Transcript Slide 1

Dealing with
overcrowding g15 response
Tom Bremner
L&Q
The g15
 15 influential Registered Providers in
London
 Housing over 700,000 people
 Approximately 50% of all lettings
made by g15 members
 Homeless acceptances make up 27%
of LA nominations compared to 18%
nationally
Presented By Name
Date
The g15
Offer to London
Launched in November 2008 to support the
governments target to half the number of families
in temporary accommodation by 2010. Pledge to
 Establish local authority relationship
managers in each borough.
 Prevent homelessness and support tenancy
sustainment
 House homeless households – increasing the
proportion of its lettings nominations to
homeless households from 27% to 35% over
two years
 Measure overcrowding by the bedroom
standard to provide a benchmark to set
stretching targets for the future
 Work with LAs to convert TA to other direct
lettings products.
Presented By Name
Date
Progress on the
homelessness offer to
date:
 Have contributed positively to TA
reduction across the capital over
the past 2 years;
 Currently undertaking an
independent assessment to look
at what can be learnt from the
relationship management
approach and hear what our
partners thought about our
contribution.
 Shifting the focus in the future to
overcrowding within the Capital
and welcome the Mayors plan.
Presented By Name
Date
Moving forward to
tackle
overcrowding:
•Like Local Authorities , Housing
Associations across the Capital have
significant overcrowding issues which
are set to grow as demand increases and
supply slows:
 g15 are committed to reducing
overcrowding and the affects of
overcrowding on family life
 g15 recognise that this is an issue for the
sector and that we need to work with
LA’s and other partners to solve it as a
strategic pan London challenge
Presented By Name
Date
Let’s start with the data
to set the benchmark:
London boroughs: Bedroom standard comparison
Housing Associations understand the
importance of having good quality data:
30
25

g15 are committed to providing
accurate and timely over-crowding
information and are working on
ensuring that a quality assured lettings
and overcrowding data return is
published regularly to LA’s and
government from this autumn
g15 accept that they all need to get
better at recording overcrowding
against the bedroom standard and that
we need to work with partners on
strengthening the way we collect and
share data.
Presented By Name
Date
CLG
20
age in years

15
CLG
10
5
CLG
0
Age opp sex child eligible for own room
Age same sex eligible to own room
Age gap of same sex children
Best use of stock:
Overcrowding should be ideally resolved through the
construction of more family housing. However g15
recognise the need to squeeze more value from existing
stock – through reducing under-occupation, unauthorised
sub-letting and providing more ways for people to move
around the stock – increasing Pan London mobility:
g15 are committed to working more closely with partners to
put in place local overcrowding plans where all social housing
residents benefit;
g15 welcome pan London mobility schemes, which provide
support for families or people who need to move for
employment reasons, emergency re-housing need or carer
duties – especially where this helps resolve overcrowding
issues at the same time; and
g15 are committed to working on other joint initiatives which
free up stock, such as joint work on unauthorised subletting or
under-occupation – recognising we fund all of these initiatives
out of rents at the moment.
Presented By Name
Date
Aspirational targets:
The current definition of overcrowding is a
starting point from which we can work with
others to reduce the numbers of families in
overcrowded conditions by 2016 but the current
definition is blunt and needs to change in the
longer term, to reflect what both LA’s and HA’s
recognise as the real point at which housing
conditions materially affect the quality of life:


g15 are committed to working with others
to establish a universally agreed baseline
across the sector from which they can track
the impact of their work; and
g15 are committed to working with other
interested partners, such as LA’s, GLA and
CLG to explore the merits of establishing
an aspirational “decent living conditions”
standard – to sit on top of the bedroom
standard
Presented By Name
Date
Increasing capacity with
financial support:
Housing Associations do a great deal to
help reduce overcrowding and the impact
of overcrowding, showcased in the GLA
report, but more can be done:
g15 believe there is real value from
additional investment going into Housing
Associations, to directly support “making
best use of stock” activity, in return for
published outcomes.
g15 are committed to working with central
and local government directly to identify
ways to unblock this capacity.
Presented By Name
Date
Casestudies:
East Homes has a target to visit 100 most overcrowded households in 10/11 and develop individual
household plans which will include an offer of a deposit for adult non dependants and “space saving
kits” like bunk beds. The target is to have 25% of plans in place by March 2011. Their approach is
work with the target households and move away from a piece meal approach.
Catalyst Housing Group has de-converted three properties in LB Ealing from flats to create familysized homes to house overcrowded families. The housing association took advantage of tenants
vacating some of the properties, along with some minimal decanting, and carried out extensive
conversion, repair and improvement. Two of the properties were deconverted to create three bedroom
houses and have been let to high priority applicants who were overcrowded – an overcrowded family
with three children who were living in a two bedroom flat and a family with four children who were
living in a three bedroom flat. The third property has been deconverted from three flats to provide a
six bedroom 12 person house and this has been given to LB Ealing to let for a nomination.
L&Q have looked at our development pipeline and have identified a number of schemes where we
will look to free up overcrowded homes and re-house adult children into one bedroom homes. An
example of this is Greenwich Wharf where we have a mixture of 48 1 bed homes, 59 2 bed homes
and 34 x 3 bed homes. All of the 1 bed homes have been allocated to adult children which has made
a real impact in reducing overcrowding.
Get in touch:
g15 are very interested in hearing your views.
The main contacts are:
 Victor Da Cunha who is leading on this work in the g15 at
[email protected] or 0208 536 3924
 Tom Bremner who chairs the g15 Relationship Managers Group at
[email protected] or 07786786734
 Madeleine Jeffery who co-ordinates the project on
[email protected] or 07798 588 752
Please do get in touch