Download Moving on: findings from our housing mobility survey

MOVING ON
Findings from our housing mobility survey
Overview
Giving social housing tenants better opportunities to move within the
sector can promote social and economic mobility and make sure that
landlords are putting their homes to the best possible use.
To understand how landlords have been helping their tenants to
move, we carried out a survey of social landlords and strategic housing
authorities in England.
Our online survey focused on how housing organisations support
mobility for their existing tenants. We explored:
• Supporting tenants affected by the bedroom tax
• Support for all under-occupying tenants
• Supporting tenants to find a mutual exchange (a home ‘swap’
with a fellow tenant)
• Supporting tenants who are not in housing need to transfer
for social or economic reasons
• The impact of residency requirements on mobility for existing
tenants
• Supporting mobility across boundaries through area-based
schemes
• Supporting existing tenants to move to other tenures, such
as private rent or home ownership
We received 111 responses – 90 from social landlords and 21 from
strategic housing authorities across England.
Interesting things we found
• The sector has responded positively to the challenges
posed by welfare reform – developing innovative and
flexible solutions to help their tenants to downsize.
• As a direct response to the bedroom tax, a significant
majority of landlords have got much more involved in the
process of mutual exchange.
• Very few organisations have used the opportunity provided
by the transferring tenant flexibilities of the Localism Act
– which can be used to promote social and economic
mobility among tenants and make best use of stock.
• There is an opportunity for providers who are not part
of an area-based allocation scheme to do more to help
tenants move across boundaries.
• There is scope for some providers to offer more support
to tenants who want to move into other tenures.
Moving on: findings from our housing mobility survey. | Chartered Institute of Housing
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Supporting tenants affected by the bedroom tax
The results highlight how the sector has responded positively to the
challenges posed by welfare reform - all of our respondents said their
organisation was supporting tenants affected by the bedroom tax to
downsize into accommodation more suitable for their needs. This
support is set to continue, with 90 per cent of respondents telling us
their organisation’s activities in this area would increase or stay about
the same during the next 12 months.
Our survey has also revealed how providers have risen to the challenge
presented by the bedroom tax by developing innovative and flexible
solutions to support their tenants to downsize. The most common
measures were; allowing tenants in rent arrears to transfer to alternative
accommodation (76 per cent); improving activities to support tenants to
find a mutual exchange (64 per cent); and giving affected households
additional priority on allocation schemes (55 per cent) (table 1).
Table 1: Support provided to help tenants affected by the bedroom tax
Moving on: findings from our housing mobility survey. | Chartered Institute of Housing
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Mutual exchange
For many tenants wishing to downsize, mutual exchange is the only
reasonable option available to them to secure a move to a smaller social
rented property. It is not surprising therefore that a significant majority
of our survey respondents (88 per cent) told us that, as a direct response
to the bedroom tax, their organisation had increased its activities to
encourage mobility through mutual exchange.
Mutual exchange has typically been a tenant led process; with many
organisations doing little more to promote the opportunity than
directing tenants to a mutual exchange web-based service. But some
providers have got more involved in the process so they can help
tenants downsize.
Our survey compared providers’ activities to promote mobility through
mutual exchange before the bedroom tax came into force, to those
undertaken since its introduction. We were encouraged to find that
promotional activities have increased in scale and quality, and that
providers have become much more ‘hands on’ throughout the process.
The top five activities which have seen the largest increase since
the bedroom tax are: swap/matching events (46 per cent); financial
assistance towards moving costs (34 per cent); employing dedicated
officers to support tenants to exchange (32 per cent), partnerships with
other landlords (32 per cent); and reviewing mutual exchange processes
to reduce barriers to exchange (28 per cent).
Table 2: Promoting mutual exchange –top five activities which have
seen the largest increase since the introduction of the bedroom tax
(percentage of respondents)
Moving on: findings from our housing mobility survey. | Chartered Institute of Housing
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Providers are also demonstrating creativity and flexibility in how they
encourage mobility through mutual exchange. They are involved in a
variety of activities to support their tenants to move such as using empty
properties to initiate a chain of exchanges (table 3).
Table 3: Activities undertaken by providers to encourage mobility
through mutual exchange (includes activities undertaken before the
start of the bedroom tax, since the bedroom tax, and planned activity)
We were also encouraged to find that, as a direct response to the
bedroom tax, 62 per cent of respondents told us that they had reviewed
their mutual exchange policies and procedure, or were planning a review
in six months’ time to ensure they meet the needs of their tenants and
their business. One of the reasons providers told us they were doing
this was to minimise the barriers that can prevent an exchange – such as
restrictive policies which don’t allow tenants to move when they are in
rent arrears.
Conversely, some of our respondents told us that they are restricting
access to transfers for their existing tenants (without a housing need) so
the option for these tenants to downsize is via mutual exchange. This
approach could have a negative effect on tenant mobility, and making
best use of stock, and we would encourage providers to think carefully
about the wider impact of these policies.
Moving on: findings from our housing mobility survey. | Chartered Institute of Housing
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Support for all under-occupying tenants
We were pleased that an overwhelming majority (90 per cent) of our
survey respondents told us that their organisation offers help to all
under occupying tenants to downsize - not just those affected by the
bedroom tax. This is important - it demonstrates that providers are
focused on making best use of their existing stock, not just in response
to the bedroom tax, and on ensuring the right people are in the
right homes.
Providers are doing this by giving priority to under occupiers within
allocation schemes so that they can downsize into accommodation more
suitable for their needs; and by offering financial assistance to underoccupiers to downsize. Some are strategically targeting this assistance,
based on their organisational priorities, to specific groups of tenants;
such as those moving from family accommodation into flats; those
wanting to move from adapted properties which they no longer need;
or those over 50 years of age who are moving into sheltered housing.
Supporting tenants to transfer
We were surprised to find that very few organisations (only 30 per cent)
have used the opportunity provided by the transferring tenant flexibilities
of the Localism Act.
These flexibilities allow providers to set their own policies in relation
to transfer requests by tenants who are not deemed to be in housing
need. It is likely that these flexibilities aren’t widely used because
organisations don’t understand how they can meet their needs, among
other reasons. Also, providers may be driven to minimise the numbers
of tenant transfers due to the associated costs of such moves to
the organisation.
The few providers who are using these flexibilities are frequently applying
them to support under occupying tenants affected by the bedroom tax
to downsize via a transfer. However these flexibilities can also be used
to promote social and economic mobility among tenants and make best
use of stock.
Moving on: findings from our housing mobility survey. | Chartered Institute of Housing
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The respondents who are creatively using these flexibilities told us they
were dong so by:
• Creating a new band in the allocation scheme for transfer tenants
with a good tenancy record - where a percentage of properties
will be available for these tenants via a lettings plan
• Allowing tenants to transfer within existing sheltered units
• Allowing tenants to transfer when they are releasing a property
which has been adapted
• Allowing all existing tenants with no housing need to register on
the allocation scheme
• Awarding highest priority in the allocation scheme to tenants
needing to transfer to be nearer work or training
• Encouraging tenants to move through the London ‘Housing
Moves’ scheme
Our survey revealed evidence of positive practice with providers
supporting applicants to move for employment or training reasons;
however it was unclear from the responses if this support was also
available for existing social tenants. This positive practice included:
• Awarding a community contribution on the allocation scheme for
applicants working or volunteering
• Allocating a proportion (typically around 15 per cent) of relets to
those in employment or volunteering
• Awarding local connection to applicants permanently employed
in the area who wish to move closer to their place of employment
From our survey findings we
believe there is an opportunity
for providers to do more to help their existing tenants who are
not in housing need to transfer for social or economic reasons
- we plan to explore this in more detail in our publication
‘how to….promote mobility among existing tenants’
Moving on: findings from our housing mobility survey. | Chartered Institute of Housing
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Residency
requirements
social housing tenants
-
the impact on mobility for existing
We have expressed concern about the government’s drive to encourage
strategic housing authorities to use the Localism Act to apply residency
requirements to their allocation schemes – meaning that applicants
have to have been resident in an area for a certain period of time before
they can qualify for the allocation scheme.
Residency requirements can make it hard for existing social tenants to
move to other areas as their housing needs change – such as moving for
work. We strongly encourage strategic housing authorities to provide
exceptions to their residency requirements to ensure existing social
housing tenants who are seeking a transfer for employment or training
reasons are not unfairly disadvantaged in their allocation scheme.
Interestingly, 41 per cent of our survey respondents agreed that the
introduction of residency requirements has had a negative impact on
mobility for existing social housing tenants; a further 41 per cent thought
that they had no impact; and just 18 per cent thought the impact of
requirements rules had been positive.
Supporting mobility across boundaries
Some area-based allocation schemes support tenant mobility by allowing
applicants to move to partnering local authorities; a practice which can
promote mobility among existing tenants across sub-regions. Policies
which promote cross-boundary moves can be particularly beneficial in
areas where employment markets span local authority boundaries as
they allow tenants to move easily between authorities for work.
Of respondents whose organisation is part of an area-based scheme, we
were encouraged to find that 64 per cents said their allocation scheme
allowed existing tenants to move across local authority boundaries;
while only 36 per cent said their scheme did not.
Those providers which are not doing this told us that they do not
encourage local transfers as they are more expensive than a mutual
exchange - due to costs associated with lost rental income and periods
where their homes lie empty. And in some areas there is strong political
pressure to retain local homes for local people and therefore prevent
people from moving into the area.
We asked respondents in organisations which were not part of a subregional allocation scheme if agreements were in place with neighbouring
authorities to allow existing tenants to transfer across boundaries.
The majority (80 per cent) did not have such cross-boundary transfer
agreements in place.
Moving on: findings from our housing mobility survey. | Chartered Institute of Housing
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We believe that there is a real opportunity for providers which are not
part of an area-based allocation schemes to look at partnerships which
promote economic mobility for their tenants across boundaries. We will
explore how providers can make this happen in our publication ‘how
to….promote mobility among existing tenants’.
Supporting existing tenants to move to other tenures
Depending on the affordability and quality of private rented properties,
and the low cost home ownership opportunities available in an area, a
move to another type of tenure may be an attractive option for existing
social tenants wanting to move. We recognise however that for providers
experiencing increased tenancy terminations and finding some of their
properties difficult to let, it may not be preferable to encourage tenants
to move away from their homes. For some providers though, helping
tenants to explore other housing options may help free up much-needed
social housing stock.
Our survey revealed that very few providers are offering support to
tenants to move to other tenures, over and above what is happening at
the application stage (delivered as part of housing advice work).
The few providers involved in this work told us they were supporting
existing tenants to move to other tenures by:
• Employing a dedicated officer to help tenants move to shared
ownership properties and move through schemes which support
tenants to move out of London if they want to
• Subscribing to the ‘letshelpyou’ website which provides an
internet based search facility for affordable private rented
properties across West Yorkshire
• Offering a private rented sector bond scheme
• Using a social letting agency to find accommodation for tenants
as part of a pre-eviction process
• Offering financial support to those affected by the bedroom tax
even if moving to the private rented sector
Depending on the local context, we believe that there is scope for some
providers to offer more support to tenants who want to move into other
tenures, which will ultimately free up existing social housing stock.
Moving on: findings from our housing mobility survey. | Chartered Institute of Housing
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Summary
Our survey has demonstrated how social landlords have responded
positively to mitigate the impact of the bedroom tax on their tenants. It
has been encouraging to find that providers are pro-actively engaged in
a variety of innovative and creative activities to support affected tenants
to downsize.
However we have found much less evidence of housing providers taking
more radical steps to promote mobility - over and above supporting
mobility among under occupying tenants. We believe that there is an
opportunity for the sector to do more to promote social and economic
mobility for existing social tenants.
To support the sharing of good practice on this topic our publication
‘how to….promote mobility among existing tenants’ will explore in
detail some of the opportunities available to providers including how
they can support their existing tenants who are not in housing need to
transfer for social or economic reasons; promote economic mobility for
their tenants across authority boundaries; and provide more support to
their existing tenants to move to other tenures.
Moving on: findings from our housing mobility survey. | Chartered Institute of Housing
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