Section: Research & Surveys
No Unfair Social Housing Advantage for Migrants
Interim research released by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Local Government Association shows no evidence that social housing allocation favours foreign migrants over UK citizens.
The findings are from a report commissioned from the IPPR to help establish whether the allocation system is prone to any systemic bias. The full results will be published later this year.
The report is based on Labour Force Survey data, which gives a 'snapshot' of local authority housing allocation in England and Wales, and a new Local Government Association poll of local authority housing managers.
Neither the qualitative analysis of local authorities' policies, nor the examination of the patterns of tenure, offer any evidence to support the hypothesis that recent migrants are given preferential access to social housing.
Key findings include:
- New migrants to the UK over the last five years make up around three per cent of the total UK population but are less than two per cent of the total of those in social housing.
- 90% of those in social housing are UK born.
- Most new migrants to the UK over the last five years, particularly from the new European Union member states such as Poland, have been ineligible to claim entitlement to social housing.
- There is no evidence in the research thus far of any abuse of the system, including 'queue jumping', to the significant detriment of any group, including white families.
- 11% of new migrants have been allocated social housing. The comparable figure for UK born residents is 17%, and for all foreign born UK residents is 18% - indicating that though some migrants do benefit from social housing, they are unlikely to do so until they have been settled for several years and become British citizens; and that they are not significantly more likely to benefit than other residents.
- More than 60% of new migrants to the UK over the last five years are housed in private rented accommodation.
- In an LGA survey of housing managers, two out of three said that they attributed the shortage of social housing in their area to high house prices. 6% said that the reason for shortages is new migration.
- Perceptions that migrants displace UK-born social housing applicants may arise from the fact that much of the private rented housing which is now home to many newly arrived immigrants is former social housing stock. Local residents may believe it is still 'owned by the council' despite it now being in the private sector.
More Climate Change Training Needed
Research commissioned by the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC) has found that there needs to be a more co-ordinated approach to delivering climate change training for people who create and maintain communities.
The study found that climate change training is not being set properly within the wider context of sustainable communities. As a result, climate change issues are being addressed as a 'bolt-on' to other sustainable communities issues, rather than underpinning all activities.
ASC intends to work with bodies and networks responsible for professional training to prioritise climate change learning. This will support the emerging eco town teams and other professionals in the wider sector as they plan and build communities that can adapt to a changing climate.
ASC is working on a number of initiatives to support the eco towns programme and help people tackle climate change, including:
- A website resource that demystifies climate change issues and provides people with the tools needed to integrate these factors into the design and delivery of sustainable communities - the resource is currently being tested with various practitioners.
- A range of case studies on tackling climate change and developing eco towns (including Freiburg, Hammerby and Dongtang) - the case studies will be published in the spring.
- Identifying climate change learning programmes.
- Working to develop practical guidance for planners and councillors to deal with climate change issues.
- Establishing a sub group within ASC's well-respected Leaders' Network to support people in leadership positions - public, private and community sectors - in eco towns.
The research into climate change training involved 359 survey respondents and interviews with 11 organisations:
- Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
- Royal Town Planning Institute
- Constructing Excellence
- Institute of Civil Engineers
- Chartered Institute of Housing
- Government Skills
- Landscape Institute
- Manchester City Council
- Institute of Economic Development
- Sustainable Development Foundation
- UK Green Building Council
The research identified 3 main concerns:
- A significant variation in the range and type of continuous professional development (CPD) access routes across (and sometimes within) different professions.
- A lack of clarity on how specific CPD activities and courses fit within a wider framework of learning.
- A tendency to apply a separate approach to climate change based on existing professional constraints.
DELIVERING HOUSING IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMMES ON TIME, ON BUDGET WITH QUALITY STANDARDS MET
Tribal publishes independent report on the systems that will be vital to deliver £40bn Housing Improvement Programmes effectively by 2010
Effective Delivering of Housing Improvement Programmes
Housing Improvement Programmes worth £40 billion that are due by 2010 will require specialised, integrated information systems in order to hit delivery targets, according to a new survey report from consultants Triba.
The significant level of investment and tight deadlines demand extremely effective management of Housing Improvement Programmes in order for them to deliver in terms of time, budget and quality, according to the report.
The survey found that many housing organisations were not using an effective system to manage all the information for their improvement programmes and, as a result, could be losing time and money.
Key findings of the survey of showed that:
- 26% of housing organisations surveyed had no system in place to manage improvement programmes.
- 25% had no system in place to manage documents.
- 20% believed that they did not need a system at all.
- 23% had no system to report on a programme's performance.
Yet, over 40% said it was difficult or very difficult to track the progress of their programme.
Using the results of the independent survey, Tribal has identified the key requirements that information systems must have so that housing associations can use them to manage and deliver their improvement programmes effectively.
The key finding is that a single, accurate and up to date information source about the delivery of the project is required. This includes:
- All documents: electronic and hard copy scans – with clear audit trail.
- Integration with all asset management, finance and housing systems.
- The ability to produce accurate performance information instantly.
- Access for a range of stakeholders including contractors and tenants.
- A clear vision of the programme's strategy and how it will work "on the ground".
The housing organisations which have already begun to use this kind of system named its key benefits as:
- Producing accurate performance information instantly.
- Easily managing the performance of contractors by using up-to-date information.
- Having confident financial control of the project - being able to identify problems quickly and sign off invoices easily.
- Saving staff time by eliminating the duplication of data entry.
- A reduction in use of paper following move to an electronic system.
John Stuttard, Director of Tribal's Information Systems consultancy, said:
"Our job was to identify the crucial criteria for information systems that could be used to help Housing Improvement Programmes deliver on time and on budget whilst meeting their quality standards.
"The survey showed a clear need for purpose-built information systems to manage these sorts of programmes. It also highlighted that staff of housing organisations need to know that having an integrated system to manage all of their information could save them time and money.
"For example, how many housing organisations have paid out unnecessarily for reactive repairs because they did not have the documents that show that the work is still under warranty? These are the sorts of problems we hope to see eliminated with more of these systems being developed and used in the sector."
Mp>The report -
Current Approaches to Managing Housing Improvements Programmes - was commissioned by Delcam PS-Team.
