Written evidence submitted by Local Government Association [DPH 035]
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Written evidence submitted by Local Government Association [DPH 035]
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1.1. The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national voice of local government. We are a politically led, cross-party membership organisation, representing councils from England and Wales.
1.2. Our role is to support, promote and improve local government, and raise national awareness of the work of councils. Our ultimate ambition is to support councils to deliver local solutions to national problems.
2.1 It is vital that there are a range of suitable housing options for disabled people, which offer a real choice over where to live – whether in social housing, the private rented sector, homes to buy or specialist housing with care and support. Councils and their partners play a key role in supporting people to achieve their goals, through both social care support and home adaptions.
2.2 Accessibility features and home adaptations can dramatically increase disabled people’s ability to remain safe and independent in their homes. They also prevent avoidable admissions to hospital and care homes. Every £1 spent on housing adaptations are worth more than £2 in care savings and quality of life gains.
2.3 The Disabled Facilities Grant is currently insufficient to meet demand for housing adaptions. Government needs to fully fund the Disability Facilities Grant (DFG) to keep up with demand, as well as reviewing the £30,000 cap on grant expenditure per home which is now insufficient for most major building work costs. Alongside this, Government must address the £13 billion shortfall in the adult social care, which forms an essential element of support that many disabled people require to remain safe and independent in their homes.
2.4 Compared to the private rental sector and homes at affordable rent, social homes provide a genuinely affordable alternative and greater security of tenancy. Particularly for those on lower-incomes and those who are unable to work due to disability or long-term ill-health, social housing often remains the only feasible housing option due to the widening gap between Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and market rents and the rate of wider benefits. We are calling on Government to implement our six-point plan to enable councils to resume their historic role as a builder of homes and deliver the homes to meet communities’ needs, including 100,000 social homes a year.
2.5 To tackle the shortage of suitable homes for older and disabled people, councils also need greater planning powers and resources to hold developers to account, ensuring that they build the right homes in the right places needed by different groups within the local community.
3.1 We would like government to work with councils, developers and housing associations to provide a sustainable funding framework, to offer the certainty and clarity to invest in the future development of housing for people with a range of needs.
3.2 Accessible and adaptable housing for older and disabled people must be a key part of our national ambition to build new homes. Good housing provides the foundation for good health and care. Accessible and appropriate homes can also significantly improve disabled people’s ability to live independently, and help elderly people live in their homes for longer, as well as keeping people safe and preventing avoidable hospital and care home admissions.
3.3 Our ageing population means more people aged 65 and over are becoming a growing part of our housing market. Across the country, 1 million homes are lived in by someone who requires an adaptation but is going without; a third of these people are aged 55 and over. In the UK, one in five people are known to have some type of physical or mental condition that considerably impacts their ability to carry out normal daily activities for a long period of time.
Delivering new accessible homes
3.4 Councils are currently facing significant challenges in building new social homes that meet the varied housing needs of their communities. Government should give councils the powers and resources to get back to building the homes the country needs. We have been long calling on Government to empower councils to build a new generation of 100,000 social homes for rent each year, which will be vital to end the housing emergency.
3.5 Every area in England should be handed a new local housing deal by 2025 which combines funding from multiple national housing programmes into a single pot to spark a “generational step-change. We are calling for the Government to go further and faster in order for councils to be able to properly resume their historic role as a major builder of affordable homes by implementing a six-point plan for social housing.
Adapting existing housing
3.6 The Government also needs to continue to invest in supporting the adaptation of homes to meet the needs of people as their circumstances change, keep older or disabled people safe and independent in their homes, and prevent avoidable admissions to hospital and care homes. Government should speed up the introduction of M(4)2 (Accessible and adapted housing) as well as the continued support of the Disabled Facilities Grant and low level ‘handyperson’ services – as promised in the ‘People at the Heart of Care: Adult Social Care Reform’ white paper.
Supported Housing
3.7 Supported Housing will continue to play an important role in meeting the housing needs of individuals with care and support needs. The new Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Bill will ensure local authorities will have a better understanding of the supported housing needs and provision in their area through the new requirement for Local Supported Housing Strategies. It will also give them increased powers to tackle poor providers. The bill, however, does not address the structural issues in the sector which have arisen from non-commissioned services flooding the market to fill gaps left by a reduction in funding for crucial housing support.
3.8 According to new National Housing Federation research, if funding mechanisms for supported housing collapse or are withdrawn due to an increasingly challenging and financially insecure landscape, the impact on rough sleeping, demand for residential care, psychiatric in-patient and prison places would be wholly unmanageable, especially as these services are already over-stretched.
3.9 Government should ring-fence and increase long-term revenue funding for housing-related support to ensure spending at least matches the £1.6 billion per year allocated to local authorities in England in 2010. This will unlock the development of new supported housing schemes needed to meet growing needs and reduce spending on residential care.
3.10 Government should also reinstate the £300 million Housing Transformation Fund which was reneged on as part of the Adult Social Care Reforms. The fund would have enabled councils to increase the supply of supported and retirement housing and better integrate health, housing and care with housing.
4. Does the National Planning Policy Framework ensure the Equality Act 2010 is complied with when building housing?
4.1 The Equality Act 2010 requires local authorities and planners to assess the impacts of local planning policies on equality and inclusion. While it is not set out in legislation the way in which LA’s must have regard to the Equality Act, most authorities through the Local Plan process will discharge this duty by undertaking an Equalities Impact Assessment, to determine what, if any, positive or negative impacts may be incurred on groups with protected characteristics arising from the policies and strategy within Local Plans.
4.2 The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) does not include mention of equality, or duties for local authorities or home builders to consider the Equality Act 2010. It is notable that the recent consultations on proposed changes to the NPPF have not been accompanied by an Equalities Impact Assessment by the Government.
5. Since the Government consultation ‘Raising accessibility standards for new homes’ (July 2022), what has been done to improve housing provisions for disabled residents in England? And has it been sufficient?
5.1 There had been little action re adaptations and accessibility despite the ambition in the Adult Social Care Reform white paper. However, on the 7 September 2023 the Government released £50 million from the DFG to local authorities, with and announced an additional £50 million on top of regular allocation due in the spring 2024.
5.2 The reforms and recommendations outlined in the 2019 Disabled Facilities Grant and other adaptions external review are desperately needed. The mandatory DFG limit has remained at £30,000 per household for 20 years. This is insufficient for most major building work costs, particularly given recent inflationary pressures. As a result, social care are funding the shortfall from their care and support budgets. We urge Government to bring forward the consultation to review the sufficiency on the limit of DSG per household. Uplifting the limit will be crucial to prevent the spending pressures being transferred to already overstretched social care budgets.
6. What role should the Government, Local Authorities and developers have for ensuring the delivery of suitable housing for disabled people?
6.1 It is important that there are a range of suitable housing options for disabled people which offer a real choice over where to live – whether in social housing, the private rented sector, homes to buy or specialist housing with care and support. Councils and their partners play a key role in supporting people to achieve their goals, through both social care support and home adaptions.
6.2 Earlier this year, ADASS published the Housing and Care Good Practice Guide - a practical resource that sets out what ‘good’ looks like for a council that has an effective and successful approach to housing and care, with ‘case study’ examples that councils can use to support and improve local delivery.
6.3 On average, disabled people are more likely to have lower incomes and face financial hardship than their non-disabled peers. Resolution Foundation research in January 2023, found that the underlying disposable income gap between the disabled and non-disabled population was 44 per cent in 2020-21, down from 54 per cent a decade ago. The analysis found that the income gap is partly due to the low employment rate for disabled people (54 per cent compared to 82 per cent of the non-disabled working age population). However, after accounting for employment status, the analysis found that over half the original income gap remains, highlighting that disabled people who work are more likely to be on lower incomes.
6.4 Compared to the private rental sector and homes at affordable rent, social homes provide a genuinely affordable alternative and greater security of tenancy. Particularly for those on lower-incomes and those who are unable to work due to disability or long-term ill-health, social housing often remains the only feasible housing option due to the widening gap between Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and market rents and the rate of wider benefits. For those who cannot afford to, or do not want to buy a home, the life-time tenancies offered through social housing offers people the security of being able to stay in their homes which have been adapted specifically to their needs.
6.5 However, there are not enough social or affordable homes to meet demand. Over recent decades, construction of new homes has failed to keep pace with population growth and social changes. The housing shortage has seen rents and property prices rise significantly faster than incomes. This is acutely impacting the lowest income and vulnerable families and individuals, who are increasingly turning to councils for support. More than 1.2 million households are currently on council waiting lists in England and over 100,000 households living in temporary accommodation.
6.6 The LGA are calling on Government to empower councils to resume their historic role as a major builder of homes to build the range of social and affordable homes their communities need, including 100,000 homes for social rent a year.
6.7 Building 100,000 social homes a year would improve the public finances by £24.5 billion over 30 years, including a reduction in the housing benefit bill and temporary accommodation costs. It would offer more residents a pathway out of expensive and insecure private renting; help address pressure on public services, notably health and social care; support an accelerated switch to sources of renewable energy and support mainstream use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and support the development of green skills and net zero supply chains.
6.8 Council-led development could also support affordable routes to home ownership including rent-to buy, shared ownership, self-build, community land trusts and co-housing models, and new construction techniques that can deliver at speed. Crucially, it would allow councils to build homes that are currently being overlooked by private developers, such as appropriate homes for older people who are looking to right size. Fire and rescue and ambulance services report particular issues in supporting bariatric residents, who may be too big to use stairs, lifts or corridors. There is a need for a greater supply of housing which considers these access needs.
6.9 To achieve this, the LGA are calling on Government to implement a 6-point plan for housing:
6.10 Alongside this, Government must address wider issues within the financing of social housing. Funding remains one of the key barriers local authorities face in delivering more social homes. We continue to highlight to Government that councils Housing Revenue Accounts (HRAs) continue to face increasing and unsustainable pressures. HRA’s are having to absorb the costs of delivering on an increasing number of priorities, which include delivering the requirements of the Building Safety and Fire Safety Acts (which we estimate will cost £7.7 billion), decarbonising the stock and bringing all homes up to EPC band C by 2030, fees to cover social housing regulation, the cost of new professional requirements on housing staff and delivering the updated decent homes standard, as well as the costs of managing stock and building new homes. Meanwhile, HRA’s are facing reduced income due to the current rent cap. Current funding constraints is making it increasingly difficult for councils to invest in and regenerate their housing stock, and deliver new homes.
6.11 To fulfil local and national ambitions of ensuring that everyone has access to a safe, secure and high-quality home, Government urgently needs to review the whole system of funding for social housing and provide a long-term sustainable funding framework. This will need to include increased flexibilities to raise additional income, as well as additional national investment. Failure to do so means increased costs for the Treasury and poorer outcomes for communities in the long-run.
6.12 With the right support in place, people with disabilities can also find a place to call home by buying an appropriate home or renting in the private sector, or they can move into specialist housing with care, support or adaptations. Councils and their partners play a key role in supporting people to achieve their goals, through both social care support and home adaptions.
6.13 Earlier this year, ADASS published the Housing and Care Good Practice Guide - a practical resource that sets out what ‘good’ looks like for a council that has an effective and successful approach to housing and care, with ‘case study’ examples that councils can use to support and improve local delivery.
7. Does the Disabled Facilities Grant fully support housing adaptations?
7.1 The Disabled Facilities Grant is currently insufficient to meet demand for housing adaptions. The DLUHC/DHSC delivery guidance for DFG last year noted that 1.9 million households in England had one or more people with a health condition that required adaptations to their home in 2019/20. We welcome the recent announcement of an extra £50 million for the DFG, making the total amount available £573 million, however when we consider the quantum of funding against the level of demand, it is still insufficient for most major building work costs.
7.2 The Chartered Institute for Housing told us: “Councils are regularly topping up the amounts (of DFG) they use in attempts to meet demand” and that they were “concerned that some councils are reaching the limits of their borrowing capacity and that, in many places, the additional funding will plug gaps left by falling or removing top ups rather than providing the additional adaptations anticipated.”
7.3 As a result, the shortfalls in funding are having to be funding from care and support budgets, placing more pressure on over-stretched social care resources. In November 2022, the Autumn Statement announced new funding for adult social care of up to £2.8 billion in 2023/24 and up to £4.7 billion in 2024/25. This funding was announced after a decade of reductions to local authority budgets. The funding package remains far short of what’s needed to alleviate pressure on local authorities and the NHS. We have called for Government to provide £13 billion to plug the funding gap and ensure councils can meet all their statutory duties under the Care Act.
7.4 Nevertheless, councils are increasingly seeking to innovate in their use of funding. The Home Adaptations Consortium is building up a range of case studies of integrated services, including Independent Living Centres that provide assessment facilities and co-locate professional teams to improve accessibility; fast track adaptation services focused on successful hospital discharge; expanded services that provide cross subsidy to the adaptation team; and improved procurement and permissions processes to streamline and cut down the time for grants to be agreed and adaptations provided.
7.5 The inclusion of the DFG in the Better Care Fund provides councils with an opportunity to integrate provision, however there is concern about the sufficiency of future funding for adaptions.
8. How can the Government ensure it provides sufficient provisions to support disabled residents who do not live in new build homes?
8.1 Local and national government should work together to:
8.1.1 Develop a renewed national and local focus to create homes and neighbourhoods integrated with health and care services to support positive ageing.
8.1.2 Encourage health and wellbeing boards to work across local areas in bringing together planning, health and social care partners to develop a collective strategic ambition for delivering housing that can enable healthy ageing alongside health and care services.
8.1.3 Support local health, care and housing sector partners to start an early collective conversation with people about both their current and future housing aspirations and needs as they age.
8.1.4 Ensure sufficiently funded systems are in place to enable older people to modify their homes to support prevention and positive ageing in ways that generate savings to health and care services.
8.1.5 Plan and deliver housing as part of emerging integrated health and social care services, with activities and facilities designed to support older people to age well in their homes and communities for longer.
8.1.6 Take opportunities to invest in building the mix of new homes that different groups of older people want and need and, through the planning system and in their use of land, also enable the private sector to increase its contribution.
8.1.7 Provide stable funding and policy support to increase the supply of 1) specialised housing for more vulnerable older people and 2) healthy lifetime homes providing attractive options that stimulate proactive moves among ‘younger old people’ in advance of a health crisis.
8.1.8 Age Friendly neighbourhood principles should be built into planning policies, integrating All Age Friendly housing as part of healthy, inclusive mixed tenure housing developments.
8.2 There is a shortage of homes suitable for older and disabled people and people in vulnerable circumstances. To help address this councils need to be given greater planning powers and resources to hold developers to account, ensuring that they build the right homes in the right places needed by different groups within the local community.
8.3 Government needs to work with councils and housing associations to provide a sustainable funding framework through which to offer the certainty and clarity to invest in the future development of housing for people with a range of needs. The housing borrowing cap should be also lifted so all councils can be allowed to borrow to build as this will help address the growing number of people, including those with disabilities, living longer with increasingly complex needs.
9 What can the Government do to support disabled tenants in the private rented sector?
9.1 The private rented sector has grown considerably over the last two decades and has become an integral part of the housing market. Some segments of the private rented sector work effectively for those who require adaptions such as build-to-rent.
9.2 However, generally there is a shortage of good quality, affordable rented accommodation. While this acutely affects many low-income tenants in the private rented sector, it disproportionately impacts disabled people as they on average have lower incomes and can incur additional costs because of their disability. Poor housing conditions are, generally, concentrated at the lower end of the private rented market that provides accommodation to vulnerable group, including those with disabilities or long-term illness. Approximately 40 per cent of the sector comprises households in the bottom third of incomes.
9.3 The LGA welcomes the long-awaited Renters’ Reform Bill which will help to deliver a fairer, more secure, and higher quality private rented sector (PRS). The Bill introduces a range of reforms to achieve this, including abolishing unfair Section 21 “no fault” evictions; ending the system of assured shorthold tenancies; creating a new register of PRS landlords and property portal to improve data on the PRS and drive up standards across the sector; and establishing an Ombudsman for the PRS to help tenants and landlords to resolve disputes. The Bill places significant new regulatory and enforcement responsibilities on councils, whose regulatory teams are already under resourced due to cuts to councils’ budgets. For the reforms in the Bill to be effective, it is vital that Department of Levelling Up Communities and Housing (DLUCH) conducts a realistic assessment of the resources councils need to regulate the PRS effectively, and provides them with adequate new burdens funding.
9.4 Housing in the private rented sector is becoming increasingly inaccessible to those on low incomes. Private rents have reached record highs, while the rate of Local Housing Allowance has been frozen since 2020. Rising housing costs, combined with frozen LHA rates and insufficient levels of other benefits, remain a key driver of homelessness and financial hardship. The lack of affordable housing in the private rented sector means that households are increasingly turning to councils for support with housing, with over 1.2 million people now on social housing waiting lists and over 100,000 people in temporary accommodation. Government urgently need to lift the freeze on LHA and restore rates to at least the 30th percentile of market rents. This will be critical to enable disabled people who cannot work and rely on benefits to access suitable homes within the private rented sector.
9.5 As recognised by the Government in the A fairer rented sector white paper, people who receive benefits continue to face discrimination when renting in the private rented sector. This is despite several court rulings which refusing to rent to tenants on the basis they receive benefits is unlawful under the Equality Act 2020, given that groups with protected characteristics – such as disabled people and women – are more likely to receive benefits.
9.6 The English Landlord Survey 2021, carried out by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, found that over half of landlords (53 percent) reported being unwilling to let to people on housing benefits or universal credit. While 45 percent reported that they were unwilling to rent to people requiring adaptions. The top reasons respondents gave for not letting to households on benefits were that housing benefit is not paid directly to the landlord or agent (69 percent) and that they were concerned that benefits would not cover all of the rent (66 percent).
9.7 We welcomed the Government’s commitment in the white paper to make it illegal for landlords and agents to have blanket bans on renting to tenants who receive benefits or have children. These provisions are currently not included the Renters’ Reform Bill and we urge the Government to bring them forward as soon as possible. Legislative change will be an important step forward, as it would provide unequivocal clarity to landlords and letting agents that ‘no DSS’ bans are illegal – regardless of whether the tenant has protected characteristics.
9.8 There is a risk that in practice this law could be difficult to enforce as tenants and regulatory authorities would have to point to evidence that they were refused a property on the basis of being in receipt of benefits or having children. Therefore, for this new policy to be enforceable, identification of ‘no DSS’ practices must be measurable and objective. As an example, through advertisement or through refusal to allow the prospective tenant to view the property because they have children or are in receipt of benefits.
9.9 As long as rates of LHA do not cover the actual cost of market rents and rates of other benefits do not cover the cost of essentials, people in receipt of benefits are at risk of being passed over in favour of tenants with higher household incomes, who are likely to be seen as less at risk of falling into rent arrears. Therefore, legislative change alone is unlikely to resolve the barriers disabled people face in finding suitable accommodation in the private rented sector. It is vital that Government uplifts LHA (to at least the 30th percentile of market rents) to improve disabled people’s ability to afford suitable housing in the private rented sector. DLUCH should also work with the Department of Work and Pensions to address wider issues within the delivery of the benefits system, that disincentivise landlords from renting to people in receipt of benefits, as identified in the English Landlord Survey.
9.10 Many people, with a range of needs, rely on guide dogs and assistance and therapy animals to live independently and live well. Unlike other pets, it is illegal for landlords to ban assistance animals in private rented accommodation under the Equality Act 2010, or charge any addition fees for having an assistance animal. However, people with assistance animals still report that they are discriminated against and refused rental accommodation.
9.11 Assistance Dogs UK says that the existing legislation surrounding assistance dogs lacks clarity, meaning there is uncertainty around landlords’ legal obligations. The burden of proof and financing legal action to challenge discrimination also rests on the individual. The Renters’ Reform Bill could present an opportunity to create a specific offence of discriminating against assistance dogs and providing those with assistance dogs the ability to challenge decisions through the new Ombudsman. Government should also provide landlords and letting agents with clear guidance on this issue setting out their obligations.
9.12 Information on the accessibility of properties is particularly poor in the private sector. Estate agents, for example, do not typically provide information about the accessibility of private lets or houses for sale. Councils should be supported to:
9.12.1 provide independent sources of information and advice for people on housing, support and care services for people with care and support needs and their carers;
9.12.2 develop local and regional registers of existing adapted properties across all tenures which should be part of the information available, help to access this and match households with suitable housing opportunities; and
9.12.3 combine this information with hubs to help disabled adults and older people access help to repair and improve their homes and get suitable adaptations.
9.13 The M4(2) requirement should also be expanded to cover inclusive design. The focus of standards and guidance is often on older people and people in wheelchairs, to the exclusion of people with sensory impairments, learning disabilities or autism spectrum disorder. The LGA published guidance for councils on considering and meeting the sensory needs of autistic people in housing, which includes guidance on how autistic people may respond to sound, sight, touch and smell.
September 2023
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