In more detail
Social housing is housing that is provided by landlords for social benefit rather than private profit. This means it is offered to tenants at rents below the market rent that would be charged by a profit-making landlord. Social housing tenants also generally enjoy greater security of tenure than private tenants.
Social housing is provided by some councils, housing associations, housing cooperatives and some companies and charities. These social landlords offer housing to people, not on the basis of who can pay most, but on the basis of an allocation scheme based on housing need (and possibly some other non-money factors).
The video below was produced by the National Housing Federation (which is the trade body for housing associations) - it presents the case for enabling housing associations to build more homes:
The 2011 Census showed that just under one in five (18%) of households in England lives in social housing and these tenancies are concentrated in urban neighbourhoods. So that the proportion of households living in social housing in the metropolitan areas and London is:
- Inner London 33%
- Tyne & Wear 27%
- West Midlands 23%
- Greater Manchester 22%
- South Yorkshire 22%
- Merseyside 21%
- West Yorkshire 19%
- Outer London 18%
In London Boroughs, including Southwark, Hackney, Islington and Tower Hamlets, more than 2 in 5 households live in social rented housing.
The Homes and Communities Agency list of social landlords (2016) shows that these properties are owned and managed by more than 1700 social landlords - of which just under 200 are local councils and most of the rest are housing associations. As well a general purpose housing associations, there are specialist landlords which may provide sheltered housing for older people or accommodation and support for refugees and asylum seekers etc.
Social landlords vary greatly both in the quantity of housing stock they own and manage and in its spread. Local councils generally own properties in their own areas, sometimes concentrated in housing estates and sometimes scattered throughout neighbourhoods. A relatively small number of very large housing association groups have housing in many different regions and are in effect national social housing providers. A larger number of relatively small housing associations have housing stock concentrated in one or two local authority areas, or in a single neighbourhood. Each social landlord produces its own plans for development, re-investment in and the estate management around the housing for which it is responsible. The extent to which they co-ordinate their plans varies between landlords and between neighbourhoods.
Affordable Housing
‘Affordable housing’ is a phrase which is frequently used in the context of local plans and the obligations housing developers may take on when building new housing for sale in a neighbourhood. It means any housing which is provided to people below market cost and is allocated on the basis of need (at least in part). It includes affordable housing for sale (for example to key workers) as well as social housing for rent.
The video above is by Cambridge Centre for Housing Research and is about Affordable Housing and the shortage of housing.
Social Housing and Planning
Social housing matters in community and neighbourhood planning for a numbers of reasons, including:
- Tenants – a large proportion of people live in social housing and they are concentrated in urban neighbourhoods. Social landlords and their tenants are both significant investors and stakeholders in urban neighbourhoods and making them better places to live.
- Affordable housing – it is an important government policy to create more affordable housing and the planning system plays a key part in this.
- Re-investment – as well as developing affordable housing, social landlords re-invest revenues in improvements inside, and to the outside of, their tenants’ properties.
- Estate and neighbourhood management - social landlords have an interest in and some responsibility for the overall management of housing estates (where their property is concentrated) and wider neighbourhood management (where it is spread throughout a neighbourhood) and can be allies in lobbying for and working with others to provide better local services.
- Tenant Panels – tenants are involved as the co-regulators of their landlords through a system of landlord-specific Tenants Panels. These bodies, other tenant groups and the social network around them are potentially significant community groups to involve in neighbourhood and community planning.
| Key Facts:
Social housing matters when doing neighbourhood and community planning because tenants make up a large proportion of householders particularly in urban neighbourhoods; and affordable housing, in particular can be a key area of policy. Social landlords play an important part in shaping neighbourhoods and may take on the role of neighbourhood managers. Tenant panels are important groups to involve in the local community network. |
Page Links from here
The Homes and Communities Agency keeps the register of social landlords
In the toolkit see:
HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation)
OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.
BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY PLANNING TOOLKIT DEFINITION SHEET This sheet may be reproduced in paper or electromic or any other form but please mention it was made by Chamberlain Forum Limited for Birmingham City Council supported by Department for Communities and Local Government.
| created: 2016-05-29 14:17:08 | by: admin | status: f published |