New research from Crisis reveals that some social housing associations in England are turning away those on the lowest incomes, including benefit claimants.
Crisis, Heriot-Watt University, and the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence conducted the research, which investigated how housing associations allocate social housing across Great Britain.
It found that in England, affordability is preventing low-income households from accessing social housing.
Adding fuel to the fire
In total, 31% of housing associations reported that pre-tenancy affordability checks led to them turning away applicants. Additionally, 24% said that they excluded households with incomes below a certain threshold from the social housing register.
Low incomes or insecure finances mean that housing associations often find applicants “unsuitable”. This leads to the presumption that they will not be able to sustain a tenancy.
Housing associations were most likely to exclude applicants with a history of anti-social behaviour (ASB) from housing registers. In total, 76% of English housing associations said these registers would either sometimes or always exclude applicants with histories of ASB if they had no support package in place.
However, even when support is in place, they still exclude 54%.
Social housing — systemic causes
Of course, welfare cuts and the cost of living crisis are the systemic factors driving the problem, along with a huge shortfall in the amount of available social housing.
Some councils have exacerbated this issue in recent years by selling off council homes under the Right to Buy scheme. They have then repurchased the houses for over £200k more.
The research also raised questions about the current choice-based lettings system that is used to distribute social housing. Often, available properties do not meet the needs of applicants. Additionally, in areas where there is a more severe shortage of social housing, an allocation system can no longer “meaningfully prioritise” between applicants.
In total, 71% of housing associations blamed welfare reform as the biggest factor affecting allocations and the lettings process. Restrictions on housing benefit, including the local housing allowance and the benefit cap, have forced housing associations to undertake more affordability checks than they did previously.
The report states:
The welfare system must ensure homes and especially social homes are affordable. The UK Government should review the interaction between social housing rent levels and social security arrangements to ensure that no household entitled to mainstream social security benefits is unable to afford a social home that is of an appropriate size to their needs.
According to Crisis, the Government should review the household benefit cap and the bedroom tax. At the same time, it should ensure that welfare levels are aligned with the real cost of living.
Learning from Scotland
Crisis is now urging the Government to introduce new rules that would ensure people on the lowest incomes can still access social housing, along with an urgent review of the supply of social housing.
It is also encouraging a move towards the Scottish system, where housing associations turn away far fewer households due to their income.
The report states:
The legal framework in which housing associations in England are operating also had an impact on the perceived suitability of nominations. Notably, while one-quarter (24%) of housing associations in England reported often refusing LA nominations because the offer was unsuitable, this was reported by only 6% of housing associations in Scotland.
Currently in England 27 per cent of new social lettings are allocated to homeless households which has increased from 23 per cent on the year before.6 In contrast, Scotland allocated 54 per cent of new social lettings to homeless households.
The Housing Act [1996] requires councils to prioritise certain groups, such as those who are homeless. However, the Localism Act [2011] enabled councils to manage waiting lists in a different way. This led to them removing huge numbers of people from waiting lists. Moreover, housing associations in England have no statutory obligations to rehouse homeless households. Instead, they have a “general duty” to assist local authorities with the discharge of their homelessness duties.
Some housing associations do rehouse homeless households under contractual and other arrangements with councils, but local practice varies enormously.
Importantly, the government should be building new homes – and fast.
Reducing the pressures of social housing rationing by increasing supply of homes that meet locally identified needs including for homeless households
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said:
The fundamental aim of social housing is to provide a safe and stable home for people on the lowest incomes. If people cannot afford social housing, where do they go?
The reckless depletion of our social housing stock, alongside cuts to state support, has put English housing associations into an impossible position where they are forced to refuse access to people in precarious, vulnerable situations. Homelessness is surpassing record levels. Its costs to people, communities and local authorities are untenable.
As a society we should be alarmed that we have got to this position. Ministers have to look at how we can better manage existing stock, and help councils get more stock into the system as soon as possible. This situation has to change, now.
Feature image via Lloyds Banking Group/ YouTube
By HG
This post was originally published on Canary.