Agenda item

Report BMH117 of the Business Manager – Housing

(Enclosure)

The Business Manager Housing presented report number BMH117 on the Governments Consultation with respect to proposals for future funding of Supported Housing.  The report outlined the background to the Consultation and contained a number of questions to assist in the preparation of a response to Government.  

The definition of the term Supported Housing encompassed a wide range of accommodation including Sheltered Housing.

Supported housing played a crucial role in supporting people to live independently.  Funding for supported housing was complex and came from a variety of sources.  Housing Benefit played a significant role as it helped meet the eligible housing-related costs.  

Following recent Government legislation and announcements, doubt had been cast over the sustainability of Supported Housing of which there were three main elements.

The Welfare Reform and Work Act:  This provided for social and affordable rents but was to be reduced by 1% per year between 2016 and 2019. Supported Housing was exempt from this rent decrease but doubt was still there in respect of the long term sustainability of some schemes.

Housing Benefit: The Government was proposing to cap Housing Benefit to the level of the Local Housing Allowance from 2018. If applied to Supported Housing schemes, where rents and service charges were high, it would remove the entitlement of residents to full housing benefit and render some schemes unviable.

Universal Credit:  This was based on the premise that housing benefit would cover only the core housing costs with additional funding being available for housing support.  Further announcements were expected. Universal credit was typically paid on a monthly basis which in itself created challenges for short term accommodation such as homeless hostels and refuges.

The Government statement made in September 2015 gave a commitment to reviewing the funding for supported housing. The proposal was for a new  system to be implemented from 1 April 2019 but the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap would not apply to Supported Housing until then. From 2019, it was proposed to introduce the LHA cap to Supported Housing and Sheltered Housing although some accommodation forms such as some refuges would be exempt. The 1% rent reduction required would apply to Sheltered Housing between 2017 and 2019. The key elements of the statement were:

·         Core housing costs (rent and service charges) would continue to be funded through housing benefit or universal credit up to the level of the applicable Local Housing Allowance rate with a top up from the local authority (top tier).

·         To enable the top up to happen there would be a transfer of funds from DWP to DCLG who would then allocate funds to local authorities based on a mechanism yet to be determined. Government was committed to ensuring that the devolved administrators received a level of funding in 2019/20 equivalent to that which would otherwise have been available through the welfare system.

·         The top up would be ring fenced and only available to pay for Supported Housing costs.

·         The shared accommodation rate would not apply to people under the age of 35 living in the supported housing sector the one bedroom rate would apply instead.

Members were informed of the main three ways that these Government proposals would impact on the Council. These being: Sheltered housing; Temporary accommodation and, partner provision of temporary accommodation and supported housing in the district including domestic abuse services which were county wide.  It was noted that some of the Housing Associations had highlighted potential shortfalls.

Top tier authorities were well accustomed to commissioning however there would need to be an agreed and clear commissioning framework to enable the views and priorities of district councils to be properly considered. The current arrangements for working with the county on the commissioning and management of support housing would need to be better developed.

Across all schemes, there were concerns regarding the future development of supported housing schemes given their reliance on revenue funding through the benefits system and county council commissioning processes.

There were 12 questions in the report for Members to consider.

Members discussed the following issues:

Budget and funding reductions since Public Health had been moved to local authorities;

Top funding and how this would be distributed fairly nationally;

The methodology of how local authorities would decide to allocate funding;

The manner and speed in which the Council had been asked to look at this Consultation;

The need for a joined up connected approach and examples could be provided;

How the changes were already impacting on Housing Associations such as Housing 21;

That the ‘Supporting People’ funding had initially been ring fenced but this had subsequently been removed which meant the money could be open to funding for other areas;

That although the pressures might not be so bad for council’s in a good position, the additional pressures would have a significant impact for council’s that were already struggling, and

That individual Members’ could respond direct in addition to commenting on the consultation at this meeting.

Recommended:

          That the Business Manager Housing will compile a response which would be circulated to Members of the PDG for their comments before being submitted to the Government.