the months ahead are going to be challenging for people and businesses, but we will continue to support our members and do everything we can to continue providing outstanding services and delivering value for money.

Contact details for all of our staff members can be found here.

 

As the parties publish their manifestos, we look at what their pledges mean for the housing sector in the North.

A criticism often made of party pledges is that there is little to distinguish one manifesto from another.  This is not a criticism that holds up this time and with multibillion-pound pledges coming thick and fast and promises of a Green Revolution and Social House Building Revolution, NHC Senior Policy Advisor Karen Brown has looked at the main party manifestos to see where they diverge or converge on housing policies.

Here’s a summary of the key housing pledges in the three main English parties’ manifestos.

Raising Housing Standards

Climate Change

Labour’s manifesto “It’s Time for a Real Change” launches a Green New Deal and, ambitiously, brings forward the target to achieve net-zero emissions within the 2030s with a pledge to deliver nearly 90% of electricity and 50% of heat from renewable and low-carbon sources by 2030.

They aim to introduce a zero-carbon homes standard for all new homes and upgrade almost all the UK’s existing 27 million homes to the highest energy-efficiency standards with the aim of eliminating fuel poverty.  There would be support for the roll out of heat pumps, solar hot water and hydrogen and investment in district heat networks using waste heat.

The Liberal Democrat Party have included an emergency ten-year programme to “reduce energy consumption from all the UK’s buildings, cutting emissions and fuel bills and ending fuel poverty” in their manifesto “Stop Brexit: Build a Brighter Future”.    They would require all new homes to be built to a zero-carbon standard by 2021 and Passivhaus standard by 2025 and would pilot a new subsidised Energy-Saving Homes scheme which would provide free retrofits for low-income homes.   A zero-carbon heat strategy would see the phased installation of heat pumps in homes off the gas grid and they would aim to insulate all of Britain’s homes by 2030.

Funding for this will come from a £5 billion investment for a new Green Investment Bank to use public money to attract private investment for zero-carbon priorities.  They plan to impose a statutory duty on all local authorities to produce a Zero Carbon Strategy.

The Conservative manifesto, ‘Get Brexit Done Unleash Britain’s Potential’ restates the existing target of reaching Net Zero by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions.  This promises to lower energy bills funded through capital investment of a ‘social housing decarbonisation fund’ over the next four years.  Existing pledges include the Future Homes Standard to decarbonise new homes from 2025, but is silent on the retrofitting of existing homes.

Building Safety

A Labour government would introduce a £1 billion Fire Safety Fund to “fit sprinklers and other fire safety measures in all high rise council and housing association tower blocks, enforce the replacement of Grenfell-style cladding, while introducing mandatory building standards and guidance, inspected and enforced by fully trained Fire and Rescue Service fire safety officers.”

The Conservatives had already committed to implementing and legislating for all the recommendations of the Hackitt Review and the first phase of the independent inquiry.  They have pledged to continue the testing process of materials used in cladding.

The Liberal Democrat manifesto is silent on building safety and fire prevention.

Standards in the Private Rented Sector

The Labour leadership is determined to shift power away from landlords to tenants.  Labour plans to introduce rent controls by capping rents with inflation; cities would also be given powers to cap rents further. New open-ended tenancies would provide security and stop ‘no fault’ evictions and new minimum standards would be enforced through nationwide licensing and tougher sanctions on landlords. A renters’ union would be set up across the country to allow renters to “organise and defend their rights.”

Labour would also end discriminatory rules that require landlords to check people’s immigration status or that allow them to exclude people on housing benefit.

Labour backed down on plans to develop a new Right to Buy scheme for private tenants to buy their rented properties from landlords but the manifesto includes powers and funding for councils to buy homes from private landlords.

The Liberal Democrat manifesto pledges mandatory licensing to improve protections against rogue landlords.  It also suggests increasing minimum energy efficiency standards and a new Help to Rent scheme with government-backed tenancy deposit loans for all first-time renters under 30.  Longer tenancies of three years or more “with an inflation-linked annual rent increase built in”  would aim to give tenants security and limit rent hikes.

The Conservatives ‘Better Deal for Renters’ confirms that they are standing by their proposal to abolish ‘no fault’ evictions.  This also includes a proposal to require only one ‘lifetime’ deposit which moves with the tenant. This will go alongside strengthening rights of possession for landlords.

Decent Homes

Under Labour homes would be built to higher standards according to a new Decent Homes programme. Tenants would be empowered to impact the management of social housing and regeneration would be carried out according to their needs.  Labour wants housing associations to be much clearer and closer to their social purpose.

Under Liberal Democrats, standards of social housing would be made clearer and regulations to protect renters would be enforced. They aim to fully recognise tenant panels so that renters have a voice in landlord governance and require complaints to be dealt with in a timely manner.

The Conservative manifesto pledges to bring forward a Social Housing White Paper which will set out measures to empower tenants and support the continued supply of social homes. This will include measures to provide greater redress, better regulation and improve the quality of social housing.

Welfare Reform

Labour will scrap Universal Credit and will design an alternative system including an emergency package of reforms to mitigate some of the worst features of UC while a replacement system is developed.  The benefit cap, bedroom tax and two-child limit would also be scrapped.

Under a new system, plans would be for fortnightly payments as well as paying the housing element directly to landlords. Payments would be split so that women in abusive relationships can still receive the “child element” of the payment.

The Liberal Democrats would reform Universal Credit by reducing the wait for the first payment from five weeks to five days as well as removing the two-child limit, bedroom tax and the benefits cap. Local Housing Allowance would be raised in line with average rents in an area.

The Conservatives will continue the roll-out of Universal Credit, and will end the benefit freeze, while making sure it pays to work more hours.

Capacity of Local Services and Local Powers

Levelling-up across the regions

Labour’s manifesto includes a pledge to “level-up across the country” by ensuring investment is evenly spread across the regions as well as bringing about a “radical decentralisation of power.” This will be supported by the launch of a Local Transformation Fund in each region to fund infrastructure projects.  A National Transformation Fund Unit would be based in the North of England and would provide a regional voice in Whitehall.

They aim to bring services back into the remit of local councils. This would entail making funding for local authorities to be more “reactive” and respond to sharp rises in demand for services. They aim to “rebalance power in the planning system by giving local government greater freedom to set planning fees and by requiring the climate and environmental emergency to be factored into all planning decisions.”

The Liberal Democrat manifesto also plans to give local authorities and regions the powers to make decisions about their areas with a capital £50 billion Regional Rebalancing Programme. They aim to “continue to champion investment in the Northern Powerhouse.”  They pledge to “end the continual erosion of local government funding” and commit to a real increase in local government funding over key levers of economic development such as housing.

The Conservative manifesto continues the commitment made in the last Queen’s Speech for full devolution across England with the publishing of an English Devolution White Paper next year.  Through bodies like the Northern Powerhouse, there will be a drive for greater levels of foreign investment into the UK, promoting towns and cities.  As part of plans for full devolution proposals will be invited from local areas for growth bodies like the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.

Place-making

The Conservative manifesto confirmed its commitment to regenerating towns with the Towns Fund going to an initial 100 towns to improve their local economy.  They have committed to ‘Infrastructure First’ by amending planning rules so that the infrastructure – roads, schools, GP surgeries – comes before people move into new homes and a new £10 billion Single Housing Infrastructure Fund will help deliver it faster.

The Liberal Democrats have committed to reform planning to ensure developers are required to provide essential local infrastructure from affordable homes to schools, surgeries and roads alongside new homes. They will set up a £2 billion Rural Services Fund to enable the co-location of services in local hubs around existing local infrastructure.

Labour would set up a Local Transformation Fund in each English region to be used exclusively to fund infrastructure projects decided at a local level.

Access to Affordable Housing

Labour plans to create a new Department for Housing, make Homes England a more accountable national housing agency and put councils in the driving seat.  They would introduce an English Sovereign Land Trust to be able to buy land cheaper and use this public land for low-cost housing. This would also include new “use it or lose it” taxes on developers for stalled housing developments and make brownfield sites the priority for development while protecting the green belt.

Under Labour the definition of “affordable” would be modified so that it is based on local incomes.

Labour’s planned social housebuilding programme would aim to build more than a million homes over a decade with council housebuilding at the forefront. Their annual target by the end of the next Parliament is 150,000 council and social homes, with 100,000 of these built by councils for social rent in the “biggest council housebuilding programme in more than a generation.” The manifesto confirms these homes would be made available in every area.

Labour plan to build more low-cost homes reserved for first-time buyers in every area and build new discount homes with prices linked to local incomes. Help to Buy would be reformed to focus on first-time buyers on “ordinary” incomes. They also aim to end the sale of new leasehold properties, abolish unfair fees and conditions, and give leaseholders the right to buy their freehold at a price they can afford.

To stop the ‘haemorrhage’ of low-cost homes, they would end the Right to Buy.

The Liberal Democrats have committed to new direct spending on housebuilding to help build 300,000 homes a year by 2024, including 100,000 social homes.  They would devolve full control of Right to Buy to local councils and introduce a new Rent to Own model for social housing where rent payments give tenants an increasing stake in the property, owning it outright after 30 years.

The Conservative manifesto commits to renewing the Affordable Homes Programme, in order to support the delivery of “hundreds of thousands of affordable homes”.

Conservatives continue their progress towards a target of 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s, while continuing to protect the Green Belt.  They have not set a specific social housing target, as the other two parties have done. They also propose to make the planning system simpler and support modern methods of construction.

They offer support particularly for first time buyers with new fixed rate mortgages which reduce the level of deposit required.  They will offer more homes to local families, enabling councils to use developers’ contributions via the planning process to discount homes in perpetuity by a third for local people or key workers.  They have extended the Help to Buy scheme from 2021 to 2023 and will review new ways to support home ownership following its completion.

As already announced, they intend to reform shared ownership, making it fairer and more transparent and will set a single standard for all housing associations.

Leasehold reforms will continue including implementing a ban on the sale of new leasehold homes, restricting ground rents to a peppercorn, and providing necessary mechanisms of redress for tenants.

The manifesto continues the commitment to a Right to Buy for all council tenants and the voluntary Right to Buy scheme agreed with housing associations.

Homelessness

The Labour manifesto plans to end rough sleeping within five years through a national plan by a prime minister-led taskforce. Hostels would be expanded and upgraded with 8,000 additional homes to be made available for people with a history of rough sleeping. It is outlined that Local Housing Allowance would be raised in line with the 30^th percentile of local rents and an additional £1 billion a year would be earmarked for councils’ homelessness services.

They plan to repeal the Vagrancy Act and amend anti-social behaviour legislation to stop the law being used against those who are homeless.

The Liberal Democrat manifesto includes a plan to introduce a “somewhere safe to stay” legal duty to ensure that everyone who is at risk of sleeping rough is provided with emergency accommodation with an assessment of their needs and ensure that local authorities have the resources to deliver the Homelessness Reduction Act as well as providing accommodation for survivors of domestic abuse. They would also scrap the Vagrancy Act.

The Conservatives have already pledged to fully enforce the Homelessness Reduction Act.   They also aim to end rough sleeping by the end of the next Parliament by expanding pilots and programmes such as the Rough Sleeping Initiative and Housing First and working to bring together local services to meet the health and housing needs of people sleeping on the streets.

To sum up…..

All the parties are talking about the need for more housing and it is positive – and a huge change in emphasis since the last election in 2017 – that the need for more social housing is so high on the political agenda.  There is a welcome commitment by the Conservatives to extend the Affordable Homes Programme, but no detail is provided on what this will look like.    Party commitments need to be set in the context of independent assessment that 140,000 additional affordable homes are needed each year in England; of which around 19,000 must be delivered in the North.

All the main parties are talking about regional priorities and Northern issues, with promises to ‘level-up’ the regions, having started as a Conservative pledge, it has now spread to the Labour manifesto.

The Labour Manifesto is the most radical on social housing delivery, standards in the private rented sector, and support for those on low income and benefits.   The Conservative Manifesto confirms a continuation of the policy programme that was underway prior to the election with a focus on new build housing and home ownership.   The Liberal Democrat Manifesto includes ambitions for delivery of social housing funded by investment from a £130 billion capital infrastructure budget.

All parties have targets for net zero carbon emissions from homes.  The ambitions for reducing emissions from houses are challenging and will require investment from an incoming government.  We will look forward to seeing the detail of this and how the housing sector can lead the way on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

With promised investment in public services across the board, this signals an end to a policy of austerity which will be necessary to deliver the council-house building revolution and planning reform which the main parties agree is needed to end the housing crisis.

The NHC will use the election and its aftermath to continue to make the case for housing in the North. Look out for our on-the-day election results briefing on Friday 13^th December.

These are our ‘asks’ to an incoming government:

• Expand the affordable homes programme and ensure it continues to support the North to create great homes and places.
• Enable the North to raise the quality of our existing housing stock through a flexible regeneration fund and target support to housing providers to meet essential net-zero carbon emissions targets.
• Create capacity in our councils to deliver on their housing ambitions.