Memorandum by The Places for People Group
(DEC 59)
In a press notice, issued on 16 October, you
asked for comments about the following aspects of Decent Homes:
— The definition of "decent";
— The scale of the problem;
— The various mechanisms for funding
and delivery—stock transfer, PFI, Arms Length Management
Organisations and Council Housing;
— The implications of the PSA Plus
Review undertaken earlier this year and the recent studies by
the National Audit Office and Audit Commission;
— The role of tenant choice and
— The link between the decent homes
target and other parts of the Government's sustainable community's
agenda.
1. DEFINITION
We believe that the current definition of "decent"
is reasonable and although aspects of the definition do encourage
a degree of subjectivity, especially around the use of terms such
as "reasonable" and "modern" we do not feel
this undermines the aim of the standard.
Indeed, we consider that the standard will not
only lead to significant improvements in housing conditions generally
but it also allows Government to measure, in a consistent way,
the progress made by all housing providers in improving stock
condition.
We are concerned, however, that the plans to
replace the current fitness standard criteria with the Housing
Health and Safety rating system may have a disruptive effect.
This could have an impact on the way in which we collect information
on stock condition and carry out decent homes assessments. However,
until we receive greater clarity on how the new system will operate
it is difficult to measure how disruptive this change may be.
We are also concerned that the definition does
not take into account a wide range of socio-economic and environmental
issues such as unemployment, crime and security, neighbour nuisance
and so on, which are often of far greater concern to many existing
and future tenants than condition and can dramatically affect
the sustainability of many estates.
2. SCALE
It is clear from research already carried out
that the current level of non-decent homes is significant. For
example, the 2001 English House condition survey estimated that
1.6 million homes were non-decent, of these 1.2 million were local
authority owned (43% of their stock) and 380,000 were owned by
RSLs (28% of RSL stock).
However, we recently carried out a condition
stock survey to establish how much of our stock was non-decent.
We are confident that that we can deal with the current level
of non-decent homes and also that arising between now and March
2010.This will enable us to meet the Government target.
3. FUNDING
We estimate that PfP will be able to generate
internally all the funds necessary to enable us to meet the Decent
Homes Standards by 2010.
However, we recognise that this question is
largely directed at local authorities and the funding options
currently available to them to meet the target. We feel this is
an issue for local authorities to address individually taking
in to account all local factors.
Decent Homes though does provide a benchmark
to compare the relative performance within and between RSLs and
local authorities which will help inform local authority tenants
in particular on the relative merits of the various funding options
available to them.
4. PSA PLUS REVIEW
The Review was established principally to assess
the risk of local authorities not achieving the 2010 target by
identifying shortcomings in the current decent homes delivery
plan and recommend changes to improve it.
However, whilst we consider these are largely
issues for local authorities to address, we fully support the
assertion that decent homes must exist within neighbourhoods that
are sustainable in the long term.
We also fully support the view that this increasingly
depends on efforts to regenerate estates holistically to ensure
that areas of social housing are places in which people aspire
to live.
5. TENANT CHOICE
PfP have a strong track record in involving
tenants in all aspects of our decision making processes. Consequently
we support the outcome of the PSA Plus Review that tenants should
be the focus of delivery in social housing and meeting their priorities
is important to the delivery of decent homes.
We also agree that landlords also have to consider
the needs of future tenants by ensuring that any investment strategy
for their stock is developed in the wider housing market and that
existing tenants need to be fully engaged in decisions about the
future of the homes in which they live
6. LINKS WITH
THE SUSTAINABLE
COMMUNITIES AGENDA
The Decent Homes Standard by its very nature
concentrates on the "bricks and mortar" issues. However,
there is little point pouring millions of pounds into improvements
in homes where people simply do not want to live.
The mantra trotted out in relation to what helps
define a popular private estate is location, location, location.
Equally, people who reside on estates of predominantly
rented housing may prefer to live in a home which is assessed
as non-decent but is located within a neighbourhood which provides
a good quality of life rather than in a "decent" home
on an unpopular estate.
Accordingly, as we stated earlier, improvements
in the infrastructure of homes to achieve decent homes standards
should form part of a wider strategy for neighbourhood renewal.
Therefore, in our view, it is advisable, as
part of that strategy, that a standard is established on what
constitutes a decent neighbourhood as well as a decent home.
Cleary, neighbourhood renewal strategies, or
decent neighbourhood strategies need to fully involve local residents
and start with a comprehensive assessment of the problems which
affect particular neighbourhoods and then coherent action plans
developed.
However, we recognise that in many places it
is unlikely that even housing organisations as large, diverse
and proactive as ours, can deliver these actions plans on their
own.
Therefore, we welcome, on those occasions, the
support of government strategies in creating the opportunities
to work with a whole range of other agencies, in both the private
and public sectors, in each locality to deliver the holistic approach
necessary to achieve decent and sustainable neighbourhoods.
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