|  |
Home |  | |
About Me | | |
News | | |
Survey | | |
Blog | | |
Help Us | | |
MPs' Expenses | | |
Contacting Us | |
|
In this section
- News RSS |
|
Thursday, 09 July, 2009 
Housing is one of my main interests as a Leeds Councillor. For the last year I have held the role of Deputy Executive Board Member for Neighbourhoods and Housing, which has given me the opportunity to get more involved and represent Leeds at regional meetings. We have an issue in the city. At the last count, 30,000 individuals and families were on the council housing waiting list in Leeds. Fortunately this isn’t 30,000 homeless families. There is a culture of people turning 16 and getting their name down, just in case (around 12,000) but there are actively around 16,000 - 18,000 bidding every week to try to find a new home. The number of homeless people, usually in temporary accommodation, is around 540 which is the lowest in years but still too high. The 30,000 applicants are waiting for a first council home or to move. The Council has a stock of 58,000 homes in the city, there are around 15,000 housing association homes and an estimated 45,000 private rented homes, making up near enough half of the city’s houses. The problem here is a lack of affordable housing. The last council houses built in Leeds were completed in the mid-1990s. Why have none been built since I hear you ask? Well, there has been a problem which is long overdue for fixing. The Right-to-Buy scheme which started in the 1980s meant that many people had the opportunity to buy their own council home, something of which I am a big supporter. Around 29,000 houses in the city were bought and are now filled with (hopefully) happy owner-occupiers. The problem arises because 75% of the money from the sale of each council house currently goes to the Treasury and not Leeds Council, meaning that the money to buy land and replenish the stock is difficult. In addition, we don’t get to collect rent directly like a housing association would. It goes into something called a Housing Revenue Account. This account then receives a subsidy from the Treasury, or more accurately a ‘negative subsidy’ (I jest not, this is what they actually call it) meaning around a quarter of all rent is top sliced by the Treasury and Leeds gets three quarters back. Thanks. This means we lose around £46million a year, probably enough to build another 400 affordable rented homes every year which would be very handy indeed. So enough moaning… what are we doing about it in Leeds? Well, we’ve started building the first council houses in over 15 years in the city in Armley, Wortley and Pudsey. We’re purchasing some houses as part of a major regeneration programme across east and south-east Leeds. We have a very successful scheme to support people who are willing to downsize to switch houses with those families needing a bigger home. This is all fairly small scale in comparison to the problem but it’s a start. There are bigger and more exciting schemes we’re working on…but I can’t tell you just yet so keep an eyes on the newspapers! Working with Harrogate, York and across North Leeds we have created the Golden Triangle Partnership which I have recently taken over chairing. The aim is to help people who need to live in this area to afford to be able to do so. It has several schemes, one is a shared equity scheme to help people buy a home, and another is called ‘Homesave Plus’ which provides an equity loan for people whose circumstances have changed and need help to avoid losing their house. If you know anyone who may need help, please get them to contact the Council’s Housing Options Centre on Great George Street who can advise on this and other schemes (0113 2224412). So what of Government help? Well, the new Homes and Communities Agency has just announced £1.5billion for providing more housing across the country. I asked, naturally, if this was new money for housing or a re-announcement, but I have been told it is new (although I’m told a fair chunk has been diverted from an education budget!). Leeds has just secured funds from this for a scheme to develop new affordable housing and to increase the city’s provision for sheltered and retirement housing. This includes over 500 ‘lifetime homes’ which can flex and adapt to need as residents get older. Other help includes the Government’s £235m mortgage rescue scheme which has been going for a year or so. Sadly up to July this year it had only helped 7 takers. And that’s nationally. What would I like to see into the future? I’m not precious about whether houses are council homes or housing association, but we need more affordable rented housing for people on lower incomes. Strangely, for those on housing benefit, the amounts available are relatively generous, it’s for those in work that it’s tough and these people deserve some support. Lower house prices over the course of the next year could make it feasible for housing associations to buy unwanted new and old housing stock to rent out affordably – I’d like to see this actively encouraged by cutting regulation for housing associations. Also when house prices have finished dropping, more shared equity schemes to help people buy an affordable home would relieve pressure on rented housing stock. Whichever way you look at it, we need to get this 30,000 figure down. It’s a national problem with record high of 1.8million families on waiting lists. Most of us are very lucky to feel secure in our rented or owned homes, but we need to let many more people get a place they can call home. All the best Matthew Lobley Roundhay Ward Conservative Councillor
| |
Blog RSS feed
