NHC meets new Housing Minister

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Northern Housing Consortium chief executive, Tracy Harrison, and Executive Director (Policy & Public Affairs), Brian Robson, met new Housing Minister, Rachel Maclean MP, in Westminster yesterday to brief her on some of the key issues facing the sector in the North – and the things you our members tell us. We were pleased to brief the Minister on the role NHC members play in delivering better homes and places across the North and discuss how we can work together to deliver shared priorities on housing, levelling-up and net zero.

Tracy said:

“It was a fantastic opportunity to meet the new Housing Minister early on and share some of the great work being done by our members. We were pleased the Minister was keen to engage and understand the key challenges many of our members are concerned about. We also discussed the wider role NHC members play in supporting vulnerable people in local communities, which is often complex. It was good to have time to touch on this important but often unseen part of members’ work. I hope this will be an initial first meeting with the Minister and that we’ll continue to have positive discussions over the coming months.”

Brian added:

“It was good to see that the Minister understood the policy issues our members often raise with us and which we’ve been focusing on. From the Local Housing Allowance, through to energy efficiency and the need for regeneration, we had a wide-ranging discussion which I hope is the first of many.”

Rachel Maclean was appointed as part of the Prime Minister’s reshuffle and restructure of Government – read more here.

The Sustainability Academy – discount for NHC members

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Climate change is the defining challenge of a generation and tackling it will require organisations and individuals to play their part in creating a more sustainable future. The task of becoming a sustainable organisation is a mandatory one and cannot be left solely to sustainability departments to implement. However, without the knowledge to do so, how can every individual play their part? The Sustainability Academy provides sustainability training mapped to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to empower all colleagues in an organisation and provide them with the tools to make sustainable decisions through The Sustainability Academy’s CPD accredited programme. As members of the Northern Housing Consortium, your organisation is entitled to 25% discount on the programme.

As organisations seek to improve in areas of sustainability, health and well-being and diversity and inclusion, The Sustainability Academy can provide training directly and in partnership with industry experts to address these challenges

For organisations at the start of their sustainability journey, The Sustainability Academy can provide consultancy to support strategy creation and map out the pathway to a sustainable future.

Contact us at info@thesustainabilityacademy.co.uk and quote NHC to see how we can support your transition to a sustainable future.

NHC Spring Budget representation calls for boost to Local Housing Allowance

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With Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget statement coming on the 15th March, the NHC has submitted a budget representation to the Treasury. The NHC has long-term asks on investment in energy efficiency of existing homes, on brownfield land remediation and local authority capacity, which we set out in our 2021 Spending Review Representation. However, at the Spring Budget, we are focusing our representation on the need to uprate Local Housing Allowance (LHA) so that it reflects the real cost of renting in the private sector. We believe that the most pressing priority for the Chancellor is to take urgent action to tackle the cost-of-living crisis by making this policy change.

The NHC and our members believe that a continued freeze on LHA would make it even harder for existing private renters to make ends meet, risking homelessness and making it increasingly difficult for local authorities to discharge their homelessness duties effectively. Therefore, our recommendation is that the Chancellor must re-set the Local Housing Allowance to cover at least the 30th centile of local rents, and then relink the benefit to the real cost of renting for future years.

While Local Housing Allowance has been frozen for the last two years, rents have continued to rise in the North, resulting in a situation where last year’s Northern Housing Monitor found just 7% of rental ads in the North were affordable to those reliant on Local Housing Allowance. This change would primarily benefit private renters who are struggling with the cost of living crisis. It will particularly benefit the 246,000 renters across the North facing unaffordable rents and affordability pressures. Another benefit, as aforementioned, would be to aid local authorities in the discharge of their homelessness duty, enabling them to secure private rented homes rather than using temporary accommodation or bed and breakfast.

The NHC will continue to focus on our influencing objectives of meeting the net zero challenge and putting housing at the heart of a rebalanced country, through engagement with parliamentarians, civil servants and other relevant stakeholders.

Look out for our on-the-day briefing on the 15th March, which will cover all of the details announced in the Chancellor’s statement, and put it into context for the North’s housing sector.

LUHC Committee publish report on Reforming the Private Rented Sector          

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In June 2022, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) published its White Paper, A Fairer Private Rented Sector, which outlines the Government’s long-term vision for the private rented sector (PRS). The Government has confirmed that the proposals are to be implemented this Parliament through a Renters’ Reform Bill. The proposals in the White Paper include the abolition of section 21 and the replacement of fixed-term tenancies with open-ended tenancies. It also focuses on housing quality and the condition of private rented accommodation, which is more likely to be non-decent than homes in other tenures.

In February, the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee – the Committee that scrutinises the policy, administration and spending of DLUHC – published a report into Reforming the Private Rented Sector. The report provides recommendations for government on reform to the PRS, in response to the White Paper. Following a call for evidence from the Committee, the NHC submitted written evidence in August 2022, responding to the questions posed by the Committee around the proposals in the White Paper. Our response was informed by consultation with our local authority member organisations with direct experience of supporting residents in the PRS, and who work to improve and enforce decent standards throughout the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.

The Committee report cited the NHC on multiple occasions, including on a new decent homes standard (DHS) and incorporating minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) into the DHS. With thermal efficiency in the private rented sector typically poorer than in the social rented sector, the NHC called for the Government to confirm the EPC MEES standard for the PRS, which would accelerate progress towards meeting one element of the DHS. The LUHC Committee recommended that the MEES be incorporated into the DHS with financing solutions included for landlords faced with excessive necessary improvement work costs.

On ending Section 21 evictions, the NHC evidence submission stated that removal of no-fault evictions would be a key step toward increased protection for renters, and that longer tenancies could improve relationships between tenants and landlords. The Committee echoed this view in the report, stating “we conclude that the abolition of fixed-term tenancies, combined with the repeal of section 21, would undoubtedly give tenants greater security of tenure, and we therefore welcome the proposals.”

The NHC hosts a quarterly Private Rented Sector Network for all NHC members working in connection with, or with an interest in, private sector housing and private sector housing reform to discuss day-to-day challenges and track and respond to national policy development. All meetings are Chaired by Dr Julie Rugg, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Housing Policy, University of York.

The next meeting takes place 22nd March 2023, 13.00 – 14.30, online via Zoom, and will focus on the supporting on the cost of living crisis. For further information and to book your place visit MyNHC: https://www.mynhc.org.uk/event/general?id=Private_Rented_Sector_Network2873515587

 

 

 

Where does ESG finance come into retrofitting social housing?

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Blog by: Luke Cross, Director, Social Invest

ESG and sustainable finance are so last season, don’t you agree?

No, me neither. In actual fact, ESG and sustainable finance are now part of the landscape for the UK social housing sector.

We are beyond the idea that ESG is some sort of fad, that it’s simply the latest iteration of CSR or even that it is something that housing associations don’t need to work at because it’s ‘in our DNA’.

The growth of the sustainable finance market more broadly is a good thing on multiple levels. This includes a fundamental shift in direction for the financial services industry compared with where it has been historically, a drive for more accountability and transparency across finance and business (including calling out greenwashing) and the opportunity for HAs to showcase their ESG credentials and risk management, where they are heading with sustainability (holistic and not just environmental) and how they can improve as businesses.

Making existing buildings greener and fitter for the future sits at the intersection of the three pillars of the E, S and G – from the energy efficiency and performance of homes and buildings, to the wellbeing of tenants living in more efficient, warm, dry and cheaper to run homes, and the ability to measure and manage data and information that’s really crucial to driving improvement, and in demonstrating what’s being done and how.

On the finance side, lenders are increasingly finding opportunities to work with landlords on bespoke ESG-linked deals that can deliver some discounts, and play a role in both moving HAs towards sustainability goals and encouraging accountability through KPIs linked to EPC C targets and other green criteria.

HAs of a certain size can tap into green private placements or design Sustainable Finance Frameworks that link debt capital markets funding to the ‘greening’ of the organisation and its developments.

And there is also the opportunity for lenders to evolve this market and introduce more products to the sector that promote greater discounts.

But as we know, competing financial pressure are bearing down on interest cover covenants (forecast to dip below 100% by the RSH in the current period) and retrofit doesn’t deliver a cashflow as new build does, so funding will often go into the ‘for corporate purposes’ box, meaning it will then flow into various parts of the business.

ESG finance alone will not solve the retrofit challenge.

We need a blend of funding and finance to answer what was once framed as an £100bn question, but in reality will be far more given inflation and interest rates have gone.

To help the sector on its way, The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) and engineering consultancy Buro Happold set out a roadmap for funding retrofit. This essentially called for three key components: economies of scale, to reduce per unit capital cost; matched grant funding, to reduce the housing association’s own cost; and government guaranteed debt funding, to reduce the cost of borrowing to fund initial retrofit investment.

Given the scale of the challenge and need for government support, the sector needs to ensure it is taking every opportunity that government gives it – not least via the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.

But there are also new ways of thinking and potential partnerships coming into the picture too.

This includes via new players in the affordable housing sector, including the likes of Octopus Real Estate, who are looking to leverage their sister company, Octopus Energy, to deliver Zero Bills homes with developers in this sector and roll out solutions for existing homes too.

HACT’s retrofit credits scheme, is aiming to provide carbon credits produced on the back of works to decarbonise housing stock, which can be sold onto investors and organisations wanting to offset their own carbon by funding emission-reduction projects.

Coalitions and collaborations are crucial too. NatWest Group launched a ‘Sustainable Homes and Buildings Coalition’, with British Gas, Worcester Bosch, and Shelter, and have been running energy efficiency pilots and calling on government and industry to help roll out solutions at scale.

The truth is that there is no single solution, or single organisation, that can deliver on this alone.

But ensuring that the sector is seizing all opportunities it can – whether it be in finance and funding, partnership or technological solutions – is ultimately what will enable it to tackle the retrofit challenge.

Sunak marks 100 days with Cabinet reshuffle

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With Rishi Sunak reaching 100 days of his premiership in early February, the prime minister decided to reset his government with a Cabinet reshuffle and a reshaping of departments. Sunak has created four new departments, resulting in a split to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

The new departments formed out of BEIS include a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – BEIS Secretary of State, Grant Shapps, has been appointed as the Secretary for this new department. It is likely that this department will handle housing energy efficiency funding programmes such as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Home Upgrade Grant and ECO+.

Business will now be separated from energy, with a new Department for Business and Trade, with Kemi Badenoch being appointed the Secretary of State – Badenoch was formerly Secretary for the Department of International Trade which has now been merged into this new department. The prime minister has also formed a new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), with Michelle Donelan moving from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to head this department. DCMS has lost its digital remit – which has moved over to DSIT – and is now the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Former housing minister, Lucy Frazer, has been appointed Secretary of State for this department.

Greg Hands has been appointed as the new chairman of the Conservative party, replacing Nadhim Zahawi who was sacked following inquiry findings that he breached ministerial rules over his tax affairs.

Rachel Maclean, MP for Redditch, has been appointed as the new housing minister, the sixth in 12 months. Maclean has previously been a parliamentary private secretary to Sajid Javid when he was Chancellor and was a junior minister in the Department for Transport and the Home Office. She has also previously sat on the BEIS Committee. On Monday 27th February, our Chief Executive Tracy Harrison, and Director of Policy & Public Affairs, Brian Robson, met with the new housing minister to outline the priorities for housing in the North, highlight the work of the NHC and our members and to explore how the NHC and DLUHC can continue to work together on the issues facing the North.

See the full list of ministerial appointments here.