Stay up to date with the most relevant news from the press team

Government working with councils on fixed-term tenancies

Sophie Barnes reports that the government has set up a working group of 20 councils to look at how to implement fixed-term tenancies, a key plank of the Housing and Planning Act.

While other high-profile aspects of the Housing and Planning Act have either been dropped or delayed by the government, fixed-term tenancies legislation is still expected to be introduced from April next year.

Under the act councils will be required to review tenancies every five years, rather than granting a lifetime tenancy, with extensions for tenants with a disability or with children. 

Nearly two thirds want to start building on green belt

A 24housing poll has revealed 64% of people want to build on the green belt as land for housing becomes scarce.

39% said they would build on the green belt if the homes were genuinely affordable or socially rented homes with a further 25% saying they would build on the green belt, regardless of tenure. The remaining 35% would not build on the green belt.

London Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said they want ‘poor quality’ green belt land freed for housing. However, Campaign to Protect Rural England is still focused on ensuring the countryside is not built on.

'New regulator is not a return to TSA,' say HCA leaders

Senior Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) figures have hit back at criticisms over changes to the social housing regulator in the past decade.

Jonathan Walters, assistant director of regulation at the HCA, said the new regulator will be more efficient as a result of the several incarnations it has taken over the last eight years.

The announcement that the government intends to separate the regulator from the HCA’s commercial arm was greeted with scepticism by some in the housing sector who said this would mean a return to an earlier model. The regulator started life as the Housing Corporation, was changed to the TSA, was replaced by the HCA and will now return to being an independent regulator.

New social housing regulator as HCA breaks off

Mark Lawrence reports that the government has announced there will be a new social housing regulator. 

The government published a wide-ranging review of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to “help improve its efficiency and provide greater focus to its housebuilding work.”

The Tailored Review found the HCA is well positioned to help “achieve national housebuilding ambitions and play a vital role in creating a housing market.”

Zac Goldsmith loses to Lib Dems in 'shockwave' Richmond Park byelection

The Liberal Democrats have produced a stunning byelection victory to unseat Zac Goldsmith in Richmond Park, overturning a 23,000 majority to remove the former Conservative MP in a vote that became a de facto plebiscite on the government’s Brexit plans.

Sarah Olney, the winning Lib Dem candidate, took a fraction under 50% of the entire vote to record a majority of 1,872. Large numbers of local Labour voters backed her, with the Labour candidate, Christian Wolmar, losing his deposit.

She added: “And our message is clear: we do not want a hard Brexit. We do not want to pull out of the single market. We will not let intolerance, division and fear win.”

Clarion Housing Group formed as mega-merger completes

Pete Apps reports that Affinity Sutton and Circle Housing Group have completed their long-awaited ‘mega-merger’, joining forces to become Clarion Housing Group, 

The new company – which will be the UK’s largest housing association and one of its biggest house builders – was launched officially on Wednesday with plans to build 50,000 new homes across all tenure types over the next 10 years, of which two-thirds will be affordable.

Affordable housebuilding recovers from slump

Mark Smulian reports that completions of affordable homes in the first half of this financial year recovered from a slump in 2015/16, but still lag well behind the peak of the year before.

Statistics from the Department for Communities and Local Government show 9,079 completions of affordable homes between April and September this year through government programmes whilst only 6,590 homes were completed in the same period last year. However 12,519 were completed in the first half of 2014/15.

The end of the funding period combined with a hiatus as a result of the surprise announcement to cut social rents, led to net additions of affordable homes in 2015/16 plummeting to their lowest level since 1992. 

London developers to face scrutiny if schemes miss 35% threshold

Developers in London which fail to provide 35% affordable housing will be subject to review mechanisms and tough scrutiny from City Hall, under new planning guidance.

Viability assessments have been controversial in recent years, amid accusations that they make it too easy for developers to minimise or avoid affordable housing contributions.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) is due to publish draft Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) this morning, setting out long-trailed plans to allow developers to avoid new, rigorous viability assessments by meeting a threshold of 35% affordable housing.

Khan raises grant rates to £60,000 to fund low-cost rent

Petes Apps reports that Sadiq Khan will fund social rent level homes in London with fixed grant rates of £60,000 per unit  - around three times higher than levels previously available under government programmes since cuts in 2011 - in a major shake-up of affordable housing funding.

The Labour mayor of London released the first details of his £3.15bn grant programme today, following months of negotiation with central government.

Mr Khan will use the cash to fund 58,500 shared ownership and London Living Rent homes, and 29,000 at new ‘London Affordable Rents’.

Housing White Paper to include ‘green belt swaps’

Next month’s Housing White Paper will see a push for building thousands of houses on green belt land, despite splitting some conservatives during the Housing and Planning Act proceedings.

Theresa May’s government looks set to push forward with “green belt swaps” to build the million homes envisaged.

The White Paper will outline the scheme, allowing councils to remove protections on one part of green belt land but will get a new protected piece of land somewhere else.

Flagship council housebuilding scheme quietly axed

Nick Johnstone reports that a flagship £100m Local Government Association scheme, designed to give smaller local authorities the opportunity to borrow collectively to build housing, has been wound down.

LG Develop, which planned to pool local authorities’ borrowing powers to offer them better rates than borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board, will not continue after councils deemed it too risky.

The group was set up by the Local Government Association (LGA), working with debt advisory firm Centrus, to allow councils to spread costs and risks, and to access finance in larger tranches, lowering borrowing costs.

Barwell: affordable rented homes could be prioritised over social rented

In an interview with Inside Housing, Gavin Barwell said that housing associations could be expected to prioritise affordable rented homes over social rented in an effort to drive up housing numbers.

Barwell said the government is keen to “maximise” the amount of housing that gets delivered “for the money available so that will probably mean that you’re looking at more affordable rent rather than social rent”.

However, he said the sector should “watch this space” because the issue of affordability for people on all incomes “is an issue we’re thinking about” ahead of the Housing White Paper expected later this year.

Right to Buy extension delayed until at least 2018

Gavin Barwell, housing minister has revealed that the national roll-out of Right to Buy for housing association tenants will not take place until after April 2018 at the earliest, with the sell-off of high-value council homes also delayed.

In an exclusive interview Barwell said he had written to councils today to tell them the government will not be requesting any high-value asset payments during 2017/18.

Councils had called for the policy to be delayed from its expected start date of April 2017. The policy requires councils to pay the Treasury a levy based on the value of their high-value homes.

Right to Buy delay fears after second pilot announcement

The National Housing Federation says the sector needs clarity on the national roll-out of the Right to Buy extension, after the government announced a surprise second pilot scheme lasting five years.

The “large-scale” regional Right to Buy pilots, announced in Wednesday’s Autumn Statement, will allow just 3,000 tenants to purchase their homes from housing associations. The government has set aside a pot of £250m to fund these pilots between now and 2021.

A Treasury spokesperson said it is not a delay of the national roll-out and will the allow the government to test key features of the main scheme.

Associations to scale up affordable rent after flexibility announcement

Sophie Barnes reports that housing associations plan to ramp up delivery of sub-market rented housing following the government’s climb-down on grant funding restrictions.

In the Autumn Statement chancellor Philip Hammond announced £1.4bn in funding for 40,000 homes and flexibility around the additional, previously announced, £4.7bn in the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme to 2021.

Keith Exford, chief executive of Affinity Sutton which is shortly to merge with Circle, said he is “really keen” to build more affordable rented homes and welcomed the flexibility over the funding.

OBR says Autumn Statement will reduce HA building by 13,000

The Office for Budget Responsibility says 13,000 fewer homes will be built by housing associations as a result of yesterday’s Autumn Statement announcements.

The OBR said this is due to a combination of grant flexibility, as affordably rent is more expensive to build, and lost revenue through selling fewer shared ownership properties.

The government announced an additional £1.4bn worth of funding for affordable housing, which has been widely welcomed by the sector as being the flexibility they desired.

Political Update - Autumn Statement 

The new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond has delivered the Autumn Statement today - the first major set-piece economic event since the vote to leave the EU.

Among key announcements the government said it will no longer seek to deliver a surplus in 2019-20 but wants to return to budget as soon as practicable. Hammond reiterated that the Government had no intention to make future welfare savings measures beyond those already announced. He also announced reduction of corporate tax to 17%.

A round-up of relevant announcements for the sector:

Housing and planning

·  £2.3bn Housing Infrastructure Fund for infrastructure for up to 100,000 new homes in high demand areas

·  £1.4bn funding to help build affordable homes - the Government estimates the funding will help build 40,000 new homes

·  Relaxing restrictions on grant funding to allow providers to deliver a mix of homes for affordable rent and low cost ownership

·  Banning lettings agents charging fees to tenants - shifting costs to landlords 

·  Right to Buy – The government will fund a large-scale regional pilot for housing association tenants

·  London will receive £3.15bn for 90,000 affordable homes

 Benefits, Employment and Skills

·  The National Living Wage will rise from £7.20 an hour to £7.50 from April 2017

·  Slight increase in the amount of benefits Universal Credit claimants can keep while in work, reducing the taper rate from 65p to 63p for every £1 earned

·  Salary sacrifice schemes that allow employees to receive tax free benefits will be stopped from April 2017, with a few exceptions such as the Cycle to Work

·  Increase the tax-free personal allowance to £12,500 from £11,000 and raise the higher-rate threshold to £50,000 from £43,000 by 2020

·  The Pensions triple lock will be maintained to 2020, but will most likely be reviewed in the longer term.