Dealing with overcrowding - g15 response

1. Dealing with overcrowding -g15 response • Tom Bremner • L&Q

2. The g15 • 15 influential Registered Providers in London • Housing over 700,000 people • Approximately 50% of all lettings made by g15 members • Homeless acceptances make up 27% of LA nominations compared to 18% nationally Presented By Name Date

3. The g15Offer to London • Launched in November 2008 to support the governments target to half the number of families in temporary accommodation by 2010. Pledge to • Establish local authority relationship managers in each borough. • Prevent homelessness and support tenancy sustainment • House homeless households – increasing the proportion of its lettings nominations to homeless households from 27% to 35% over two years • Measure overcrowding by the bedroom standard to provide a benchmark to set stretching targets for the future • Work with LAs to convert TA to other direct lettings products. Presented By Name Date

4. Progress on the homelessness offer to date: • Have contributed positively to TA reduction across the capital over the past 2 years; • Currently undertaking an independent assessment to look at what can be learnt from the relationship management approach and hear what our partners thought about our contribution. • Shifting the focus in the future to overcrowding within the Capital and welcome the Mayors plan.

5. Moving forward to tackle overcrowding: • Like Local Authorities , Housing Associations across the Capital have significant overcrowding issues which are set to grow as demand increases and supply slows: • g15 are committed to reducing overcrowding and the affects of overcrowding on family life • g15 recognise that this is an issue for the sector and that we need to work with LA’s and other partners to solve it as a strategic pan London challenge

6. Let’s start with the data to set the benchmark: Housing Associations understand the importance of having good quality data: • g15 are committed to providing accurate and timely over-crowding information and are working on ensuring that a quality assured lettings and overcrowding data return is published regularly to LA’s and government from this autumn • g15 accept that they all need to get better at recording overcrowding against the bedroom standard and that we need to work with partners on strengthening the way we collect and share data.

7. Best use of stock: Overcrowding should be ideally resolved through the construction of more family housing. However g15 recognise the need to squeeze more value from existing stock – through reducing under-occupation, unauthorised sub-letting and providing more ways for people to move around the stock – increasing Pan London mobility: • g15 are committed to working more closely with partners to put in place local overcrowding plans where all social housing residents benefit; • g15 welcome pan London mobility schemes, which provide support for families or people who need to move for employment reasons, emergency re-housing need or carer duties – especially where this helps resolve overcrowding issues at the same time; and • g15 are committed to working on other joint initiatives which free up stock, such as joint work on unauthorised subletting or under-occupation – recognising we fund all of these initiatives out of rents at the moment.

8. Aspirational targets: • The current definition of overcrowding is a starting point from which we can work with others to reduce the numbers of families in overcrowded conditions by 2016 but the current definition is blunt and needs to change in the longer term, to reflect what both LA’s and HA’s recognise as the real point at which housing conditions materially affect the quality of life: • g15 are committed to working with others to establish a universally agreed baseline across the sector from which they can track the impact of their work; and • g15 are committed to working with other interested partners, such as LA’s, GLA and CLG to explore the merits of establishing an aspirational “decent living conditions” standard – to sit on top of the bedroom standard

9. Increasing capacity with financial support: Housing Associations do a great deal to help reduce overcrowding and the impact of overcrowding, showcased in the GLA report, but more can be done: • g15 believe there is real value from additional investment going into Housing Associations, to directly support “making best use of stock” activity, in return for published outcomes. • g15 are committed to working with central and local government directly to identify ways to unblock this capacity.

10. Casestudies: • East Homes has a target to visit 100 most overcrowded households in 10/11 and develop individual household plans which will include an offer of a deposit for adult non dependants and “space saving kits” like bunk beds. The target is to have 25% of plans in place by March 2011. Their approach is work with the target households and move away from a piece meal approach. • Catalyst Housing Group has de-converted three properties in LB Ealing from flats to create family-sized homes to house overcrowded families. The housing association took advantage of tenants vacating some of the properties, along with some minimal decanting, and carried out extensive conversion, repair and improvement. Two of the properties were deconverted to create three bedroom houses and have been let to high priority applicants who were overcrowded – an overcrowded family with three children who were living in a two bedroom flat and a family with four children who were living in a three bedroom flat. The third property has been deconverted from three flats to provide a six bedroom 12 person house and this has been given to LB Ealing to let for a nomination. • L&Q have looked at our development pipeline and have identified a number of schemes where we will look to free up overcrowded homes and re-house adult children into one bedroom homes. An example of this is Greenwich Wharf where we have a mixture of 48 1 bed homes, 59 2 bed homes and 34 x 3 bed homes. All of the 1 bed homes have been allocated to adult children which has made a real impact in reducing overcrowding.

11. Get in touch: • g15 are very interested in hearing your views. • The main contacts are: • Victor Da Cunha who is leading on this work in the g15 at victor.dacunha@east-homes.co.uk or 0208 536 3924 • Tom Bremner who chairs the g15 Relationship Managers Group at tbremner@lqgroup.org.uk or 07786786734 • Madeleine Jeffery who co-ordinates the project on madeleine.jeffery@btinternet.com or 07798 588 752 Please do get in touch