A call for action!

We have always maintained that the UK Government’s welfare reform programme will have devastating consequences for communities in Wales.

It therefore came as no surprise when a recent Wales Audit Office report published evidence stating that welfare reform is having an adverse and disproportionate effect in Wales. The report found that a greater proportion of Welsh social housing tenants have had their housing benefit reduced than elsewhere in the UK, with 51% of tenants reporting an increase in personal debt. This was backed by evidence from social landlords showing a £5.3m increase in rent arrears in the first six months of the removal of the spare room subsidy and the introduction of the benefit cap.

For some Welsh social housing tenants, the welfare changes will have created a level of hardship and a spiral of social and economic deprivation that will be hard, if not impossible, to break.

This is easier to understand in the context of:

·                     higher (on average) unemployment than anywhere in the UK

·                     a heavy reliance on the public sector as an employer

·                     households paying 5% more for electricity than the rest of UK 

·                     higher rates of digital exclusion than other UK regions - 39% of social housing tenants have no access to PC 

·                     a five-fold increase in the use of foodbanks over the last 2 years – 29.7% by people who had experienced welfare benefit delays

·                     a £4.1m cut in specialist advice services, despite increasing need 

In 2013, the Welsh Affairs Select Committee also published evidence highlighting how the spare room subsidy had been a “policy failure” in the Welsh Valleys where, effectively, a social housing tenant moving to a smaller property in the private rented sector would cost the tax payer more money.  

  

So what are social landlords doing?

60% of Welsh social landlords have reported an increase in management costs as they refocus their resources to manage welfare changes. Most landlords are also prioritising tenants affected by the spare room subsidy to move, more tenant profiling, providing low level money advice and budgeting services, and investing significant amounts of money in awareness raising, and have programmes in place to help tenants back into work. A rise in rent arrears and the increased costs of managing welfare changes still means, however, that Welsh housing associations and local authorities are struggling to find effective and sustainable solutions to the challenges they face.

These challenges will be exacerbated by direct payments and the roll out of Universal Credit unless action is taken now. We need more control over welfare and the flexibility to provide: 

·                     choice to tenants about payment options 

·                     more investment in specialist services such as Your Benefit Are Changing - a service that demonstrates high levels of success in mitigating the worst effects of welfare reform

·                     local solutions tailored to local needs  

CHC and others have been highlighting the negative impact of welfare reform on Wales for some time and we will continue to make the call for a fairer welfare system for Wales to prevent further deprivation. Prevention is always better, and definitely more cost effective, than cure.

Amanda Oliver
Head of Policy and Research

You can read the CHC Group’s response to the report here, and you can read the report itself here

Prepare for the future with Dŵr Cymru

Providing customers with reliable water and waste services is a priority for Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. But expanding our network to support economic development is also an important part of our role.

Welsh Water’s Developer Services team help customers to connect to the network, offering 15 different services which support them through every step of their development.


Connecting with You

In June 2014, we held our first dedicated Housing Association Forum. The prime objective was to receive feedback from customers, which will allow us to improve our services.

Attendees told us that the forum provided an excellent opportunity to engage openly with Welsh Water and said they would like to see further links between Welsh Water and the RSL sector. With support from CHC, we plan to hold additional workshops in the coming months.


Preparing for the Future

We’ve all had challenges to face over the last few years, including the introduction of new legislation, such as mandatory build standards. We need to continue to engage with our customers so that we can meet future challenges together.

Over the next six years, the population of Wales may grow by around 100,000. Preparation is key to being ready to support this growth. Welsh Water plans to increase network capacity to enable us to continue to support development. And we want to engage with you now to ensure that we can continue to support your future projects.

If you have an upcoming project you would like to discuss with us or need advice on your development, call 0800 917 2652 or email developer.services@dwrcymru.com. 

Ian Wyatt, Head of Developer Services
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water

#HousingDay - Sharing your stories

This year's #HousingDay reached a potential audience of seven million people.

#HousingDay is a 24 hour campaign across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media networks. This year’s focus was to promote the creation of new and untold housing stories shared under the #HousingDay hashtag.

The day aimed to tackle negative portrayals of those who live in council, social or affordable housing, as well as those on benefits through programmes like ‘Benefits Street’. #HousingDay 2014 was our chance to challenge these negative perceptions and to present an alternative view of how social housing supports and enables people to fulfil ambitions and transform their lives for the better. We will only be able to compile a compelling housing narrative if we ensure that housing organisations engage with their tenants and customers.

This year’s event received widespread coverage on social media and was backed by celebrities including the Rev Richard Coles, Armando Iannucci and Rufus Hound. It was also supported by MPs such as Brandon Lewis, Emma Reynolds, Natalie Bennett and Tim Farron. Community Housing Cymru, the National Housing Federation, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Federation of ALMOs also backed the campaign.

According to TweetReach, #HousingDay topped 30,000 tweets - averaging 1,248 tweets an hour - with an overall reach of seven million and 6,000 contributions. The results are up significantly on 2013 when there were 10,000 tweets, 2,600 contributors and a reach of 1.8 million.

We also ran a #HousingDay roadshow which was a whistle-stop tour of six housing associations all over the UK in just two days. John Popham, a social media advocate and consultant, visited the six organisations to run a brief session on the importance of storytelling in order to give them the tools to publicise their great stories.

#HousingDay also commissioned ‘outside in’ research on perception by the GB public with Ipsos Mori. This research makes for interesting reading and discussion, and proves that positivity towards the value of social housing is higher than expected in the UK with 61% voting that the negative stereotype of the people that live in social housing is unfair. It also shows that #HousingDay provides an opportunity to facilitate the conversation we need to have with policy makers, the media and the public.

#HousingDay's creator Adrian Capon, who works for Yorkshire Housing, said: “This was a fabulous effort by all those who took part. I really can’t thank you enough for the efforts you have put in. But please, we must keep creating and sharing our tenant stories. We have a long way to go to tackle stigma and to end the housing crisis. The success of this day is totally down to you.”

Following the day, there is a #HousingDay 'best story' competition. We’re appealing to all social landlords, housing professionals and tenants who took part to share their stories with the @HousingDay Twitter handle. The most compelling stories will be used as part of a TV-style documentary. Finally, an impact survey is available to provide your HousingDay feedback on www.surveymonkey.com/s/HousingDayImpact2014.

You can read the full research report here.

Thanks for your support.


Adrian Capon @AdeCapon
Yorkshire Housing

Measuring the economic impact of Welsh housing associations

Since 2008 the big focus has been on the ‘global economic crisis’, the ‘banking crisis’, the ‘Eurozone crisis’ et al and even the latest G20 forum is concerned about the problems and challenges still facing the global economic community. That’s the big picture - a picture of recession, austerity and contraction. But at a local level here in Wales, there are some successes to consider. One of those is highlighted in the Wales Economy Research Unit’s report, at Cardiff University, commissioned by Community Housing Cymru. In the time since ‘the crisis’, housing associations in Wales have added 63,000 new houses – an increase of 66%. Impressive figures, but the story which underpins these figures is important too. And let’s remember that 63,000 buildings of ‘bricks and mortar’ means 63,000 new homes. Homes where people feel safe and secure and can begin to plan their futures with confidence.

Let’s unpack the figures a little more:

In 2013/14, housing associations in Wales spent 91 pence per day for every person in Wales. While that is less than a pint of beer and not even half a large cappuccino, the sector has made that 91 pence go a long way. The money that has been spent directly by Welsh housing associations has generated another 91p per person per day indirectly, because every penny spent is income for somebody else. Housing associations pay a painter to redecorate a house. The painter buys paint and pays wages. The person receiving the wages buys food. This is the multiplier effect, and this year the housing association sector has had a combined economic impact of £2bn, 81% of which has stayed in Wales.

That underpins 8,400 full time equivalent jobs in Wales and a further 12,950 jobs supported in the economy. Looking at Wales as a whole, this equates to almost 1 in 70 people. Therefore 1 in 70 of those employed in Wales have a job that is, in one way or another, supported by the housing association sector. Investment in housing has clear wider benefits, and the challenge for housing associations is to continue to increase that 91p per person per day to build even more homes and create even more jobs across Wales. They seem to be doing a pretty good job.

You can read the WERU report here.


Christopher Parry, Senior Lecturer, Banking & Finance
Cardiff School of Management, Cardiff Metropolitan University

Winter is coming...

Jon Snow knew much of the perils that lurked in the coming winter. With his battle-hardened peers in the Night’s Watch, he could see from the wall, and through forays beyond, the danger that made its home in the cold and ice. But, apart from a bad case of frostbite, what did Jon Snow and those around him suffer as a result of? Well, a lack of shared ownership of the problem, poor collaboration and, as the issues intensified, a failure to use dwindling resources in a different, more efficient way.

You wouldn’t find many of us looking pensively into the distance, muttering 'winter is coming' during August. But, let’s face it, he had the right idea. We should have a joint sense of urgency, readiness and understanding of the challenges unique to this time of year.

Outside the world of  'Game of Thrones', the statistics around fuel poverty and winter deaths are sobering. In 2012, 30% of households in Wales (386,000 households) were estimated to be in fuel poverty. This is the equivalent to 54,000 more households than in 2008. Rising fuel prices have largely been counteracted by the increases in income and energy efficiency savings in the housing stock, and this has led to the increase in the number of fuel poor households.

Fuel poverty is a significant cause of excess winter deaths and, in 2012/13, there were 1,900 excess winter deaths in Wales. This was a 32% fall from the previous winter, which had seen the highest number since 1999/2000, but still above the 10 year average. 89% of these deaths involved people aged 65 or over, with the highest rate amongst those over 85 who constituted nearly 60% of the total.

There is much being done in an attempt to reduce these figures. For example, Care & Repair Cymru works with older people across Wales to support them to live in warm, safe and secure homes. This work is continued throughout the year; however, it is particularly pertinent heading toward the winter months. This year, Care & Repair agencies are offering free winter warm packs, containing a blanket and hot water bottle. These packs help to promote Care & Repair agencies as a service to help older people prepare for and manage safely through the winter.

Housing associations are doing much to offset the impact of fuel poverty, including:

• Improving the energy efficiency of homes through the Welsh Housing Quality Standard and energy programmes such as Arbed
• Helping tenants maximise their income through projects such as the Your Benefits are Changing (YBAC) campaign. YBAC helps tenants to claim benefits they are entitled to. One area of success has been the identification of the Warm Home Discount - YBAC last year successfully assisted over 914 people to claim a rebate which equates to an annual sum of £127,960. 
• Helping to try to negate energy price increases through such actions as behavioural change for energy use. 

Across public services, the impacts of winter are likely to be felt more profoundly in the Welsh NHS. Winter preparedness is a key task for Health Boards, and a hot topic within the media and public sphere. But it’s important, particularly now in the context of prudent healthcare, that we all take responsibility as individuals and organisations to meeting the winter challenge.

In terms of working with housing associations:

• Creating capacity for step down accommodation in Extra Care and Sheltered Housing
• Placing housing professionals within hospital discharge teams to decrease delayed transfer of care
• Working with housing associations to facilitate and coordinate community activity during the winter months
• Partnering to ensure that advice and information is accessible in a range of community settings and media formats. 

Of course, this should all rightly go beyond what we plan as organisations and a mix of services. Last year, Public Health England called for 100,000 people to check on neighbours over the winter months.

We should be using this time to reignite our sense of community, decrease loneliness and isolation during months when these may be felt more profoundly and together contribute to managing the demand on GP or A&E service during these months. Everyone can help, from championing local services, clearing roads, communal snowman building, committing your long term future to the Night’s Watch – it’s the small gestures that will truly make a difference this Christmas. It could put a smile on someone’s face, it could save a life.

Matthew Kennedy
Policy Officer: Care, Support and Health

#HousingDay - Tanya's story

In 2001, Tanya MacGregor was a domestic abuse victim and homeless mother-of three. However, today, she is living proof of how the social housing sector can transform lives for the better.

Tanya has gone full circle from being homeless and in the depths of domestic abuse despair to gaining a degree and winning numerous awards. She is now giving back and providing life-changing help to others via the Your Benefits Are Changing (YBAC) campaign run by Community Housing Cymru (CHC).

She said: “It’s amazing the opportunities that social housing has provided for me and my family. I went from being homeless with a young family to finding my way to getting a home, which in turn allowed me to access services, health, a degree, a job. None of this would have been possible without social housing.

“The effect on my family has been transformational. I now work full time helping others to get their houses in order as a money adviser with YBAC. My eldest son completed a degree, my daughter went to college and now works full time, and my youngest is now doing his GCSEs. I couldn’t have even imagined all this a decade ago.

“Without a home, you can’t get access to anything - you don’t exist. Social housing has given me and my family the chance to lay down roots and better ourselves.

“Social housing is a comfort blanket – it allows people access to affordable rents and the chance to re-train and go out to work. We would not have achieved what we have as a family without social housing; we would have been pushed from pillar to post. Social housing has been our safety net and I hope as many people can benefit from it in the same ways that my family and I have.”

More than a decade ago, the married mother became homeless after deciding she could no longer put up with the beatings she was enduring from her then husband.

Overnight, she went from being a homeowner to homeless, with nothing more than a full carrier bag to her name. With her three young children - aged nine, six and five-months old - she took refuge in a women’s hostel.

Tanya spent a year classed as homeless in the hostel run by Cardiff Women’s Aid and owned by United Welsh. During this time she was able to re-build her confidence and take stock of her situation, all the while making friends with fellow victims of domestic abuse staying at the hostel.

Tanya's time in the hostel also started her journey into adult learning with her undertaking a basic skills and IT course along with a Maths course, initially so that she ‘could help her young son with his homework’.

Shortly afterwards, she joined the Board of Management as a committee member/service user and got involved in a Tenant Empowerment Grant scheme. In doing this, Tanya began her ‘giving back’ - using her own experiences to help others suffering as a result of pre or post domestic abuse issues. The tenant service user group offered friendship, craft and DIY classes. It also gave women mental support and well as technical and practical skills, advice, help and, just like Tanya - hope for the future.

Tanya remained a board member for four years, her own experience being a remedy to help others and herself on the road to recovery.

Tanya and the group’s efforts were praised and the model won an award for Good Practice by the Welsh Assembly.

Around this time, Tanya’s confidence and circumstances had improved greatly. She and her young family were rehoused by Cardiff Council and she enrolled on a Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and Policy Degree at UWIC. During her first day she spotted two other familiar faces in the class. Recalling that time, she said: “Two of my classmates were ladies from the refuge and now they both work in the housing sector, like me.”

On the back of her adult learning success, Tanya won the All Wales Housing Manager Local Council Academic Achievement Award, the 2008 CIH Welsh Student of the Year and the 2008 CIH National Student of the Year Award, which lead to her taking part in the prestigious Tri-Countries Conference in Canada.

In 2008-2009, Tanya worked at Rhondda Housing Association as Tenancy Support Officer. Her housing degree dissertation was about Older People in Extra Care which she did for another housing association - Linc Cymru. The subject theme became particularly poignant in 2009 when Tanya decided to take a break from work to care for her parents who were both suffering with Alzheimer’s disease.

Tanya aged 48, said: “It was a difficult time, but as my dissertation was about the same issues I felt I was equipped to fight for the rights of my parents and sort everything out. I was juggling the care of my parents and the care of my young family.”

In 2010 Tanya decided she wanted to get back into work on a part time basis and gained a six month position with Cadwyn Housing through the job centre scheme, Go Wales, doing admin for the HA Tenant Participation and Financial Inclusion arm.

Tanya said: “I was feeling down about my circumstances with my parents’ illness and going back to work gave me renewed confidence. This was down to the organisation's managers and staff and support for my situation. They had fundraising events for Alzheimer’s society.”

From 2011 until today, Tanya has been employed as one of the YBAC Money Advisors at CHC, set up to help distribute information about Welfare Reform.

Courtesy of CHC, she gained a MA qualification from Staffordshire University.

Tanya completed an evaluation for Rhondda Housing Association on the Financial Inclusion project. Also, as part of YBAC, Tanya has provided advice sessions for a number of housing associations and attended CHC’s YBAC campaigning events on behalf of tenants.

Tanya said: “Housing Associations are not in the business of evicting people so the work I do is helping people to get their house/home finances in order. I know only too well how hard it can be. I’ve been there and the advice I was given was invaluable, so I hope I can repay the favour by helping others.”


Tanya MacGregor
Money Adviser, CHC

#HousingDay - Jemma's story

My name is Jemma Bere and I am a tenant and tenant board member of Wales & West Housing. I work for CREW Regeneration Wales, part of the CHC Group.

In 2001, my mother died in a car accident whilst in Andalucia, Spain. After the funeral in the UK, my brother and sister returned to Spain with their father where they began school. However, their father turned to drink and eventually became unable to care for them and in 2005, I was told that the children had been taken into the care of social services in Almeria. I went to Spain immediately to see them but there was very little I could do. After a couple of months, I received a phone call from the Spanish authorities who told me that unless someone in the family could take on the children, they would have to be put into foster care. They could give me no guarantees that they would be kept together or that I could visit them so I made the decision right there that I would look after them. I was 24 and had just graduated from university.

It took me two years to navigate the bureaucracy and go through the adoption process to get the children to the UK but I was determined and a few key friends and organisations took sympathy to my cause. On the 15th July 2008, I brought the children back to the UK and they were reunited with their nan and brother who they hadn't seen in 7 years. I had no house and no capital, just the conviction that it was the best decision I had ever made. We were given emergency housing at first but were offered a permanent house by Wales & West after a couple of months. I can't describe the feeling of security that that brought to us. Used to being shuffled around, the children only believed that they were here to stay when we got the house and the change in them from that point was amazing to see.

The children spoke little English at first and we lived on benefits whilst we were finding our feet. The rarity of the situation made the application process difficult and we lived on £90 a week child tax credit for the initial 6 months. I learnt to make everything from scratch, even shampoo! It was a hard time but the safety nets afforded to us through social housing and welfare gave us enough security to start to build a life together.

I'm very proud to be living in social housing and a tenant board member of my housing association. I am delighted at the opportunity to give back and help to make a difference in the sector.

I'm supporting Housing Day because it offered me a lifeline when I thought I had none. I don't want to think about where the children and I would have been without the opportunity for a affordable home. As a social housing tenant, I know my rent money goes toward others in need and providing them with the opportunity to build their lives just like it did with me. 

Jemma Bere
Regeneration Officer (CREW Regeneration Wales) and Wales & West Housing tenant

Read more about Jemma's story here.