Scottish Housing Matters - Autumn 2015

SCOTTISH HOUSING MATTERS

NUMBER: 70 AUTUMN 2015

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF HOUSING SCOTLAND

GETTING TO KNOW TERRIE ALAFAT / HOUSING AND THE 2016 ELECTIONS / TALKING TO THE MINISTER / SCOTLAND’S PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR / LAND REFORM

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IN ISSUE 70 Talking to the Minister

Scotland’s Private Rented Sector

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10-11 A WORD FROM THE CHAIR WELCOME EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CIH NATIONAL BUSINESS UNITS GETTING TO KNOW: TERRIE ALAFAT HOUSING: A KEY POLICY BATTLEGROUND FOR HOLYROOD 2016

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SCOTLAND’S PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR

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NEW CITY, NEW VENUE, NEW HOUSING LANDSCAPE

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WHAT MORE CAN WE BE DOING?

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THE LAND OF SCOTLAND AND THE COMMON GOOD PART FIVE AND THE LONG GRASS

PINNING DOWN VALUE FOR MONEY

How do you know if you are providing value for money?

Defining, managing and demonstrating Value for Money in Scotland

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EDITOR: Tamsin Stirling, Independent

WHAT’S THE LATEST ON CIH MEMBERSHIP? CIH PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON DIVERSITY IN HOUSING

Housing Consultant

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ADVERTISE WITH US: To advertise in Scottish Housing Matters please contact

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scotland.contact@cih.org DISCLAIMER: The views expressed by contributors in Scottish Housing Matters

DIARY OF EVENTS CONNECT WITH CIH SCOTLAND!

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are not necessarily those of the Chartered Institute of Housing or the editor and should not be taken as representative of any of the above.

CIH Scotland, 4th floor,

LEARNING WITH CIH SCOTLAND

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125 Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AD 0131 225 4544 scotland.contact@cih.org

BACK TO THE FLOOR

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AROUND THE NATIONS

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A WORD FROM THE CHAIR

skills of members. This is great to see, as maintaining high professional standards is crucial to improving services on the ground and is what CIH is all about.

The CIH Scotland Board is delighted to be closely involved with our Connect sessions - free events for members that will be held all over Scotland with the aim of hearing your views and focusing on the benefits of being part of our community. We are often asked to contribute to consultations by government and want to ensure that we represent your views. Also, we want to consult more on what services you need from us. Resources are always limited, so we want to know where we can best put our energies on your behalf.

Part of the discussions will be about the CIH Scotland Annual Conference and Exhibition in 2016. We are excited to be bringing a new-look conference to Edinburgh next March, at a key time in the nation’s politics, so expect a lot of robust debate! We also want to ensure that there is something for everyone and that we encourage as many new professionals as possible to get involved, so watch out for this, and for an exciting selection of keynotes.

I am grateful to Bill Barron for contributing an article about the work of the Joint Housing Delivery Plan Group. I have been part of this group from its inception, representing CIH Scotland members. The idea of ‘co-production’ with government can be challenging, but we provide a strong professional practitioner voice at the table and have been asked to lead and support a number of strands of work.

WELCOME TO THIS AUTUMN ISSUE OF SCOTTISH HOUSING MATTERS The CIH Scotland Board is having a busy year, engaging in policy discussions, meeting members and supporting and advising our new director (Annie Mauger) and the new team.

Earlier this year, we were pleased to launch the new value for money (VFM) report in partnership with HouseMark Scotland and Wheatley Group. The more we do to support members in this area, the more we can demonstrate that, as a housing sector, we are focused on VFM for the benefit of tenants and partners.

Our recent board meeting heard that learning and qualifications are booming in Scotland! The CIH Scotland team is developing some exciting new offers to improve the

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I would like to pay tribute to Jim Hayton who many of you will know as a dedicated member of the profession over the years. Rising through the ranks to become director of housing in South Lanarkshire, Jim served as policy advisor to ALACHO (the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers) for the past few years and most recently as co-chair of the new Joint Housing Delivery Group. I have always valued Jim’s contribution, his warm sense of humour and commitment to our work and I wish him all the very best in retirement.

Over the coming months we will be delivering some robust messages to politicians prior to the next election. Far too many people today continue to be inadequately housed or supported in their home. This is a crisis for them, a ‘wicked problem’ and a complex challenge which we all must work together to resolve. In October I will be joining a round table with the SNP to set out our ‘asks’ for their manifesto, and we expect to be invited to do the same for the other parties.

Finally, we are looking for co-options to the board from outside the central belt, and also from a student or young person. If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch with Annie Mauger on annie.mauger@cih.org.

Keith Anderson CIH Scotland Chair

WELCOME TO THE AUTUMN ISSUE OF SCOTTISH HOUSING MATTERS UK Government’s welfare reform measures and the implementation of the Smith Commission, so there are updates here on some of that work.

One of the most valuable things about being part of a professional body is knowing that your interests and concerns are shared, understood and represented where they need to be.

This edition of the magazine is designed to let you know both what’s happening at CIH Scotland and the work we are doing on your behalf, but also how we are working in the wider context to ensure that we are a part of a strong voice for housing.

There is of course a political feel to this, as we approach the beginning of the 2016 election campaign, and we have an interview with the outgoing minister, looking at progress over the last few years. At the same time, our new public affairs adviser, Alex Bruce, looks forward and discusses what’s coming up in the next few months and how housing is likely to play a vital part in manifesto building for all parties.

We are also engaged in discussions with the Scottish Government about the wider policy impacts of the

We are delighted that CIH’s new chief executive, Terrie Alafat, visited Scotland in her first week in the role and returned to meet members at our Connect event in Glasgow on 29 September. Terrie is a housing person and a people person, a great combination in the role of our chief executive, and she is committed to ensuring that CIH members in the devolved nations get relevant support and representation in their unique policy environments.

We also have a fascinating piece from Nicola McCrudden, our director in Northern Ireland, telling the story of the unique housing crisis that has occurred in Ireland since the recession. We can’t ignore the changes coming for the private rented sector as part of the overall housing economy, so we have a great update from John Blackwood on coming changes for private landlords.

I’ve had a fascinating first six months, relished the opportunity to meet many of you and learnt a great deal.

This has emphasised for me that our priority as a team is to create opportunities for you to get together, or feed in using other consultative mechanisms, to ensure that we are delivering the services you need and are also offering the right networking opportunities.

The key to doing this is understanding your work, so we are all visiting as many of you as we can and the team have had great fun in their ‘back to the floor’ visits, spending time alongside frontline housing officers. Most importantly, we are working to ensure that we provide a strong voice for housing alongside our partners and that we tell the stories about your achievement to the rest of the world.

Annie Mauger Executive Director, National Business Units

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WRITTEN BY TAMSIN STIRLING, INDEPENDENT HOUSING CONSULTANT

GETTING TO KNOW: TERRIE ALAFAT

CIH chief executive Terrie Alafat gives SHM readers an insight into her background, experience and her ambitions for CIH. Please can you tell SHM readers a bit about your background and expertise.

‘I started my career as a teacher and came to England over 30 years ago when I was in the middle of a doctorate, so I brought with me experience of social research. I was fortunate to get a job working in a social services research, planning and policy role in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. I stayed in that authority for 15 years ending up as director of housing and corporate services. So I came to housing from the people side of things, saw the impact of homelessness and poor housing on people and also how powerful the link up between housing, social care and health could be when we got it right.

Helping to set up the first borough-wide Tenant Management Organisation is a particularly positive memory from that time, as is the development of specialist accommodation for people with mental health challenges.

I then got a secondment to the Government Office for London and after a year went to work in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on homelessness. At that time, there was a massive focus on homelessness prevention and reducing the use of bed and breakfast. We were a small team, able to bring in practitioners from outside the civil service. We didn’t tell local authorities how to do things, but worked with them to free up their people to be creative and find solutions.

Altogether, I spent a very interesting 13 years in central government, ending up as director of housing, and certainly learnt a lot from my experiences there.’

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What attracted you to the role of CIH chief executive?

‘I know the organisation well, having been a member of CIH for many years and having worked closely with CIH, speaking at conferences etc. I see CIH as a very important organisation with lots of potential. The Royal Charter means that the organisation operates in the public interest.

The work of CIH is cross-tenure and its role in promoting professionalism – supporting people to get things right on the frontline – is crucial.

The job offered the opportunity to lead an organisation charged with ensuring that the housing profession can deliver on the frontline. It brings together housing and education which, given my background, is a great fit for me.’

How would you describe your leadership style?

‘That is an interesting question.

I would say my style is open and honest, supportive, but pretty demanding – there is a very important job to be done. I am good at focusing on the key issues.’

What are your priorities for the remainder of 2015?

‘I have been in post at CIH since April this year. From then until the end of 2015, I have three main priorities.

Firstly, getting the basics right within the organisation – being as efficient as we can, making sure the finances, HR strategy etc. are sound. Housing organisations across the UK are looking critically at their business plans; it is important that CIH does the same.

Secondly – particularly important since the emergency budget, making certain that what CIH is offering – services, educational tools and events – are the best they can be to help housing professionals face considerable challenges.

Lots of people are asking what does CIH do? The ‘under one roof’ banner aims to make much clearer what our offer is.

The nature of the housing sector is also different. England’s housing associations are diverse: some are commercial in their approach, while community-based housing associations and mutuals are more dominant in Wales, and Scotland has a lot of small housing associations alongside a very few large organisations.

Thirdly, we need to build on the reputation of being independent and authoritative. We have an important job to do to influence policy, drawing on evidence, looking at the impact of policy options and what works on the ground.

We need to enhance the authoritative voice of the housing profession and present ourselves as key to finding solutions to issues. Being a UK-wide organisation means that we can bring in lessons from the devolved nations and working in partnership with other housing organisations will also bring further strength to our message.’

Further devolution is clearly on the agenda; CIH can learn much from the devolved nations as more devolution takes place in England and the devolved nations can also learn from each other. Annie Mauger’s role as director of our national business units will help to facilitate this learning.’

Given the degree of policy divergence between different parts of the UK, what opportunities and challenges does this present to CIH? ‘There is no doubt that needing to be in touch with four nations with different housing policies is challenging and CIH also has an international reach. Having expert teams on the ground in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast is invaluable. CIH must make certain that it is helping to develop policies that work for each of the devolved nations.

The way of working with governments in the devolved nations is more informal and more based around coproduction than is the case in England. This closeness means that progress can be made in some areas that are more difficult in England.

Are there any particular learning points for CIH across the UK from Scottish housing policy and/or the way that the Scottish housing sector has done things?

‘It is early days for me in relation to the detail, but I would say that our Frontline Futures work has drawn on experience from Scotland, and the way that tenants are involved, for example with the creation of the Scottish Social Housing Charter, has been impressive.’

Is there anything else you would like to say to SHM readers?

‘It was good to meet so many CIH Scotland members at the Connect event in Glasgow and I am looking forward to learning a lot more about housing in Scotland.’

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WRITTEN BY ALEX BRUCE, DIRECTOR OF SCOTTISH PUBLIC AFFAIRS AGEN ORBIT COMMUNICATIONS.

WRITTEN BY ALEX BRUCE, DIRECTOR, ORBIT COMMUNICATIONS

HOUSING: A KEY POLICY BATTLEGROUND FOR HOLYROOD 2016 As the summer holidays draw to a close, Scottish politicians’ attentions are turning towards next year’s Holyrood elections and the process of drafting party manifestos.

Housing is one battleground where we’ve already seen early skirmishes between the parties as they seek to outbid one another on the boldness of their ambitions for Scotland’s housing future.

Scottish housing undoubtedly faces a combination of critical challenges: an ageing population; an increase in single person households; continuing budget constraints; house prices inexorably rising; a shortage of housing supply and the housing ladder beyond reach for many young people. All these issues are bound to concentrate political minds as they ponder next year’s Scottish election campaign.

The scale of Scotland’s housing challenge is illustrated by the number of people on housing waiting lists. Despite all efforts to increase housing supply, this has remained stubbornly north of 150,000 since the last Scottish elections.

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Traditionally, we’ve seen a bidding war between the two main Scottish parties on the number of new affordable homes they aspire to build.

In 2011, the SNP pledged to deliver 30,000 affordable homes in the lifetime of this Parliament, a target they now expect to surpass with 26,972 affordable homes delivered in the first four years.

During the 2015 general election campaign, Scottish Labour pledged to deliver 20,000 new homes per year by 2020.

Scottish Labour leadership hopeful Ken Macintosh recently raised the stakes with a commitment to build up to 30,000 new homes per year, including up to 15,000 units of social housing. This would certainly be a major step change in Scottish housing, representing a doubling of current output – and substantially more than treble current social sector output. Where the funds would be found to deliver these homes remains less clear.

With the transfer of significant new welfare powers to Holyrood, the introduction of new top-up benefits in Scotland to offset cuts and restrictions to housing and other benefits at Westminster is more than likely to feature in next year’s campaign. Scottish Labour and the Scottish Greens have also floated the idea of introducing an entirely new system of housing benefit in Scotland.

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A large-scale retrofit programme to improve energy efficiency in Scotland’s housing stock has been a major plank of Scottish Green Party policy in past elections and is likely to feature again in 2016.

Elsewhere, the ideological battle over right to buy continues to rage with the SNP-led Scottish Government having legislated to abolish it in Scotland from August 2016, a move challenged by the Scottish Conservatives. The two parties also came to blows over the newly-devolved replacement for stamp duty in Scotland with the Conservatives characterising the Scottish Government’s initial proposals as a “tax on aspiration”. Depending on how its introduction affects tax revenues and house sales, proposals to review and revise the tax could also feature in the 2016 campaign.

Meanwhile, concerted industry pressure to prolong Scotland’s hugely successful Help to Buy shared equity scheme beyond its initial March 2016 expiry has prompted the Scottish Government to commit £195 million to prolong the scheme for a further three years. With the UK Chancellor having already committed to extend the equivalent scheme in England until 2020, Help to Buy could be another political pressure point in Scotland’s future housing debate.

Few would dispute the significant and growing challenges Scotland faces in meeting its housing needs. But as in many areas of policy, the political impetus to do more will have to be reconciled with shrinking budgets and still modest economic growth. Nonetheless, expect housing to be a key policy battleground in the lead-up to Holyrood 2016.

CIH SCOTLAND AND THE 2016 ELECTIONS Our mission is to ensure that housing is an election issue and we have lots of activity planned. Prior to publication of party manifestos, we will be setting out our ‘asks’ to the political parties and scanning the outcome to let you know what commitments they are making on housing.

We’ll be active at both the autumn and spring party conferences and we will host the Housing Hustings with important political spokespeople at our own conference in March. We’ll be putting forward our clear messages to the politicians and the public, including the need to build more homes and mitigate the impacts of welfare reform.

We’ll be helping you as members to make informed decisions by asking specific questions of each political party and letting you know the outcome via our website and social media. Also, we’ll give you some hints and tips about what to ask the candidates who knock on your door. Together we can make housing a priority issue for the 2016 elections.

Annie Mauger, Executive Director, National Business Units

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WRITTEN BY TAMSIN STIRLING, INDEPENDENT HOUSING CONSULTANT

TALKING TO THE MINISTER Scottish Housing Matters took the opportunity to ask Margaret Burgess, minister for housing and welfare, to reflect on her time in the Scottish Parliament.

Minister, you’ve been an MSP since 2011 and were appointed as minister for housing and welfare in 2012. What do you think have been the most notable achievements of the Scottish Government in relation to housing during this time?

‘Since I was appointed, I’ve worked hard to make access to good quality housing for individuals and families across Scotland my number one priority. Having more houses is not just good for the economy, it also helps promote social justice, strengthens communities and tackles inequality.

None of what we have delivered has been achieved alone.

It is important to highlight that we are working in conjunction with the entire housing sector. The Scottish Government leads, but we also listen to others and take action to ensure we deliver that shared vision.

We have attempted to tackle the significant shortfall of affordable housing compared to Scotland’s needs. Over the lifetime of this Parliament, our planned investment in affordable housing will exceed £1.7 billion. But it’s about more than bricks and mortar. We want to help create neighbourhoods with energy efficient homes that provide a safe environment for young people to grow up in.

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We are well on our way to delivering our five-year target of 30,000 affordable homes by March 2016. Up to the end of March 2015, 26,972 affordable homes have been delivered, of which 18,670 homes are at social rent, including more than 4,600 council homes, supported by financial assistance from the Scottish Government.

In the UK, Scotland leads the way in pioneering financial innovation and continuing to work creatively with our partners to deliver more for less public investment. The contribution from innovative financing approaches using government guarantees, loans, grant recycling and new sources of private funding is substantial and growing. Nearly 3,000 new affordable homes have been approved in communities across Scotland, with hundreds more in the pipeline.

For example, the National Housing Trust initiative was the first guarantee-based model for housing in the UK and is well on track to deliver more than 2,000 much-needed new homes, all without the need for grant subsidy.

Charitable bonds also represent this type of fresh thinking.

We are the first, and remain the only, national government in the UK and public sector body in Scotland to invest in charitable bonds. By 2016, we’ll have invested £37 million in these bonds delivering up to 600 new affordable homes.

In these challenging times for the house building industry in Scotland, particularly for small and medium sized firms, we have boosted building through our £305 million help to buy (Scotland) shared equity scheme.

I also recognise that the private rented sector is an important part of the Scottish housing system. That’s why we changed the law to give councils more power to tackle problems in the sector. There are more changes planned – a new bill is being introduced in Parliament to improve security of tenure for tenants. It will also offer safeguards for landlords, lenders and investors.’

What do you think are going to be the most significant challenges in the coming three years?

‘The main challenge will be to deliver a sustainable housing system with affordable homes that meet people’s needs.

The Scottish Government is doing everything it can to increase supply and to make sure people live in socially and economically sustainable communities.’

If you could change one thing about the housing sector in Scotland, what would it be?

‘Clearly, delivering more affordable homes is a priority. That is why it is important that we work hard to implement housing policies that create availability and choice.

‘Specifically on affordable homes, as I’ve already said, the Scottish Government is on track to meet its target of delivering 6,000 new affordable homes per year. While this is a great achievement, most commentators acknowledge that we still need to do much more. How can we exceed this benchmark figure while funding remains constrained? If we are to deliver high quality, energy efficient, affordable homes, we must redouble our efforts to develop innovative funding initiatives to help renters, buyers and developers.’

The Scotland Bill will give the Scottish Parliament more powers than ever before in relation to welfare. Are the powers extensive enough to shape the social security system in the way that you would like?

‘We have always said that the social security system needs reform. In Scotland we want to create a fairer and simpler system that does not stigmatise people who claim benefits, but treats them with dignity and respect.

This system should be flexible and more suited to the needs of people in Scotland. We have pushed these as priorities and argued that the Scotland Bill needs to be strengthened to help lift people out of poverty.

additional powers that are still to be discussed between the Scottish and UK governments.

Any serious attempt to tackle inequality has to focus on in-work poverty and powers over the minimum wage, employment policy and benefits. We should be allowed to put in place a coherent approach to training, education and support for people out of work or experiencing in-work poverty.

Instead we are faced with deeper cuts which will affect some of the most vulnerable people in our society. The statistics are stark: 210,000 children live in relative poverty in Scotland. Stripping back the welfare budget could be even more devastating for these families. Cutting tax credits without increasing earnings will also push more families into poverty.

We stand shoulder to shoulder with groups and charities that work with people who receive benefits in opposing Westminster’s proposed £12 billion cuts. We will work with them to use our new powers to develop policies better suited to the people of Scotland.’

What advice would you give to your successor?

‘I’m sure my successor will be able to bring their own ideas and experiences and put his or her positive stamp on the post. I would remind them that housing is about people and communities and not only about buildings.’

Is there anything else you would like to say to SHM readers?

‘The harsh reality is that low pay, austerity and social security reforms are making lives difficult for hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland. There is an alternative, a fairer Scotland where everyone feels valued and we properly support our most vulnerable people.’

But there are huge challenges ahead. The UK is imposing £12 billion of welfare cuts and won’t, as yet, agree to devolve even the full powers Smith argues for, never mind the

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WRITTEN BY JOHN BLACKWOOD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE SCOTTISH ASSOCIATION OF LANDLORDS AND ASHLEY CAMPBELL, CIH SCOTLAND POLICY OFFICER

SCOTLAND’S PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR UPDATE FROM SCOTTISH ASSOCIATION OF LANDLORDS

John Blackwood

As chief executive of the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL), representing the interests of the private rented sector in Scotland, I am very aware that private landlords and letting agents throughout the country are poised, waiting to see what the Scottish Government is proposing in the new Housing Bill, expected to be laid before the Scottish Parliament this autumn.

The Scottish Government has recently published an independent report analysing the responses received to the second new tenancy consultation. There was a huge response to the consultation with 7,689 responses received.

The campaign run by SAL attracted by far the largest number of responses, with 3,280 responses being directly attributed to the campaign.

Responses to some of the more controversial topics revealed that: •

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71 per cent felt that the proposed list of grounds for repossession do not cover all reasonable circumstances where a landlord might wish to regain possession.

The most frequently sought additional grounds were to allow a landlord to end a student let at the expiry of the fixed term and to allow a landlord in receipt of an overcrowding statutory notice to end the tenancy.

70 per cent of respondents did not see a need for the government to regulate rent levels

For more than a year now the SAL and the Council of Letting Agents (CLA) have been campaigning to raise awareness among politicians about the proposals to change the private rented sector tenancy regime. Amid protestations that landlords need not fear the reforms, I remain unconvinced that the Scottish Government has given due consideration to the concerns of responsible landlords and letting agents and fear that losing the right to bring a tenancy to a natural end, coupled with the threat of rent control, will have a negative impact on both the supply and quality of accommodation provided in the private rented sector.

At a time when the Scottish Government has set a goal to encourage investment and growth in the sector, I doubt how that goal can be achieved when the recent consultations seem to seek only to further reduce the rights of landlords in favour of those of tenants.

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While many of us welcome the opportunity to modernise our current tenancy regime, landlords currently lack confidence in knowing how in the future they can regain possession of their properties when it goes wrong. Cutting the red tape and creating a new, more easily understood tenancy for landlords and tenants is welcome, but at what cost?

Inevitably, change brings challenges and a degree of uncertainty and, as with all investment vehicles, politicians need to be mindful of investors’ reactions. Landlords are investors, choosing to invest in providing much-needed housing and now, more than ever, we need to be growing and developing that investment potential rather than frightening investors off.

Just recently I was talking with one such landlord investor who was keen to invest in expanding his rental portfolio, but on hearing about these potential changes he has decided to hold off for the time being. He said that while he has good relationships with his current tenants, he would be fearful of taking on new tenants without good knowledge of what legal rights he would have if he ever needed to end a tenancy.

In fear of instigating a mass exodus from the sector, landlords and letting agents can be reassured that the Scottish Government is listening to our concerns and widely acknowledges that while we do object to some proposals for change, we are not opposed to change itself – where it is progressive and meets the needs of a modern, wellfunctioning private rented sector.

This meeting marked an important stage in the discussions that SAL and the CLA have been holding with the Scottish Government over the last few months. Negotiations with the minister and other MSPs underline a commitment in the coming months to represent the concerns outlined in both SAL’s e-petition and consultation responses.

What happens when it goes wrong? This is an important question where landlords and agents fear that they will not have sufficient rights to end a tenancy when a tenant fails to meet their obligations under the tenancy or engages in antisocial behaviour where landlords will be powerless to act.

While I accept that public pressure is mounting to grant security of tenure to tenants and introduce some form of rent control, there is no doubt a need for a balance to be struck between the rights of landlords and tenants.

On 1 May SAL launched an e-petition, setting out a few key concerns about tenancy reform. At the point which I presented it to the minister, I’m delighted to say the petition had already attracted more than 3,500 signatures. The e-petition is still open and details can be found at www. tinyurl.com/oonuh8w.

Whatever the future holds, we need to ensure that we have a private rented sector that is fit for a modern age and continues to provide much-needed housing in Scotland.

I took the opportunity to raise these and other points at the recent private meeting between myself, Mike Campbell representing the CLA, and the housing and welfare minister Margaret Burgess MSP.

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RIGHT TO RENT

Ashley Campbell All eyes are on the private rented sector with the introduction of a new tenancy on the horizon, regulation of letting agents and hints at the possible introduction of rent regulation sparking passionate debate from tenants arguing for greater security, and landlords keen to protect their businesses. But a UK Government scheme known as the right to rent seems to be attracting rather less attention and may be about to slip in under the radar.

So, what is the right to rent and why should we be concerned about it? The Immigration Act 2014 introduced a duty for landlords to check that their tenants are entitled to live in the UK, with the threat of financial penalties for those that fail to carry out the correct checks and are found to be housing undocumented migrants.

To date, this scheme has only been piloted in the West Midlands but it will eventually be rolled out across the UK, including Scotland. It will apply to private sector landlords, housing associations that let their own homes, and to tenants or home owners taking in a lodger.

The aim of the scheme is simple enough: to reduce the number of migrants living in the UK without lawful permission and to take action against those landlords who knowingly let homes to people without the right to live here, often in substandard or even dangerous housing conditions. In reality, there are some fundamental flaws that need to be addressed before the right to rent regulations are rolled out any further.

CIH submitted evidence to the Home Office in July, outlining a number of concerns. First and foremost, the pilot has not been running long enough to properly assess what the impact has been at a local level, and extending the scheme across the UK without due consideration could replicate existing issues on a bigger scale. The scheme would have to work for literally tens of thousands of lets made each week across the UK, with no indication that additional resources will be made available to support landlords or to enforce the regulations.

Evidence from the pilot scheme in the West Midlands suggests that some landlords have been charging tenants for checks, with figures of ÂŁ100 or more not unusual. Legislation in Scotland would not allow for such a charge to be made to prospective tenants, but there is always a danger that increasing costs for landlords will lead to higher rents for private tenants.

Immigration laws are complex and most landlords will not be familiar with the different types of documents they will be expected to identify. There is some evidence that the scheme could be leading to discrimination against British citizens who do have the right to live here, but may not have a simple form of identification such as a passport. A landlord faced with unfamiliar documentation may be more likely to rent their home to someone else rather than risk a hefty fine.

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There is a very real risk that these regulations could lead to homelessness and increased pressure on scarce local authority resources.

There is also the argument that this is yet another punishment for good landlords who play by the rules, and that landlords who are housing undocumented migrants are those that are least likely to take notice of new regulations and therefore the positive impact will be limited. Evidence would suggest that there is at least some truth in this assumption. We know that new migrants to the UK are more likely to find homes in the poorer parts of the sector.

A recent Freedom of Information request also revealed that only seven property owners were issued with notices under the scheme during the pilot which begs the question – how effective is the scheme in practice?

We accept that the right to rent regulations will be rolled out in time and we will continue to work to ensure that our members and the wider housing community in Scotland are prepared to deal with the changes. But our message to the UK Government is a simple one – if the scheme is to be successful, we must take on board the lessons learned from the pilot scheme.

NEW CITY, NEW VENUE, NEW HOUSING LANDSCAPE The annual CIH Scotland event has been held at Glasgow’s SECC for the last six years, but in 2016 heads east to Edinburgh for the next chapter in its history.

Building on the scale and success of the 2015 conference, we are gearing up the 2016 event which promises to be our biggest and best conference yet.

The programme will also emphasise audience interaction and debate. It will feature a number of debates, a tech lab and lots of social media activity.

The stunning central location of Edinburgh’s International Conference Centre provides a fantastic opportunity to ignite the housing debate, to bring Scotland’s housing sector under one roof and be at the heart of the political debate.

As we build up to the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections, there will be a big focus on the politics of housing in several of our key debate sessions.

The new venue provides great scope for expansion. The exhibition will be even bigger than previous years, spread across two main halls. There will also be a jam-packed conference programme providing housing professionals with the insight they need into Scotland’s ever changing housing landscape.

The 2016 programme will focus on key themes that affect everyone in the housing world, including politics, welfare reform, well-being, integration and innovation.

The social side of the conference will be lively and include lots of informal networking opportunities.

For more information contact Greig Porter, conference and events manager, on greig.porter@cih.org For sponsorship and exhibition opportunities contact John McClarey, business development officer, on john.mcclarey@cih.org

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WRITTEN BY ASHLEY CAMPBELL, POLICY & PRACTICE OFFICER, CIH SCOTLAND

POLICY UPDATE It has been a busy period for housing policy in Scotland.

Since the last edition of Scottish Housing Matters, we witnessed the introduction of legislation that could hand over significant powers to the Scottish Government.

At the same time, a summer punctuated by welfare reform announcements and budget cuts has served as a painful reminder that, despite the devolution of matters relating to housing, the UK Government still holds the purse strings.

New powers for Scotland No one ever said it would be easy to disentangle a 300 year old legislative union. . . Since the results of the independence referendum in 2014, the extent of the new powers promised to Scotland and the wording of the legislation have been hotly debated. While the exact details are being clarified by ministers in Westminster, the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee has moved the debate on by asking what the Scottish Government should do with the powers when they are devolved.

CIH Scotland submitted evidence to the Committee in August outlining how new powers could help to deliver a better social security system in Scotland through flexibilities in the payment of universal credit, but also raising concerns around the practicalities of putting changes into place.

The Scottish Government is encouraging everyone to join in a debate about how we can create a fairer Scotland. You can find out more and share your views at www.fairer.scot

16 | Scottish Housing Matters

A country that lives within its means In a result that came as a surprise to pretty much everyone including David Cameron, (and the bookmaker that ended up paying out £240,000 to one lucky and seemingly wellinformed pensioner), the UK general elections in May 2015 delivered the first Conservative majority government in nearly 20 years. But what does this mean for housing policy in Scotland?

Continuing with the theme of the last five years, austerity is here to stay. In a series of announcements over the summer, the chancellor set out his plans to deliver ‘a country that lives within its means’. In summary, this involves £12 billion cuts to welfare spending and £20 billion cuts to departmental budgets across the UK. While some of the measures, such as the planned one per cent reduction in social housing rents, will not have a direct impact on policy in Scotland, questions have been raised about whether the chancellor will seek to reduce the block grant to devolved nations to reflect savings made in England.

Who should own Scotland?

Half of all the land in Scotland is owned by just 432 people and the Scottish Government wants to change this. The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill was introduced to Parliament in June with a view to creating a fairer, more transparent system of land ownership and making the most of Scotland’s natural resources.

The bill will introduce a number of measures intended to redistribute the ownership of land by encouraging community right to buy and preventing land owners from stalling sustainable development. This legislation should complement the Community Empowerment Act which seeks to engage local people in decision making and involvement in the use of land and assets. Together, these pieces of legislation have the potential to facilitate the development of much-needed housing and to ensure that local people remain at the heart of communities. (For more about this, see pages 24-25).

How many affordable homes do we really need to build?

CIH Scotland, in partnership with Shelter Scotland and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, commissioned a piece of research to assess the total affordable housing need across Scotland. The resulting report says tackling Scotland’s housing crisis requires at least 12,000 affordable homes to be built each year for the next five years. While it is clear that the reality of achieving this will pose significant challenges in the current economic climate, we hope that the findings will spark a debate across the sector about how housing providers, private developers and the Scottish Government can work together to deliver the homes we need. The research is now available our website.

Scottish Housing Matters | 17

WRITTEN BY BILL BARRON, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, HOUSING SERVICES AND REGENERATION, SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

WHAT MORE CAN WE BE DOING? Everyone who is reading this article wants to see the best possible housing for Scotland’s people.

That powerful fact brings us all together, despite the wide diversity of our professional and personal roles and interests within housing.

This is why, last year, the Scottish ministers invited people with a variety of interests in housing to consider what more we could all be doing to improve Scotland’s housing. A series of roundtable discussions paved the way for Scotland’s Housing Event at Murrayfield in November, attended by 300 delegates.

The ideas generated that day were collated into the Joint Housing Delivery Plan for Scotland, agreed by the Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group, and published on the Scottish Government website on 3 June 2015. The joint group now has responsibility to oversee implementation of the joint plan, and to report annually on the progress made.

The ideas generated that day were collated into the Joint Housing Delivery Plan for Scotland, agreed by the Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group, and published on the Scottish Government website on 3 June 2015. The joint group now has responsibility to oversee implementation of the joint plan, and to report annually on the progress made.

The actions in the joint plan are grouped under six themes: • supply, investment and planning • sustainability • place Making • independent living • housing options • private rented sector

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How is the joint plan different?

Of course, the plan isn’t comprehensive. There are many other initiatives being taken forward by housing organisations and by the Scottish Government, not to mention the day to day work of housing professionals and volunteers across all our communities. So in one sense, the actions in the joint plan are just a selection of the important work going on.

But what’s exciting – perhaps unique – about the joint plan is that together we have agreed 34 actions where we all believe we can make a real difference. This is about delivery. The plan represents the focus of a shared commitment by the members of the joint group and others, and the basis for active involvement by everyone with a contribution to make. Can we make greater progress by consciously working together? This is a great opportunity to demonstrate that we can.

Some examples For example, action 29 is about continual improvement of the housing options approach for those at risk of homelessness.

This work is led by the five local authority Housing Options Hubs, supported by the Scottish Government, SFHA, GWSF and third sector organisations. Scotland has worldleading legislation on homelessness, but it remains vital that homelessness prevention activities, as well as the response to homelessness when it occurs, are focused on the best interests of the individual.

Actions 23 and 25 are about how we form really effective links between housing and health/social care. There’s now a wide recognition – including among the new health and social care partnerships – that helping people live at home rather than in care homes or hospital beds, is both good for individuals and potentially very cost effective. What we need now is a range of practical, demonstrated examples of how this works in practice. While the Joint Improvement Team is spearheading this work, many others will have insights to contribute.

Finally, action 26 is about public activities to highlight the importance of the lifetime housing journey – how people’s housing needs change through different life stages, and how individuals and organisations can prepare for and respond to these changes. Can we help people become more ‘homewise’ as well as streetwise? CIH Scotland is coordinating work to think through how best to promote this.

These and other elements of the plan will be overseen by the Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group. You can keep up to date with its work at www.gov.scot/Topics/BuiltEnvironment/Housing/reform/jhpdg, or by contacting the secretariat at JointHousingDeliveryPlan@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Scottish Housing Matters | 19

WRITTEN BY SOPHIE HANNAH, CIH CONTENT AND COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER

WHAT’S THE LATEST ON CIH MEMBERSHIP? There have been some exciting changes to CIH’s membership grades over the course of 2015 – the existing member and chartered member grades remain, but there’s now also the potential to become a certified practitioner or a fellow.

We’ve made these changes as a direct result of input from members – we asked our members to give us their feedback on the existing grades and took their views and suggestions on board. The new grade arrangement keeps the current simplicity intact while also providing a tailored, personal approach that recognises different ways of learning.

Our member grade remains the same – anyone working in housing or with an interest in housing can join CIH as a member and make a positive commitment to being the best they can be. Members receive a weekly copy of Inside Housing and access to all of our standard member benefits, including useful ‘what you need to know’ guides, practical tips, online career development tools, and regular memberonly webinars focusing on important and current housing issues. We provide our members with as much information as they can absorb to help them do their jobs better.

The certified practitioner grade is brand new – we’ve created this grade for members who’ve completed a CIH Level 3 or Level 4 qualification, or an equivalent qualification accredited

by CIH. If you fall into this category you’ll be eligible to progress to certified practitioner level, and this is an ideal way for you to demonstrate your dedication and take your

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career to the next level before you reach chartered level.

Standard members who already meet the criteria to become a certified practitioner can do so.

If you complete a CIH-recognised qualification at Level 5 or above, or you take an experiential route accredited by CIH, you’ll become a chartered member. This identifies you as a trusted professional and demonstrates your expertise, commitment and ethical standards. Chartered members and certified practitioners also have access to the CIH mentoring and work shadowing schemes, and chartered members can use the invaluable ‘practice online’ – this resource provides chartered members with the latest detailed advice and expert knowledge on housing, as well as examples of good practice focused on the most current and relevant topics. There are no changes to chartered membership or the different routes taken to reach chartered membership – CIH recognises that people learn in different ways, so it’s now possible to take the experienced professional route, the professional diploma route, or the executive route depending on your own preferred way of learning or personal level of experience.

Fellowship is CIH’s most senior grade of membership – you will become a fellow if you’re highly experienced and can demonstrate you’ve made a significant contribution to the housing sector. Fellowship has returned as a direct result of communication from members who wished to see the grade reintroduced.

CIH’s head of membership Oliver Humi is confident that the grade changes will benefit both potential and existing members: ‘We’ve listened to our members and I think that’s really come across. We’re constantly striving to maximise the benefits on offer to our members, and with the addition of the certified practitioner and fellow grades, we’ve retained simplicity while providing more people with a suitable, personal route for them – we think we’ve hit the perfect balance.’

Find out more: http://www.cih.org/gradechanges

ROUTES TO CHARTERED MEMBERSHIP Experienced professional

Aimed at experienced housing professionals who want to demonstrate they have the knowledge required to lead people and manage change. Find out more

Professional diploma

Open to all housing professionals who have completed relevant qualifications. Find out more

Executive

Aimed at housing practitioners operating at director or senior management level. Find out more

Scottish Housing Matters | 21

WRITTEN BY BOB REID, PLANNING DIRECTOR, HALLIDAY FRASER MUNRO

THE LAND OF SCOTLAND AND THE COMMON GOOD PART FIVE AND THE LONG GRASS What has land reform to do with housing? Rather more than the ordinary householder would imagine.

It may come as a surprise that the principle means by which Scotland’s notorious imbalance in land ownership is presently being diluted (numerically if not in terms of area) is through the simple purchase of new homes, by individuals and families. To illustrate - land that used to be part of a very large estate owned by the Duke of Fife is now owned by Mr and Mrs Joe and Josephine Public and their new neighbours in the delightfully named Chapleton of Elsick near Aberdeen.

Yet it is a curious tale how a small town of nearly 4,000 homes has been procured compared to how that would have been done when we were designating new towns under the New Towns (Scotland) Act. Many small but consequential changes made to planning, housing and land administration have led us to that euphemistic place, ‘we are where we are’, and a growing band of housing specialists are asking if the inherent difficulties in the present-day system need to be overhauled to make procurement simpler.

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So housing professionals would do well to seek out part five of “The land of Scotland and the common good” since it addresses fundamental issues to do with land development and housing in Scotland (http://www. scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0045/00451087.pdf).

It is a weighty tome of 260 pages and covers a wide set of recommendations to government. Written by the Land Reform Review Group [LRRG] it was published in May 2014. Part five ‘highlights. . . the need to facilitate and support more and better urban renewal and the need to provide sufficient housing to meet the needs of a changing Scottish population’ (para 3 p119). The report goes on: ‘Land – and more precisely the interaction between how land becomes available, the price of land and the planning process – is central to both these issues, and urban renewal and delivering housing are, therefore, essential components of the current land reform agenda.’

I doubt whether anyone currently engaged in, managing or building homes would question these statements.

Yet is there a danger that many of the excellent recommendations of part five could end up in the long grass? Let me explain.

We now have a Land Reform (Scotland) Bill working its way through the Scottish Parliament, having been introduced on 22 June 2015. The bill is being scrutinised by the Rural Affairs, Environment and Climate Change Committee (RACCE) and the first call for evidence closed on 14 August 2015. Most of the measures contained in the bill tend to be generic and arguably rural focused. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this except that some of the other excellent recommendations from the LRRG are not actively being progressed to legislation.

There is no housing committee. Indeed the RICS commission asked whether there should be such a committee, and even a cabinet minister responsible.

The Shelter commission on housing and wellbeing has been very wise in picking up the threads. They have followed on from LRRG, from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Scotland housing commission and from several other working groups.

What is happening in the meantime? Well the whole urban and housing land reform agenda is being considered by officialdom. Having sat on both the LRRG and the RICS commission, it does rather feel like civil servants reconvening and carrying out the same work again. Is this necessary? Is there no parliamentary champion willing to carry this agenda forward?

Wisely, the Shelter commission has not reinvented the wheel, but rightly endorsed much of the earlier work. Of particular relevance is the endorsement of the following recommendations (I quote directly): 22. The proposals of the RICS commission and the Land Reform Review Group for a Scottish land corporation or delivery agency with powers to acquire, service and sell land on to developers should be carried forward.

21. The proposals of the Land Reform Review Group for legislation to allow for compulsory selling orders, majority land assembly and land readjustment should be carried forward. [For more detail see http:// policyscotland.gla.ac.uk/urban-land-reform/ ] 22. The proposals of the RICS commission for improving the performance of planning authorities – including increasing the effective supply of land from five to ten years’ supply of land improving the training for planners and reviewing existing consent – should be implemented.

The Land Reform Act (Scotland) 2003 was very successfully steered through its committee stages by the Justice Committee which recognised its cross-cutting role. Getting the urban and housing land reform proposals up to Parliament is crucial to ensure these matters are picked up and acted upon sooner rather than later.

I have attended meetings in the last few months where the need to double our present 14,000 new homes per annum has been considered and one would have thought the impossible was being asked. Yet the reality of reaching 25,000 to 30,000 new homes per annum is not just realistic, it is absolutely necessary. Every year we fail to do this we are storing up more and greater problems for the future.

We’ve been here before, when many new homes were procured by the public sector. We’ll have to get over our reticence about speaking of ‘council houses’ if we are to successfully, affordably, sustainably house Scotland’s future population. © Bob Reid – planning director, Halliday Fraser Munro Exconvenor Royal Town Planning Institute Scotland, advisor to LRRG and RICS Scotland housing commissioner

By its very nature land reform is cross-cutting. So there is logic in a cross-cutting parliamentary committee like RACCE progressing the rural aspects of land reform. In terms of the urban and housing agenda, which committee should carry forward these measures? Local government and regeneration? Infrastructure and capital investment?

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CIH PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON DIVERSITY IN HOUSING CIH’s Presidential Commission on leadership and diversity was set up to examine ways to improve the diversity of our industry’s leaders and is calling on housing organisations to sign up to and deliver against 10 challenges by 2020.

The Commission took evidence from a wide range of organisations and individuals and published their deliberations in a report which was launched at CIH’s annual conference, Housing 2015, in July. The report concluded that there was a clear business case for greater diversity in housing leadership. It improves governance, risk management, decision-making and problem solving, drives forward organisational performance and supports staff recruitment and retention.

The Commission is calling on housing organisations to sign up to, and deliver against, 10 challenges by 2020:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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Know the make up of your communities and annually consider how you can improve the diversity of your board, leadership and staff teams.

Compile diversity-related data on the composition of your (1) board (2) executive team and (3) total workforce and publish it in an accessible format in your annual report.

Challenge all staff (and external agencies) responsible for recruitment to ensure that all shortlists include appropriate candidates from under-represented groups.

Ensure staff members involved in recruitment have completed mandatory training to ensure fair recruitment processes.

Set an aspirational target for board/committee recruitment from under-represented groups to ensure that your governance structure is representative of the wider communities you work in.

When it comes to protecting people and communities, we see the bigger picture

Presidential Commission on Diversity in Housing

6.

June 2015 diversity2020@cih.org www.cih.org/leadingdiversityby2020

Have in place succession and talent management strategies which reflect the principles of inclusion and diversity, so that all staff can succeed and progress, if they have the right skills and values.

7. Identify and provide appropriate mentoring and coaching opportunities for staff and board members – within your own organisation and/or with external agencies.

8. Make diversity training mandatory for all staff, and use your corporate communications and culture strategies to ensure diversity is embedded within the organisational values.

9. Champion the business case for a diverse workforce and leadership – encourage your colleagues, peers and partners to sign up to the challenges.

10. Sign up and work towards the CIH Charter for Equality and Diversity.

Streetwise is a webbased case management system that helps to protect people and the communities in which they live.

Designed and developed in-house, this hosted solution supports those working on the front-line to manage anti-social behaviour and pinpoint where help and support is most needed.

Paul Roberts, chief executive of Newydd Housing Association based in South Wales, one of the first associations to sign up, identified a number of advantages of adopting the 10 by 20 challenges and encourages other housing organisations to do so:

• • •

‘It is voluntary and the result of a positive decision by my board rather than imposed.

The timescale is not unrealistic; 2020 gives us time to align increasing diversity with improving governance and performance and ensures that the commitment continues as board members change.

It is a public commitment and we will report on progress at our annual general meeting starting in September this year – this makes us accountable and I personally don’t relish the thought of standing up each year and reporting no progress.’

‘If your organisation is committed to increasing or retaining the diversity of its leadership and wants to make a public commitment then please have a look at the 10 by 20 challenges and sign up to be accountable for your progress over the next five years.’

You can download the commission’s report here and sign up to the 10 by 20 challenges here.

The CIH Charter for Equality and Diversity is available here

For more information call 0191 525 5000 gentoogroup.com/streetwise Scottish Housing Matters | 25

DIARY OF EVENTS OCTOBER 2015 Introduction to the Community Empowerment Act 29 October 2015, Edinburgh

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act was passed on 18 June 2015 and is intended to enable the people of Scotland to have greater involvement in local decision-making and to make better use of the assets in their communities. This event will take a detailed look at the new Act and examine the practical implications as well as the benefits of community empowerment and the role that housing providers can play in strengthening their communities.

NOVEMBER 2015

The best practice series: protecting vulnerable tenants 25 November 2015, Edinburgh

As well as the basic provision of housing, the housing sector has an important role to play in providing support for vulnerable tenants. This may include tenants who have difficulty maintaining a tenancy, who suffer from poor physical or mental health or issues related to low income. This event will examine the key strategic challenges and what more needs to be done to improve the support offered to vulnerable tenants.

DECEMBER 2015 Future of Housing Conference and Networking event (previously known as the Student Conference and Future Professionals Networking event)

Housing policy and practice for frontline staff 11 November 2015, Glasgow

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act was passed on 18 June 2015 and is intended to enable the people of Scotland to have greater involvement in local decision-making and to make better use of the assets in their communities. This event will take a detailed look at the new Act and examine the practical implications as well as the benefits of community empowerment and the role that housing providers can play in strengthening their communities.

Excellence Awards Dinner 13 November 2015, The Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Kindly supported by

Join us in November as we celebrate exemplary individuals and initiatives at our 2015 Excellence Awards Dinner, kindly supported by Dunedin Canmore.

Come along and show your support to all of the award nominees and enjoy an evening of fine dining and networking in the fabulous surroundings of the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh.

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2 December 2015 , Edinburgh

This free event is aimed at current housing students at all levels, recent graduates and individuals from housing organisations who are new to the sector and want to progress their career in housing. The conference is an opportunity to hear from speakers on a range of current housing topics and to take part in workshops and interactive sessions. The networking event will include input from inspiring leader in housing and the opportunity for attendees to speak informally with a range of housing professionals, education partners, recruitment professionals and CIH staff.

JANUARY 2016 Working with the private rented sector 20 January 2016, Edinburgh

More details will be available shortly but save the date in your diary now.

Please note that all dates and titles may be subject to change. More information about all of our events can be found on our website: www.cih.org/Scotland

CONNECT WITH CIH SCOTLAND! The CIH Scotland Board and team will be out and about connecting with members in the coming few months at member-only Scotland Connect sessions.

With so much change in the policy and political environment, we want to ensure that we are listening to the voice of members in Scotland, especially with the Scottish Parliament elections fast approaching in 2016. At the first Scotland Connect, held in Edinburgh on 19 August, a lively discussion was had on a wide range of issues including land supply, the role of the private rented sector, mentoring for housing staff and how we can learn from innovative practices in our own and other sectors. Since then events been held in Selkirk and Glasgow.

Future dates and locations where you can come along and be part of the discussions are: Inverness Aberdeen Dundee Fife

22 October 10 November 30 November Date to follow

Other dates and locations to follow – let us know if you want us to visit your area!

The format and timings are: 12pm – 12.30pm 12.30pm – 1.15pm 1.15pm – 1.45pm 1.50pm

Sandwich lunch and networking Looking to 2016 - Issues for the sector, issues for you (Annie Mauger, director, CIH Scotland) Local speaker’s response (speaker TBC) What do you want from CIH? (open discussion) Closing remarks

Please reserve your place at a Scotland Connect session by emailing connect@cih.org.

Feel free to let us know about any specific issues you’d like to raise or discuss at the meeting.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

For further information, contact Annie Mauger on annie.mauger@cih.org, Marian Reid on marian.reid@cih.org or call 0131 225 4544

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WRITTEN BY MARK REID, CIH SCOTLAND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AND SARAH GREALLY, CIH SCOTLAND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

LEARNING WITH CIH SCOTLAND We’re here to help individuals and organisations working in housing to learn and develop in every way we can. Here are just some of the learning opportunities available to you between now and the end of the year.

Whatever your learning and development needs, CIH can help.

Housing law: introduction to tenancy law

22 October, Edinburgh Know how to create a tenancy agreement, examine the rules relating to different types of tenancies including Scottish secured and short Scottish secured tenancies plus assured and short assured tenancies.

NEW FOR 2015! Supporting tenants to reduce energy costs

27 October, Glasgow Despite considerable investment in energy efficiency, Scotland has the highest share of households in fuel poverty in Europe and achievement of the Scottish Government’s targets to eliminate fuel poverty before the end of 2016 and its 2020 target for carbon emissions reductions both look in doubt. Meeting the SHQS/EESSH and installing new energy efficient technologies is unlikely to be enough to tackle persistent fuel poverty in the social rented sector. All housing staff – not just maintenance staff or energy advice teams – can help tenants mitigate the impact of high fuel costs and help curb rising carbon emissions. This interactive course helps equip you to provide practical help to tenants to reduce their energy costs and carbon emissions, to increase their income available for rent and other necessities and enjoy a better quality of life.

Frontline Futures: resilience at the front line

28 October, Edinburgh Frontline housing staff are under increasing pressure – welfare reform together with other factors have lead to changes in frontline roles. The ability to face and overcome significantly challenging situations day after day requires high levels of personal resilience levels. This workshop has been designed to equip you to assess your own personal resilience and acquire skills and techniques to help you develop and maintenance your resilience and performance at the front line of housing.

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Data protection in practice

3 November, Glasgow This practical introduction to data protection legislation is contextualised for the social housing sector, uses real cases and will equip you to know the obligations of your organisation and you as an individual under data protection legislation. You will learn practical actions to mitigate risks and ensure compliance and be able to explain the main provisions of Scottish freedom of information legislation and its implications for social housing providers.

Frontline Futures: leading the frontline of the future

18 November, Edinburgh Our frontline housing staff are working differently, they are encouraged to self-manage, and take greater levels of responsibility. Leaders need to lead differently - the old command and control doesn’t work anymore! Our leaders and managers need to have different skills and mind sets to ensure staff are supported in their challenging and changing environment. This participative workshop will allow leaders and managers to reflect on their current leadership style and develop new techniques to lead an empowered staff at the frontline.

Repairs reporting skills

26 November, Glasgow Handling reports of repairs is one of the core elements of any landlord’s duties. It is also one of the areas mot likely to cause customer complaints. It is therefore vital that staff are capable of taking a “right first time” approach in order to increase tenant satisfaction and control costs. This course aims to explain the background to repairs, give you knowledge regarding the Landlord’s legal obligations and equip you with skills to get it “right first time”.

Customer care skills for difficult situations

3 December, Glasgow Some customers are easy to deal with; they make a request and are happy with the answer. Others are not so easy; they are demanding and can sometimes display behaviour which can be seen as difficult. This practical course looks at how to handle such behaviour without compromising the care that your customers expect.

Foreign nationals and rights to housing assistance

8 December, Glasgow What are the main housing options for people coming to Scotland and are there any time limits as to when they can access council housing? Where do the Housing Scotland Acts fit into immigration legislation or where does immigration law sit within the Housing Scotland Acts? This one day course will give you the knowledge and skills to provide housing advice, homeless assistance and rights to housing.

For prices and to book, go online at www.cih.org/scotland or phone us on 0131 225 4544.

Look out for our new training programme for next year!

Visit www.cih.org/scotland to learn with us in 2016.

We can come to you!

If you have 5 or more people in your organisation interested in attending any of our training courses, we can design training and development programmes to match your requirements or we can adapt any of our existing courses to suit you. All of our courses, qualifications and workshops can be delivered exclusively to your organisation or to a group of organisations, and at a date and location convenient to you. Find out more by contacting the CIH Scotland team at Scotland @cih.org or call 0131 225 4544.

Frontline Futures: coaching the frontline

10 December, Edinburgh This programme has been designed to provide frontline housing staff with coaching skills to help them to help tenants take responsibility for their own lives and life choices. This course will develop the coaching skills of front line housing staff and provide them with techniques to support tenants to become more confident to develop and achieve their own outcomes.

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BACK TO THE FLOOR

Members of the CIH Scotland team have been spending time in housing organisations. Here, three members of the team who shadowed housing officers at Weslo Housing Management provide a taster of their experience and what they learned.

Diana Taseva

Emma Patterson

SERVICE DEVELOPMENT

SERVICE DEVELOPMENT

ADMINISTRATOR

ADMINISTRATOR

I spent a day shadowing housing officer Julie Cairns at the end of May. It was a rather rainy morning in Bathgate. After introducing me to the rest of the team and having a quick cup of tea, Julie went over our schedule for the day, and we set off on our journey in the Weslo pool car.

It certainly was a particularly useful and thought-provoking learning experience, though it was not quite what I expected.

While I had always thought that the main responsibility of housing officers had been to collect rent, I realised that in reality, their role comprises far more than that. No two visits were the same – each tenant had different issues and personal circumstances to deal with. Some were friendly and co-operative, while others were more challenging.

As well as making sure that payments are made on time and properties are maintained to a certain standard, Julie was genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of her tenants and she had clearly built good relationships with them. Housing officers ensure that their tenants get the help that they need in order to resolve issues, such as repairs, anti-social behaviour or health concerns.

Spending a day visiting tenants with a housing officer was a truly eye-opening experience for me. It highlighted the importance of our work at CIH Scotland – specifically in providing training and support for staff who work at the front line of housing. It is crucial that we continue to work together, in order to make sure that everyone has access to a safe, secure and affordable home.

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We had planned a day of home visits to see tenants and I was surprised to hear just how many homes housing officers were responsible for. During these visits, I witnessed the housing officer discuss a wide variety of matters with tenants including repairs, ongoing maintenance, tenancy sustainment, tenancy swaps, rent arrears and issues in the local neighbourhood.

I noticed the great relationship that the housing officer had with her tenants. It was clear that the tenants trusted them as we were always welcomed in when arriving at tenants’ front doors, and many of the tenants even trusted their housing officer enough to discuss sensitive and delicate matters within their private lives. The officer was great at making tenants feel at ease by insisting that she wasn’t visiting them to cause them any inconvenience but to help them.

The highlight of my day was meeting the wide variety of people that Weslo Housing Management house, as well as learning about all the organisation’s different policies such as its repairs and allocations policies. Seeing these policies put into practice has really helped me to complete assignments for my ongoing study for the CIH Level 3 Certificate in Housing Practice.

The experience has helped me to better understand how the products and services that CIH Scotland provides are of value to people working within a housing organisation. I am now more able to discuss these services with customers as I have a better understanding of how they might be suited to a housing officer’s training or learning needs.

John McClarey BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

I spent a day with Pam Menzies from Weslo. What became apparent throughout the day was the scope and variety of the work of a housing officer. With job roles beginning to blur, they are considerably more than the rent collector they are often perceived as. Staff are advising tenants on health, relationships, dealing with anti-social neighbours, drug related problems, house adaptations and money management.

Throughout the day the need for health care, social care, housing and other agencies to work together to deliver an effective service for the community was abundantly clear. I think a more holistic approach through a combined knowledge sharing portal would be massively beneficial.

The most enjoyable visits of the day were the ‘settling in’ visits – happy tenants relayed their joy of moving into a new home and conveyed their appreciation and thanks to their housing officer for all their help. We also made visits that were focused on rent arrears, to tenants who wished to move to a different home as their needs had changed and to individuals on the waiting list for a home. The common element across all the visits was building relationships, based around great communication and an empathetic approach from the housing officer.

Each member of the CIH Scotland team gained a vital insight into life on the front line from their day with Weslo’s Housing Officers and with no two days the same, we all experienced different elements of one of the country’s unheralded professions.

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AROUND THE NATIONS

Policy updates from CIH in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

ENGLAND

regeneration: what are the common steps to success?

Melanie Rees, CIH head of policy in England, shares the findings of recent research on regeneration.

We’ve seen a significant change in the approach to regeneration in England since 2008 when, after the economic downturn, tried and tested practices became financially unviable and much regeneration activity ceased. The coalition government formed in 2010 was sceptical about nationally backed, capital intensive regeneration schemes and ended specific programmes targeting the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

These have been replaced with City Deals and other arrangements which focus on promoting economic growth where conditions are favourable, but do not target specifically disadvantaged areas, therefore leaving a gap.

But there is a clear and growing consensus in the housing sector that a renewed focus on regeneration could help to deliver improved outcomes for communities and key government objectives. This includes: • • • • • • • •

increasing housing supply, quality, affordability and choice providing a better mix of house sizes and tenures while creating successful, balanced communities improving the built environment through better design and improved infrastructure and amenities stabilising weak housing markets providing training, jobs and support for social enterprise improving outcomes for health, education and crime boosting economic growth outside London and the south east devolving more powers to a regional level 32 | Scottish Housing Matters

With this in mind CIH, together with East London based housing association Poplar HARCA, is exploring the scope to call on the government to refocus on regeneration and to provide a challenge fund, potentially in the form of repayable loans, to help pump-priming at the resource-hungry early stages of a project. Our interim report was launched at CIH’s annual conference in June.

During our research, we’ve spoken to a wide range of people and organisations involved in regeneration activity. While they are operating in quite different environments, we’ve been struck by the common factors they’ve identified as crucial to successful regeneration.

Steps to regeneration success • • • • • • • • • • •

Strong, visible local leadership and a shared vision for the area Local residents/communities taking ownership and innovating to find solutions Strong delivery partnerships – the shape of which will vary depending on local circumstances Local delivery vehicles to deliver the vision and secure funding A long term plan for the area which is reflects both local and sub-regional issues Funding for all stages – particularly upfront costs and infrastructure Political buy-in and community backing Extensive, meaningful engagement of local groups and residents A local planning system that facilitates access to the land needed to make regeneration happen A viable, robust business case to attract a number of funding streams Clear links to transport as a major driver of economic activity

What next?

We are publishing a collection of practice examples in the autumn showcasing the ways in which organisations are delivering innovative approaches to regeneration reflecting the specific needs of the areas in which they work. We are also quantifying the potential for a renewed focus on regeneration in terms of its outputs, outcomes - housing, social and economic - and resource requirements to inform our efforts to influence the policy and spending priorities of the new Westminster government from 2016-17.

Melanie Rees can be contacted at melanie.rees@cih.org and is on Twitter @MelanieReesCIH

NORTHERN IRELAND

housing market still at risk

Chartered Institute of Housing director for Northern Ireland Nicola McCrudden paints a picture of a struggling owner occupied sector.

Despite some cautious signs of recovery, the Northern Ireland (NI) housing market remains very much bruised post-recession. Of course we are not alone across Britain, regions are struggling to recover from both house price decline and the impact of the credit crunch. There is however a major difference. Northern Ireland has the worst levels of negative equity and repossession in the UK. Average house prices are still more than 43 per cent below their peak in 2007. This is causing major problems for the local housing market, with thousands of families trapped in their mortgages unable to move and thousands living under threat of repossession.

Boom and bust

For the first half of the last decade, NI house prices generally tracked increases in Scotland and Ireland, showing modest growth but generally increasing more slowly than properties in England and Wales. Then in 2006, while prices in Britain were increasing modestly and prices in the Ireland were beginning to taper off, something unexplained happened. Over the course of 18 months, NI house prices increased by a whopping 76 per cent - surpassed only by London and the South East. At their height, house prices represented more than nine times the median salary and average mortgage repayments consumed 64 per cent of incomes.

It was of course unsustainable. By 2008, the financial crisis had hit and the spike in NI reversed as quickly as it arose. The fall from peak was the most dramatic by UK standards and arguably the most severe globally.

However, whilst most regions in Britain began to see increasing house prices from 2009, in Northern Ireland they continued to fall in line with homes in the Republic of Ireland. House prices in both jurisdictions reached their lowest point at the end of 2012.

Despite recent house price growth, negative equity still plagues our region and our homes. Approximately 41 per cent of mortgages taken out in NI since 2005 are in negative equity. In Scotland the equivalent figure is around 13 per cent.

Home repossessions

There is clearly a link between negative equity and repossession as NI also has the highest number of homes being repossessed compared to other parts of the UK. Last year, there were just over 3,500 legal actions taken by lenders to repossess homes.

The recently established Mortgage Repossession Task Force, chaired by NI’s Department for Social Development, has reported that the scale of repossession is disproportionately high and poses a threat to the local housing market and the economy.

It suggested that the problem is rooted in the volatility of the market and is linked to borrower and lender behaviour in the context of rising house prices and relaxed lending criteria. This left large numbers of borrowers very vulnerable to reductions in income. The situation is likely to further deteriorate over the next few years, with projections that that repossessions may double in the period to 2018.

Shifting tides

There have been some signs of a return to life in the local property market. There are more first-time buyers assisted by higher loan-to-value mortgages and greater demand for co-ownership and help to buy schemes. Surveys have consistently shown that NI house prices are rising, with Nationwide reporting that they are rising faster that the rest of the UK. This will be good news for those households in negative equity who want to move home - but for others, the combination of rising house prices, along with exposure to interest rate rises will mean greater numbers families being repossessed – something which Northern Ireland wants to avoid.

This graph shows the movement in house prices by region in the UK and Ireland since the turn of the millennium.

Nicola can be contacted at nicola.mccrudden@cih.org and is on Twitter @nicmccrudden Scottish Housing Matters | 33

WALES

what’s been happening?

•

Julie Nicholas, CIH Cymru policy and public affairs manager, provides a summary of some of the main policy and legislative developments.

New and developing legislation

Wales’ very first Housing Act introduces cross sector change to housing law. Among the biggest changes, the act:

34 | Scottish Housing Matters

•

•

introduces a national mandatory registration and licensing scheme for all private rented landlords and agents, with the intention to begin roll out of the scheme later this year. A new branded website ‘Rent Smart Wales’ is now live and will be the home of private landlord registration in Wales: https://www.rentsmart.gov.wales/en/ reforms the housing revenue account subsidy (HRAS) system; the 11 councils with housing stock exited the UK HRAS account in April 2015 and became self-financing introduces a new statutory homelessness

prevention duty on local authorities, as well as allowing them to use suitable accommodation in the private sector to discharge duty.

A number of Welsh Government documents have been issued for guidance and/or consultation relating to the Act including: • •

a new code of guidance for local authorities on the allocation of accommodation and homelessness an update on the new legislation for private landlords and agents

Introduced by Lesley Griffiths, minister for communities and tackling poverty in February 2015, the Renting Homes (Wales) Bill proposes wholesale, sector-wide tenancy reform. The Bill has completed stage one of the legislative process and is scheduled to receive Royal Assent in early 2016.

The bill seeks to replace various statutory provisions, common law rules and multiple tenancy types with two regulated written tenancy agreements, to be used by all rental providers: •

• •

a ‘secure contract’ based on current local authority tenancy agreements that will be used for all types of ‘social housing’ in Wales; for housing association and local authority tenancies. a ‘standard periodic contract’ based on the ‘assured shorthold tenancy’ to be used mainly in the private rented sector. http://senedd.assembly.wales/ mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=12055

Proposed changes to right to buy

In January 2015, the Welsh Government consulted on the future of right to buy and right to acquire. The consultation included two proposals with the aim of protecting social housing by changing existing legislation to reduce the level of right to buy discounts and developing new legislation to end the right to buy and right to acquire. http://gov.wales/consultations/ housing-and-regeneration/future-of-right-tobuy/?lang=en

Public service transformation

Two maps outlining proposals to reduce the number of Welsh local authorities from 22 to eight or nine were published in June. Both of the proposed maps result in mergers where some authorities that have retained stock will merge with those whose housing has undergone stock transfer. http://www.cih.org/news-article/display/vpathDCR/ templatedata/cih/news-article/data/Wales/council_ reorg A new report by former CIH Cymru director Keith Edwards was launched in July 2015 focussng on the potential of co-operative and mutual models in public service delivery. The report includes consultation responses from the housing association sector and its prospect of increased partnership working on the public service transformation agenda in Wales. http://gov.wales/topics/improvingservices/publications/ is-the-feeling-mutual-report/?lang=en

Supporting people

A campaign launched by Cymorth Cymru, the representative body for housing-related support providers, has gathered cross-sector support to ‘keep on supporting people’. While the supporting people (SP) programme still has ring-fenced financial protection in Wales, there has been a cut to the budget for 2015/16. The campaign aims to make the case for safeguarding the future funding for SP in Wales.

Julie can be contacted at julie.nicholas@cih.org and is on Twitter @JulieNCIH

Scottish Housing Matters | 35

WRITTEN BY STEVE SMEDLEY, HOUSEMARK ASSOCIATE

PINNING DOWN VALUE FOR MONEY Wheatley Group, CIH Scotland and HouseMark Scotland got together to take a fresh look at value for money (VFM) in Scottish social housing. Because the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) is not pinning the sector down with a prescribed definition of VFM, there is an opportunity for social landlords to set out their stall and assert what VFM means to them and their service users, and how they will achieve and measure it. How do you know if you are providing VFM? aims to help you realise this opportunity by making you think strategically as well as providing practical ‘how to’ guidance.

To keep it real, the publication was informed by research that drew on a range of sector perspectives, gleaned through a round table session, a sector sounding board survey and interviews. The publication will be of particular interest to senior officers, members of governing bodies and those tenants involved in the decision-making and management of local authorities and housing associations.

On the other side of the Tweed, an ideological battle is being fought which questions the value of social housing itself: crudely, is it part of the problem or the solution? It’s difficult to move forward on VFM when you stall at V. Not so in Scotland. Housing, thankfully, is a devolved activity, and it seems social housing is widely supported by government, its institutions and citizens.

However, Scotland is not completely insulated from what goes on in London: ideas gain traction and austerity frames financial settlements. All three devolved governments are eyeing up the forthcoming 36 | Scottish Housing Matters

spending review with trepidation. Just recently, a Labour-controlled Welsh Government asked social landlords to model Tory-inspired English-style rent cuts as it faces pressure to reduce the housing benefit bill.

This may never happen in Scotland, but the point is outside influences may well impact on value creation and therefore the local VFM agenda.

So what is currently shaping the local VFM agenda?

A host of stakeholders, with a range of value perspectives, are looking to social landlords to add value. The government is keen on increasing housing supply and meeting environmental standards, the regulator (SHR) is championing what the consumer gets for his/her rent, increasingly cash-strapped councils need help to sustain community wellbeing and then there’s housing’s contribution to health and social care integration. And let’s not forget service users and the oft-quoted expectation of continually improving standards. Plenty to go at then. No wonder VFM is growing in importance and no wonder we sometimes struggle to define, manage and demonstrate VFM (the three key sections of the publication).

So what are our observations?

• While the VFM debate has largely been driven by the SHR, whose focus is squarely on tenants, there is wide acceptance, including by the SHR, that social landlords need to consider VFM from the perspective of a range of stakeholders as suggested above. So, as the SHR develops its approach to regulating VFM, it needs to accommodate the fact that social landlords are balancing the needs of a range of beneficiaries • Recognising the diversity of what social landlords

How do you know if you are providing value for money?

Defining, managing and demonstrating Value for Money in Scotland

•

•

• •

• •

do and their respective operating context, the SHR should continue to offer the sector the opportunity to develop VFM locally.

Achieving VFM requires the landlord to be clear about its purpose and role in various localities, which stakeholders it produces value for, and define what value and VFM means locally as part of the dialogue with tenants during rent setting.

The relationship between service costs and service levels needs to be made transparent so that tenants can ‘follow the money’ and understand what is driving the rent and whether VFM is achieved.

If tenants are to be meaningfully involved in VFM, landlords need to engage in capacity building.

Managing VFM is about leaders building on a clear sense of purpose and pursuing a similarly clear set of principles to achieve success. Social landlords are already involved in a broad range of VFM delivery activities which serve as a useful starting point for considering a strategic approach to VFM. Getting a grip on service cost and performance, asset management and procurement is critical to the success of the business and achieving VFM. Detailed cost and performance benchmarking is an essential prerequisite when demonstrating VFM as it offers a more useful source of data than Charter

•

•

•

•

indicators and annual accounts when seeking to understand cost and performance drivers.

There is no silver bullet or aggregate measure to instantly understand VFM performance; it is a case of identifying a suite of measures that map to the areas of ‘value’ created and to understand ‘money’.

Such a suite could be simplified to create a VFM scorecard to focus on the most essential indicators of business success and simplify engagement with stakeholders.

Data, however, is only part of the VFM equation.

The narrative around VFM is equally important, as it can explain the context and the difficult choices that landlords have to make in securing VFM. In terms of demonstrating VFM, measuring it is only half the battle: you need to communicate it as well. Landlords should reflect on the extent to which the VFM information they provide to tenants is accessible and transparent, so that meaningful involvement in shaping services and scrutiny can take place.

To put it another way, a business should know why 1 it exists, who it serves, what it needs to do to be successful and be able to measure and demonstrate the extent of its success.

Scottish Housing Matters | 37

Working on delivering high-quality services?/ What to know how to help tenants understand complex performance data and financial information?/ Need help to develop scrutiny activities?

Step Up and Join the Leaders!

Why not enrol your organisation on Stepping Up to Scrutiny, the national scrutiny training and learning programme, and lead the way in tenant driven performance improvement?

But hurry! Places and Scottish Government funding are limited.

To find out how you can benefit from the programme contact the Stepping Up to Scrutiny team on 0131 225 4544 or email scotland@cih.org

CIH chartered membership THE HALLMARK OF YOUR SUCCESS IN HOUSING Stepping up to chartered membership is an investment in you and your community – by taking your career to the next level you’re making a decision that contributes to the profession as a whole. That’s why everyone in housing should aspire to chartered membership.

Find your route www.cih.org/charteredmembership membership.services@cih.org 024 7685 1700

38 | Scottish Housing Matters

Learn with us. Improve with us. Influence with us.

@cihhousing

www.cih.org

DOLLY GIVES THE GIFT OF READING TO SCOTLAND’S CHILDREN Two decades ago, Dolly Parton established Imagination Library; a charity that sends books to children aged nought to five once a month in the post.

She set up the charity as a tribute to her father – a smart, hard-working man who was unable to read or write.

To date, the library has donated 72 million books and boasts thousands of regional branches across the USA, UK, Canada and Australia.

children on the programme. It is planning an exciting relaunch this September with a view to signing up more families later in the year. Watch this space for some exciting news in other housing publications!

In the UK there are more than 75 Imagination Libraries operating with over 30,000 children enrolled; in places as far north as the Shetland Isles and as far south as Hawkhurst in Kent. 30 of these Imagination Libraries are running across Scotland for lookedafter children administered by local authority social work admin staff. The cost of the books is funded by the Scottish Government, with the grant being administered by the Scottish Book Trust.

More than 2,500 of Scotland’s looked-after children (LAC) are signed up to receive this special gift through the post every month. The LAC programme is currently being independently evaluated - a report will be published this autumn. In June 2015, the Scottish Government confirmed that they will extend the funding for the LAC programme for a further three years until March 2019.

In addition to the LAC programme, the Dollywood Foundation UK is also working in partnership with West of Scotland Housing Association, in Glasgow, which is enrolling a small number of its tenants’

“A four year old boy I work with receives books from the Imagination Library. He is always so excited when the book is delivered by the postman and is quick to get it opened and to read it.”

Social worker, City of Edinburgh Council Scottish Housing Matters | 39

Kindly supported by

2015 CIH SCOTLAND EXCELLENCE AWARDS Join Scottish housing’s celebration of the year at the stunning Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh on Friday 13 November.

Guests will be treated to a 3 course meal with wine Event host will be Radio Forth’s Arlene Stuart Make sure you book your table early!

See our website for the full list of finalists and table booking information: www.cih.org/scotland/excellenceawards 40 | Scottish Housing Matters