9th December 2019
Thirteen associations face downgrade if UK sovereign rating lowered, warns S&P Manifestos and what they mean for the housing sector in the North
As the parties publish their manifestos, NHC Senior Policy Advisor Karen Brown has looked at the main party manifestos to see where they diverge or converge on housing policies and what they mean for the North.
The agency, which rates 41 UK landlords, said a lack of clarity over Brexit “continues to weigh” on providers of social housing and next month’s election has intensified the uncertainty. Earlier this month, Moody’s, another credit rating agency, warned it could cut its rating on Britain’s sovereign debt partly due to Brexit paralysis. An S&P spokesperson revealed to Inside Housing that the 13 housing associations facing a possible downgrade are: Accent, Aster Group, Bromford, Incommunities, Karbon Homes, Lincolnshire Housing Partnership, Octavia Housing, Plymouth Community Homes, Stonewater, Sanctuary, Sovereign, Gentoo, and Swan. Read more
Housing associations set for two-year turnover increase
Read Full Summary Last-ditch pitch for housing to get ahead of the general election Three regional housing groups have teamed up to make a last-ditch pitch for housing to get ahead of the general election. With just days to go, Homes for the South West, Homes for the North, and the G15 want housing pushed higher up the agenda. With Homes for the South West launching its own General Election manifesto, the chairs of the three campaigning groups have come together to show their support for a regional approach to housing investment and set out a common vision to deliver the homes needed. Read more
General Election Property Market Boost? With the general election just a week away, the property market is waiting with bated breath to find out whose rule the country will be under come December 13th and, consequently, which way house prices might swing as a result. But does a general election really affect the property market? Seven Capital has carried out research into house prices on and around the last 50 years of elections to look at how the upcoming election could affect the UK’s housing market this time around. Read article
Housing associations should see turnover increase by 30% over the next two years, boosted by a return to inflationlinked rent rises for social housing from 2020, as well as higher market sales, new analysis says. Effective cost controls, coupled with turnover growth, will lead to higher surpluses. Read article
Wealth Gap – North-east still below pre-crisis level A study by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that the poorest 10% of households had debts three times greater than their assets compared with the richest 10% who amassed a wealth pile 35 times larger than their total debts. The survey also found that regional wealth gaps have grown, with the fastest pace of growth found in the southeast. Typical household wealth in the south-east is £445,900, more than twice as high as the north-east at £172,900. The foundation said despite the UK’s record level of wealth, typical wealth in the north-east and east Midlands in 2016-18 was still below its pre-crisis level. Read Article
Operating Environment
Planning approval for £59 million development in Teesside
Shelter chief executive calls for mass construction of social housing
Planning permission has been granted for a new housing development in Teesside that would bring 375 new homes to the area. The £59 million project will be constructed by Galliford Try Partnerships North in collaboration with Homes England, who currently own the land on the edge of Redcar where new homes will be built. Read more
Shelter’s chief executive has called for the building of more social housing to remedy rising levels of poverty and homelessness and the ever-increasing cost of the £21bn Housing Benefit bill.
Huge housing development could be the 'size of Saltburn and Yarm' As part of the 2018 Hartlepool Local Plan, Wynyard is allocated to deliver approximately 732 homes in the borough, with more homes on the Stockton side of the development. However council planning officers said the development could lead to around 900 new homes in Hartlepool if other land is used which does not currently have a use allocated to it. Read article
Gresham: how the housing market failed a community During the summer, the National Housing Federation called for action on what it described as “left-behind places” in the North and the Midlands. As part of a series of reports from some of the most deprived areas in the country, Gavriel Hollander visits Gresham, Middlesbrough, to find out what market failure looks like. “There’s something about poverty that creates apathy,” muses Angela Lockwood as she crosses Union Street in Gresham, Middlesbrough. “When people are worried about how to put food on the table they don’t have time to be worried about housing issues.” Read article
One in eight care homes ‘forced to close’ in last decade One in eight care homes have been forced to close in the last decade, while rising numbers of families are being forced to pay for care, a new report warns. The study shows that the number of homes in the UK has fallen by 1,612 in 10 years, despite a rapidly ageing population. The report by analysts LaingBuisson also shows 45% of care-home places are now funded by families, not the state, up from 40% in a decade.The number of local authority beds has halved over the same period, from 34,700 to 17,100 – with the total number of care homes dropping from 12,592 to 10,980. Read Article
Speaking at Homes UK 2019, Polly Neate stated that social housing is the “only moral way” for the UK to deliver the homes it needs and reduce poverty and destitution. She said: “I think we’re at a tipping point now…particularly in our major cities…with the sheer scale of people sleeping on the streets – nobody is born to die in that situation”. Read more
Social housing unites to launch sector ESG initiative A sector partnership has been formed to build consensus on an approach to reporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics within social housing, as demand from investors mounts. Thirteen partners have been confirmed on the advisory group to date, with a consultation and collaboration process underway to launch a white paper in February. Read article
The prospects of the next government solving the social care crisis are poor The launch of the three main party manifestos reveals scant understanding of social care issues, poorly developed proposals, a limited focus that is almost exclusively about older people, and reliance on building consensus for a long-term solution. At the last General Election in 2017, social care emerged as Theresa May’s Achilles heel when manifesto proposals for funding long-term care were quickly dubbed as the ‘dementia tax’ and rapidly unravelled. In the two years since, a Green Paper has been anticipated – and repeatedly delayed – and has still failed to appear. The publication of the Conservative Manifesto might have been expected to provide some insight to the plans that have been described as imminent for many months. Nevertheless, the manifesto has failed to indicate any sense of a strategy when it comes to social care. Read article
Recently Attended Homes UK 2019 – The Future of Living 27 Nov 2019, London
Mark Arnold, who led the event, said: “It went really well. It was an opportunity for Thirteen to showcase how we have adopted GIS in our organisation and the benefits it has brought to several sections including neighbourhoods, grounds maintenance, asset and development.
Paul Jenkins (Director of asset management and sustainability) spoke at the recent Homes UK Conference in London. The session covered ‘Greener and more energy efficient homes by 2050: How do we get there?’ The UK faces legally binding climate change targets to ensure that all homes are ‘nearly zero energy’ 2050. By doing so, the housing sector and its residents will benefit from lower fuel bills, improved health and comfort as well as new jobs and skills.
We were able to show the capabilities of the system to 31 organisations from around the country who either have GIS or are considering implementing a GIS system.” We also received positive feedback from attendees: “Just want to say well done for yesterday I think it went really well and hopefully gave everyone in the room a lot to think about. What you are doing with GIS at Thirteen is really impressive and would say you are the leaders in the Housing GIS arena!”
In order to achieve the ambition of greener and more energy efficient homes, the session explored the changes to policy, financing and legislation that will be required. It also drew upon practical examples of innovations, including those deployed by Thirteen already, to boost the energy efficiency of homes and how these can be adopted more widely across the UK.
Regulator of Social Housing Chairs’ Events
Paul and Samantha Granger are currently looking at Thirteen’s future approach to Environmental Sustainability and will be sharing some thoughts and ideas around our mission as well as how you might be able to get involved in the early part of next year.
The event also focused on the tough resource decisions faced by Housing Associations, for example, uncertainty over future rent levels, costs of safety work, and long-term cost implications for ageing stock. The Regulator has also commenced a new IDA structure.
George Garlick (Chair of Thirteen) attended an event held by the Regulator of Social Housing on 3rd December. In a climate of political uncertainty, the meeting strongly focused on customers, involvement, communication, representation and safety.
CBI Networking Dinner
If you would like to know more about Homes UK please contact Paul.
Board and Committee Members Miriam Harte, Nadeem Ahmad, and Nick Taylor attended the CBI Networking Dinner on 21st November 2019. The event provided a great opportunity for networking to raise the profile of Thirteen.
Policy Consultations We keep an eye on government consultations around changes to policy that can affect the way we do business or our customers. We also keep an eye on local activity and feed in where we think we need to. We ensure we understand the implications for the business and, where applicable, we send a response to feed in Thirteen’s views and provide evidence. Current and recent policy consultations are listed below. Consultation The Future Homes Standard: changes to Part L and Part F of the Building Regulations for new dwellings
Notes Consultation on the uplift to standards of Part L of the Building Regulations and changes to Part F. This uplift is the first step in achieving the Future Homes Standards which is to . Coordinating response to consultation (deadline Jan 2020) and understanding the impact to Thirteen. Working with development and sustainability. Timeline The proposed timeline for the consultation and release of the new Part L, Part F and summer overheating regulations is as follows: • Consultation ends on 10th January 2020. • Early/mid 2020 - Publication of new Part L, Part F and summer overheating regulations • Mid/late 2020 - New Part L, Part F and summer overheating regulations come into force • The Standard Assessment Procedure methodology version 10.1 (SAP 10.1) will be adopted and updated to version 10.2 when the new Part L comes into force to take into account any changes from the consultation.
Local Policing Survey
The survey will enable us to give our feedback on what we think the priorities need to be for neighbourhood policing and how we should be working with the police. This will also support our priorities for ASB and crime, e.g. to increase police presence; optimise location of police resources; make our customers feel safer and more confident to report crime; and to develop multi-agency partnerships.
If you are aware of any ongoing consultations or think you can contribute to our work around any of these, please contact a member of the Policy & Research Team.