Research
theme: Housing and welfare systems
 Universal
Credits: Issues, Opportunities and the Housing
Dimension
Powerpoint presentation by Steve Wilcox (2011)
 Shared
Room Rate of Housing Benefit
An overview of how the SRR currently
works in practice, the challenges it presents
for young people on HB in securing and sustaining
their accommodation. It also considers the implications
of extending the SRR to include claimants aged
up to 35, as has been proposed by government. MORE
Social Housing Allocations, Policy & Practice
This study was undertaken to inform
a CLG policy review and associated consideration
of possible legislative reform. MORE
Evaluation of the Standard Local
Housing Allowance, Pathfinders
The LHA introduces, for the first
time, a flat rate allowance paid according to
household size, which the household can 'spend'
in the private rented sector. The scheme has been
introduced as part of a wider review of Housing
Benefit regulations, and is currently operating
in nine 'Pathfinder' or pilot areas: Blackpool,
Brighton & Hove, Conwy, Coventry, Edinburgh,
Leeds, Lewisham, North East Lincolnshire and Teignbridge.
The new regulations were implemented by authorities
over the period November 2003 to February 2004.
An evaluation of the operation of
the LHA has been commissioned by the Department
for Work and Pensions. The Centre for Housing
Policy is working as part of a consortium of universities,
together with the National Centre for Social Research,
which will complete all the large-scale survey
work. Further
details
Origins of Security and Insecurity
(OSIS): the interplay of housing systems with
jobs, household structures, finance and social
security
CHP is one of ten partners in this EU-funded
project, looking across Europe at the risks and
rewards of home ownership as a tenure. Further
details and links
Paying The Mortgage ? A Systematic
Literature Review of Safety Nets for Homeowners
This systematic review is intended to demonstrate
how the method of systematic reviewing can be
applied to a complex policy area. The review has
sought to collate and synthesise current evidence
relating to interventions that are intended to
support mortgagors in financial difficulties,
and to determine "what works". Sustainable
homeownership is a key housing policy goal. Owner
occupation is a diverse tenure, and mortgagors
are exposed to a range of risks that may result
in a loss of income, including unemployment, relationship
breakdown, sickness or an accident. Current safety
net provision relies on both public and private
provision to assist homeowners who are unable
to work. There is some concern that the present
public-private partnership does not cover the
range of risks that mortgagors may face in meeting
mortgage commitments. The review considered four "safety
nets" for mortgagors in unforeseen financial
difficulties: Income Support for Mortgage Interest
(ISMI), Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance
(MPPI), other types of private insurance and flexible
mortgages.
Read
the executive summary of the review of Safety
Nets for Homeowners (pdf format, 330kb)
Read the Review
Protocol for the review of Safety Nets for Homeowners (pdf
format, 234kb)
Dispersed Foyers: A New Approach?
An Evaluation of the Shortlife Plus Project
This evaluation of a dispersed foyer was conducted
by Deborah Quilgars. The Short-life Plus Project,
developed by Solon Wandsworth HA and Grenfell
HA, in partnership with four South London boroughs.
Set up in 1997, with funding from the Single Regeneration
Budget, the pilot project tested the effectiveness
of a package of linked services, operated according
to foyer principles, but consisting of a network
of short-life housing, existing local training
and employment resources, and support from a specialist
management service. Read
more about the dispersed foyer research
Young People, Housing and the Transition
to Adult Life
 As
a result of social, economic and household changes,
the previously relatively ordered sequence of
education, employment, partnership, saving and
securing independent housing - which even in the
early 1980s characterised the lives of many young
people - is being challenged. Housing careers
are likely to be more varied and housing outcomes
more plural than was previously the case. This
ESRC funded research, which ran from 1999 to 2001
was designed to investigate the impact of these
changes. Read
more about the research into Young People, Housing
and the Transition to Adult Life (external site).
See also Ford, J., Rugg, J. and Burrows, R. "Conceptualising
the Contemporary Role of Housing in the Transition
to Adult Life in England", Urban
Studies, 39, 13, 2002.
Supporting People Information Guides
on services for older people and services for
homeless people
The
Centre for Housing Policy has produced guides
to accommodation and support options for older
people and for homeless people as part of the
Supporting People programme for ODPM These
information guides are designed to explain the
range of housing related support services for
older people and homeless people that can be funded
via the Supporting People Programme. They are
designed as an aid to Supporting People Teams,
Core Strategy Development Groups, the Commissioning
Body, service providers and other interested parties
such as elected members. Visit
the Supporting People Knowledge Web for more information
Unsafe Safety Nets
Current Government policy is directed towards
mortgage borrowers protecting themselves from
loss of income following unemployment, accident
or sickness through the take-up of private insurance
and the State safety-net for mortgagors has been
cut substantially. The effectiveness of mortgage
payments protection insurance (MPPI) has been
assumed. Research carried out by Elaine Kempson,
Janet Ford and Deborah Quilgars has evaluated
the effectiveness of both MPPI and the diminished
State provision for those on Income Support/Job
Seeker's Allowance (ISMI).
Elaine Kempson, Deborah Quilgars and Janet Ford
(1999) Unsafe Safety Nets York: Centre
for Housing Policy. Visit the Joseph
Rowntree Website and read the findings for this
research
The Single Room Rent: Its Impact
on Young People
The introduction of the single room rent in 1997
introduced restrictions on housing benefit payments
to young claimants under the age of 25. This 1998
research, based on case study work in six locations
and interviews with 56 young people, assessed
the impact of the introduction of the new regulation. Read
more about the single room rent research.
Young People, Housing and Social
Policy
This book edited by Dr
Julie Rugg and features work principally
by CHP researchers. The chapters explore
varied facets of the housing experience of
young people in a context that increasingly
restricts the access of many people under
25 to secure, long-term and affordable accommodation. Read
more about Young People and Social Policy.
Getting a job, finding a Home:
capturing the dynamic of the rural youth transition
This project was funded by theJoseph Rowntree
Foundation as part of its Action in Rural Areas
programme. The research is based in the two
largely rural areas of Richmondshire and Hambleton
in North Yorkshire, and has used the electoral
register to formulate a random selection of
500 young people who were 21 at the time of
first contact. These young people have completed
a questionnaire about their housing and employment
histories, and 60 have been selected at random
for detailed interview. The research has collected
material to enable the research team to analyse
connections between housing and employment
histories in the particular context of growing
up in a rural area. The project reported in
1999 and was undertaken by Dr Julie Rugg and
Dr Anwen Jones. Visit
the Joseph Rowntree website and read the research
findings on Getting a job, finding a Home:
capturing the dynamic of the rural youth transition.
Taking the Strain? The impact
of changes to the Housing Benefit regulations
on housing associations
This 1997 paper reports on two elements in
a wider research project undertaken jointly
by the National Housing Federation and the
Centre for Housing Policy. The wider research
project examines the impact of changes to the
Housing Benefit regulations on housing association.
The paper focuses on direct evidence of the
impact of the Housing Benefit restrictions
on eligible rent levels in housing association
cases, and the initial evidence on the operation
of the new system of Housing Benefit rent limits
for private and housing association tenants
introduced in January 1996. Read
more about the Taking the Strain? research.
Bridging the Gap? Safety-Nets
for Mortgage Borrowers
In October 1995, restrictions came into effect
that changed the State safety net provisions
for mortgagors who experience the loss of all
their income through either accident, ill-health
and/or unemployment. This research report examines
whether private insurance has bridged the gap
left by the withdrawal of State support and
the changing relationship between State and
private safety net provision.
Janet Ford and Elaine Kempson (1997) Bridging
the Gap? Safety-Nets for Mortgage Borrowers York:
Centre for Housing Policy Visit
the Joseph Rowntree Website and read the
research findings
Into Work? The impact of housing
costs and the benefit system on people's decisions
This report explores the extent and ways in
which tenants and mortgagors take account of
housing costs and housing benefits in their
decision to accept employment. The report suggests
that there is considerable evidence that many
unemployed individuals and households disregard
the clear unemployment trap associated with
the operation of the benefits system and accept
employment that results in them being financially
disadvantaged vis-a vis their previous position
as claimants. The study explores this behavioural
response and identifies a number of potential
consequences.
J Ford, E Kempson and J. England, (1996) Into
Work? The impact of housing costs and the
benefit system on people's decisions to work York:
Joseph Rowntree Foundation/York Publishing
Services. Visit
the Joseph Rowntree Website and read the
findings for this research
Housing Benefit and Service
Charges
This major review of the service charge element
of Housing Benefit conducted for the then Department
of Social Security was an important precursor
to the Supporting People changes. This work
also had particular relevance to housing and
community care because of the extensive role
that Housing Benefit service charges were playing
in would what become Supporting People services
The results of this research were published
as Oldman, C.; Quilgars, D. and Oldfield, N.
(1996) Housing Benefit and Service Charges (DSS
Research Report Number 55) London: The
Stationery Office
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