 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||
|
July 2003 |
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lend them a hand |  Back to contents | |
|
|
|||
|
|
Almost everything in private sector housing renewal is changing as environmental health departments are faced with the new Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002 (the order). This has subsumed earlier grant legislation, which has existed in some form for many decades, and under the order, local authorities must have a written private sector housing renewal strategy in place by July 2003.1,2 This is set within a wider sea-change in private sector housing renewal, including
So, how are local authorities dealing with such rapid and fundamental change? Local authorities are at different stages of developing policies required under the order, and in the absence of an interventionist grant policy in the future, a new protocol for "assistance" has been introduced. As a result, a consortium of organisations has commissioned research into local authorities' current stage of policy required under the order, consultation mechanisms, relationship to existing grant policies, proposed strategic interventions and how this will address conditions, access and likelihood of uptake of financial loans, costs and benefits anticipated, and challenges faced in implementation of proposals. Returns to initial questionnaires were expected by March 2003.8 NEW OPTIONS IN PRIVATE SECTOR HOUSING RENEWAL Grants may have existed for years, but what have they really been able to achieve? Where grants have been targeted toward provision of internal amenities (WC, bath, hot water etc), they have been very successful in achieving their objectives. It is less clear-cut to assess their success in issues such as repair, as once the grant has been completed, there is no onus on the recipient to maintain their property, and without continued maintenance, a property will once again fall into disrepair. The Local Government and Housing Act 1989, and the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, sought to target house renovation grants to unfit houses. However, many local authorities responded to reductions in capital funding by making increasing use of home repair assistance, although this was never the Government's objective. On a similar note, with group repair schemes, one government objective was to encourage owners to invest further on internal works. There is no real evidence that this happened and ironically, it risked leaving many properties statutorily unfit following local authority grant intervention.9,10 For such reasons, the grants policy has been referred to as increasingly becoming "a policy in search of objectives".11 However, at least grants were targeted toward fitness, allowing the local authority some level of "control" over housing stock in its area where owners themselves may have not been able to fund works. However, grants are far from being the only financial way in which home owners invest in their homes, a matter that has increasingly come to the fore in recent years. The English House Condition Survey 1996 (EHCS), shows that disrepair has remained relatively stable, rather than having improved, over many years.12 Results of the 2001 EHCS are due imminently, but similar results are anticipated. From this is it clear that grants have become a policy tool that maintains housing stock to some extent, but that they are not able to make real inroads into an overall improvement in housing quality. In other words, grants have essentially kept a lid on conditions rather than making great improvements in stock condition. Simultaneously, government ideology has continued to favour the owner occupied sector 7,13 and has continued to emphasise that home-owners carry the responsibility to maintain their own homes. This was most recently presented in the consultation for the draft Housing Bill 2003, where, in the ministerial foreword it was stressed that: "Four-fifths of households in England and Wales live in the private sector, whether renting or owning their own home. Responsibility for these homes must rest first and foremost with the homeowner or the landlord, but the Government recognises that it has to ensure that those in the private sector, as much as those in social housing, have the opportunity of a decent home."7 What then are the options for private sector housing renewal against a background of declining government expenditure14 and a policy move away from housing grants? Alternatives to an established grant regime remain elusive. There are many possibilities, but few have been rigorously tested and it is difficult at these early stages to understand how they might dovetail effectively and successfully into private sector housing renewal strategies. Crucially, it is also hard to tell whether they will, or can, actually be effective in helping to maintain, repair and improve individual housing, as well as being able to contribute substantially - and sustainably - toward wider area renewal.9,15,16,17,18,19 Many suggested alternatives are based on the individual and not on the property and are influenced by the market. Options include:
The crucial question is whether any of the above can individually, or as part of a package, provide viable and sustainable ways forward in arresting an ageing housing stock and which, if any, could make in-roads into stock improvement. INNOVATIVE APPROACHES BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES It is clear that there is a vast range of current activity in environmental health departments to respond to the required change. Some local authorities have been extremely proactive and innovative, but others still have some way to go in developing viable and effective private sector housing renewal strategies in a climate of change. Officers at the Bellenden renewal area, London Borough of Southwark, have been planning for change for some time in close consultation with residents. They have already carried out research into the nature of (then) grants and home maintenance, such as cost, regularity, who carried it out and related issues, and collated information on what home owners felt would be of use to them in maintaining their homes. Responding strategy has included training literature and an award-winning video, but this is only one activity and it is clear that a funding mechanism, which can actually enable low-income residents to be able to carry out works, is crucial. Therefore, the developing Bellenden home maintenance strategy intends to cater for houses at risk of falling into disrepair, as well as those which already need works. The strategy's objectives are likely to include: enabling low-income residents to spread their resources more widely, with the council intervening to help minimise labour costs by arranging contractors to undertake works to several local properties on the same day; maintaining a builder's list to help ensure that works and materials recommended are actually needed; and the introduction of a "home survey package" overseen by the council to help decide works necessary. More recently, the council has commissioned the centre for health research and evaluation at the University of Greenwich to undertake research to explore what the low-income, ethnically diverse local community of owner-occupiers would find useful and viable in supporting them in maintaining their homes. The research is using focus groups of different communities to further explore the issues raised above, as well as to encourage the dissemination of new ideas from local residents, while demonstrating that the council wishes to assist and support its communities. The results will be analysed and fed into subsequent strategy in order to meet actual need in a climate of diminishing capital resource. THE FUTURE OF PRIVATE SECTOR HOUSING RENEWAL In a climate of constant change, but inevitable resource decline, environmental health departments need to consolidate their present position and return to fundamental strategic questions in determining a viable and realistic way forward and consider:
The Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002, the Housing Bill 2003 and wider sea changes in housing are not going to go away. They are here now and require environmental health departments to develop and deliver substantial change in an increasingly enabling environment, without reliance on grants as the only interventionist policy option. References
Jill Stewart is senior lecturer in environmental health
and housing at the School of Health and Social Care, University
of Greenwich. For further details contact: School of Health and
Social Care, University of Greenwich, Avery Hill Campus, Mansion
Site, Avery Hill Road, Eltham, London SE9 2UG. Or e-mail: j.l.stewart@greenwich.ac.uk |
||
