end homelessness together Forthcoming Policy Changes – What Do We Know So Far? Paul Anderson Policy Manager

Themes 2 CUTS/SAVINGS “INCENTIVISING AND REWARDING” CERTAIN BEHAVIOUR

Savings? “We will find £12 billion (per year from ) from welfare savings, on top of the £21 billion of savings delivered in this Parliament.” Conservative Party Manifesto

Full Employment and Welfare Benefits Bill “Legislation will be brought forward to help achieve full employment and provide more people with the security of a job. New duties will require my ministers to report annually on job creation and apprenticeships… “To give new opportunities to the most disadvantaged, my Government will expand the Troubled Families Programme and continue to reform welfare, with legislation encouraging employment by capping benefits and requiring young people to earn or learn.”

HB For 18-21s “It is not fair that taxpayers should have to pay for year-olds on Jobseeker’s Allowance to claim Housing Benefit in order to leave home. “So we will ensure that they no longer have an automatic entitlement to Housing Benefit.” Conservative Party Manifesto 2015

HB for 18-21s “In addition, our future youth offer will: Remove automatic entitlement to housing support for year olds;” Queen’s Speech 2015

Some Figures 19,000 people aged claim HB and JSA 60% of these live in social housing so would probably have children or support needs Nearly two-thirds of the rest get less than £75 per week HB 49% of people in homeless hostels and supported housing projects are under-25 We estimate about 3,500 people under 25 sleep rough across England in a year

Possible Exceptions – by size 1.In supported accommodation 2.Families 3.Lone parents 4.With support needs, drug or alcohol problems 5.People leaving care, prison or other offenders 6.At risk of domestic violence 7.With a disability or mental health problems People in more than one of these categories Young people estranged from their family

Cutting HB for 18-21s = Savings? “ If we apply a set of exemption categories which were felt to be essential to avoid the worst impacts of the policy, and estimate these according to very cautious assumptions, the true financial saving falls to below £80m” ” “when additional costs of a young person becoming homeless; health, criminal justice and policing; local authority costs for support and temporary accommodation are combined, the net positive impact reduces to £3.3m” Herriot Watt University

Getting To £12 Billion In Cuts? What Is Definite? 1 Freeze most working-age benefits until 2018 (includes JSA, ESA, LHA) – saves £1.0bn: 2. Reduce benefits cap from £26k to £23k –evidence from current cap suggests: minority responded by moving into work; very few responded by moving to lower-rent property - saves £0.1bn

So where could the cuts fall? £30 billion Tax Credits £22 billion Disability Benefits £16 billion HB (social tenants) £15 billion Incapacity Benefits £12 billion Child Benefit £10 billion HB (PRS) £7 billion Pension Credit £5 billion JSA & Income Support £9 billion Other

Some Options No longer pay HB for the whole of the rent? Reduce LHA to a lower percentile of PRS accommodation in an area? Increase Shared Accommodation Rate to 45? Increase means-testing of universal benefits? Local Welfare Assistance (but sits with DCLG)

Conditionality “We will abolish long-term youth unemployment, and make sure that all young people are either earning or learning” The goal of welfare reform should be to reward hard work and protect the vulnerable” Conservative Party Manifesto 2015

Conditionality “We will introduce tougher Day One Work Requirements for young people claiming out- of-work benefits.” Queens Speech

Conditionality We will replace Jobseeker’s Allowance (and Universal Credit) for year- olds with a Youth Allowance that will be time-limited to six months, after which young people will have to take an apprenticeship, a traineeship or do daily community work for their benefits. Queen’s Speech

Universal Credit “ We will see through our welfare reforms, lowering the benefit cap and rolling out Universal Credit, to make the system fairer and reward hard work. We will deliver Universal Credit, in order to provide the right incentives for people to work” Conservative Party Manifsto

Future Funding of Rents for Homelessness Projects Housing Benefit is due to be phased out by 2018 or 2020 Homelessness services do not fit the monthly payment and assessment models of UC Lord Freud is keen on a “localised solution” to the long-term rental funding of supported housing projects Research is currently beginning looking at how much of the HB bill goes on supported housing

Work “We will review how best to support those suffering from long-term yet treatable conditions, such as drug or alcohol addiction, or obesity, back into work. People who might benefit from treatment should get the medical help they need so they can return to work. If they refuse a recommended treatment, we will review whether their benefits should be reduced.” Cons Party Manifesto Conservative Party Manifesto

Housing Policy “Legislation will be introduced to support home ownership and give housing association tenants the chance to own their own home.” Queen’s Speech To enable the extension of Right to Buy levels of discount to housing association tenants. To require local authorities to dispose of high- value vacant council houses, which would help fund the Right to Buy extension discounts and the building of more affordable homes in the area.

Social Policy “To give new opportunities to the most disadvantaged, my Government will expand the Troubled Families Programme” Queens Speech

Social Policy “We have pioneered ways to deliver high-quality public services, including through getting the voluntary sector more involved. For example, our Work Programme has helped harness the talent and energy of charities to help people turn their lives around and find their way back into work. We will examine ways to build on this type of innovative approach in the future. We have also pioneered the use of social impact bonds and payment-by-results, and we will look to scale these up in the future, focusing on youth unemployment, mental health and homelessness Conservative Party Manifesto

Social Policy “ First, prevention throughout a person’s life, with carefully designed interventions to stop people falling off track and into difficult circumstances Second, the strategy sets out our vision for a ‘second chance society’. Anybody who needs a second chance in society should be able to access the support and tools they need to transform their lives.” Government’s Social Justice Strategy 2012

Care Act 2014 Adult social care is conceptualised as having a much broader care and support function – not just about ‘personal care’ Under the Care Act, local authorities are to maintain the boundary between their ‘care and support function’ and their ‘housing function’ (e.g. to meet accommodation needs under the Housing Act, 1996) Care and support can encompass housing related support: “There is nothing to stop local authorities in the care and support role from providing more specific services such as housing adaptations… or enabling individuals to develop community connections in relation to housing needs” (p295)

Supreme Court Judgment Basically ruled that the way local authorities have been interpreting their Statutory Duty has been too narrow. There is some evidence this has led to increases in applications for help to councils Too soon to tell if there have been any lasting impacts at this stage

More to follow?