Some perspectives on mobility Mike Ward Assistant Director of Business Growth Circle Housing Group.
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Some perspectives on mobility Mike Ward Assistant Director of Business Growth Circle Housing Group
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Transcript of Some perspectives on mobility Mike Ward Assistant Director of Business Growth Circle Housing Group.
Some perspectives on mobility
Mike Ward
Assistant Director of Business Growth
Circle Housing Group
Why does being able to move matter?
(With apologies to lovers of Springwatch)
Why does being able to move matter?
“It is simply wrong that families are trapped in homes that are overcrowded, or that they find difficult to manage because of ill health or advancing years, while others who want to move to take up new job opportunities or to live closer to family are unable to do so.
“I am determined that we make it easier for tenants to move.”
The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP
For us as a provider
• Supports our mission to enhance life chances• Logical response to intensifying pressure on supply • Saves money
Human City Institute
• Independent charitable ‘think-tank’ undertaking research into ‘human city’ issues.
• Identifying barriers to the creation of successful settlements • Aspects include housing, health, the environment, community
development, ethnicity and faith• ‘Counting Costs’ research led by Kevin Gulliver
‘Counting Costs’
• Commissioned by Circle Anglia a year ago• Identifies the barriers to mobility in the sector• Uses existing datasets to estimate the number of
tenants seeking a move• Considers the costs arising from an inability to
move
www.humancity.org.uk
Barriers to mobility
• Buying is beyond most of
our tenants– 1997 – one in 77 could buy– 2009 – one in 500
• Fewer social rented homes– 4.4 million in 1997– 500,000 fewer today (11%)
• Growth in waiting lists– 39% increase between 2003 and 2009– One in twelve households are registered
Real consequences, real burdens
Health
Social Care
Education
Policing & ASB
What is this costing?
• Human City apply indicators of scale to a ‘cost per case’ based on relevant studies – e.g. cost to NHS of poor quality or overcrowded housing = £172 per case
• Totals estimated in this way are:– Social care: £305m– NHS: £81m– Education: £32m– Criminal Justice: £58m– Employment: £66m
TOTAL - £542 million annually
What are we doing?
• Simple• Fast• Puts the customer in control• Saves us money -v- transfers• Drives customer satisfaction
Promoting and enabling mutual exchange – good for customers and good for landlords
• Created in 2004 for Wherry HA
• An alternative to paper-based systems
• Also needed because ‘Move UK’ was not
working
• Quickly identified as positive by
neighbouring councils and associations
• Now has 170 landlords and ‘House
Exchange Direct’, so is accessible to all
• More than 130,000 registered users
• Unique ‘three-way exchange’ search to
enable chain-building
www.houseexchange.org.uk
Housing options and advice
• Conversions• Rehousing some people in
over-crowded homes• Sometimes it’s not about a move –
e.g. space-saving furniture• Group-wide principles• Maximising our allocation freedoms• Best practice guide being produced
The national scene
Localism Bill - paves the way for a regulatory direction requiring all social landlords to:
• Subscribe to an internet-based mutual exchange service that tenants can register with, free of charge
• Use a service conforming to minimum standards around matching and data sharing
• Provide support for tenants who are unable to access the internet
National home swap scheme
Membership
Testing – June 2011
Available for users – July 2011
Web services option
Mobility in London
• Home Connections G15 service launched last month
• Landlords pledge 5% of lettings available for cross-London moves
• Expects to enable around 150 moves annually
• Initially for those with offers of work or work-related training
• Now extending eligibility to include under-occupiers
• Mayor’s pan London scheme under development
Other news…
Vanguard projects
£1m over 2 years to support 12 councils or sub-regions to:• Demonstrate the economic benefits of increased mobility • Demonstrate the savings of moving through mutual exchange • Explore what can be done locally to promote more mobility• Test the potential benefits of ‘payment by results’• Identify any further steps which Government could take to promote
mobility in a cost-effective way.
And finally…the words of the wise
If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. Henry Ford
The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it. Elbert Hubbard
The good man is the man who, no matter how morally unworthy he has been, is moving to become better. John Dewey
In Cleveland there is legislation moving forward to ban people from wearing pants that fit too low. However, there is lots of opposition from the plumbers’ union. Conan O'Brien
[email protected] 01603 703819 or 07736 028389
