Local decisions: a fairer future for social housing Frances Walker: Allocations Branch, DCLG

2 Case for reform Waiting Lists 1.8 million households on waiting lists There are around 50,000 households living in temporary accommodation in England Unemployment Fewer than half of social tenants of working age are in work Overcrowding A quarter of a million social homes are overcrowded, while over 400,000 are under-occupied Mobility Fewer than 5% of social sector households move within the social sector each year compared to almost a quarter of private renters

3 Number of households on local authority waiting lists, England

4 Declining supply of lets

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6 We need to reform social housing to: Strengthen localism – giving greater flexibility to local authorities and landlords Protect the most vulnerable in society – making sure that support is better focused, and providing the right basic safeguards Reduce dependency – enabling people to improve their situation by working Make better use of resources – allocating existing homes more sensibly, and using funding more innovatively to provide more new housing Make the system fairer - balancing the needs of existing social housing tenants and those who are in need of social housing

7 Local Decisions Local Decisions consultation paper issued in November 2010 Localism Bill introduced in December 2010 Summary of responses to consultation and way forward published February Indicative Direction on Mobility

8 Social Housing Allocations  Local authorities to determine who should qualify for housing waiting lists – a return to the pre-2003 position.  Rules on eligibility continue to be set centrally.  Existing tenants not in housing need - out of the allocation rules. They will no longer need to compete with those on waiting list in housing need. But no requirement to have a separate system for transfers.  Protection for the vulnerable will continue to be provided by the statutory ‘reasonable preference’ criteria. But views sought on whether to revise the existing categories.

9 Homelessness New flexibility to end the main homelessness duty with a PRS offer Applicant consent not required Minimum 12 month fixed term tenancy Must be suitable Right of review /appeal Duty recurs if unintentionally homeless within 2 years LAs can still end duty with social housing

10 Mobility Introduce a nationwide social home swap programme. Legislate to give the Secretary of State a power to direct the social housing regulator to issue a standard on mutual exchange. Standard require landlords to give tenants access to a web-based mutual exchange service Enable to see full range of properties across providers without the need to register with another site. Legislate to safeguard tenants with a secure or assured tenancy who exchange with a local authority flexible tenant and some housing association tenants.

11 Reduce overcrowding Remove transferring tenants from the allocation rules to make it easier for landlords to support under-occupiers who wish to move Strengthen home swap provisions to make it easier for under-occupying and overcrowded to help each other. Reform homelessness rules to allow landlords to allocate social housing to those that need it. Introduce flexible tenancies to allow landlords to provide the right size house for the time that they need it. Retain the ‘reasonable preference’ category to ensure overcrowded households continue to receive priority.

12 Next steps Localism Bill – Commons Report Stage - April/May Royal Assent – November 2011 Consult on Direction on Mobility later in the summer