Memorandum from Care & Repair England
(BDH 04)
THIS SUBMISSION
CONCERNS THE
COMMITTEE'S
INTEREST IN:
— What steps the Government needs to take
to ensure that decent housing standards are met and sustained
after 2010 and in particular the questions:
— How should the Decent Homes target for
private sector homes occupied by vulnerable people be taken forward?
— Are adequate arrangements in place for
the future regulation of minimum acceptable housing standards?
— Are there local examples of innovative
best practice with wider post-2010 applicability?
SUMMARY OF
KEY POINTS
— This submission is concerned with the
application of the Decent Homes Standard in private sector, particularly
those homes that are lived in by disadvantaged older and disabled
people. The majority of non-decent housing is concentrated in
the private sector (5.3m of the 7.7m non-decent homes) and less
progress has been made towards improvement of the stock than in
the social rented sector (1.1m non decent).
— Disadvantage straddles tenure, with many
low equity/low income older home owners living in worse housing
conditions than many social rented tenants.
— We would propose that in order to make
progress on improving the condition of the private sector stock
for vulnerable groups, an enforceable target which obliges local
authorities to make progress towards achieving such a target is
necessary. This target should be set at, at least 80%.
— This added impetus to improve housing
for vulnerable groups, particularly older people, is a crucial
step because of the potential impact on the related demand for
health and social care services.
— Higher priority needs to be given to
private sector housing expenditure that is targeted in ways that
are planned and delivered in partnership with the health and social
care sectors. This should also include improved targeting of related
initiatives such as WarmFront.
1. ABOUT CARE
& REPAIR ENGLAND
1.1. Care & Repair England is a national
charity established in 1986 to improve the housing and living
conditions of older and disabled people.
1.2. Its aim is to innovate, develop, promote
and support housing policies and initiatives which enable older
and disabled people to live independently in their homes for as
long as they wish.
2. BASIS OF
RESPONSE
2.1. Care & Repair England was established
23 years ago specifically in response to the high incidence
of unfit and poor housing conditions amongst older people living
in private sector housing.
2.2. The organisation was responsible for
the early promotion and local development of independent home
improvement agencies. The aim of these services was to support
older and disabled people who were living in poor housing in the
private sector to undertake repairs and adaptation of their homes
utilising any means that were available to them.
2.3. The focus of the organisation has remained
in the improvement of housing and living conditions of disadvantaged
older and disabled people living in inadequate housing, particularly
those in the private sector, in order to enable independent living.
2.4. For a number of years we have been
working with local older people's groups across England to raise
the profile of older people's views about their housing during
retirement and to identify shortcomings in the current provision
of housing related services for an ageing population.
2.5. We have worked with local authorities
and older people with the objective of increasing the level of
engagement with the latter in shaping local housing strategies
in ways that are rooted in the everyday experience of older people.
2.6. From this front line work feedback
from local older people and local service providers about the
impact of changes to private sector housing support, Decent Homes
and help with home adaptations has been collected.
2.7. Tracking and interpreting national
data about trends in Decent Homes, disrepair and older people's
housing and commenting on this from a policy perspective is also
a key part of the organisation's work.
2.8. Care & Repair England is closely
involved in policy development. The Director was the co-chair
of the Government's Advisory Committee on Housing and Older People
(HOPDEV) and as such was closely involved in the development of
"Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods: A national strategy
for housing in an ageing society".
3. QUESTION:
HOW SHOULD
THE DECENT
HOMES TARGET
FOR PRIVATE
SECTOR HOMES
OCCUPIED BY
VULNERABLE PEOPLE
BE TAKEN
FORWARD?
— An enforceable target should be introduced
by national government to secure, at local authority level, a
year on year increase in the proportion of private sector housing
in decent condition occupied by vulnerable groups, as a minimum
to reach a national target figure.
— A new national target figure should be
set of at least 80% (previous target set in 2002 was 70%).
Concentration of non-decency in private sector
3.1. There were an estimated 7.7 million
non-decent homes in 2007, the majority of which (5.3 million)
were owner occupied (36% of all homes in this sector). Housing
association stock is the least likely to be non-decent (26%) and
privately rented accommodation most likely (45%).[1]
3.2. Vulnerable people living in private
sector housing are significantly more likely to be living in non-decent
homes (39% non-decent, 1.23 million households).
3.3. Privately owned homes are almost twice
as likely to have Category 1 hazards compared to social housing
(24% vs 13%). Some 2.5 million homes had at least
one of the types of falls hazards and 2.2 million an excess
cold hazard.
3.4. The likelihood of living in a non decent
private home is higher for people who are over 75 years,
older single women, black and minority ethnic elders and for those
who have lived in the same home for more than 25 years.
3.5. For these groups their home is more
likely to fail the decent homes standard on the grounds of requiring
urgent repairs ie those which pose a threat to the health, safety,
security and comfort of the occupant or to forestall further rapid
deterioration of the building.
3.6. There has been no discernable improvement
in the number of properties meeting the Decent Homes Standard
between 2006 and 2007.
3.7. There are now slightly more low income
home owners than tenants but financial help for poor home owners
has continued to decline.
3.8. Whilst large scale investment in the
social rented stock has resulted in significant reductions in
non-decency in this sector, improvement in the private stock has
been slower and is now at a standstill. With the ending of the
Decent Homes PSA target in 2008 there are no signs that this
will improve.
3.9. Whilst bringing all social rented housing
up to the Decent Homes Standard remains a National Indicator in
Local Area Agreements, there are now no national indicators or
targets relating to the private sector and decent homes.
3.10. Over the past 25 years state
expenditure on improvements to private sector stock has fallen
from £1,040 million in 1983-84 to £266 million
23 years later in 2006-07.[2]
During that time the cost of building has gone up by a factor
of more than three and house price inflation by a factor of 8.6.
3.11. The government has recently further
reduced the budget for private sector renewal by 25% in 2010-11,
shifting the funding originally allocated to this sector into
the budget for building new homes.
Potential impact on health and social care of
older people
3.12. Tackling health inequalities has been
a government policy priority for a number of years. Many of the
common chronic health conditions linked to early death and inequality,
particularly for older people, have a causal link to housing.
These include heart disease, strokes, mental health, respiratory
conditions, arthritis and rheumatism.
3.13. The majority of related health and
social care policies stress enabling older and disabled people
to live independently in their own homes for longer and to deliver
care and health services at/or closer to home.
3.14. The improvement of non-decent housing
amongst the older population is thus closely connected with addressing
health inequality, enabling independent living and the prevention
of more costly demands on health and social care.
3.15. Falls are one of the major causes
of death and health decline amongst older people[3]
and there is an established causal link between housing conditions
and falling. Thus the prevalence of poor or unsuitable housing
conditions amongst disadvantaged older households can increase
the risk of falls.
3.16. One of the most widely recognised
health inequality linked to housing conditions is that of excess
winter deaths amongst older people. Between December 2007 and
March 2008, there were an estimated 25,300 deaths in England
and Wales, an increase of 1,000 from the previous winter.
3.17. There is a close correlation between
winter temperature and death rate, combined with fuel poverty
and incidence of cold homes. The level of excess winter deaths
in the UK is higher than in colder countries, such as the Scandinavian
countries, which have better housing, so it is often argued that
the thermal standard of properties in the UK is a significant
causal factor.
3.18. One of the main reasons that homes
fail the Decent Homes Standard is on the grounds of the adequacy
of heating and ventilation.
3.19. The Warm Front programme has made
a positive contribution towards improvement to older people's
warmth and comfort. However, there are issues with regard to the
targeting of the help provided and shortcomings in the scope of
provision that a more comprehensive Decent Homes related local
programme might address.
Declining help for disadvantaged older home owners
3.20. Over the past two decades there has
been a significant change in national government policy concerning
the responsibility of the lower income home owner for home repair
and maintenance. From the major investment via renovation grants
for unfit properties during the peak years of 1982 to 1996 (when
mandatory grants ended), there was a policy position that included
a role for the state in financially supporting lower income home
owners to improve properties.
3.21. Low income older people were beneficiaries
of this system, particularly following the creation of the very
popular and well targeted minor works grants. There is now a more
general expectation that older home owners should borrow commercially
to meet repair and renovation costs, usually via equity release.
3.22. Use of equity release by the most
vulnerable groups of older home owners is already very low and
take up could be further reduced by the credit crunch, with potential
implications for the decline in housing quality.
3.23. As well as encouraging commercial
loan development, private sector housing renewal funding has also
been used to fund regionally supported social loan schemes. To
date this has been with mixed success, particularly with regard
to take up by the "older old" who are more likely to
be living in poor housing but less willing to borrow. The cost
effectiveness of setting up and administering small loans is also
questionable.
3.24. One of the potential impacts of the
credit crunch is an even greater level of worry and concern about
using equity release, given the drop in the value of property
and rising interest rates.
3.25. Given the impact of poor housing on
older people's health (noted above) and the consequent costs to
the NHS, it makes economic sense to offer modest levels of financial
help with essential repairs, particularly for those most at risk,
including:
— fast track urgent repairs funding where
there is a health and social care link;
— supported social lending such as via
a fixed charge on a property, loans capped to a percentage of
the value and with no interest added;
— expansion of the low cost handyperson
schemes that the Government has helped to encourage through its
targeted grants to local authorities in 2009-11.
3.26. It also makes economic and social
sense to prevent deterioration to vulnerable older people's properties
through earlier interventions, again potentially through urgent
repairs funds and handyperson services. Run down homes impact
both on the overall neighbourhood and also on the vulnerability
of the older householder to burglary and targeted theft.
3.27. The Decent Homes system includes assessment
of a property regarding the need for urgent housing repair as
well as being linked to the Housing, Health and Safety Rating
Scheme. This system does therefore have the potential to be used
for targeted interventions which particularly focus on properties
with a Category 1 Hazard or urgent repair need and which
are occupied by an older person whose health and well-being is
at risk. (See examples below)
Leeds Example
Leeds City Council has been operating a fast
track, small urgent repairs grant system in partnership with Leeds
Care & Repair. Grants are payable where there is a risk to
the health and safety of the older person.
Last year 524 older and disabled people
on low incomes were helped by the scheme, which only cost £300,000.
The average small grant is £600.
By keeping administration to a minimum, Leeds
Care & Repair is able to turn around these jobs very quickly
and make a real difference to older people's lives.
These low cost interventions are not only important
for the health and well-being of the individual older person,
they can result in real savings in the medium and longer term
for health and adult care services—prevention in action.
For example:
Mr & Mrs M are an older couple who live
in a small terraced house which they own. They live on a small
pension and have no savings left. Their gas boiler was obsolete
and beyond repair, the kitchen taps were not working and the roof
was leaking. Mr M has a skin disorder—his bandages need
changing twice daily and his legs need regular washing. Mrs M
was boiling water in kettles and carrying them around the house.
Care & Repair was able to use a small repair grant to replace
all of the taps and repair the leak to the roof and obtained a
Warm Front Grant to replace the boiler. Mrs M said "I now
feel a great stress and anxiety lifted off my shoulders".
Such urgent repairs are also preventing deterioration
to the property, which cumulatively can have a negative impact
on a neighbourhood.
Blackpool Example
Blackpool Council operates a system of both
small, essential repair grants that can be swiftly put into place
to safeguard a person's health and wellbeing alongside more major
work that addresses both wellbeing and work required to bring
a property back up to the Decent Homes standard. The work is administered
by Blackpool Care & Repair and is focussed in particular on
cases where there is a potential impact on the health and safety
of the householder arising from the disrepair. Blackpool has the
lowest male life expectancy in the country and is a Spearhead
PCT area, thus the Care & Repair service and the council work
closely with the PCT on joint initiatives to reduce health inequalities
through housing interventions.
Last year Care & Repair helped 527 households
at a net cost of £600,000. The cost of the assistance given
ranged from £80 for a boiler repair up to £25,000 to
address more serious disrepair. They were able to help people
like Mrs T where, without this repair there would have been an
obvious impact on her health.
Mrs T is a widow age 84. She is blind and
suffers from a variety of age and cold related illnesses. She
lives alone in the property which dates from the late 1800s and
has no savings to carry out repairs. She has a supportive neighbour
but had stopped asking them round as she was embarrassed about
the smell of damp. Mrs T asked for a handyperson visit for a dripping
tap. When the handyperson visited they found that Mrs T had no
heating or hot water, a leaking toilet, rotten doors and windows
and was unable to access bathing facilities. Care & Repair
used the Home Repair assistance to replace the rotten windows
and doors, repaired the toilet and installed a new boiler. Mrs
T was also referred to Occupational Therapy and was assessed for
a walk in shower. She is so grateful for the work that has been
carried out to enable her to remain in her own property, free
from draughts and in a warm environment. She also thinks the walk-in-shower
is absolutely fantastic and cannot thank us enough for carrying
out the work.
September 2009
1 CLG 2007 English House Conditions Survey
(2009) London, CLG Back
2
Wilcox S 2001 Housing Finance Review 1999-2000 JRF
& CIH.(1983-4 figure) CLG Housing Statistics 2008 (2006-07 figure) Back
3
World Health Organisation (2007) Global Report on Falls Prevention
in Older Age WHO Back
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