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Tenants bear full force of budget cuts |
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Anyone in receipt of housing benefit hoping to access an affordable lifetime tenancy should prepare for tough times in light of the recent Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) The CSR fiercely reduced housing benefit entitlements and is removing the security of lifetime affordable tenancies for new tenants in the social rented sector. Could this policy be adopted by our MLAs?
Although much of the detail is still unknown there is no doubt that the CSR delivered bad news for housing in England. Frantic attempts have been made to distill what many of these punitive measures will mean for ordinary people. Housing Rights Service is greatly concerned that housing is facing some of the biggest cuts and that these will be mirrored in Northern Ireland. While we recognise that the NI Executive will be tied by a greater extent when it comes to welfare benefits, we urge that everything possible is done to protect the most vulnerable in our society.
As expected, a range of cuts in Local Housing Allowance entitlements featured. The decision to extend the Shared Room Rate entitlement (SRR) to single under 35s came as a complete shock. General consensus in the advice sector is that the current SRR system is already deeply flawed and should be abolished. Not only does it lead to rent shortfalls, but in many cases of relationship breakdown single fathers and mothers are denied access to their children because the system forces them to live in shared accommodation. The extension of this rule to include under 35s will undoubtedly have a detrimental impact on many more families.
Other plans will give social landlords the freedom to raise rents towards market levels and introduce time-limited tenancies. The move to offer tenants intermediate rents at around 80 per cent of the market rent (to be known as affordable rent) is a seismic shift in social housing policy. The Chancellor has said that these new flexibilities and a budget allocation of £4.4 billion would allow 150,000 affordable homes to be built over the next four years. This CSR allocation represents a cut of around 50% on current levels of investment in England. Housing Rights Service is keen to see further details about this reform, the merits of which will depend on how this new tenure will be allocated and how affordable it will be. While intermediate contracts may represent a better deal than the private rented sector for some households, they may be unaffordable to the lowest income households. We are concerned that the impact will be felt greatest by those families priced out and left with no alternative but to compete for homes in the lower end of the private rented sector.
Housing policy in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter, but the social security system operates on the principle of parity with Britain. Any costs resulting from changing parity would have to be picked up by the NI Executive. Is the NI Executive likely to follow suit with these reforms locally?
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Tenant Debt Advice Service |
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The Tenant Debt Advice Service (TDAS) is a pilot project set up in March 2010 under the Preventing Possession Initiative. The primary aim is to prevent eviction and homelessness by incorporating independent debt advice into social housing rent arrears management procedures. This is a partnership arrangement between Housing Rights Service and a number of housing associations; currently Ark, Belfast Community, Habinteg and North and West Housing.
The project has already shown success in terms of partnership working between housing providers, tenants and Housing Rights Service. The importance of effective communication has been instrumental in ensuring that tenant arrears problems are identified and appropriate referrals are made to the TDAS adviser . Our dedicated Housing Debt Advisor has achieved lots of successful outcomes to date by ensuring that the tenant's arrears and other debt problems are investigated and addressed. She then can create a realistic and sustainable repayment plan that should prevent the tenant from falling further into debt and, potentially becoming homeless.
What are your thoughts on the importance of holistic debt counselling when dealing with housing debt? Do you agree that fostering and developing partnerships is a key step in preventing possession?
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Developing guidance for rent collection and arrears management |
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As part of the Preventing Possession Initiative, a dedicated policy officer has been working in partnership with the Department for Social Development (Housing Division) and social housing providers in NI (including NIHE), to develop good practice guidance in rent arrears management and recovery for the social housing sector in Northern Ireland.
The guidance is currently with NIFHA for consultation and we hope to see it launched and adopted by all social housing providers in the autumn. A crucial element of the work of the Preventing Possession Initiative has been ensuring that a standard approach to rent arrears is taken by all social housing providers in Northern Ireland. We see this as an important step in preventing homelessness as a consequence of debt related possession action. An important element of this piece of work has been in striking a balance between maximising income for the housing provider whilst ensuring that eviction is treated as a last resort.
We'd be very interested to hear what your views are on this kind of cohesion throughout the sector. What do you think are important factors in preventing a breakdown of the tenant/landlord relationship when dealing with arrears?
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