Have you say on how Brent Council allocates social housing to those on the waiting list

King's Drive Estate, Wembley this morning

Brent Council is consulting on how social housing is allocated to people on the housing waiting list. This is what they say:

Residents are being invited to have their say on how the council allocates social housing in Brent.

The council is launching a consultation that asks people to give their views on the criteria for distributing the limited number of social houses currently available.

Brent is proposing changes to ensure that social housing is shared out fairly to people in need. These changes include a proposal to give residents in temporary accommodation priority for social housing that becomes available on the estate where they are living, so that they don't have to move neighbourhoods. Another change looks at giving priority to homeless families living in temporary accommodation on an estate that is being regenerated to move into social housing within the same area.

The full list of proposed changes is available online here. The consultation will end on 22 January 2019, ahead of the Cabinet decision's in March with the agreed changes then set to begin in April.

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, Cabinet Member for Housing and Welfare Reform, said: "It's really important that social housing is distributed fairly given the chronic shortage of genuinely affordable homes in Brent. We are asking for as many views as possible. These changes impact everyone on the waiting list.

"We do have ambitious plans to build more homes in Brent, but these changes work with the limited supply of homes that we have available to us right now."

Brent last reviewed how it allocated social housing in November 2014 and made changes to its scheme in January 2015.

Detailed proposals are not available until you actually start the process of filling in the on-line consultation AVAILABLE HERE  so I have reproduced them below:

To see all the options click on 'read more' below.

Metropolitan Housing and Barratt Homes fail to rectify dangerous conditions in Wembley social housing block

Ex local councillor Alison Hopkins has decided to go public regarding dangerous conditions in new build social housing managed by Metropolitan Housing and built by Barratt Homes after Metropolitan Housing failed to respond to urgent concerns.

Hopkins said:

Residents  got in touch with me as I am their former local councillor. The flats are new build and have been plagued with faults since their first occupation.

 

Over the past months, they have had serious and dangerous issues with the power supply to the flats. Given the Grenfell event, they are extremely worried. Many of the families have special needs children. Some have no heating or only temporary and inadequate heating.

 

The following is a summary of issues raised so far: they have been collated today by a resident knocking on the doors of those at home.  These issues require urgent and immediate action from Metropolitan and Barratt's.

 

Archery Court HA9 0FR – issues to date. Each is a different flat

• communal  antenna not working.
• just temporary heating meaning they have no control on the heating, the ventilation system is not working, washing machine (with clothes still in it) so she has to foot the bill of buying school uniforms again, when she turns on the washing machine it blows the electricity in the entire flat. She has 5 children ages 15,13,10,6 and a 3 month old baby.
• this lady had an issue with her electricity since the end of November, she went without heating for 1 1/2 weeks her electric box trips out she calls them (metropolitan housing repairs) every time she has an issue an and they tell her that’s she’s always complaining and why is it her flat alone that have these issues... she has 3 children age 12, 9,and 6 The 12 year old is wheel chair bound with special needs and is home schoole
• washing machine, dryer, all mobile phone chargers are blown, internet box has blown and heating is not working along with the ventilation system too. She has 2 children age 5 and 6 months her son is also special needs. They have also told her that they will not reimburse her the money that she used to stay at a hotel in which I might add we were told to go to a hotel and we would be reimbursed!!
• heating is temporary ie. has not control over the heating other than turning it off completely if it gets too hot, has no ventilation system at all, expensive laptop charger and iPad charger too blown, sound system blown and coffee machine blown too 
• fridge not working and will be calling the insurance people today and just found out last night that have an electrical problem with my heating in the front room!!!!
• cooker timer not working children’s DVD player is blown.
• heating is temporary, no ventilation system.  
•  living room heating is not working and ventilation system not working. Her son was stuck in the lift for 20mins!!!
• ventilation not working but has terrible damp an mould in a cupboard also a leak in the bedroom however we all had a visit from our housing officer November 30th which she reported but metropolitan told her they have to wait on Barratt's permission to do some cut in the wall!!! And to investigate the other flat!!!

 

 

STOP THE HDV: High Court, Oct 25/26 Public vs privatisers of public property

From Stop HDV

The Judicial Review on the Haringey Development Vehicle takes place in the High Court , Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand, London WC2A 2LL on 25 and 26 October, we hope supporters can come and join us in demonstrating support from 9 to 10 am particularly on the first day 25 October.

There will also be some public seating from 10 am.

The challenge is to Haringey Council setting up a supposedly 50/50 partnership with the Australian multi-national corporation, Lendlease, to take over land and property belonging to the Council, involving demolition and regeneration of estates as well as business premises and private houses in 'red-lined areas’. If it goes ahead it will be the biggest such transfer of local authority resources to a private entity in UK history. Lendlease have now joined Haringey as a defendant of the HDV in court.

 And all this
 without consulting the public on the HDV

• or taking it to a full Council meeting
• or sharing any of the financial risks to the public purse and assessment of viability
• or considering the consequences for the very diverse population and for vulnerable people through equalities impact
• or due consideration of partnership or company status.

Just ten years after the sell off of Alexandra Palace in Haringey was averted in court, with David Wolfe, QC acting for the claimants in that case, he will lead the legal team in court on 25 October in the attempt to stop the HDV.

None of this would have been possible without the amazing support from the several hundred people who have contributed through our crowdfunding to raise £25,000. £20,000 of this is required for our community cap on any awards which will be requested of the judge. The solicitors for the case, Leigh Day, and the barristers have put a great deal of work in to it, and as a result We are now asking for another £5,000 to make up the fees and costs accruing.

We hope you will make another donation, small or large, if you possibly can. You can donate to the crowdfunder at https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-hdv/

This case has implications for the future of social housing in London and beyond, and at a time of acute crisis in that and the need for alternatives to corporate control of housing, for the creation of a fairer system and an end to decanting poorer people, it could be a landmark in helping local authorities change course.

Cabinet answers public's questions on Quintain development, fly-tipping and social housing priorities

Questions from the public to Cabinet members is now part of the FullCouncil agenda. Answers are written rather than read out and it is unusual for the member of the public to be present at the meeting to follow up the answer to their question.

These are the questions and answers on the Agenda of the September 18th meeting.

Questions from Members of the Public Full Council – 18 September 2017

1. Question from Mr Wadhwani to Councillor Tatler, Lead Member for Regeneration, Growth, Employment and Skills:

My question is specifically around Wembley Park and the regeneration currently on where lots of old buildings are coming down to create new buildings and flats.

I would like to know how the Council is preparing to serve all the thousands of residents that will be living in these flats by 2020 and the pressure on local services that this will put, i.e. Transport, healthcare, schooling, police, welfare etc.

What are the strategies in place or planned so along with Wembley Stadium, Arena, London Designer Outlet (LDO) and Brent Civic Centre, the authorities are able to cope with the pressure expected on them?

Response:

The Council takes a plan-led approach to the regeneration of the borough, in order to prevent development schemes coming forward in an ad hoc, unplanned fashion. Wembley has a comprehensive planning framework, including the dedicated Wembley Area Action Plan (adopted 2015), which sets out how development of the area will progress. The ongoing regeneration provides and plans for infrastructure and facilities to support current and future residents across the Wembley area, including:

•   7 hectare public park 


•   New 3 form entry primary school, including a 2 form entry nursery school, 
plus 2 additional forms of nursery provision 


•   Primary health care facility (1500m minimum) 


•   Contributions towards secondary education in the wider area 


•   6-lane 25m swimming pool available at local authority facility rates 


•   Significant investment in and improvement to the main rail and underground 
stations to improve capacity and the environment 


•   Community facility fund of £1.4m plus to spend on community projects 


• Physical transport improvements e.g. the Triangle, Wembley High Road and elsewhere, together with significant developer contributions to Transport for London (TfL) for public transport, including buses

Developers have additionally contributed a significant cash sum of Community Infrastructure Levy, part of which will be spent on neighbourhood projects, and the remainder on strategic infrastructure needs to support growth in the immediate Wembley area and wider Brent Borough.

The Local Plan and in particular the Wembley Area Action Plan sets out the regeneration and development strategy for the Wembley area. The Local Plan is now to be refreshed and to examine how the whole Borough will develop over the next 15-20 years. Everyone is invited to get involved in this exercise and various public sessions are being held across the Borough throughout September for people to come along and contribute.

2. Question from Ms Dowell to Councillor Southwood, Lead Member for Environment:

I am concerned about the increase of systematic fly tipping in and around Selwyn Avenue, Bruce and Alric Avenue.

Although this is removed by the contractors it defeats the object. I am told by other residents that they see vans dumping their rubbish.

We have a high volume of rental properties which has also caused a problem.

I would like to know how much does it cost to send the contractors out to collect and why doesn't the council look at prevention?

I was told by the environment team last year that would look into it.
I am fed up with the dumping environment as I pay council tax and expect more.

Response:

The removal of illegally dumped rubbish is covered by the cleansing service specification within the Council’s Public Realm Contract. The cost of this service is included in the overall circa £17m annual cost for the Contract; this is a fixed cost and not a variable charge dependent on the number of incidents the contractor responds to.

The Council takes illegal rubbish dumping very seriously and through a combination of enforcement, education and community engagement, we continue to work hard to make an impact on this problem.

Colleagues from Veolia (Brent’s Public Realm contractor) inspect illegally dumped waste for direct evidence and refer their findings onto the enviro-crime enforcement team. This evidence, together with evidence obtained through other direct referrals to the council and investigations by the enviro-crime enforcement team, has resulted in hundreds of fines being issued and a large number of successful prosecutions. In 2016/17, there were 629 cases which led to these such sanctions being imposed, and following a change in penalty level in 2016, Brent issued the second highest number of fixed penalty notices in the country for illegal rubbish dumping.

The Council uses a range of tactics to assist in combating illegal rubbish dumping, including deployment of surveillance utilising our new in-house environment patrol team to carry out high visibility patrols and conducting out of hours in areas known to be environmental crime and antisocial behaviour hotspots in the borough.

These operations include CCTV officers in the Brent Control Room, who monitor and support the patrols on the ground. We do not advertise when, where or how we conduct this surveillance, to ensure it is as effective as possible.

Of course, preventing illegal rubbish dumping also requires assistance and cooperation from local residents, as they can help us by reporting and identifying people who they see illegally dumping waste. We encourage residents to report any incidents of illegal rubbish dumping in as much detail as possible online via the council’s website. All reports are logged, and as mentioned above, waste is searched for evidence before being cleared to enable us to take enforcement action wherever possible. Data on all reports received is collated to enable the council to build a full picture of the problem ‘hot spots’ across the borough, so we can properly prioritise the deployment of our officers.

In terms of the specific areas highlighted in the question above, the enviro-crime enforcement team have conducted a site visit to inspect the problem and developed an appropriate action plan for the locations to include visits by our environmental patrol team, surveillance of the area and our contractor, Veolia, carrying out door knocking in the area to provide information on how waste should be disposed of and how instances of illegally dumped waste can be reported.

3. Question from Mr Adow & Mrs Macolin to Councillor Farah, Lead Member for Housing and Welfare Reform:

We have been on the social housing waiting list over 20yrs for a 4 bed property. Even though we been living in a 3 bed flat for the last 7yrs we are not allowed to bid for a 3 bed house and we have seen people joining the list and without waiting a year being found permanent housing.

We can understand if that family has very specific needs like illness or disability, but all the others we cannot understand why they can't be placed in temporary accommodation at least 5yrs. What is wrong with a first joined first housed system as it is now a local system many feel is open for abuse? Please see our bidding for the last 5 years to understand why we have pointed this out to you.

All we are asking is for a place we can call home. Our children question this all the time and we apologise in advance if we have expressed our feelings wrongly.

Response:

First of all, there is no need to apologise for asking a reasonable question about the long wait for a home. It is not always easy to understand the way the housing system works but we hope this brief explanation will help.

To be able to bid, applicants must fall into one of three priority bands on the system – A, B or C, with Band A representing the highest priority, including the kinds of medical priority mentioned in the question. Households to whom a full homelessness duty has been accepted, as in this case, are placed in Band C. Households within each band are then given priority based on the date they first applied (the “priority date). To this extent, the system is “first come, first served” and those waiting longest in each band have the greatest priority. In most circumstances, the household in the highest band with the earliest priority date making a bid will be accepted first. In practice, the highest priority households will not always bid and the opportunity to do so will fall to the next in line. There may also be cases where a property does not become available through Locata because the council makes a direct offer, usually to meet an urgent need. However, it should not be the case that applicants are advised they cannot bid, unless there is a particular restriction on a property, for example because it is only available to a household with a wheelchair user.

There is a severe shortage or larger affordable homes. In the five years since 2012, 122 four bedroom homes have been let, 71 of them to households in Band C. The current shortest waiting time for 4 bedroom homes is 11 years and the longest 24 years, although it should be stressed that the upper figure is distorted by the number of households who do not bid for a range of reasons.

Officers would be happy to meet with Mrs Malcolin and Mr Addow to discuss their situation and advise them how they can make best use of Locata.

Brent Renters' Rights Event next week

Housing and anti-gentrification campaigns are building up all over London

Housing campaigns are springing up all over London as developers move into areas of social housing to build luxury flats that existing residents cannot afford. Social cleansing and gentrification are forcing families to move away from their workplaces, children's schools, family and social networks. However, resistance is building.

London Greens support the Focus E15 Mothers campaign for social housing

 

The London Green Party is backing the Focus E15 Mothers group, and calls on Newham Council to:

1. Immediately stop persecuting the squatters, and to enable them to live in the empty homes on short-life contracts for the time being, working with them to access funds to bring the empty homes into use.

2. Work with the residents group 'Carpenters Against Regeneration Plans' and Focus E15 Mothers to develop a plan for the comprehensive refurbishment of the estate, providing them with secure and affordable social housing. This can be financed by the addition of new housing for private sale on existing buildings and under-used land.

3. Follow Hackney Council in refusing to attend the MIPIM UK property fair being held in London in October, and overhaul its housing strategy which has been so beneficial to rich investors and land owners, and which has delivered too few social rented homes for people like the Focus E15 Mothers group.

Tom Chance from the Green Party said:

Like so many in the past year, we've been inspired by these women and applaud their direct action. Instead of smearing and persecuting them, Newham councillors should be celebrating and supporting their constituents.

Councils like Newham cannot continue to demolish social housing and replacing it with expensive homes for the benefit of rich investors and big developers. Local residents need more than the crumbs they get from this rich man's feast.

Focus E15 Mothers on Facebook

'Out of borough' Brent housing placements increase by 426% as housing crisis deepens

The report on Housing Supply and Demand LINK going to the Brent Cabinet on Tuesday 26th August starkly sets out the extent of the housing crisis in Brent.

AST= Assured Shorthold Tenancy DV=Domestic Violence

Homelessness is on the rise and largely attributable to the ending of Assured Shorthold Tenancies in the private sector.  It is particularly high in Brent compared to other West London boroughs.

The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap has seen landlords withdrawing from renting to those families in receipt of benefits. It also means that the Council is unable to procure properties in that sector for homeless families.

The report says that the caps make it unaffordable to rent in the South of the borough for families who require two bedrooms or more, unless they are in receipt of Working Tax Credit and therefore exempt from the Overall Benefit Cap. Lack of supply means that there are not properties available in the South for working families and landlords in the North of the borough are unwilling to let to people on benefits.

This has meant that the number of private rented properties the Council has been able to find to prevent homelessness has fallen from 548 in 2010/11 to 164 in 2012/13.

The Overall Benefit Cap (OBC) introduced in August 2013 for workless households limits the benefit payable to families to £500 per week and £350 for a single person.  Brent has been one of the boroughs in the country most affected with 1,340 families capped by the end of 2013-14.

Approximately 950 had the cap removed during the year, predominantly through securing employment and qualifying for the Working Tax Credit.

Because of the high rents in London, the reports says that the Council will not be able to procure affordable housing to meet the demand from homeless households in Brent. They are instead looking for accommodation which 'is most likely to be outside of the borough and to a significant extent outside of London'.

The report states categorically:

If a household refuses an offer of suitable accommodation in the Private rented sector (under the provisions of the Homelessness [Suitability of Accommodation ](England) Order 2012) in the private rented sector the Council will consider that it has met its duties under homelessness legislation, and if the household are being accommodated in Bed and Breakfast accommodation, they will be given a reasonable period in which to make their own housing arrangements.

Couched in official language this seems inoffensive but it is the provision that sees families separated from relatives, friends and community and moved miles away with the resulting disruption to support networks and schooling. But see 4 below.

However households with children can then ask for help under the Children Act, which then puts the pressure on the Children and Young People Service. During assessment under the Act the family will be kept in emergency bed and breakfast accommodation. The report notes that if applications increase 'additional assessment resources' may be required by the Children and Young People department,

At the end of March 2014 Brent had a total of 3,341 households living in temporary accommodation, a 3% increase during 2013-14.  Currently the Council is retendering the Housing Association Leased Scheme (HALS) which expires in February 2015. This currently provides 1,800 units of temporary accommodation, primarily in Brent.

The Council is also working with 18 private sector accommodation providers to provide housing units in 'cheaper parts of the country'. This has resulted in increased out of borough placements, particularly for larger households.

Out of borough placements have risen from 120 households in February 2012 to 632 in May 2014 (a 426% increase).  The report states:

This figures is expected to rise further due to the increasing demand pressure and the shortage of affordable supply in the borough.

All these pressures means, as local newspapers have reported LINK, that Brent is not compliant with legislation which restricts a family's stay in Bed and Breakfast accommodation to 6 weeks.  The number of households in B&B has increased to an average in 2013-14 of 299 per month. The report says this is due to the 'rising number of newly accepted homeless households and existing homeless households evicted from leased temporary, predominantly because the Landlord wants the property back.'

Another financial pressure on the Council is the 460 households living in temporary accommodation who are affected by the Overall Benefit Cap. This means their current accommodation is unaffordable and the Council has to make it up with Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP).

The report states: 'This is not sustainable position for the households or the Council, with no guarantee that the DHP budget will remain at the current high level in 2015-16 and beyond.' The Council is looking to address the issue through helping householders find work, securing affordable housing or 'by sustainably being able to cover the shortfall.'

As you read the report you cannot avoid feeling angry at the dire housing situation successive government have left us with. The selling off of council housing, the failure to build new social housing, the house price inflation induced by banks, estate agents and governments have combined to leave many families facing an impossible situation. I have seen at first hand in the schools where I am a governor what this means in real terms. Some of you may have seen the families, complete with suitcases, sitting in the glitzy foyer of Brent Civic Centre waiting to hear their fate.

Faced with this impossible and deteriorating situation, exacerbated by another round of severe cuts to come in the next few years, Brent council puts forward some ideas to address the problems. These include:

1. The Council will use 'proxy bidding' for capped householders who have been waiting longer than average for social housing to maximise their opportunities.   This means bidding on their behalf when possible housing comes up.

2. Consultation has begun on the possibility of making direct offers to those affected by the Overall benefit Cap provided they have been waiting longer than average.

3. Households affected by OBC in temporary accommodation and who have not secured employment will be relocated to more affordable and suitable accommodation as 'it will not be possible to sustain them in their current temporary accommodation using limited DHP funding.'

4. Before households with children are located outside the borough there will be a review of each individual case.'If a household is identified as having to remain in Brent due to exceptional social care, welfare, medical or other exceptional circumstances, then DHP funds will continue yo be used to meet the shortfall in rent while a longer term solution is sought.'

Clearly 4 leaves a substantial area of potential debate over what constitutes 'exceptional needs' with budgetary constraints always lurking in the background.

The report states that in 2014-15 there will be a projected 673 lettings into social housing (Council and housing association) but this will meet only around 14% of the current total demand from Bands A to C on Brent's Housing Register.  The majority will be through re-lets of existing  social housing stock but the Council expect another 180 to be delivered via the new build programme.

The Council plans to increase the numbers of lettings to homeless households to 80% of the total. They say this is necessary to mitigate the impact of the OBC on households temporarily in homeless accommodation that is no longer affordable, and to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation generally.  40 units have been set aside for the decant needs of South Kilburn regeneration.

The Council will be consulting over a 4-6 week period on the following amendments to its Allocation scheme:

1, Auto-budding - which would set the system to automatically to bid for property, at the council's discretion, once the  households falls into a target group, for example, the top 10% by waiting time, per property size.
2. Restore household's right to retain their Band C Housing register status and continue to bid in Locata, after accepting a Qualifying Offer in the private sector.
3. Increase Council and housing associations' ability to make direct offers.
4. In homeless households adult children (over 21) will be expected to share a bedroom with a same sex sibling of any age.
5. Possibility of including adult children  as part of a transfer/down sizing incentive package.
6. Acceptance of change of circumstance through starting and sustaining work (9 out of 12 months) to be given additional waiting time.
7. The residency criteria ('continuously lived in Brent for the period of 5 years or more prior to joining the housing register') would also apply to households in temporary accommodation. This would 'dis-incentivise homeless approaches'.
8. Over-crowding to receive equal priority as homelessness.

(Full version in Appendix D of the report)

Some of these proposals are bound to be controversial but whatever one thinks of them, they can only nibble at the edge of the problem - the Council, and local authorties in general, do not have the resources to dealwith such an enormous and escalating crisis.

The housing crisis outlined by the report makes it essential to tackle the housing crisis at national level and increase the amount of social housing new build.  Locally surely it should mean no more new developments with luxury house aimed at overseas investor but instead the provision of properly affordable housing.

Social cleansing through redevelopment in Barnet?

I popped down to the Barratt Homes Sales Office at West Hendon (oops, sorry it has been rebranded hendon WATERSIDE) on Saturday.  I was told that there was just one apartment left in the recently completed block for £340,000 and Shahrar Ali making a similar visit was told that in addition there was an annual service charge of  £1,700 and a binding contract with a single water and energy provider.

The salesperson made it quite clear that the private apartments would be at the waterside with uninterrupted views of the Welsh Harp (see brochure illustration below) and that the replacement social housing would be away at the back of the site near the A5.

 

Leaving the sales room and going on to the West Hendon Estate top speak to the tenants whose homes will be abolished under the scheme was entering another world.

The first issue was that many did not know the details of the proposed scheme that will go to Barnet planning committee later this month and communication from the council had been poor. One resident commented that there was an issue of how representative the views were that the council had sought. She said that there had been silence from the council and Barratt homes as to their futures.

One mother said she had heard nothing and wanted to stay in her present house while another woman who uses a wheelchair had been told she couldn't  have a ground floor flat in  the new development.

The recent build (12 storeys) can be seen in the background of the estate

There was little doubt that the estate (above) had been neglected and some residents felt this was deliberate in order to justify demolition. They said windows and doors were badly fitting and let in the draughts and described water cascading down the walls.

However, the possibility of getting a better home through re-development was received with scepticism. They said that the likely rents (and the water and energy bills) would be too high for them to be able to afford and that many existing tenants would be likely to have to move out.

What was clear from a brief tour and chats  with residents that this works as a community and it is one that is soon to be violently disrupted and split up.

A mural on the estate

It appears that eventually there will be middle class professionals enjoying their views of the Welsh Harp on the banks of the reservoir, those few  tenants who can afford the higher rents in the social housing blocks and the poor displaced somewhere else - a model of social engineering (or social/ethnic cleansing?) that Lady Porter would have applauded. Only 20 of the 2,000 housing units will have 3 or 4 bedrooms when there is a great need for family housing.

The existing open space (below)  will be much reduced in the proposed development and this is something that also concerned the existing residents. The open space that is being sold to the private purchasers is the Welsh Harp itself with pedestrian bridges across to the other side of the reservoir. The development itself will be high density.

The illustration of prospective residents from the Hendon Waterside brochure tells us much about the sort of people that Barratt Homes (and perhaps Barnet Council?) are seeking to attract.

It's a wonder they didn't throw me out of the Sales Office!

Brent Council to provide incentive for council tenants to downsize

With the 'Bedroom Tax' leading to protests across the country and some Labour Councils joining Brighton and Hove Green Council in announcing that they will not evict tenants in arrears solely because of the tax, Brent Council has announced that it will introduce an incentive for tenants to down-size.

So far neither they or their arm's length Brent Housing Partnership have defined what constituents an 'extra bedroom'. Some housing associations have reclassified small extra rooms as boxrooms rather than bedrooms thus avoiding tenants getting caught by the tax.

This is the  proposal to be discussed by the Executive at tonight's Brent Town Hall meeting:

"The Size Criteria, or ‘Bedroom Tax’ will be implemented for underoccupiers of social housing stock from the 1st April 2013, and tenants will receive a reduced amount of Housing Benefit to pay the rent with. Given the current demand on social housing, particularly from homeless households who will be affected by other Welfare Reform measures, transferring underoccupiers to right sized accommodation is favoured, and needs to be encouraged. The currently financial incentive offered to households to motivate the move is a flat rate of £1,000. The proposal is to increase this to £2,000 per bedroom released, per household (to a maximum amount of £6,000) to encourage underoccupiers to move to smaller homes. The cost of providing the increased incentive payments is offset against savings to both the Temporary Accommodation (TA) budget and the Housing Revenue Account (HRA)."

Getting social housing in Brent to become harder under new proposals

The Housing Allocations Policy that Brent Council is currently consulting on LINK will have major repercussions for residents wishing to go on the register for social housing in the borough. There will particular impact on extended families, people without leave to stay in the UK, young adults living with their parents, those at a specific income threshold, families in rent arrears in the social housing sector or in homeless temporary accommodation.

The Council will no longer have an 'open' waiting list and in addition to having a housing need residents will need to establish a local connection through residence or work. The 'reasonable preference' criteria will include households in employment in addition those below:

· Homeless people as defined by Part VII of the 1996 Housing Act, including people who are intentionally homeless and those who are not in priority need

· People who are owed a duty under section 190(2), 193(2) or 195(2) of the 1996 Act (or under section 65(2) or 68(2) of the Housing Act 1985) or who are occupying accommodation secured by any housing authority under s192(3)

· People occupying insanitary or overcrowded housing or otherwise living in unsatisfactory housing conditions

· People who need to move on medical or welfare grounds, including grounds relating to disability

· People who need to move to a particular locality in the housing authority area, where failure to meet that need would cause hardship (to themselves or others)

The Council state that legislation forbids it to give assistance to individuals subject to immigration control:

A restricted person is a person subject to immigration control who is not eligible for homelessness assistance because he or she does not have leave to enter or remain in the UK or has leave which is subject to a ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition (s.184(7) of the 1996 Act).

The Council seeks views for when the individual subject to immigration is a member of a wider household:

Note that it is not mandatory to exclude a person subject to immigration control from a household, although a household cannot be regarded as having reasonable preference solely on the basis of the needs of a person subject to immigration control as noted above. The council is minded to adopt this exclusion but views on the point would be welcome.

 The Council its definition of what constitutes a 'household' for the purposes of allocation of accommodation. It excludes the  extended families sharing accommodation that are common amongst some ethnic groups in Brent:

Considered as households:

-A single person without dependents
- A married couple
-An unmarried couple, who can prove that they have been resident together for at least 12 months at time of application and at time of offer.   
-A lone parent and their dependent children   
-A married or unmarried couple with dependent children   
-A civil partnership with or without dependent children

 The following would not usually be considered to be part of a household when considering qualification and priority for housing:

· Anyone subject to immigration control

· non-dependent adult children over the age of 21

· other adult relatives

· non-relatives and lodgers

· Extended family members such as cousins, nephews, aunts and uncles

The scheme excludes the following:

-A young person aged 21 or over and therefore not treated as a child would not normally be considered as part of a household and will usually be disregarded when considering applications for rehousing.

- If there are children aged 21 or over who are living at home, advice will be provided on housing options but they will not count towards any calculation of overcrowding. They will be able to apply for housing in their own right but may be disqualified if they do not fall within any of the priority groups defined in this scheme.

- Given the severe shortage of housing and in particular of larger homes, the Council will consider whether people living in a household could move into smaller homes of their own, thereby creating a separate household. If a household member has already made a separate housing application they will not be included in any new or subsequent applications.

 The proposals introduce income thresholds that will try and shift those in need of housing into the private renting sector (which has grown enormously in Brent according to the most recent census and which Muhammed Butt has pledged to improve in terms of quality) or shared ownership.

The ranges which will be reviewed regularly are set at:

· 1 bed - £35,000 a year

· 2 bed - £45,000 a year

· 3 bed - £ 55, 000 a year

· 4 bed - £70,000 a year

 The Council states that in assessing the number of bedrooms required by a household, the following criteria will apply: 

· One double bedroom for a cohabiting couple

· One double bedroom for two additional persons/children of the same sex and generation.

· One double bedroom for two children of the opposite sex, where both children are under 7 years.

· One double bedroom for two children of the same sex unless one is over 10 years of age and there is an age gap of more than 5 years.

· One double bedroom for two dependents of the same sex over 18 years of age.

· One single bedroom for each person who the Council's Medical Officer considers should have their own bedroom on health grounds.

· One single bedroom for any other person included as part of the household.

· Single people will normally be considered for Bedsit accommodation.

· A couple or single parent with a child under two years of age can be

 offered a one bedroom property.

In addition the Council propose that the following categories will normally not qualify:

· Anyone guilty of serious anti-social behaviour where a possession order is being sought or has been obtained

· Anyone who has assaulted a member of staff where an injunction has been sought or obtained

· Anyone who knowingly gives false or misleading information or withholds information that has been reasonably requested.

· Applicants with an income above the limits set out above

The following will apply to housing transfers:

-Tenants with rent arrears of six weeks or more will be suspended from receiving the offer of accommodation. Consideration will be given to varying this rule in some circumstances including;

-Tenants with urgent management or medical priority in band B or A may be transferred at the discretion of the Rehousing Manager.

-Offers of accommodation may be made despite rent arrears to tenants who need to move because of statutory overcrowding or because of an overriding priority awarded by the Allocations Panel or where a permanent decant is essential

-Tenants moving under the Incentive Scheme subject to the above guidelines may be made an offer with the incentive payment being set of against the arrears

Families in temporary accommodation may also face problems

· Homeless households in temporary accommodation may be advised that, if they fall into rent arrears, their housing register application may be suspended. Applications may be suspended when an applicant either

a) refuses to pay the rent

b) fails to make a commitment to repay arrears or

c) fails to provide supporting information for a Housing Benefit claim.

d) accrues an excessive level of arrears

e) is in arrears such that the landlord is taking action to end the tenancy

· If an applicant falls into arrears, their application may be suspended. The application will remain suspended until the arrears are cleared or an agreement has been reached to clear the arrears and this agreement has been kept to for an agreed period. Depending on the amount of the arrears and the nature of the agreement, discretion may be exercised to review cases and lift suspensions. Exceptions may be agreed to this policy, in particular for those cases in bands 1 or 2.

The Council recognises that private sector tenants on the register may be in difficulty because of the welfare reforms:

The council is not minded to introduce any blanket restriction on cases involving rent arrears, in particular since recent and proposed reforms to the welfare system increase the risk that some households may not be able to cover their full rent and because there are cases in which a move may assist in tackling rent arrears, for example where a household moves to a cheaper home

 There are additional detailed proposals regarding carers and military personnel that can be found in the main document.

The Consultation specifically asks for views on:

• The period that should be required to establish a local connection
• How that should be demonstrated through employment (inc part-time and self-employed)?
• What othjer factors could be taken into account to establish a local connection?
• In what circumstances should the Council make exceptions to the local connection requirement?
• What other groups should not qualify under the scheme?
• Should anyone subject to immigration control not be considered as part of the household?
• At what age should non-dependent adult children not be considered part of the household (18.21.25)?
• Are there other people who should normally be considered as part of an applicant;s household?
• In what circumstances should rent arrears mean that a household should not qualify or that an application should be suspended?
• The circumstances in which a transfer application can be made outside the scheme (see main document for details)
• Details regarding how long applicant should have been in employment (see main document)
• Are the proposed bands that rank applicants according to level of needs appropriate (see main document for details)
• Time limits on bidding for accommodation (see main document)
• Should the income thresholds be as set out above?
• Details setting out factors defining 'reasonable preference criteria' (see main document)

 The main consultation document can be found HERE and should be read before responding as it is not possible to cover all the issues in this posting. I hope however that this is sufficient to alert readers to the serious issues involved. The consultation closes on March 8th 2013

Brent Housing Partnership Talkback meeting and surgery tonight

Brent Housing Partnership, Brent Council's 'arm's length' social housing provider, is holding its first  ever Residents' Talkback Forum tonight at Brent Town Hall. The BHP's Chief Executive Gerry Doherty, will be there as well as senior managers and other staff. The 7-9pm Talkback session will be preceded by a 'Surgery' between 5.30 and 7pm where residents can ask about repairs, anti-social behaviour, rent, leasehold or estate services. The meetings will be held upstairs at the Town Hall in Committee Rooms 1,2 and 3.

The BHP faces an uncertain future with the possibility that Brent Council will bring social housing back in-house in the future.

Housing issues that will hit the fan in 2012

This is an edited version of an article in the Winter 2011 issue of  Partnership News from Brent Housing Partnership:

Brent Council is to consult on a new Brent Tenancy Strategy following new powers introduced by the Localism Bill which was passed in November 2011.  Any resulting changes will be introduced in 2012-13. Existing social housing tenants will not be affected but some new tenants will be.

New papers regarding the 15,000 households on Brent's housing waiting list will give council's more freedom to decide who qualifies to go on the list. This includes additional priority for households who are in work (but see Janice Long briefing below).

Other changes in social housing mean that homeless households in priority need can choose to wait for a council home to become available or, if they agree, be offered a suitable private rented sector home. New rules mean that the council can place some homeless families in private accommodation without giving them the option of waiting for a council home.

Under the new rules councils and housing associations will be able to grant a fixed tenancy of 2 years, 5 years or longer as well as retaining the option to grant a lifetime tenancy.

In future tenancy holders will only be able to pass their social housing tenancy on to one person, either a spouse or a partner, ending the possibility of other family members suc ceeding to the tenancy. This will do away with the discretionary (otherwise called second succession right), unless Brent Council decides to adopt its own rules.

Housing associations will be able to set an affordable rent up to 80% of local market rents on new homes and some existing homes when they are re-let. (This suggests we will have to redefine what 'affordable' means! MF). This is to cover the costs of changes in the way new social housing is funded.

Cllr Janice Long, lead member for housing, issued the following briefing note for the well attended Brent Town Hall meeting on housing organised by Barry Gardiner MP, REPORT,

Temporary Accommodation and Housing Benefit.

In January the 9 month transition for Housing Benefit comes to an end.  Many households will have a rent higher than their Housing Benefit.

The housing benefit caps are

1 bed = £250, 2 bed = £290, 3 bed = £340, 4 bed and above = £400

There are 3000 families in Temporary Accommodation.  This figure is fairly stable

BUT

As at 13/11/11 there were 268 households in hotel accommodation. This is a 70% increase in comparison to 2010/11, when there was an average of 157 households in hotels at any one time.  This figure is likely to rise.

B&B accommodation is more cramped, often not in Brent, is unsettling for the family and is much more expensive for the Council.

 All the households have been written to.  Landlords have also been contacted to see if a lower rent can be negotiated. 

One badly affected group are single people under 35 renting one room.  They are now only allowed a Single room rate, ie they must live in shared accommodation with a communal kitchen and bathroom (HMO). There are 124 people affected.

There is huge difference between their rent and the new HB rate.  All these people will be called or written to and be given advice.

A special team in Housing Solutions has been set up to deal with the extra cases.  Brent has also won a grant from DWP to have a team in the Revenue and Benefits teams to deal with extra queries and workload.

The effect on housing applications is:

As at the end of October 2011, 807 households had made a homeless application, this is an increase of 29% when compared to the figure as at the end of October 2010 (625 applications). Homeless applications which were accepted as at the end of October 2011 totaled 275. This is an increase of 33% against the October 2010 figure (207 acceptances).

Refer any casework to the complaints team: martin.beasley@brent.gov.uk or Tania.phillips@brent.gov.uk or customer.relation@brent.gov.uk

If residents live in private rented accommodation and the rent is above the Housing Benefit cap they will probably have to move or they will go into rent arrears.  But they must be given a legal notice to quit by the landlord.

BHP Casework should go to BHP.Complaints@brent.gov.uk

Universal Credit

Universal Credit begins to be introduced in 2013.  I will get some worked examples of the impact. One example to mull over:

The maximum a family can get under Universal Credit is £26000

If the rent for a four bedroom flat is at the cap of £400, the annual rent will be £19,200. That will leave 6,800pa to pay gas, electric, water rates, TV licence, phone, clothes, travel costs.  Food is optional. There is a fear that people will go into debt or take out loans they cannot pay.

Tenancy Strategy

Following the passing of the Localism Bill Brent is reviewing its housing policies including the tenancy strategy.  There will be full consultation but areas be covered include:

Homelessness Duties

Allocation policies

Fixed Term Tenancies

Affordable Rent

Cllr Ali referred to Councils that have prioritised working people.  Brent is not planning to do this but will aim to target help on households who are actively looking for work.  Given the job shortage it is a step to far to take away your home if you can’t get a job.  

Affordable rent is at 80% of Market Rent.  Due to high demand private sector rents are already high in Brent.  It will prove very difficult for many social housing tenants to be able to pay these rent levels. In 2010 the average (median) income in Brent was £22,064.  Half of social tenants are in employment. A three bed property at £300 a week will be £14,400 a year. This will mean many families will be in financial difficulties.

Brent Housing Partnership Issues

HRA

The Housing Revenue Account is ring-fenced.  Currently all rents are paid into Central Government and we receive an annual subsidy. From April 2012 we will keep all rents.  Brent is one if the gainers as our current debt is £338.3  This will be reduced by 184.9m leaving Brent with a debt of £153.4 (Figures are subject to final confirmation but should not change much.)  Brent has 9, 225 dwellings.  There will need to be a 30 year business plan to pay off the debt and to plan for investment in the stock.  Eg external decorations, energy work.

Some Council’s currently have no debt and are being given our debt.  There is mumbling but most Council’s are accepting the proposals as it means that they can plan for the future.  At the moment most Council’s cannot plan as they do not know what they will be getting from the current subsidy system.  So business planning and Treasury management will be introduced into management of the HRA.

This does not mean that the backlog of external decorations work will be done in 2012 but there will be a proper timetable of when the work will be done. 

A major difference from the scheme proposed by the Labour Government is that RTB receipts will be kept by the Treasury.  They will be pooled and handed back to Councils for new build. In London this will be done by the Mayor’s office.  So a RTB sale in Brent may not generate a replacement housing unit in Brent.  Also any of the new units will be at Affordable rent levels.

Right to Buy

The Government has announced increased discounts for RTB, the percentage is yet to be confirmed.  The aim is that the receipts will be used to build a “replacement unit”.  However this will be at the Affordable rent level – 80% of markets rates.

Since 1981 the following number of units have been sold in Brent under the RTB 

There are currently 9225 council housing units. Over 800 of the RTBs are now sublet.

In April  2011 there were 3181 families on the waiting list for 3 bedrooms. This was the most popular category of sale.  So RTB has had an impact on the waiting list.

Cllr Janice Long, Lead Member for Housing

November 2011