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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 2 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 3 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 4 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 5 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 6 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 7 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 8 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 9 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 10