Some more highlights from the Local Housing Strategy.

Home ownership for the first time buyer is increasingly difficult. Since the onset of the credit crunch in 2008, there has been a continued reluctance from financial institutions to lend as well as increased mortgage deposit requirements, both of which pose barriers to first time buyers.

Whilst mortgage to income ratios may have generally increased (possibly as a result of lower interest rates), clearly there are implications for first time buyers. Typically a first time buyer in Aberdeenshire would require a deposit of around £26,250 to purchase an ‘entry level’ house at £125,000.

More households are seeking rehousing and Aberdeenshire Council’s waiting list has almost doubled from 3,637 applicants in 2002 to 7,084 applicants in 2011. Furthermore, homelessness presentations have continued to increase with 1,107 presentations in 2002 to 1,772 in 2011. Social rented lets across Aberdeenshire – both local authority and registered social landlords relets – averaged 1,018 annually in the four years to 2010/11 demonstrating continued pressure within the social rented sector.

There has been a net loss of social housing stock across Aberdeenshire. Aberdeenshire Council’s housing stock has reduced by 15% mainly through Right to Buy (RTB) sales; falling from 15,125 units in 2002 to 12,851 units in 2011 – an average annual loss of 227 units, with far more houses and larger properties sold than flats and smaller properties. RTB sales have however declined since 2008 due in part to the difficult housing market conditions, changes in RTB legislation and Pressured Area Designation and is expected to remain low in the future.

Let’s hope that the Scottish Government’s consultation on the future of Right To Buy will result in this policy finally being put to bed.

As you will see from my previous post, the consultation document is quite large and there’s a lot of reading in it. Over the next few days, I am going to be highlighting a few issues which may be of interest. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your comments or respond to the consultation online.

Today, I am going to highlight some facts about fuel poverty.

Fuel poverty is caused by three main factors; household income, cost of fuel and the energy efficiency of the home. A household can move in and out of fuel poverty depending on the variables of these causes, therefore the council and its partners will aim to reduce the incidence of fuel poverty through improving the energy efficiency of homes and maximising household income.

Almost one-third of households in Aberdeenshire are living in fuel poverty. Within the private sector, 30% of all households are living in fuel poverty and although 29% of all social sector households are also in fuel poverty, this has reduced substantially from the previous period mainly due to the number of energy efficient measures carried out. The biggest challenge is to encourage private sector households to carry out energy efficient measures in their own home.

Aberdeenshire Council has launched an online consultation on its draft Local Housing Strategy for the next five years. The council is seeking feedback from residents on the draft strategy, which outlines the important issues facing the council and its partners until 2017 across all housing tenures. It deals with all aspects of housing and related issues, including affordable housing, homelessness, fuel poverty, private sector housing, housing for older people or those with a disability, minority ethnic communities, repairs and improvements to council housing, housing management and tenant participation.

The consultation will run until Friday, August 31 and gives residents the chance to have their say on the strategy and what they consider to be the key housing issues for Aberdeenshire.

Chair of Aberdeenshire Council’s Social Work and Housing Committee, Councillor Karen Clark, said: “Engaging with Aberdeenshire residents and finding out their thoughts on strategies such as this one is vitally important to us as a council.

“I would urge people to get involved and give their feedback on the proposed strategy.”

Residents are asked to read the draft strategy then give their feedback on what is currently proposed by visiting

http://aberdeenshire-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal

Shelter Scotland@shelterscotland Unsure of the new tenancy deposit scheme? We’ll be hosting a twitter Q&A on Monday (9th July) at 12.30pm #tendep

With new social rented housing provision being thwarted, the private rental sector (PRS) looks increasingly likely to play a larger part in meeting housing need in Scotland. Local authority landlord registration schemes can play a huge part in ensuring tenants get a fair deal. A much-welcomed consultation by the Scottish Government is due to end on July 10th which aims to improve the quality of the PRS.

The latest good news story for tenants is the recent launch of the Tenants’ Deposit Scheme. Under the scheme landlords must now hand over deposits to an independent third party. It is hoped the initiative which is free for landlords and letting agents will prevent agents holding on to money on false grounds. One scheme is run by SafeDeposits Scotland, a not-for-profit partnership between landlords, agents and tenants, including student body NUS Scotland.

With more than 270,000 households renting from private landlords, about £75m is expected to be transferred to the bodies. Landlords and letting agents have until next May to lodge all deposits, but can start doing so now.

Previously tenants had to take legal action to try to recover deposit money but the regulations give them access to an independent dispute resolution service if the return of a deposit cannot be agreed.

SafeDeposits Scotland chairman Sir Andrew Cubie said: “Too often the actions of a minority of landlords give rise to a negative view of the private rented sector. This is a great day for tenants and good for landlords. We’ve worked for many years to get better protection for tenants in private flats and houses, including of course the tens of thousands of students who live in the private rented sector”.

With new legislation on homelessness coming in to play at the end of 2012, there have been many stories in the media in recent weeks and months regarding homeless statistics. I am always dismayed to see that newspaper pictures are still portraying the homeless as lone, unkempt bundles lying on a pavement. The homeless picture is much bigger than this. This stereotyping ignores the families, couples and single people who are sofa-surfing, staying with friends, staying in temporary accommodation or have no decent affordable place they can call home. With less affordable housing being built, changes to the welfare system which could drive more young people into homelessness and the new legislation whereby all unintentional homeless applicants are obliged to be housed, there are huge challenges ahead.

In March 2011 the number of households on the council waiting list in Aberdeenshire was 6,2o2 but only 847 new lets were available in 2010/11. This means it would take more than 7 years to clear the current waiting list without the pressures mentioned above. I would be interested to hear about any local housing issues whether in the social or private rented sector. Please do not hesitate to contact me.

Applying for housing in Aberdeenshire & Moray has just become a whole lot easier. In the council chambers today at Woodhill House, housing officials from Aberdeenshire Council along with eight partners met with councillors and tenants to launch the new online application service. Anyone applying for council and Housing Association properties previously would have had to complete an application form to each separate organisation. Once registered with Apply 4 Homes, applicants are contacted by all the partners they apply to and information shared to make best use of all stock whether owned by the local authorities or the registered social landlord. This is a huge step forward for local housing and a big benefit to clients who at the end of the day are not particularly worried about who owns the property but have a genuine need to access affordable homes. At the moment, the various housing associations and local authorities have different allocation policies, all of which can be accessed on the website. Head of Service (Housing) for Aberdeenshire Council, Douglas Edwardson spoke at the launch of his vision to see a common housing allocation policy in operation between all housing providers in the future.

Log on here: http://www.apply4homes.org.uk/

As you can see from Shelter Scotland’s report below, it would take more than 7 years to clear the current waiting list for social housing in Aberdeenshire. On Thursday make sure you elect a local councillor who will fight the Scottish Government cuts in the housing budget. The SNP have reneged on their 2011 manifesto which promised 6000 social homes to rent each year for the next four years. We all know the conservatives want to bring back right-to-buy which took almost 3000 homes out of Aberdeenshire stock between 2000-2011 alone.

http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/housing_issues/get_your_housing_facts/aberdeenshire

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on several housing allocation policies. One of the proposals is to create more flexibility for social landlords to decide who should get priority for their housing, for example local letting policies to meet local need. Do you think social landlords should have the flexibility to decide who gets priority for their housing? Please respond to the survey on the right of this page. Please contact me if you want to add further comments.

I’ve just come back from a very busy weekend at the Scottish Liberal Democrats Spring Conference held this year in Inverness. Apart from listening to key speeches from government ministers, attending fringes and training sessions, a favourite part of the Conference is in the main hall when party members debate their policy ideas and if voted for by the membership it then becomes party policy. The Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey local party called on the Scottish Government to reverse the 30% cut it recently made to its housing budget and to give proper priority to the construction jobs and affordable homes that are so badly needed to tackle Scotland’s huge social housing and employment problems and reinvigorate our urban and rural communities. On behalf of the Aberdeenshire West local party, I called for the word “affordable” to be amended to “social housing for rent” as explained in the text of my speech below.

“Aberdeenshire West local party welcomes this motion on the housing crisis and congratulates Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey local party for bringing this debate to conference.

They have raised all the points that we must shout about; from the numbers languishing on waiting lists to the Scottish Government’s refusal to invest in jobs and in the people of Scotland.

As you will see from the conference papers, we are seeking to change  the word “affordable” in line 20 to “social housing for rent”, and I will explain why:

The SNP in their 2011 manifesto promised to build 6000 new “homes for social rent” each year for the next 5 years. Only 4 short months after the Scottish Elections the wording of their housing manifesto had sneakily been changed from “homes for social rent” to “affordable homes”.

In the housing world, the term “affordable” includes schemes such as shared equity, shared ownership and low cost ownership – schemes which require an element of purchase by the applicant. Whilst these schemes are laudible, we have two main concerns –

Most people on waiting lists do not have access to a mortgage. In the present economic climate, social rented housing is not just sought after by the homeless or unemployed; it is needed for our young people looking for a fair start; for our older people perhaps looking to downsize; it is needed for our hard working families and our hard working single people.

If I could steal a quote from Gallen Milne from a different debate yesterday “If you’re a local loon working for a low wage for a farmer in oil-rich Aberdeenshire, what are your housing options?”. They are very few.

Our second concern is that these affordable schemes such as shared equity and shared ownership require very little government investment, leaving local authorities and housing associations to find funding to build these homes.

So, it is very important that we change the word “affordable” to “social housing for rent” so that we don’t let the Scottish Government shirk their responsibility on housing.

We all know the Conservatives would like to see social housing dead and buried; it looks as if the SNP do too. I know that the Scottish Liberal Democrats are the party who will stand up for social rented housing and make sure that it isn’t a 2nd class option but a real opportunity for hard-working people to get on with their lives.

I urge you to support this amendment”.

Speakers came forward on both the motion and the amendment. After a rousing endorsement for the amendment by fellow Scottish Liberal Democrat, Peter Bellarby, councillor for Stonehaven and Lower Deeside and a summation by Kristian Chapman, the amendment was carried unanimously.

Councillors will meet next Thursday, February 9th 2012, to set the council’s housing revenue budget, including rents and charges for the next year.

In line with the council’s main budget, councillors will be asked to consider a five year financial plan to ensure that the organisation is well prepared for the challenges ahead.

They will be asked to support a recommendation to increase council house rents by an average of £2.59 a week, which has been supported by tenants through consultation activity that has taken place. This should ensure that Aberdeenshire rents continue to be below the Scottish average.

It is proposed that rents should be increased by RPI plus 2% for 2013/14 and 2014/15, subject to consultation with tenants and a review of the business plan.

The proposals will contribute towards the implementation of the 30-year housing business plan where there is continued investment in housing stock to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard.

Councillors will also be asked to consider a range of other charges including sheltered housing charges, heating and lighting, garage rents and temporary accommodation. Most charges will rise in line with inflation, although increases to heat and light charges in sheltered housing are proposed to be restricted once again.

Since 2006, sheltered housing tenants have been protected from sustained energy increases by restricting increases in charges to 10% a year. With energy prices predicted to increase to 17.5% over the next year, councillors will be asked to restrict the heat and light charge to 12.1% and the council will continue to invest in delivering energy efficiencies across its housing estate.

Councillors will also be asked to support changes to the pricing model at Greenbanks Travelling Persons Caravan site, with a single charge of £64.35 for up to two stances.

Councillors will discuss the plans at the meeting of full council takes place next Thursday 9th February 2012.