housing – Page 68 – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

The Bedroom Tax – a Poll Tax for the 21st century?

It could become the most hated piece of legislation to be inflicted on British people since the infamous Poll Tax. And it’s now only weeks away …

In April, a new measure is to be introduced that will apply to all tenants of working age – welfare reforms will cut the amount of benefit that people can get if they are deemed to have a spare bedroom in their council or housing association home.

Under the legislation, size criteria will restrict housing benefit to allow for one bedroom for each person or couple living as part of the household. Children under sixteen years old will be expected to share with others of the same gender, while children under ten will be expected to share regardless of gender.

Under the new legislation – labelled the bedroom tax – all claimants who are then deemed to have at least one spare bedroom will be affected and face an ‘under occupation’ penalty: a cut to their housing benefit.

The cut will be a fixed percentage of the Housing Benefit eligible rent, which the Westminster government has stated will be set at 14% for one extra bedroom and 25% for two or more extra bedrooms.

Those affected – around 660,000 working-age social housing tenants (over 30% of existing Housing Benefit claimants in the social sector) in the UK – will lose an average of £14 per week, with Housing Association tenants expected to lose around £16 per week.

The architect of the scheme is investment banker and Welfare Reform Minister Baron Freud of Eastry – who incidentally lives in an eight-bedroom Kent mansion when he is not staying in his four-bedroom townhouse in London’s Highgate. The noble Lord believes that ‘spare council house bedrooms are a luxury the country can no longer afford: “It’s not fair or affordable for people to continue to live in homes that are too large for their needs when, in England alone, there are around five million people on the social housing waiting list and over a quarter of a million tenants are living in overcrowded conditions. It’s only right that we bring fairness back to the system and make better use of the social housing stock.”

He went on: “Nearly a third of working-age social housing tenants on housing benefit are living in accommodation which is too big for their needs, in spite of the fact of severe overcrowding. We are stopping the practice of the state paying for rooms beyond claimant needs, and that should go in some way to help tackle the social housing shortage that has been blighting too many lives.”

Lord Freud and his ministerial chums hope that more households will chose to ‘downsize’ to smaller, more affordable properties – and in the process slash £500 million from the Housing Benefit bill. So the government reduces the national debt and tenants get suitably-sized homes: a win, win situation, then – everybody’s happy?

Sadly not. There’s a desperate shortage of suitable, smaller accommodation, as Shelter Scotland Director Graeme Brown explained: “The UK Government is simply failing to listen to the voice of reason being put forward by housing professionals, social landlords, MSPs and individuals. Penalizing low-income people for having an extra room assumes that there is a ready supply of smaller properties for them to move to. This is simply not the case. So the only consequence will be people stuck in homes with mounting rent arrears and a further descent into debt. Even at this late stage, we urge the UK Government to modify its proposals.”

According to the latest Scottish government figures, there are 586,000 households in the social rented sector in Scotland, and 105,000 of these – roughly one in five – will be affected by the Bedroom Tax, each losing an average of around £50 per month.

Advice organisations have already seen a significant increase in demand for their services, and the imminent welfare reforms will inevitably lead to even more desperate cries for help.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) Chief Executive Margaret Lynch gave evidence about the impact of welfare changes on advice services at the Scottish Parliament earlier this month.

She said: “We expect demand for benefit advice, to increase even further along with an increased need for other areas of advice such as debt, housing, and budgeting due to changes in benefits. This increase in casework, as well as the increasing complexity and time-consuming nature or many issues, is of course having a knock-on effect on the ability of our service to help our clients.

“We are already at breaking point so desperately need to be adequately resourced to enable us to help those who need it most as we aim to mitigate the impact of welfare reform as much as possible. The recent benefits uprating bill debate highlighted the statistics showing how the poorest are paying the price for cuts. The evidence we are publishing today is not just statistics but is based on the real lives of real people. It is not just about the numbers of people affected, but the severity of the individual cases. We have seen a big rise in the number of people in crisis situations, either because of the direct impact of a benefit cut or because they have fallen through the gaps in the safety net that is meant to protect them.

“The evidence we are publishing shows who is really being hit hardest by current policies and it includes thousands of people who are genuinely sick, disabled, and vulnerable and deserve support. The impact of current policies don’t just hit the individual claimant but can also have a huge effect on children and others being cared for. Pushing people further into poverty and financial difficulties will lead to an increase in other problems such as homelessness, health inequalities, and family breakdown, as well as lead to rising debt and an increase for food hand-outs. Tackling these issues in future years will only add to the overall public spending bill, not reduce it. The UK government must heed this evidence and question whether they really want to continue on a track of devastating reforms which can only damage more lives.”

Shelter Scotland has issued advice to tenants likely to be hit by the imminent benefit cuts, and urge them to ACT NOW:

If you’re going to be affected by a deduction to your housing benefit then it’s very important that you prepare for the change before April 2013.

There are several things you can do:

take in a lodger – renting out a spare room would bring in extra income, but make sure you get the agreement of your landlord first and check whether this will affect any other benefits that you’re currently receiving
ask for a contribution to your rent – your family members may be able to pay more towards your rent
move to a smaller property – you may be able to transfer to a smaller property, speak to your council or the housing association you’re renting from to see if you can apply to do this
apply for a discretionary housing payment – your local council may be able to give you temporary support to help you stay in your home through a discretionary housing payment.

If you can’t pay all your rent after the reduction you may have to think about finding somewhere else to live or you will risk falling behind with your rent and possibly being evicted. Speak to an adviser in your area as soon as possible if you’re worried that this may happen to you.

For Local advice:

Granton Information Centre 134-138 West Granton Road. Telephone 552 0458 Email info@gic.org.uk

Pilton CAB, Drylaw Shopping Centre: Telephone 202 1153 Email pilton@caed.org.uk

Top marks for Dunedin’s Harbour hostel

Staff at the only hostel in the Capital run by a social landlord have been praised following a recent care services inspection. Leith’s Dunedin Harbour Hostel has been awarded ‘very good’ grades after an inspection by the Care Inspectorate.

Managed by Dunedin Canmore Housing Group, the hostel – the only hostel service delivered by a Housing Association in Edinburgh – scored highly for the quality of care and support it provides to homeless people. Dunedin Harbour Hostel provides short term support of up to 12 weeks. The service also provides medium term support, up to six months, in self contained flats within the hostel accommodation. At the time of our inspection 35 people were using the service.

Staff have various areas of expertise, including mental health, drugs, alcohol and counselling. The team provides housing advice, emotional and practical support and help with independent living skills. And they work closely with each person to identify and work towards their personal goals, promote healthy lifestyles and build skills for work.

The report said the Parliament Street-based hostel service has been creative in helping people access support, working with a range of services to build relationships with people in the hostel that can continue after their stay.

Dunedin Canmore’s Sheltered Housing Division also scored ‘very good’ in the inspection. The Sheltered Housing Division provides a housing support service to around 340 tenants living in nine sheltered housing complexes across Edinburgh. Tenants have self contained flats and each complex has a communal lounge, kitchen and laundry facilities.

The report said, “The sheltered housing managers we met were enthusiastic about their role and committed to supporting tenants to live as independently as possible. Sheltered housing tenants were happy with the support they received from their sheltered housing manager. They were viewed as friendly, approachable and helpful and the “extra” help they gave was very much appreciated.”

Housing Manager Rhona McAdam said: “I am delighted with the Very Good Grade from the Care Inspectorate. This reflects the hard work of all the staff in the service and their commitment to providing an excellent service to the tenants in sheltered housing. I am very pleased by the many positive comments which the tenants made about their sheltered managers to the Care Inspector. Our Care Inspector also offered us some useful suggestions on how we might further improve our service, which we are currently implementing.”

New cash for empty homes

New funding could bring more than 400 empty homes back into use for communities across Scotland, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said this week. Seventeen housing associations, councils and house builders submitted successful bids for the Scottish Government’s Empty Homes Loans Fund.

The fund will help private owners renovate empty homes in exchange for them being made available as affordable housing for at least five years. There are around 25,000 empty homes across Scotland that are classed as long-term empty located in urban, rural and island communities.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Empty homes are a blight on many communities across Scotland. Standing empty these properties are no use to anyone. Renovated, they could provide much needed new homes for hundreds of people. That is why more needs to be done to make better use of these existing assets.

“Bringing empty homes back into use makes sense because it is a cost-effective way of increasing the supply of housing available to families across Scotland’s communities. “The Empty Homes Loan Fund, and wider work being taken forward by Councils as a result of the Shelter Scotland-led Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, can help significantly reduce the number of wasted, empty homes across Scotland.”

Kristen Hubert, coordinator of the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, which is hosted by Shelter Scotland and funded by the Scottish Government, said: “It is pleasing and highly encouraging that so many worthy projects have been given the go ahead. Having an incentive like a loan to offer owners of empty homes is a key part of getting people to engage with our growing network of Empty Homes Officers and make positive choices about their properties. We will work with the successful bidders to help them make the most of their projects. We look forward with excitement to seeing so many empty homes that previously caused issues for their communities coming back to life as affordable housing.”

COSLA’s housing spokeperson Councillor Harry McGuigan said: “The fund is a welcome contribution to Scotland’s overall housing stock, and will greatly assist local government’s empty home officers on making real progress locally in relieving housing pressure.

“Encouraging owners to bring housing stock back to the affordable rental market will make a valuable contribution in tackling homelessness, directly and indirectly, and remove what can be neighbourhood blight.”

Here in Edinburgh, the City Council announced that it was setting up an empty homes task force back in September, working with other organisations on initiatives to bring more housing into use. Edinburgh’s share of the new housing cash is £750,000, which will now bring 70 empty homes back into use.

Welcoming the announcement Councillor Cammy Day, the city council’s Housing Leader, said: “Setting up an empty homes task force was one of the first commitments delivered by the capital coalition following the elections in May. I’m delighted that Link Housing Association, a key member of the task force, has been successful in securing this funding. This underlines the co-operative approach we are taking to addressing the housing and other challenges that the city faces. We will continue working with Link and other partners in the task force on reducing the number of empty homes in the city.”

Welfare reform advice on it’s way to council tenants

Council tenants facing housing benefit changes are being contacted by the City of Edinburgh Council. Leaflets highlighting the potential impact the new rules will have when they come into force next year are now being issued across the city. These leaflets will give helpful advice on the options tenants have to limit the financial impact of the reforms.

The biggest effect is going to be on tenants who have an unoccupied bedroom as they will receive less housing benefit from April next year. Anyone under-occupying will lose 14% of their housing benefit if they have one spare bedroom (between £13 and £15 per week) or 25% for two or more spare bedrooms (between £20 and £27 per week). Options for tenants cover areas like paying rent, moving to a smaller home, maximising income and sharing with friends, family members or lodgers.

Councillor Cammy Day, Housing leader for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Tenants need to know just exactly what these changes will mean to them and the potential financial impact it’s going to have. Some tenants could be faced with a 25% reduction in their housing benefit. Their rent will still have to be paid so that means they will have to make up the difference from their household income. If tenants don’t pay their rent they are at risk of losing their home. No one wants to see that happen so we are advising people to get in touch with their local housing team now to discuss the various options open to them.”

End to illegal charges for private tenants

The law covering what fees letting agents and landlords charge private tenants has been clarified. The Scottish Parliament has voted to approve secondary legislation so that all tenant charges, other than rent and a refundable deposit, will not be permitted.

From November 30, the law will now also allow any charges in relation to the UK Government’s Green Deal that may be attached to a privately rented property. The current legislation, the Rent (Scotland Act) 1984, has not been explicit enough about additional charges such as reference checks, credit checks and inventory fees. The move follows a consultation launched earlier this year on how to deal with unfair and illegal premiums.

It is estimated that there are around 500 letting agent businesses in Scotland involved in around 150,000 private lettings per year.

Minister for Housing and Welfare Margaret Burgess, said: “The vast majority of Scotland’s letting agents and landlords operate in a professional and above-board manner, and play an important role in the Scottish private rented sector. I am pleased that the legality of pre-tenancy charges has been clarified. This Government was determined to end the illegal practice of charges such as holding deposits and reference checks. The law is now clear on this matter and will help remove a barrier that will make the private rented sector more accessible for a wide range of individuals and families.”

Graeme Brown, Director of Shelter Scotland, added: “This is great news for everyone who has been ripped-off by unscrupulous letting agents. It will finally put an end to this unlawful practice and ensure that tenants are no longer exploited. Shelter Scotland has been campaigning all year for these fees to be outlawed. Our reclaimyourfees.com web site has proved so popular that already more than a quarter of a million pounds worth of claims against letting agents have been made using our free step-by-step toolkit. Moves like this can only strengthen Scotland’s private rented sector and help make it a fairer and more secure place to live for the 270,000 households that now call the sector home.”

Residents to fight City Park housing plans

Local residents will fight plans to build housing on City Park. A new Save City Park campaign group has been set up to challenge plans to build houses on the site off Pilton Drive North. The group says that the area needs it’s last remaining green space and could not cope with more traffic on roads and side streets.

Save City Park campaigners say that City Park – the former home of The Spartans – ‘is a vital part of Edinburgh’s landscape and heritage and plays an important role in enhancing the city’s environment. It is one of an ever decreasing number of green “lungs” in a city of ever-increasing development.’

The group says that a plans by Link Group to build a mixed-tenure housing development on the City Park site would destroy the quality and character of the local area and put even more strain on already overstretched local services.

Falkirk-based Link Group employs 400 staff and celebrates it’s 50th birthday this year. The company is ‘one of Scotland’s leading providers of housing and related services’. The organisation’s website continues: ‘The Link companies help to deliver innovative regeneration projects in partnership with local communities, including health facilities, environmental initiatives, training schemes and financial inclusion projects. We are committed to the welfare of tenants and to the principles of social justice and inclusion.’

Interested members of the public will have three different opportunities to see and hear what is being proposed for City Park at a series of consultation events over the coming fortnight. Next Wednesday (24 October) Link will have a staffed presentation from 4.30 – 7.30pm at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre on Pilton Drive North and on Thursday (25th October) the exhibition moves on to The Spartans Community Football Academy off Pilton Drive, again from 4.30 – 7.30pm.

Link representatives will also be making a presentation to Granton and District Community Council’s meeting on Monday 29 October at 7pm in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre – this meeting is open to members of the public and all are welcome to attend.

The City Park campaigners concerns are highlighted on their new website which can be found at http://savecitypark.co.uk

Has housing reached saturation point in East Pilton? Or is the need for more social and affordable housing more urgent than green space? What do you think – let us know!

Port of Leith residents attend advice event

Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) hosted an event for its residents to provide information on issues such as welfare reforms and benefits advice recently.

Over 60 people attended the open day at South Leith Parish Church Hall where the Association was joined by the Department of Work & Pensions, the City of Edinburgh Council, an energy advisor, a money advice worker from Citizens’ Advice Bureau, Edinburgh Housing Advice Partnership and employability initiative Community Renewal.

Keith Anderson, Chief Executive at PoLHA, said: “There are a lot of changes coming and issues surrounding benefit, energy and money management for our tenants to consider. Holding this event with our partner agencies helped those who came along to understand how these will affect them and how they can make the pounds in their pocket go further. It was a great turnout and I hope people found it useful to help them manage finances in the run-up to the forthcoming benefit changes and the winter months.”

PoLHA was formed in 1975 and now owns and manages 2400 properties in the Leith and North Edinburgh area.

Drive to end the waste of empty properties

The shortage of good quality housing is a challenge for both national and local government but initiatives are under way to try to meet the shortfall and cut waiting lists …

Housing and empty property rates reform will aim to regenerate Scotland’s communities, Local Government Derek Mackay said ahead of a stage one debate on the Unoccupied Properties Bill yesterday.

The Bill will allow councils to remove existing discounts and increase council tax on certain long-term empty homes, which often fall into disrepair and can become a focus for antisocial behaviour such as vandalism or fly tipping. There are 25,000 long-term empty homes across Scotland and these new powers could assist councils to work with home owners to provide homes for people who need them.

The reforms also include measures to incentivise owners of vacant business premises to bring up to 5,500 properties back into commercial use.

Under the current system of Empty Property Relief the Scottish Government would have provided approximately £757m of business rates subsidies, over the period 2010-15, to owners of business premises who have failed to find occupants. The new reforms will reduce this subsidy by £36m and aims to encourage maximum occupancy of Scotland’s town centres, linking to the Regeneration and Town Centre Strategies.

Speaking ahead of the debate, Mr Mackay said: “The Unoccupied Properties Bill is an important step in regenerating and revitalising communities across Scotland. At a time where there are over 140,000 families and individuals on social housing waiting lists and 25,000 long-term empty properties across Scotland, these reforms could play a significant role in providing homes for people who need them.

“The Bill will assist councils to remove discounts and increase council tax on certain empty homes and should be a strong incentive to owners to sell or let the property to someone who needs it. The Scottish Government is focused on retaining Scotland’s reputation as the most supportive environment for business in the UK and the review of business rates reflects the current economic challenges and opportunities. The total relief package offered by Scottish Government now exceeds £0.5 billion per year.

“The current system of empty property relief is not working for our communities and we recognise there is a need to incentivise owners of business premises to find occupants. We are working with stakeholders across the business community and we plan to introduce new incentives which will potentially bring up to 5,500 vacant business properties back into use.

“This Government is focused on supporting Scotland’s business community. We have retained the small business bonus scheme, which has either eliminated or substantially reduced business rates for two out of every five commercial properties in Scotland, and even after proposed reform, empty property relief will remain significantly more generous than that offered in England and Wales.

“As part of the Town Centre Strategy, this Government wants to see Scotland’s high streets thriving. I have listened to, and will continue to listen to, a wide range of stakeholders on these reforms and I have emphasised that there is flexibility on our approach.

“We are open to ideas on how we can maximise opportunities to regenerate our town centres and the planned town centre review will build on this and look to tackle some of the long-standing issues facing communities, through working with local authorities and others to deliver innovative solutions.”

RICS Scotland Director, Sarah Speirs: “RICS Scotland wishes to see all land and property to have a purpose and be used efficiently. Empty property does not make valid contributions to the Scottish economy, environment or, generally, the sociability of places. Therefore, RICS Scotland agrees with the Scottish Government that the issue of unused and vacant properties needs be addressed, and would welcome positive measures that revitalise Scotland’s high streets and town centres. “From a commercial point of view, we would hope that a balanced, collaborative approach – where public and private sectors can come together to find sensible solutions that provide access to property for those wishing to produce and trade – can be struck to ensure the consequential impact of any policy does not generate negative perceptions and reduce confidence.”

The Bill has been welcomed in Edinburgh, where a drive is already underway to get empty houses occupied. A task force to bring privately-owned empty homes back into use in the capital is being set up by the City of Edinburgh Council.

The membership of the group will include representatives from the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, private landlords and housing associations.

Some of the key actions for the task force will be to:

put together a bid for funding from the Scottish Government’s new Empty Homes Loan Fund
consider the need for advice to owners of empty homes and
look at implementing new legislation which allows local authorities to charge higher council tax for empty homes.

Latest figures from the Council show that at December 2011 there were 1,486 private sector properties empty for more than six months which is 0.8% of all private sector homes. Of these 967 had been vacant for more than a year.

The Empty Homes Task Force is one the commitments made by the Capital Coalition which was formed back in May.

Councillor Cammy Day, Housing Leader for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Even though Edinburgh has a relatively low level of empty homes in both the social and private sectors this Council has a duty to look at all the avenues open to us to deliver more homes.

“The Capital Coalition made a commitment in May to set up this task force and I’m delighted that we have taken what is undoubtedly a major step forward in tackling this pressing issue.

“Everyone knows there is a desperate need for more housing in the capital and we hope the task force will be able to find ways of bringing more empty homes back into use.”

Kristen Hubert of Shelter Scotland, who run the Scottish Government funded Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, said: “The Council should be praised for setting up this task force and their commitment to bringing empty homes back into use.

“There are many reasons why a home might be left empty. Owners can have sentimental attachment to it or they don’t have the finances, the time or the skills to complete their plans for the property.

“Whatever the reason, bringing empty homes back into use has many benefits – it adds to the housing supply, contributes to local regeneration and supports community safety.

“We look forward to working with the taskforce in tackling the problem of empty homes across Edinburgh.”

A report on the Empty Homes Task Force is set to be discussed at a meeting of the Health, Social Care and Housing Committee on Tuesday 11 September.

The percentage of empty homes in Edinburgh has been steadily decreasing since 2008 from 2.4% to 2% in 2011 – less than the Scottish average of 2.8%.

The Council has already taken steps to reduce the potential for a greater number of empty homes during the recession by working with builders and housing associations to buy unsold new properties and convert them to affordable homes. This has resulted in a total of 76 newly built unsold properties being purchased since 2010/11.

Earlier this year the Council used Council Tax data to contact over 1,000 owners of homes that had been empty for more than six months. They were sent a leaflet outlining the benefits of bringing their homes back into use.

Tenants to pay for deliberate damage?

Irresponsible tenants who deliberately damage their homes may have to pay for repairs under proposals being considered by the City of Edinburgh Council. Councillors will discuss plans for a Rechargeable Repairs Policy at next week’s meeting of the Health, Social Care and Housing Committee.

The Council currently carries out around 146,000 repairs every year at a cost of £20m. The majority of these repairs are in response to direct requests from tenants with the rest made up of planned repairs.

Introducing a Rechargeable Repairs Policy has received strong support from tenants with 88% who took part in a recent survey saying they were in favour of the idea. Residents surveyed also showed that 66% believed the policy would act as a deterrent to tenants who deliberately cause damage.

Focus groups held with the Edinburgh Tenants Federation, neighbourhood housing staff and equalities groups indicated positive support for the proposal, and any new system could also be used to identify vulnerable tenants who require additional support.

Councillor Cammy Day, Housing Leader for the City of Edinburgh Council (pictured above), said: “The implementation of a rechargeable repairs policy has received broad support from everyone we’ve spoken to. Where irresponsible tenants damage or neglect their home all other tenants have to pay for it – that’s not fair. All tenants are responsible for looking after their own homes and the Capital Coalition gave a commitment to enforcing tenancy agreements to ensure they fulfil their good conduct responsibilities. An added benefit to such a scheme is the potential to identify vulnerable tenants who we can then direct to various support services so they can receive extra help they need.”

Betty Stevenson, chair of the Edinburgh Tenants Federation, said they were happy to support the idea. “Such a policy will ensure repair costs are targeted at repairs to improve homes for tenants who are in genuine need. If implemented correctly this will help to increase tenants’ awareness of their responsibilities,” she sad.

Doug Anthoney, from charity Age Scotland, said: “We are pleased that the City of Edinburgh Council is looking at robust procedures around their repairs recharging policy to ensure that vulnerable individuals are protected. It is reassuring that a flagging system could be established to identify people who may actually be in need of assistance or support to help them cope at home, which should also reduce the risk of them incurring financial penalties in the future.”

The proposal will be discussed at the Council’s Health, Social Care and Housing Committee next Tuesday (11 September) and, if agreed, it’s expected that any Rechargeable Repairs Policy would come into effect in Spring 2013.