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Hammersmith & Fulham’s Enhanced housing options programme Gareth Mead Assistant Director (Housing Options). Challenges - Deprivation. Population: 176,000 Tenure 44% owner occupation 33% social housing 22% PRS (Avg rent £380pw) 1% LCHO Housing Need 11,000 on social housing register - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Hammersmith & Fulham’s
Enhanced housing options programme
Gareth Mead Assistant Director (Housing Options)
Challenges - Deprivation
Population: 176,000
Tenure•44% owner occupation •33% social housing•22% PRS (Avg rent £380pw)•1% LCHO
Housing Need•11,000 on social housing register•2,500 on LCHO register •1000 in TA (80% unemployed)
Employment and economic activity•Less than 45% of social housing tenants employed •13.6% of working-age people on key out -of-work benefits
A tale of two cities
Westway
Lillie Road
Scrubs Lane
King Street
Fulham P
alace Road
Uxbridge Road
Fulh
am R
oad
New K
ing'
s Road
Wo
od
Lan
e
North
End
Road
Dawes Road
Goldhawk Road
Talgarth RoadGreat West Road
Hammersmith Road
Wan
dsw
orth
Brid
ge R
oad
Challenges – welfare benefits dependency & low educational attainment
Barriers • High numbers of parental exclusions from social tenancies, often NEET
– Overcrowding, perceived acceptability of intergenerational homelessness and worklessness as the norm
• Scarcity of social housing stock and lack of affordable housing – Including access to PRS, especially for under 25s
• Strategic mismatches – E.g. Community Lettings quota removes incentive for work and reduces appeal of
Income Project and other schemes
• History of working in silos amongst council departments, JCP, ALMO, local agencies, childcare etc
– Competing programs, poor communication and piecemeal solutions
• Better off in work/transition to work issues– Without holistic partnerships that remove the barriers to work (i.e. childcare funding,
JCP and Housing Benefit changes, affordable rents etc) well intentioned schemes have come unstuck
Key challenge-
• The changes we need to make depend on achieving a fundamental shift in culture by both staff and residents
• “Hand up, not hand out”
• Economic options can no longer be distinguished from housing options
• Focus on promoting independence and ambition among residents- but this relies on real opportunities to be available
Aims and objectives
• Contribute to LAA targets around employment, reducing JSA, reducing re-offending, getting socially excluded adults back into work and into stable housing
• Support mixed, sustainable communities
• Provide holistic housing advice, tailored to an individual’s needs
• Focus on prevention – engage with a wider range of people before housing becomes a crisis
• Promote and provide a wider range of housing options- bring together PRS access schemes, help residents plan for their long-term housing aspirations, including LCHO
• Use stock effectively- tackle overcrowding and under-occupation; accessible housing options
• Tackle worklessness - increase training, skills and opportunities for people in housing need and link employment and training options to housing options advice
• Share learnings and good practice
Our response: Enhanced Housing Options
PREVENTION & HOLISTIC ADVICE
SHARING GOOD PRACTICESOCIAL
LETTINGS AGENCY
SMART STOCK USE
ENHANCED HOUSING OPTIONS
EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVES
LIFE COACHING PROGRAMME
Principles
Customer-focused
Ambitious
Proactive
Preventative
Inclusive
Effective
Measurable
LETTINGS AGENCY
TRAINING FOR HOME-SEEKERS
EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVES
SMART STOCK USE
PREVENTION & HOLISTIC ADVICE
SHARING GOOD PRACTICE
Social enterprise
Housing Mentors
Housing Conference
Employment Events
Online HR Apps
LDA posts
Lone Parents Scheme
HELP
Work with WLHP
Job opportunities
Develop Locata to include job links, PRS &
LCHO
Your Move
Accessible Housing Register
Community Lettings
Housing Action Plans
Web development
Links to Private Housing Services
Private rents for non-priority
needRent Deposit Guarantee Scheme
Rehousing Occupancy initiatives
H&F Enhanced Housing Options Priority Projects 2009/2010
Brokerage model
LCHO
Social rents
Direct Lettings
Self assessment
Mentoring
Developing partnerships
Advice for L&M housing need
Provide alternative
housing options
Culture changeNew ways of
working
Culture changeCulture Change
Culture changeConceptual
selling for staffLinks with Childrens Centres
Links with JCPCustomer User Group
Staff Reference Group
Project-lead initiatives
Operationally-lead initiatives
KEY
Employment and housing
EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVES
Lone Parents Scheme
Job Opportunities
Brokers
Allocations Policy
Housing & Employment
Team
Income Project West London
HELP
Life Coaching for TA residents
Lettings Agency scheme
Principles
Stop thinking of work and housing separately (Hills)
Housing need has roots in lack of
livelihood
Embed employment and training services
alongside housing options to raise
and capture aspirations
Co-location of welfare rights services and JCP with housing options
Learning so far• Evidence based research and decision making!
• Scaling up to have maximum impact-beyond pilots/baubles/good practice models.
• The importance of partnership working-easier said than done, aligning cultures, targets and resources
•
• Recession highlights the importance of training and capacity building for residents
• Employment can be key to expanding housing choice- but is only part of the holistic housing options picture
• Staff transformation from “Housing assessor” to “Housing Mentor” is med-long term and not without challenges.
• Openness & willingness to share ideas and approaches is crucial
Real people in jobs;
“A role model for all the other staff”
Making a difference
Thank you
Gareth Mead
Assistant Director (Housing Options)
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
0208 753 5344
