Transcript Outline
Role of housing in helping
people stay at home for
longer
Mary Taylor
Housing Policy and Practice Unit
University of Stirling
September 2009
Issues and questions
What do we mean by ‘home’?
What do we mean by ‘housing‘?
Who is ‘housing’?
What ‘housing‘ can contribute?
How to get ‘housing’ involved
What do we mean by ‘home’
Place we can be, in private
What we regard as our place to live, somewhere to feel
safe and at peace
A place where we want to be, ourselves
A dwelling not an institution
Being at home is different and better
– from being in ‘A Home’
Home could be …
New homes
New housing in Scotland since 1920
50,000
45,000
40,000
Completions
35,000
At 2008 we had 2.4 million dwellings
We regularly add 1% p.a to the existing stock
(27,000 in 2008), mostly by private building
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
0
5
0
5
0
5
0
5
0
5
0
5
0
5
0
5
0
5
192 192 193 193 194 194 195 195 196 196 197 197 198 198 199 199 200 200
Public sector & housing association
Private sector
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r2
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Proportion
Where do we live?
Estimated stock of dwellings by tenure (Scotland) 1984 to 2008
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Owner occupied
Rented privately
Vacant private / second homes
Housing Associations
Local Authorities
What do we mean by ‘housing’
Different perceptions
The thing – the house, a form of shelter
The people in a department or service
– Usually the public sector
The policy domain
– Focus on houses provided by councils
The resources
– to achieve public policy goals
Perception depends on starting point, what we
know already and our focus
Changing…
Focus of housing policy today
Volume and use of resources for investment,
1.
–
–
Who builds, who receives subsidy, how much
Management, costs, efficiency, value for money
Homelessness
2.
–
–
Increasing supply to address shortages
Regulating access of those in need
•
Vs choice
Quality of housing - public and private
3.
–
increasingly on privately owned housing,
•
–
more services to private owners, and regulation of private
operations
Not only social housing and social tenants
Who is ‘housing’?
Changing, complex and (maybe) confusing
Used to be simple – all councils
– Typically focussed on housing management (letting,
rents and repairs of council housing)
• Some wider services
Providers / landlords include
– Councils
• 26 out of 32 councils still own and manage housing for rent
– Housing associations / RSLs
• Some 200
– different sizes, roles and area coverage
– Private landlords
• Preferred in some areas over social housing
• leasing arrangements in some areas for temporary housing
Who is ‘housing’?
Cont’d
All councils have strategic and enabling powers
– lately reinforced via Housing etc (Scotland) Act 2006
– NB some duties
All operate differently depending on market,
political will, structure & resources
– Post-transfer councils no single dept or service called
‘housing’ and relevant services dispersed:
• Environment, Technical, Community, Social Work, Planning,
Revenues
– Authorities with housing to rent tend to remain
focussed primarily on that role
• Though ‘Housing’ in Edinburgh covers really extensive range
Changing !
Resources for housing
New socially rented housing can be funded by public
resources
– Primary rationale for regulation
Private funding element challenging in current climate
– Obstacle and constraint, for how long?
Landlords have accounts ring-fenced for services to
tenants
– In principle
Wider council strategic services funded from General Fund
– Never enough, even for duties,
• may get worse
– Competition with others
What housing can contribute
1. Professional knowledge - of issues around
buildings, money and people
–
Customer service
• View of users and power relations determined by
managing contracts with tenants
–
Attitudes changing ?
• relations with customers
2. Access to resources
– Subsidised investment for new housing
– Funding of adaptations
–
Easier when tenants
• But Care and Repair works for everyone
–
Revenue funds
• Eg Supporting People
How to get ‘housing’ involved
Find out who they are and what they do
Ask!
– For input, advice, financial contributions
Ask!
– Early
Ask!
– Often
– Establish and develop relationships
– Set expectations