Memorandum from Birmingham City Council
(BDH 39)
1. What lessons can be learned from Decent
Homes programme and equivalents in Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland?
The Decent Homes Standard applied as a blanket
proposal clearly disadvantaged those authorities with a retained
housing stock as opposed to RSL's and ALMO's. In any future scheme
there needs to be equality with regards to funding across the
sector. The Decent Homes Standard has been less successful in
the Private Sector. At best local authorities can only encourage
owner occupiers to bring their property up to standard. Therefore
a rethink on incentives or enforcement needs to be considered
for properties within the Private Sector. Being driven by targets
and dates sometimes leads to an inflexible approach and therefore
doesn't always produce value for money. This can be a barrier
to investing in the stock on items/elements that are not included
in the Decent Homes Standard.
2. Where targeted housing fails to reach
the Decent Homes criteria by 2010, how should this backlog be
addressed?
Due to the age of our stock means that the asset
management plan is in fact a rolling programme. Therefore a funding
regime from the financial year 2011-12 is required for those landlords
that have hit the Decent Homes Standard. This will ensure that
they are not disadvantaged in carrying out work to properties
where tenants refused the improvement works to make their homes
to the Decent Home Standard, when they become void. Those landlords
who did not hit the decency target should look at the future life
of its stock that isn't decent by exploring options of retention,
demolition and clearance with appropriate funding. Properties
within the Private Sector pose a problem with enforcing the standard
and identifying which properties do not meet the standard.
3. Should minimum acceptable social housing
standards be amended to take account of environmental standards,
fuel poverty and the estate?
Linking in the estate and environmental standards
is a good idea but the immediate difficulty to overcome is what
to define as the standard, how you would measure such a standard
and how would you compare. The secure by design standard could
be a standard adopted. Linking fuel poverty is good idea. The
other consideration is should there be a minimum standard for
DDA, included.
4. Do the management organisations—councils,
including via ALMO's and housing associations—need to change?
Will they have sufficient funds?
The simple answer is yes, change is required.
There needs to be a level playing field between organisations
and therefore changes in how housing is funded would be welcomed.
There are insufficient funds to meet increased standards; we barely
have enough funding just to keep pace with the current standards,
due to all our improvements having to be self financed.
5. What are the implications for decent housing
standards of the government's proposal, currently out for consultation,
to move to a devolved system of council housing finance?
The consultation issued on 21 July is certainly
a welcome step and offers the opportunity to ensure that the future
financial framework for local authority housing finance allows
decent housing standards to be delivered and maintained across
the entire sector. The principle that council housing finance
should be devolved is a sound one, in that it is consistent with
the principles of local accountability and allows individual local
authorities to be better placed to respond to the varying specific
needs of our tenants. However devolution alone is not enough.
The basis on which the transition is made and the underlying impacts
on future resource availability and flexibility, will ultimately
be the key to the success or failure of this proposal. The consultation,
its responses and the ultimate outcomes are therefore of critical
importance to the future prospects for local authorities as social
housing landlords and the ability to maintain properties at an
appropriate standard (whether the Decent Homes Standard or any
other standard agreed at a local level as being appropriate).
6. How should the Decent Homes target for
the private sector homes occupied by vulnerable people be taken
forward?
The importance of understanding the authority's
private sector housing stock condition and levels/areas of non
decency and vulnerability for targeting of services should not
be understated. Authorities should be given greater encouragement
to complete regular representative stock condition surveys and
publish results with appropriate financial support to undertake
and analyse these.
The lack of a national target has lessened the
importance of this issue. There is however the more complex circumstance
whereby it is the home-owners choice if they make their home decent
and local authorities can only encourage this through help and
advice and providing affordable loan schemes. Funded (ie grant)
regimes are now very limited and generally only offer opportunities
and assistance for home owners to move towards the decent homes
standard eg thermal efficiency or Category 1 hazards. Equity release
loans for larger improvements are a valid option but not the most
appropriate solution for all vulnerable households.
Future targets could be developed around elimination
of category 1 Hazards and assistance to remove Fuel Poverty and
create sustainability particularly improving thermal efficiency.
Recognition should be given that is overly simplistic to solely
focus on Decent Homes for this sector and continued support should
be given to Home Improvement Agencies that take an holistic view
of household's housing needs. Targets could also be developed
around the provision of advice and information eg to reach a percentage
of vulnerable households per annum on latest stock condition information.
7. Are there adequate arrangements in place for
the future regulation of minimum accep able housing standards?
The proposals for sector wide regulation through
the HCA, Audit Commission and the Tenant Services Authority would
seem to present adequate arrangements for the future regulation
of the minimum housing standards.
8. Are there local examples of innovative
best practice with wider post 2010 applicability?
There are a number of local examples where innovation
and best practice has been gained in the current programme which
can transfer into the world post 2010. Birmingham City Council
set up the Birmingham Construction Partnership, based upon the
"Egan Principles". For the last five years this partnership
has worked with Birmingham City Council Housing Department to
successfully deliver over £400 million worth of work to the
housing stock to ensure our properties meet the Decent Homes Standard.
The partnership has delivered a consistently high standard of
work whilst providing an efficient, value for money service utilising
local suppliers and employing locally sourced labour.
September 2009
| 
