The 'bedroom tax' - where is the equality?

As a rule, a household tends to live according to their means, or at least their perception of the resources at their disposal, whether in the social housing sector, private sector, or a home-owner.

If, after being given a three bedroom property, a family decide to fill it with 10 children (and we have seen examples of this in various documentaries recently), so be it. Many families choose to have only one or two children and will consider that they have sufficiently ‘filled’ their three bedroom property.

Unfortunately, due to the message given out by the media, the general public are under the misconception that those renting in the social housing sector have an abundance of spare bedrooms. When I point out to my three bedroom, home-owning friends that if they rented in the social housing sector they and their two same-sex children would be deemed to be under-occupying, the penny drops and the level of UK Government interference in family life is appreciated.

The administrative aspect of what the UK Government are calling ‘under-occupancy’ must now be a logistical administrative nightmare. With concessions being made for children with disabilities, parents with children in the Armed Forces, foster carers and older people, the scale of the administrative task is now surely eroding away any savings which the UK Government maintains might have been made from this reform.

Supporting politicians point to an inequality in the previous system and compare housing benefit under-occupancy regulations with Local Housing Allowance regulations. But the reality is, as many private renters will tell you, they receive an allowance which they can use towards any property they can access. Many private renters can and do find properties larger than their ‘need’ but are still able to cover it with LHA and are therefore able to live according to the means at their disposal. Conversely, in the social sector tenants are subject to a deduction for spare bedrooms, irrespective of where they live.

Now where’s the equality in that?

Clare James
Housing Services Policy Officer

What is regeneration worth and who decides?

Chris Brown, Chief Executive of Igloo Regeneration, considers the central role that local communities play in regeneration and says: 'Regeneration, by definition, will always require money to flow into a neighbourhood from outside. But when money is scarce the difference between successful regeneration and none at all can be the strength of organisation of the local community.'

Read more on CREW Regeneration Wales' website.

'Deep Study' of Tredegar - CREW Regeneration Wales

This is a busy time for CREW Regeneration Wales. We have an active work programme lined up for the next three years, and details of our ongoing work, together with our continually expanding resources, can always be found on our website: www.regenwales.org

Amongst our other work, for each of the next three years we are committed to undertaking a major research project. This year we are undertaking a 'Deep Study' of Tredegar. Our goal is to develop a holistic understanding of Tredegar as an area of significant deprivation. We are also seeking to identify what opportunities exist and what actions need to be taken over the next ten years to create a sustainable community by 2030.

In this initial phase of the project we are establishing partnerships between professionals across the policy fields, and breaking down the silos so that professionals from different areas of public life can work together.  Our Steering Group includes professionals from housing, economic development, transport and health fields, as well as people with particular expertise in community food and energy production, sustainability and community engagement.

We will be posting project updates to our website as we progress, and will also making use of Twitter: @CREWRegenWales.

Dr Mark Lang, Senior Researcher
CREW Regeneration Wales

No place like your own home

Older people tell us they prefer to live independently in their own homes and communities, and we aim to make this a reality for as many as we can. Some important Welsh Government policies have similar ambitions. Together for Health recognises the need to change how NHS services are delivered to an ageing society, providing more preventative services, closer to home. The Social Services and Wellbeing Bill proposes more preventative services and closer working between Health and LAs. There is no doubt that greater integration between health and social care is essential if Wales is to deliver effective services that reduce the impact of high levels of chronic ill-health in an ageing population.

And yet, the role of housing in this is too often forgotten. Good quality, safe, accessible housing is an important part of a more integrated system, and can improve health and social care outcomes, while delivering cost savings. The challenge for housing organisations is to make sure that those who develop policy and commission health and social care services are well informed about the role that housing can play in improving older people's health and producing savings across an increasingly stretched health and social care system.

Some examples... Extra care housing, designed to meet the needs of residents by offering care and support on site and on call, has been shown to improve health and wellbeing for older people, while delivering cost-effective support outside of residential care. Services that improve home energy efficiency and help older people to afford to pay their fuel bills reduce demand by avoiding A&E visits and emergency hospital admissions. Given the scandalous 1,700 annual extra winter deaths, and many thousands more winter admissions, it is crucial that we make clinical commissioners fully aware of the threat of cold homes to our older people. We must also convince them of the return on investment that services like Care & Repair and adaptations can provide. Last year in England saw a huge breakthrough on this front with the Department of Health announcing an additional £40 million for Disabled Facilities Grants. This is a first in terms of significant health investment into housing adaptations. Care & Repair Cymru urges the Welsh Government to take similar steps by diverting relatively small amounts of Health capital funding to the highly successful Rapid Response Adaptations and Independent Living Grant programmes, both of which are more cost effective and quicker than Disabled Facilities Grants.

We also need greater housing input into safe hospital discharge plans. Each local health system should have budgets to allow swift housing adaptations to support recovery and rehabilitation at home, reducing the cost of delayed discharges or readmission. The same is true for the growing number of people with dementia; relying purely on hospital provision to meet their needs is undesirable for those affected and also impossible for the taxpayer. Conversely, greater investment in telehealth, assistive technology and low-level interventions can help people with dementia stay in their own homes in a cost effective way.

The case is clear. Housing needs to be part of an integrated architecture of building healthier communities tailored around someone at home. At a strategic level, housing must be aligned more effectively with health and social care policy. Operationally, housing services, including Care & Repair, must be better networked within local health and social care economies. In this way, we can really begin to plan and deliver the health, social care and support that people aspire to in their own homes and neighbourhoods.

Chris Jones, Chief Executive
Care & Repair Cymru

Constitutions Count!

Recently Community Housing Cymru has been consulting on our corporate plan. One of the most interesting reactions was to our assertion that welfare issues are devolved to the National Assembly, as they are in Northern Ireland. As one member rightly said - it is not CHC’s job to campaign for additional powers for the National Assembly!

However, it is CHC’s job to ensure that housing associations have the best possible regulatory environment. Members are worried about the impact of Welfare Reform, particularly the 'bedroom tax' and the impact of direct payments.

In Northern Ireland, the devolution settlement has allowed the executive to decide that housing benefit can still be paid directly to landlords, the remaining benefits that make up Universal Credit can go to two members of a household, and payments can be made fortnightly rather than monthly. Despite strong opposition from Welsh Government to the Universal Credit system, and the way in which it is being implemented, it has not been able to offer Welsh tenants the same opportunity to protect them from these changes.

Certain pay day lenders are planning to treble their business on the back of Welfare 'Reform' - we need to push for constitutional arrangements that save tenants from the sharks. 

Nick Bennett
CHC Group Chief Executive