Housing and Poverty Dundee Fairness Commission Douglas Robertson Email d.s.robertson@stir.ac.uk
Presentation Overview Housing & poverty Housing costs & the experience of poverty Housing & poverty changes over time Housing: critical to welfare cuts Differential spatial impacts Home, not housing - critical notion for future planning
Housing & poverty Housing was long considered to be the wobbly pillar of welfare state that was wrong Council housing long excluded the poor and non traditional households Slum clearance exception, but consequence of health considerations Slum clearance housing long stigmatised, & still sites of poverty 70 % of income-deprived households reside outwith these apparently fixed poor neighbourhoods
Housing & poverty Scottish regeneration, long pursued overt physically areabased interventions, with social & economic elements kept quite separate Tacking poverty not co-ordinated, never core Over last decade, physical areabased solutions have disappeared, replaced by nationally conceived policy outcomes, delivered through mainstream local government funding, not dedicated earmarked resources
Housing and poverty Regeneration provided the template fo transforming the operation of local government strategic planning, via Community Planning Partnership, Singl Outcome Agreements & the National Performance Framework with its outcomes focus Yet such an approach was found wantin in the 1960s, with government making resources available to intervene via are based housing & social initiatives
Housing & Poverty : Tenure changes Source: Kenway et al 2015 Council housing long mitigated impacts of poverty now a minority tenure.
Housing & Poverty: Poverty changes Source: Kenway et al 2015 Quarter of those in poverty are now young people (16-29)
Housing & Poverty: Poverty changes Source: Kenway et al 2015 Working poor consequence of labour market changes core group in poverty
Housing and Poverty: PRS & poverty Source: Kenway et al 2015 Poverty becoming most acute within PRS
Housing & Poverty: Housing costs Source: Kenway et al 2015 Housing mitigates poverty in Scotland, but less so within PRS where rent x2 social rents
Housing & Poverty: Housing quality Source: Kenway et al 2015 39 % of household experience fuel poverty and is now most prevalent in PRS
Housing: Critical to Welfare Cuts Housing Benefit: Local Housing Allowance 50th to 30th percentile for setting rents in private rented sector cap on rents based on property size abolition of 15 excess payments age limit for shared accommodation up from 25 to 35 CPI indexation Under-occupation - bed room tax payments to working age claimants in social rented sector set at level that reflects size & age composition of household Non-dependant deductions higher deductions from HB to reflect expected non-dependants contributions
Housing: Critical to Welfare Cuts Other Benefit Changes Household benefit cap cap on total payments to working-age claimants Council Tax Benefit 10% reduction in grant from central government can be passed on only to working age households Disability Living Allowance replacement of DLA by Personal Independence Payments more stringent & regular medical test reduction in number of payment categories
Incapacity Benefits Employment & Support Allowance (ESA) replacing previous benefits tougher medical test Work Capability Assessment re-testing of existing claimants new conditionality in Work-Related Activity Group Time limiting of non-means tested benefit for ESA claimants in Work- Related Activity Group Child Benefit Three-year freeze withdrawal from households with higher earner
Housing: Critical to Welfare Cuts Other Benefit Changes Tax Credits adjustments to thresholds, withdrawal rates, supplements, income disregards & backdating changes to indexation and up-rating reduction in childcare element of WFTC increase in working hours requirement for WFTC 1 per cent up-rating Up-rating by 1 per cent rather than CPI for three years for main working age benefits & LHA element of Housing Benefit
And still to be added to the mix Universal Credit Housing costs & benefits in single monthly payment Not designed to change cash entitlement most of impact will be felt well beyond 2015/16 Income Support for lone parents transfer to JSA, at same rates RPI to CPI up-rating wider public sector accounting reform
Glasgow Edinburgh Pensioner couple 30 30 Single pensioner 50 60 Couple no children 520 300 Couple one dependent child 1,830 1,380 Couple 1 or > dependent children 1,900 1,420 Couple- all children non-dependent 540 320 Lone parent 1 dependent child 2,280 1,720 Lone parent 2 or > dependent child 2,360 1,880 Lone parent non-dependent childr. 720 450 Single person household 680 440 Other with one dependent child 1,840 1,300 Other 2 or > more dependent childr. 1,950 1,380 Other all full-time students 0 0 Other all aged 65+ 30 30 Other 660 440 Household financial losses p.a. Glasgow / Edinburgh Source: Sheffield Hallam estimates based on official data
Less money available to those in work to cover housing costs (rent, council tax & heating)
Differential spatial impacts Source: Hastings, 2015
Differential spatial impacts LA Cuts Source: Hastings, 2015
Differential spatial impacts welfare cuts Annual loss per working age adult p.a. Liverpool 660 Glasgow 580 Birmingham 580 Manchester 560 Nottingham 530 London 490 Newcastle upon Tyne 460 Bristol 450 Cardiff 450 Sheffield 440 Leeds 440 Source: Fothergill (2015) Sheffield Hallam estimates based on official DWP /ONS data
Differential spatial impacts welfare cuts
Home, not housing Home critical to the experience of poverty Home is critical to personal resilience Notion of home should be core to the emerging public policy narrative, given it helps enhance public understanding of both individual & community wellbeing
Home, not housing Both home & neighbourhood critical to how individual s construct their personal understanding of wellbeing Home & its neighbourhood needs to be core to the Scottish Government s National Performance Framework Would allow for a dramatic change in the architecture of current public policy Impact of poverty & cuts will drive this
Co-production of community Opens up a wider debate about how we need to co-produce community, rather than services
Conclusion Poverty is dynamic, & its relationship to housing is also changing due to recent market & public policy changes Impacts of welfare cuts will be substantial, & varied in relation to place & individuals Housing s capacity to help ameliorate the experience of poverty will reduce
Conclusion Housing management becomes the explicit manager of poverty Witnessing overt political agenda ensure instability, & a precarious life Most deprived places will be hardest hit Specific groups of poor people will be hardest hit New poor - young, working & living in the PRS
Key References Fothergill, S (2015) The impact of welfare reform across Britain: initial findings. Centre for Regional Economic & Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University. Hastings, A (2015) Urban Inequality and the Retrenchment of Urban Services in the Age of Austerity, Urban Studies, University of Glasgow. Henway, P et al (2015) Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion in Scotland 2015. York: Joseph Rowntree Trust.
Key References Robertson, D. (2014) Regeneration and Poverty: Policy and practice review. JRF & Centre for Regional Economic & Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University. Robertson, D. et al (2014) Home not Housing: Engaging with Wellbeing Outcomes. Glasgow: Scottish Universities Insight Institute. http://www.scottishinsight.ac.uk/portals/50/home %20not%20Housing/Home%20not%20Housing%20 Final%20Report.pdf