More Conservative policy on housing revealed

Generali

He reminds me of those 1970s Tories that capitulated to the socialists and felt that all they could do was mitigate their worst excesses.

Maybe he's right. Perhaps so many people have become hooked on benefits that it's irreversable. Mrs Generali and I get tax credits and child benefit !!!!!!!

Melissa177

If anyone is interested in what the report says, rather than the "headlines" (which are slightly misleading), have a look at this:

http://www.conservatives.com/pdf/psipg-report.pdf

The 10% equity share proposal appears on page 147.

mystic_trev

Melissa177 wrote: »

If anyone is interested in what the report says, rather than the "headlines" (which are slightly misleading), have a look at this:

http://www.conservatives.com/pdf/psipg-report.pdf

The 10% equity share proposal appears on page 147.

Thanks for the link Melissa, and I know you're just pointing out the OP's subject. However the document should prove useful reading for when I'm having trouble sleeping!

Melissa177

I agree, it is an instant cure for insomnia!

Guy_Montag

3.8. Improving Mobility, Gaining Access
We recognise that many of those living in social housing are unable to afford to buy their own home, even under a discounted RTB scheme or shared ownership. Shelter told us that only 5.5% of those in the social rented sector have an income of over £35,000 per year. The median income for those in the social rented sector is £7,800 per year, and approximately 60% are workless, either through unemployment, retirement or on invalidity benefits.273 60 per cent of social tenants make use of Housing Benefit and 77 per cent of SRS households have total incomes less than £15,000 a year. As we have already noted, the proportion of social tenants in employment has also fallen from 47 per cent in 1981 to 32 per cent in 2006, making it impossible for these groups to participate in shared home ownership schemes.

Evidence we received from the National Housing Federation suggests that there are 840,000 housing association tenants who do not currently have access to the option to own either via Right to Buy or Right to Acquire.

We therefore propose a new measure, which would help expand access to home ownership, and at the same time ensure that we can create mobility and free up space within the social housing sector at a fraction of the price of building new homes.

Proposal 19 – Social tenants should be given a 10% equity share in their social rented property when they leave the social rented sector, subject to having by that time acquired a record of five years good tenant behaviour.

Research carried out by the Centre for Research into Socially Inclusive Services (CRSIS) demonstrates a strong theoretical case for using savings, financial education and asset accumulation to help people on low incomes out of poverty. It also shows that beneficial social and psychological effects exceeded those produced by a regular monthly income.

The Irwell Valley Housing Association’s approach of focusing on rewarding good behaviour through its ‘gold service’ scheme demonstrates how appropriate incentivisation can deliver cultural change. This scheme includes offering incentives to tenants designed to encourage a feeling of involvement and concern in their home and tenancy. Good conduct of tenancy is rewarded by allowing residents to become ‘members’ of the scheme which gives access to retail vouchers and improved repair services amongst other benefits.

Our proposal – that an incoming Conservative government should enable social tenants, subject to good tenant behaviour, to build a 10% equity share in their home – combines these two features: asset accumulation for people on low incomes which can be realised as a cash payment if the tenant moves into the private property sector, and a strong incentive to be a good tenant in the meanwhile. Tenants would need to take responsibility for all internal maintenance of their properties, pay their rents on time, be free from registered complaints from neighbours/ASBOs and pass a housing officer inspection of the property. We believe that this idea of taking responsibility for a property with the potential reward of an equity share in the property should become universal. Evidence heard by the policy group suggests that the relationship between tenant and landlord is weakening, and many feel there is little or no penalty for tenants not sticking to tenancy agreements. We believe that linkingaccess to equity shares with criteria such as rent arrears and adhering to tenancy agreements would reestablish this link between tenants and landlords and would also encourage tenants to value their tenancy. In our vision, tenants benefiting from the 10% free equity could thereafter if they chose, ‘staircase’ (incrementally acquire more equity in their homes) through shared ownership schemes or use the equity released to move into sheltered housing that would better support their needs.

This proposal centres around our new definition of ‘community housing’: a confirmation that living in social housing should be a transitory means of addressing the needs of those who are temporarily unable to find suitable permanent housing, rather than being the end of the journey.

The cost of our proposal may well be zero or less, given that some social landlords currently find it in their financial interest to offer substantial cash incentives to social tenants to vacate their properties – thereby reducing the need for the landlord to build more social rented accommodation to meet demand. The range of incentive payments varies between landlords but Croydon Council has received special Government funding which has allowed them to operate a pilot scheme, in partnership with local RSLs, which offers tenants £2,000 per bedroom up to a maximum of £8,000, and under Westminster Council’s cash incentive scheme encouraging tenants who are under-occupying their homes to move out, some tenants receive a cash payment as much as £50,000 for a three bedroom home; Westminster’s recent housing report recommended an increase in the payment to encourage greater take-up. (It is a matter for further investigation whether extending this scheme to include tenants in receipt of housing benefit would cause the scheme to have a net cost.)

Copied from the pdf & cleaned up 'cause I'm nice that way.

!!!!!! are people who earn £35k+ doing clogging up social housing?

Melissa177

Thanks for that - I tried to do the same thing and got a bit stuck.

I too wondered why people earning over 35K (presumably household - that's 17K for two people), were in social housing. Perhaps a lot of children?

m00m00

35k a year would not be enough to buy anything other than a one bedroomed flat in a large chunks of the country, particularly in the south

Turnbull2000

m00m00 wrote: »

35k a year would not be enough to buy anything other than a one bedroomed flat in a large chunks of the country, particularly in the south

That should be irrelevant if it's enough to rent privately - which 35k certainly is.

Melissa177

There are plenty of families on 35K a year, but they aren't all in social housing.

I am presuming that there are a fair number of kids involved...

lynzpower

!!!!!! are people who earn £35k+ doing clogging up social housing?

Guy, the reason why they are in there "clogging" its that security of tenure yet again. Which I know you personally always campaign for ( as do I)

Therefore if you get the council flat when on benefits, maange to get on the job ladder, got your kids in school and so on, would YOU really risk the secure tenancy for dodgy landlords and moving every 12 months. Not being funny, but If I got a secure tenancy i wouldnt wanna give it up, nor would I really recommend any other moneysavers do either.