Guide to Government housing changes

The government’s changes will not affect our existing tenants but there are housing benefit changes which came into effect on 1 April 2011 which may affect you.

This is a short guide to the changes, for more detailed information see the Directgov website.

Setting rents

For existing tenants, there will be no change to the way that we set our rents. However, the government wants to change the funding system for building new homes – providing less government subsidy but allowing housing associations to charge higher rents.

The higher rents would apply to the new homes and to some relets. This will affect new tenants and existing tenants who transfer to new homes, and may affect existing tenants who transfer to relets.

We are waiting for more information about how this system will work, before deciding whether we want to develop more new homes on this basis. We are keen to keep developing if we can, because so many people need homes. But it is also important that customers can afford the homes we build. We will let you know when we have worked out what we are going to do.

Tenancies

For existing tenants, there will be no change to their tenancy.  However, the government wants most tenants who move into new homes to be on fixed term tenancies.

Catalyst and the Catalyst Residents Federation have argued that housing associations should be able to make their own decisions about the types of tenancy they offer and we believe that the Government has accepted this.

This is very important because we want to be free to allow existing tenants to carry their current tenancy agreement to any home that they transfer to. Catalyst will develop its tenancy policy and we will update you about this as soon as we can.

Housing Benefits

Future changes to housing benefits include the following:

• Over the next three years, the government intends to increase the amount it deducts from housing benefit if there is an adult living in your household for whom you do not claim benefit (e.g. grown up child)
• From April 2012, single people under 35 will only be able to claim the shared room rate and will therefore no longer be able to claim benefit for a self contained one bedroom flat and will instead have to claim for a room in shared accommodation or a bed-sit
• From April 2013, housing benefit will be restricted for some people living in a property that is bigger than their household size

Other changes to housing benefit

The government is also proposing some other housing benefit changes that may affect some tenants including combining all the different benefits and other payments that people are entitled to into one universal credit with a maximum limit of £26,000 per year per household.

We have campaigned along with a number of other housing associations and as a result the government no longer intends to reduce the amount of housing benefit that can be claimed by jobseekers who fail to accept a job within 12 months.

We will provide further information about these changes as more information becomes available. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact your neighbourhood manager.