Proposals fall short but the door is opening: Reform of Council Housing Finance

This is the initial response of the Defend Council Housing campaign to the government’s consultation on reform of Council Housing Finance, published on July 21st. The consultation finishes on October 27th.

We said we would measure proposals in the government’s consultation on reform to council housing finance against our long-standing demands – and they fall short.

The consultation document explicitly promises “a level playing field between transfer and retention”. But the demand by tenants, trade unionists, councillors and MPs for a ‘level playing field’ with transfer does not mean levelling the field down to the poverty standards previously on offer for retained council housing.

Housing sale vote deferred

A VOTE on whether to push ahead with plans to sell off 10,500 council homes has been put on ice while Swindon Council considers new rules giving it access to millions of pounds of tenants’ rent.

The delay will give councillors a chance to review the Government’s new proposals, which will be fully revealed in late July, before they finally take their vote in September.

Swindon Council suspends Housing transfer proposal

At last night’s lobby of the Swindon Council meeting, we were informed that the ruling Tory group was withdrawing their resolution proposing to ballot tenants on transfer of our Council housing to a Housing Association. Swindon TUC had called on the ruling group to suspend their proposal in the light of the government consultation on the new Housing Finance system that they are proposing to introduce. The consultation document which will include the detailed proposals as well as the timetable for their introduction, will be published shortly, before the summer Parliamentary recess. (See a Swindon TUC Briefing on Housing Minister John Healey’s statement on the consultation – http://swindontuc.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/swindon-tuc-breifing-government-consultation-on-new-housing-finance-system/ ).

Swindon TUC Briefing – Government consultation on new Housing Finance system

Download this Briefing as a PDF File healeyanalysis

Government Consultation on new Housing Finance system

In a statement from Minister of Housing, John Healey, the government has announced it is producing a consultation document before the summer recess (of Parliament) which will propose to “dismantle the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy system”and replace it with “a devolved system of responsibility and funding”. This is it’s response to the Review of Housing Finance which it recently carried out.

Under the current system the government determines the level of grant which each Council is given. The majority of Councils receive less grant than they raise in rent from their tenants. In the case of Swindon the Council receives £16 million less than it raises in rent. When other allowances, such as Major Repairs Allowance, are taken into account, it suffers a “negative subsidy” of £9 million a year.

Housing – misleading article

A letter from former STUC chair Eileen George in the Swindon Advertiser

YOUR headline ‘Local links to help tackle housing list’ (July 1) is totally misleading. The facts are these: Swindon Borough Council owns 10,500 housing units, most of which are already tenanted. The housing waiting list is as you state 9,923 families. Coun Renard is quite correct to say that this measure will make little difference. It is obvious that only the construction of new council housing can remedy this situation.

This is a meaningless announcement, a panic reaction to recent disastrous election results. If New Labour is really worried that they have lost the traditional working class vote, they need to take serious concrete action to address the concerns of this group, which would mean allowing councils to build new council housing, and ceasing to pressure councils to sell off existing stock.

Trying to create a false division between so-called ‘local applicants’ and others is merely a disgraceful attempt to divert attention from the fact that New Labour has since 1997 continued Tory housing policies in relation to council housing, and is now seeking to evade blame for what is a national housing disaster.

EILEEN GEORGE

Swindon TUC calls on Council to suspend move to transfer Council Housing in the light of government consultation on new Housing Finance system

Swindon TUC Press Release July 8^th 2009

Swindon TUC calls on Council to suspend move to transfer Council Housing in the light of government consultation on new Housing Finance system

Housing Minister John Healey has announced that the government is bringing forward proposals to “dismantle the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy system” replacing it with “a devolved system of responsibility and funding”. The details of the proposals will be published before the summer Parliamentary recess.

Swindon Council must suspend their transfer proposal in the light of a fundamental change in the Housing Revenue system

Letter to the Swindon Advertiser

Following its review of Council Housing finance the government is bringing forward its proposals to fundamentally change the current system. In a statement by the Minister for Housing, John Healey, the government says it is bringing forward a consultation document before the summer recess (of Parliament) on reform of Council Housing finance. The government intends to “dismantle the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy system” replacing it with “a devolved system of responsibility and funding”.

Council Housing – transfer will not address the housing crisis

An Open Letter to Swindon Borough Council’s Conservative Group

Swindon Council’s Cabinet has decided to propose to the full Council meeting on July 16th that the Council tenants be balloted with a view to transferring all the housing stock to a Housing Association. This is a result of the recent ‘options appraisal’ which examined Housing finances over the next 30 years. The ‘consultation process’ was one sided to say the least. Based on a 30 year projection which is questionable (there will be at least six governments in office in this time span) we have been told that there is ‘no alternative’ to the transfer of our Council homes to a Housing Association.

Council Housing – Open Letter to Conservative Group

Swindon Trades Union Council Press Release June 18^th 2009

An Open Letter to the Conservative ruling group of Swindon Borough Council

Swindon TUC has written an Open Letter to the Conservative Group which runs Swindon Borough Council. It deals with the proposal to ballot tenants for a transfer of Swindon’s Council Housing to a Housing Association. This proposal will be put to the full Council meeting on July 16^th.

NHS prescription review delayed until autumn

From the Health Service Journal

The health minister has said a delayed review into the costs of prescriptions will be published in the autumn.

It is expected that the review headed by Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, will include a revised list of conditions exempt from payment following on from charges for cancer patients that were abolished in England in April.

At a cost of more than £150,000 the review has covered “deliberative research, stakeholder workshops and meetings”, but “further work to ensure that proposals can be implemented smoothly and efficiently” has delayed its publication from the original summer due date.

Despite the existing costs minister Mike O’Brien said more spending was likely as Professor Gilmore completed the review.

The government has faced criticism for increasing the price of prescriptions up to £7.20 in April despite calls from the British Medical Association to follow examples set in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and abolish charges altogether.