TH0001
Written evidence submitted by Mr Nigel D Cook
(Retired - SME Business Efficiency Identification, Management and Delivery)
How to Tackle Homelessness - Deliver more homes to house homeless families
The writer of this briefing paper is a Subject Matter Expert on Business Efficiency Identification & Delivery.
To tackle homelessness within this Parliament there needs to be an increase in the number of social housing units (houses). By increasing the number of social housing units there will be widespread societal and Government finance benefits.
This short briefing paper is an extract from the initial draft of a Strategic Outline Case (SOC) which is available on request.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY |
Issues: Homelessness is becoming critical across the UK. Reported [Endnote 1] statistics show that In 2023/24 324,990 households were assessed as homeless. The number of households with children in temporary accommodation rose by 14.7% to 74,530. The total number of children in temporary accommodation has reached 151,630. The increasing use of Temporary accommodation incurs very significant financial costs to Local Authorities and hence Government. The Prime Minister has stated: "We will repay those who served us and house all veterans in housing need…." But there is a lack of housing for veterans as homelessness among veterans rose [Endnote 2] by 14% from 1,850 households in 2021-22 to 2,110 households in 2022-23. There are risks in meeting the Prime Minister's aspiration within this Parliament. Across the UK there are 250,000 empty houses, of which a large proportion are empty for long periods of time, are deteriorating and are in need of care and maintenance.
New Policy: The Dormant Asset Scheme [Endnote 3] be expanded to cover long term empty residential properties with properties transferred by Government using existing legislation to local authority ownership to increase social housing with properties being exempt from “right to buy”.
Benefits: Homeless families housed in permanent accommodation and therefore reductions in temporary accommodation costs. The Prime Minister's aspiration to provide housing for all Veterans is met in this Parliament. UK Economic activity increased due to 1,000s of empty properties being renovated/repaired by builders, plumbers, electricians.
Deliverability: HIGH - No impact on public services.
Cost to HM Treasury : None (See outline financial modelling on last page) |
BACKGROUND |
Being able to rent a home and/or have a realistic prospect of owning one gives people a stake in society, but the fact is that an increasing number of households have no realistic route to permanent rental or owner owned accommodation and are being condemned to spending years in temporary accommodation (often with shared facilities). These issues are also of particular relevance to Veterans leaving UK Armed Forces service. The Prime Minister has stated: "We will repay those who served us and house all veterans in housing need. Homes will be there for heroes." But given the low level of available vacant social housing in the UK there will need to be innovative changes in order to realise the Prime Minister's statement within this Parliament. |
Across the UK there are some 250,000+ empty residential properties. An example is a local (to the writer) 3 bedroom semi detached property which has stood empty for more than two years. The property would make an excellent family home to house a homeless family, but by leaving the property empty, the owner will not be losing financially (given strong house price growth) and of course there is a significant barrier to making this property available for rent because the owner would incur refurbishment costs and fees to return it to a habitable standard and thus will not place it on the rental market given landlord liability issues, capital gains and income tax liabilities. |
The Dormant Assets Scheme aims to reunite people with their lost or mislaid “financial” assets such as old bank accounts or investments. Where tracing of original owners is not possible, the money goes to social and environmental initiatives via The National Lottery Community Fund, but these initiatives are not those which are of the highest priority to society and surely one of the highest priorities to society is to give more citizens the chance to live in secure permanent accommodation and raise children in a secure environment. The “conduit” between the financial institutions holding “Dormant Assets” and the National Lottery Community Fund is Reclaim Fund Ltd whose latest annual accounts show a capital reserve of more than £500M. |
REQUIREMENT |
Increase social housing availability in order to reduce use of Temporary Accommodation. Delivery Prime Minister's aspiration for provision of housing for all veterans. Nil cost to HM Treasury. Delivered within this Parliament. |
OPTIONS ASSESSED TO MEET THE REQUIREMENT |
Do Nothing – Many families will continue to suffer homelessness as the lack of social housing will continue to constrain society and increase Government costs.
Build Social Housing - Planning permission timescales and local authority/social housing provider constraints could not deliver the required large numbers of new social housing within this parliament.
Councils use EDMO/CPO to renovate long term empty houses - While councils already have access to Empty Dwelling Management Orders/Compulsory Purchase Orders to take over empty properties and renovate/use them for social housing the reality is that councils do not use such legislation as the onus is on the council to prove the properties are empty/unoccupied and the current costs/risks to councils far outweigh the limited social housing provision which could be made as after renovating such a property the council has to revert ownership to the original owner on demand. This option would not meet the requirement.
Novel – Dormant Asset Scheme expanded to long term empty residential/commercial properties ((a major class of financial asset)) with properties taken into ownership (barring existing exemptions) by the Government with properties then assigned to councils to increase social housing units, properties would be exempt from “right to buy” legislation. Legal owners would be compensated from capital reserves held by Reclaim Fund Ltd. |
OPTIONS ANALYSIS |
Options analysis shows the “Novel” option of expanding the Dormant Assets Scheme to include long term vacant residential properties would provide significant benefits to society and deliver savings against current costs for temporary housing. The number of available to rent residential housing units would be increased and homeless families could have permanent housing with positive impacts on both individuals and wider society. The owners of properties on transfer to Dormant Asset Scheme or if they subsequently made a claim or were traced, could be reimbursed by Dormant Asset Scheme the market value at time of transfer to the public ownership. Analysis will be refined into full Investment Appraisal at Outline Business Case and be expanded to include options identified during stakeholder engagement.
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INDICATIVE KEY DATES FOR IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY |
Nov 24 - Nov 24 : Outline of proposal submitted to Public Accounts Committee. Dec 24 - Jan 25 : Strategic Outline Case (SOC) submitted to Government. Jan 25 - Mar 25 : SOC approved and Project Team formed. Apr 25 - Jul 25 : Outline Business Case (OBC) submitted. OBC approved. Jul 25 - Aug 25 : First tranche of properties identified. Sep 25 - Oct 25 : Full Business Case (FBC) completed. FBC approved. Nov 25 - Dec 25 - First housing refurbished and homeless families move in for Christmas. Scheduling is dependent on SOC approval and testing of assumptions. |
Endnotes:
[1] TheBigIssue_Housing_Shame.
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-dormant-accounts-scheme
November 2024