RSLs as place makers

The Royal Society of Architecture Wales conference I attended recently on 'The place of home' inspired me to write this blog post. For me, the conference raised a key question: How do you define a home? In the sector we often refer to creating 'homes' instead of 'houses', but what is the difference?

In my opinion, the word 'housing' denotes a physical structure or a 'unit' as the development industry would say. Comparably, the word ‘home’ is a word with deeper meaning. The perception of the word ‘home’ depends on the individual and their experiences but will often resonate feelings such as security, happiness, freedom and comfort. It may refer to a residence or a place such as the community or the city you live in.

So how do RSLs create the ‘place of home’?

No longer are RSLs considered as just affordable housing providers. The 2013 Welsh Economic Research Unit report highlights this by showing that in addition to new build development, maintenance and renovations, RSLs spent approximately £509m during 2012/13 on community regeneration initiatives. In this year’s WERU report, we wanted to highlight the types of community regeneration that this includes which cover areas such as financial inclusion, skills and employment, tenant engagement, food poverty, energy efficiency, open space improvements, social enterprise, digital inclusion… the list goes on.

What all these areas of work have in common is the fundamental principle of supporting deprived people to help them to reach their potential and have a place they can call home. Supporting both place and people through these initiatives ultimately contributes towards the thriving of communities, empowering those who live within them. RSLs are place makers in this sense, contributing to both the physical and social regeneration of the most deprived communities across Wales.

The WERU infographic summarises the findings of the report and you can view the full report on CHC's website.

Hayley MacNamara
Regeneration Officer, CHC and CREW Regeneration Wales

'Bedroom tax' will mean 1,000 fewer affordable homes. Devolve welfare to Wales!

The moral and ethical arguments against the ‘bedroom tax’ have always been weak. While ideology may lead you to divide between the ‘deserving’ and the ‘undeserving’ poor, ideology cannot deny the evidence, and it is ultimately evidence which should dictate government policy.

Since the ‘bedroom tax’ was introduced just over six months ago, we see a double whammy affecting the housing supply crisis. Arrears from the ‘bedroom tax’ have exceeded £1m and a rise in the number of void properties has meant that over 700 homes in the sector are empty. Just 3% of the 22,000 housing association tenants affected have been successfully downsized. We have always argued that there are simply not enough one and two bed properties to move people to. With an estimated 90,000 on social housing waiting lists, how can we justify a policy that sees Wales losing out on 1,000 affordable homes?

Of course, the effect on housing associations is only half the story. Tenants are already struggling to afford the basics, the use of food banks is increasing, energy companies are increasing their prices and we are seeing a surge in the use of high interest lenders and loan sharks. Some payday lenders are reported to be planning to treble their business on the back of so-called welfare 'reform’, people are being pushed further into poverty and the threat of losing their home is very real.

Landlords are faced with tough choices. We note what’s been happening around Wales with various protests, often the landlord getting the blame. Tenant groups and some politicians have campaigned for a ‘no bedroom tax evictions’ policy, but landlords can’t continue to subsidise the extra costs brought about by welfare reform which would impact on the potential reduction in services for other tenants who pay their rent.

This divisive measure threatens social justice and cohesion, turning tenant against tenant, tenant against landlord and vice versa. We need to stand back and realise that the only solution is to take power closer to the people.

As a sector we have been doing all we can to mitigate against the reforms. We’ve launched the ‘Your Benefits Are Changing’ campaign to raise awareness and have set up an advice line to provide free independent advice to those affected. We’ve also supported the expansion of Moneyline Cymru, a not for profit organisation set up and part funded by Welsh housing associations for people largely ignored by mainstream lenders. Moneyline Cymru branches have issued over 13,000 loans to the value of more than £6m since it was set up in 2009. Customers are also encouraged to open a savings account with nearly a third opting to do so, collectively saving a total of £900k.

Last week the Labour Party tabled a motion in the House of Commons to repel the ‘bedroom tax’, and the vote was lost by only 26 votes. So if robust statistical evidence which shows that this policy is failing is not enough for the UK Government to axe this pernicious policy, what can we do? The solution is for Welfare Reform to be devolved to Wales.

In an asymmetric union, we can now look to Northern Ireland and see them use their powers in welfare policy to do something different. They have legislated to stop the ‘bedroom tax’ affecting existing tenants. Like Wales, it is affected to a far greater degree than England and Scotland, but their devolution settlement has allowed them to protect the people of Northern Ireland from the policy, and also to adapt the upcoming changes to Universal Credit and Direct Payments to fit the needs of Northern Irish tenants. With the Silk Commission due to report on further powers for the Assembly in the New Year, what chance they listen to CHC’s recommendation that Wales is given parity with Northern Ireland on welfare powers?


Nick Bennett
Group Chief Executive, CHC Group


You can read the full press release on CHC's 'bedroom tax' research here.

Working with the Young Foundation's Accelerator Programme

 “Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it.”

                                                                 John D Rockefeller

Is there an advice or support agency out there who doesn’t agree with this sentiment? It has long been acknowledged that an environment which fosters co-dependency is counter-productive, both for the service user and service provider, whose resources are invariably becoming ever scarcer.

This is mirrored in the relationship between service provider and funding organisation. Gone are the days when advice providers, or any third sector organisation for that matter, can expect indefinite hand-outs from funding bodies. Everyone is being asked to do more for less and with the increase in the number of social enterprises; the expectation is that most organisations will eventually be able to 'wash their own face'.  

This was the situation CHC’s money advice service, the Your Benefits are Changing (YBAC) team, found itself in as we moved far too quickly towards the end of the 3 year funding allocation we had received from the Big Lottery (Thanks BIG!). YBAC is an awareness raising campaign. We aim to raise awareness of changes impacting on the most vulnerable in our communities and offer practical, workable solutions and advice. The YBAC team has spoken to over 4,000 people at community events this year. 

Luckily for us, the Young Foundation happened to be in town and a couple of months ago we found out that, along with 8 other projects, we had been chosen to take part in the Young Foundation’s first Welsh Accelerator programme.  

Every couple of weeks, the projects meet up with experts brought in by the Young Foundation for an intensive two days. We are all at different stages of development but everyone seems to agree on one thing: we know our customers well.  

Nevertheless, the tools which have been bestowed upon us by the Young Foundation have allowed us to look at YBAC under the microscope and spot the gaps in our business plan. And access to people who make funding decisions in their daily work allowed us to ponder on some of those really difficult questions. 

We are just about to reach the half way mark in the process, at which point we can expect to hear news of which mentor we have been matched with.  This is particularly exciting for me as it is the bit I have been looking forward to the most.

But what does this mean for YBAC? It means that by January we will have a water-tight business plan with which to approach funders. It means that we will have skills and expertise at our disposal to develop our products which will make us more attractive to funders – funders who ultimately want to know that we have put measures in place to enable us to become a self-sustaining enterprise, and eventually independent of their charity.  

To date the YBAC team has:

• Advised 3,625 customers

• Helped 740 people in fuel poverty to claim £105,000 via the Warm Home Discount scheme

• Helped people manage over £1.2m of debt

• Identified over £1.3m of unclaimed welfare benefits

• Identified £1.6m of water debt, reducing annual billing for 360 people by over £100k per annum and giving 600 people the opportunity to write-off £800,000

• Identified 216 appropriate trust funds to help people find grants suitable for their need

If you would like to know more about the work Your Benefits are Changing is doing with the Young Foundation, contact clare-james@chcymru.org.uk


Clare James
Housing Services Policy Officer, CHC

Tackling the pay day lenders

Bethan Jenkins explains why she is introducing legislation in the Senedd tomorrow to help people facing bad debt...

It was around a year ago that I first wrote to Bridgend County Borough Council, asking it to block access to payday loan sites from its public library computers. I was told that this was nigh-on impossible to achieve – which was not encouraging, particularly since other local authorities such as Dundee have already done it.
Meanwhile, the present economic situation continues to push people on low incomes into debt they cannot afford from lenders who demand sky-high rates and use harassing methods to get their money back.

I become more and more concerned every time I hear of a constituent who has been through this process – especially when the reasons for going to a payday lender is to borrow for precious things, like children’s Christmas presents.

The extent of these problems is shown by the number of people with financial difficulties who are seeking help from Citizens Advice Cymru. Of those who approached it between April 2012 and March this year, 84 per cent had financial capability issues. Of these, 74 per cent continue to receive support.

How can people work and spend their income in the local economy if they are doomed to spend years repaying a company whose profits are most likely off-shored? Money management is likely to become a greater issue for those out of work as well, with the advent of Universal Credit and its switch to monthly payments. These will require a culture change for generations used to managing finances on a weekly basis.

Legislation I am proposing on the floor of the Senedd tomorrow will give people the tools to turn their lives around. Aimed at helping them to make more informed choices about their finances, my Financial Education and Inclusion Bill is divided into two areas:

• Promotion of financial education to help future generations manage their money.
• Providing greater powers for local authorities to promote financial inclusion – to help people with their current debt problems.

At the heart of the Bill is a statutory duty placed on local authorities to promote financial inclusion. Statutory duties have come in for a fair bit of criticism in recent times. It has been said that they achieve little and are too open to abuse. But you can argue that about pretty much any poorly written piece of legislation or regulation. Provided we have in place the means to measure outcomes, I believe this could encourage local authorities to think outside the box at a time when finances threaten successful service delivery.

Properly implemented, the proposals in the Bill will produce a greater co-ordination of services resulting in:

•  One-stop internet shops that can provide visitors with the help they need – the Bill prevents local authorities from charging for internet access.
• Promotion of the Money Advice Service’s excellent tools and resources.
• Local authorities collaborating to produce an awareness campaign for Money Made Clear and for Welsh credit unions.

The Bill’s proposals have been welcomed by a range of organisations, including Community Housing Cymru, Swansea Council, Consumer Futures, Action for Children, Age Cymru, and Shelter Cymru. Individuals who are supporting the Bill include the Welsh Financial Inclusion Champion, and Martin Lewis, creator of MoneySavingExpert, who has run a long and high profile campaign to have financial education included in the curriculum in England.

It is encouraging that the Welsh Government has already taken steps in this area, particularly in financial education. However, poverty Minister Jeff Cuthbert recently told the Western Mail that 'more needs to be done' on combatting payday lenders, while Education Minister Huw Lewis recently told me in the Senedd that there was 'room for improvement' in financial education.

If my colleagues give me leave to take my Financial Education and Inclusion Bill forward I am sure we will be able to improve its proposals. AMs from all four parties have spoken with great concern on this issue. If we work together I believe we can produce legislation that will bring significant improvements in people’s lives. Indeed, the Bill is a great example of what the Assembly was created to do – to move decision making closer to the people it affects and, in this instance, giving them a better life away from bad debt.
 

Bethan Jenkins AM 

You can read the relevant press release on CHC's website. 

A day in the life of Moneyline Cymru

I’m afraid I am going to start with the C word. It is October, Christmas is fast approaching and Moneyline customers are getting ready for it. Quarterly savings account statements have just been sent out, so the Moneyline office is seeing a stream of customers coming in to withdraw their savings with most looking forward to starting their Christmas shopping.

People are also coming in to ask about how to get a loan. A loan is only approved after checking a customer’s identification and income & expenditure to see if a loan is affordable. It then takes 3-4 days for the money to reach their bank account. However, Moneyline doesn’t just offer loans and savings. When looking at an application, the loan officers also assess whether a Money Adviser could help. For example, they can see if benefits are not being paid that a customer may be entitled to, if they would be eligible for utility discount schemes or if they are making payments to creditors and have debts. For these and many other reasons, customers are referred to the in house Your Benefits Are Changing Money Adviser for free and independent money advice. This helps customers in so many ways.

One customer rang today to say thank you because a loan officer  spotted that she would be eligible for a discount on her water bill and that she wasn’t receiving Tax Credits. After talking to the Money Adviser it was confirmed that she was eligible and she was helped to apply.  She is now £60 per week better off by claiming Tax Credits, is saving on her water bills through Welsh Water Assist and will receive £135 via the Warm Home Discount in the New Year. This has made a massive difference to her and, through coming in for a loan, she has actually found herself financially better off.

Moneyline Cwmbran has been nominated for a ‘Torfaen’s Most Recommended’ award and customers are completing voting forms with lovely comments such as ‘friendly staff'; ‘non judgemental'; ‘love that you can get money advice as well’; ‘ you really help people’.

Our office is in the middle of the town centre, so customers can easily pop in to ask questions or just say hello, and this certainly adds to the good relationships we have with customers. Today one customer popped in to introduce us to her new baby – cue oohing and ahhing all round in an office of mums.

As the Money Adviser, my day today has included appointments for debt advice, a telephone enquiry for a benefit check, processing applications for Welsh Water Assist and Customer Assistance Fund, an application for Discretionary Housing Payment  for someone affected by the 'bedroom tax', talking to customers about Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment, and searching for grants (it’s amazing how excited I got at seeing ‘army pension’ on an income sheet at the thought of the grant options I could look into for this particular client). And, on a personal level, thinking about how unprepared I am for the C word compared to our customers.

Your Benefits Are Changing is a Community Housing Cymru project and is funded by the Big Lottery.

Kath Hopkins

Money Adviser

Innovate, collaborate or die

The Young Foundation have been in Llandrindod Wells at Community Housing Cymru's One Big Housing UnConference. Whilst we are only part way through the 2 day event, there are already some interesting, exciting and rather worrying topics being debated (or not). Tony Colville, Senior Associate at the Young Foundation and our current lead in Wales, presents his thoughts so far.

It’s fair to say that the last 6 months of the Young Foundation’s exploration of the work carried out by housing associations in Wales has only filled us with hope, excitement and a desire to show our English partners how innovative you can be if you just think differently!

Yesterday was the first opportunity we had to speak with, hear from and engage with a broader range of housing associations and issues from across the sector. Along with my two colleagues, I’ve held some great conversations around the challenges of affordable and accessible community credit, the scaling up of time-credit schemes (see Spice for more information), and how you make best use of an umbrella organisation like Community Housing Cymru to collectively challenge the policies of Westminster that simply don’t work for rural communities here in Wales. I’ve had 7 organisations instantly book in follow up meetings to turn these conversations into ideas we can act on. But for every great conversation, I’ve had either an equally bad conversation or a conversation where the desire to challenge or push for innovation was simply non-existent. This is something we should all be concerned about.

The most frustrating parts of the day for me have been occasions in the discussion rooms where statements made or questions asked have received either flat responses or no response at all. I know there are innovative people at this event with ideas, expertise and passion. I have heard and seen first-hand some of the great ideas being developed. So why so little push for innovation, collaboration or challenge throughout today? Are we just being over-polite and not wanting to talk about the elephant in the room or is there a much bigger problem on the horizon?

Here are three big issues and my thoughts on how we ALL address them:

Challenge: How many statements have you heard today that you don’t agree with? How many questions have been asked that you think are just totally missing the point? Speak up, put your ideas and challenges out there. Through challenge we can start to innovate and build stronger alliances on issues we are passionate about. Use your umbrella body!

Personality: I’ve come across some fantastic personalities in my time here in Wales and the majority of them in the housing sector! If we are going to face a tough ride in the next few years then bring those personalities to the forefront of what you do and how you present it. Bring some energy to what you are doing and provoke, invite and engage us to agree, disagree and collaborate on the answers. I personally want to see more of the great private 1 to 1 conversations I’ve been having with you all shared in a bigger audience (you know who you are!)

Collaborate: The time of big building programmes is over. The time of large funds for social programmes is over. The time of not collaborating and working in silos is over. Start talking about your passions, your shared visions, your resource gaps, the things you have done that have worked, common geographies etc. and turn that talking into genuine collaboration. It shouldn’t be about competing for funding – it should be about maximising the resources, connections and expertise for the benefit of all your residents and communities.

The housing sector is in for a big fight over the next few years and it is inevitable that the landscape in 5 years’ time will be very different. Some of us won’t be here. Now is the opportunity to raise your voice, challenge yourself and challenge others. Innovate, collaborate or start getting ready to fail.

Tony Colville
Senior Associate, The Young Foundation

Living Longer, Ageing Well?

The fact that we have an ageing population has been well established and is rightly something we should be celebrating and embracing fully. The often uneasy elephant in the room is the simple truth that services aren’t geared up to serve an ageing population in the same way as they do at the moment. 

Information is readily available which reflects the increasing life expectancies people can expect to experience in the coming decades and beyond. Relating to Healthy Life Expectancy, the Office for National Statistics reports that boys born in Wales between 2008 and 2010, who are expected to live to the age of 77.5, are estimated to spend 63 years in good health. Similarly, girls born in Wales between 2008 and 2012 can expect to live 63 of their estimated 81.7 years of life in good health. So this should make up a key part of our thinking now as well as considering the impacts on future generations living well in to their 80s and 90s.

We’re left with a situation whereby an increasing amount of people will require care services of some sort. It is vital that we seize the opportunity (as many are already doing) to really listen to older people and work collaboratively to provide services that can serve a number of their central needs from health and housing to education and transport.

Working with this holistic mentality to provision will go some way towards creating the opportunity for the latter years of a person’s lifetime to be some of the most rewarding, fulfilling and enriching.  

Matt Kennedy
Policy Officer: Care, Support and Community Health
CHC Group