When meeting ministers, The Almshouse Association continues to emphasise the importance of providing long term guidance and stability so our members can budget over a longer term.

Today (4 Jan 2024) the Regulator of Social Housing (RSL) published its annual rent limit guidance document. This latest Policy Statement on Rents for Social Housing applies to 2024/25 increases and confirms a maximum 7.7% for social housing rent increases ( i.e. the September CPI (6.7%) + 1% = 7.7%) from April 2024.

Annual adjustment of formula rent
Every year, the annual September Consumer Price Index figure is used to establish the limit on annual rent increases for social housing. The RSL’s Annual Rent Limit Guidance document document contains adjusted tables to help providers ensure that they use the correct annual percentage to increase their rent. It also provides the additional data needed to work out formula rent for new properties.
Full guidance on how to calculate formula rents can be found in the Policy Statement on Rents for Social Housing (Policy Statement) which is published on the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities website. The Policy Statement sets out the government’s policy on rents from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Whilst almshouse charities do not charge rent, and government guidance does apply to Registered Providers’ weekly maintenance charges, non-registered provider almshouse charities may want to use the information for information/ guidance purposes. Please also see our guidance here:
https://www.almshouses.org/news/wmc-specimen-outline-budget-2024/

posted 4 January 2024

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……census submission deadline extended…… Dear Members The Great Almshouse Census has now hopefully been received by all our main charity contacts via email, but just in case it has gone astray, we are also including a link in this website post. Please ensure only one census is completed per charity so please check to see who in your charity is responsible for completing it before you start. The survey should take you between 5-10 minutes to complete. We would be most grateful if the census could be returned by the end of January 2024, but do please let us know if you need more time. (If the information is not at your fingertips we would rather a “best guess”  over non-completion – so don’t worry too much about detailed investigation, ballpark figures are fine.) Please click here to access the census Why are we doing it? We are trying to protect the character and status of almshouses and influence local and national government to treat almshouses as a very worthwhile and valuable service to the community. To do this we need to speak with confidence about the almshouse model and those it serves. We also need to keep developing our service to meet your current and future needs – to make your lives as trustees and clerks easier and, working with you, plan ahead for the long term. Every question here has been ‘sweated over’ to make sure we are only asking questions that we know will be of value to you as members and the Association when making the case for support. Once completed we think the evidence produced will help put us in a very robust position to speak about the amazing contribution almshouse charities make in today’s society. We will gather the data and share it back with all our members before working with local and national government on a long-term engagement and profile raising project. We know you are all so busy but your help in completing the census will be invaluable, and we promise we won’t ask you to do the same next year – this will serve for a good few years to come. Thank you so much in advance. It’s really appreciated. Warmest regards Nick Phillips CEO The Almshouse Association

NB: If you would like to view the census, before you start it, please click here for a downloadable pdf copy. Please do, however, complete the census online using the link above

30 November 2023, updated 21 December 2023

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Almshouses have been recognised in Government response to consultation on Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill 2023

As you are no doubt aware, there has been a significant debate on the National Planning Policy Framework. The Almshouse Association has called for this debate and is largely responsible for the questions in the debate around affordable housing definition. We believe that the charity model of almshouses should be included in this definition and have made that position ….. (probably tiresomely) clear to The Secretary of State. (many thanks to you all for your many letters.)

The results of that consultation were released on 20 December 2023 and can be accessed via:

Government response to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy consultation – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

You will see that we were influential in two aspects: Q26/27

Key points:

• There was widespread agreement that community-led housing and almshouses have an important contribution to make in boosting housing supply and supporting affordable housing delivery.
• The responses focused on the requirement in the current definition of ‘affordable housing for rent’ that the landlord must be a registered provider of social housing. That requirement is seen by some as a barrier to non-registered organisations providing new affordable housing.  Many responses suggested that the removal of the registered provider test is widely seen as being helpful in enabling more community-led groups and almshouses – and potentially other organisations – to deliver more housing.
• There was widespread agreement that, in the absence of a registered provider test, some other strong safeguards would be needed to ensure good landlord practice, appropriate standards and appropriate pricing.
• Several respondents suggested that the current registration scheme may be the best way of ensuring adequate standards are maintained.
• In many cases, it was not clear from the responses that those who supported the proposal (that is, that the definition of ‘affordable housing for rent’ should be amended) were clear about why the current restrictions are in place. No respondents suggested that the removal of the registered provider test need to be accompanied by some other form of regulation or safeguarding of standards.
• Although not explicitly asked within the question, many responses included comments about accommodation falling within the definition of affordable housing not being affordable in practice.

The Almshouse Association is working with The Department of Levelling, Communities and Housing to see how this translates into change that local and national government can use to support the almshouse model – a small step forward. We will keep you in informed

posted 21 December 2023

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We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Christmas break and thank you for all your dedication and hard work in supporting almshouses, your residents and the almshouse movement throughout the year.

As we all look forward to 2024, we hope that it is a happy and special year for everyone.

Our office opening times over the Christmas break are as per the below:

posted 19 December 2023

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Paving the way for the next generation of Regional Meetings

We are delighted to announce a new, streamlined process that empowers members to independently host a Regional Meeting. Through this innovative initiative, our primary goal is to help support increased collaboration and engagement among our members.

We believe that restructuring our Regional Meetings will enable more of our members to facilitate informal gatherings, fostering mutual support as well as nurturing the strong sense of community that characterises the almshouse movement.

What’s New?

We have developed a user-friendly template to make hosting regional meetings easy. Whether you’re a seasoned event organiser or new to this role, this resource will be invaluable in planning and executing a successful meeting.

Support

If you encounter any challenges or have questions along the way, we are here to support you.  Send us the date and timings for your meeting in our email invitation template along with information on your guest speaker and we will email members your invitation.

Getting Started

Read our checklist before organising a meeting to ensure you have the facilities to be able to support an event. Using our template invitation, you can then decide on a date and timings and source a guest speaker/s.

Once we have received these details, we can then organise for the invite to go out and will include your contact details so they can connect with you directly.

Share your success

We’d love to hear about your experiences and success stories with this new process. If you have any feedback or suggestions for improvement, please don’t hesitate to reach out to gerryharmon@almshouses.org. Your input will help us continue to enhance this initiative for almshouse members.

We look forward to seeing the continued positive impact of these regional meetings and the collaboration they will foster among our members.

Please do get in touch with Member Services if you need more information at admin@almshouses.org.

posted 7 December 2023

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Policy and Governance update – Autumn Statement, Decarbonisation fund, Pension Credit, Social Housing Act, Pets in Almshouses

Latest Policy and Governance legislation that could impact and/or may require action from our member charities, with links to further information where applicable:

Autumn Statement

The Government’s announcement in the Autumn Statement to unfreeze Local Housing Allowance has been welcomed in the housing sector together with the decisions to uplift benefits payments in line with 6.7% inflation and state pension by 8.5%. 

The Government is looking at updating Work Capability Assessments as part of wider efforts to help more disabled people and those with heath conditions into work, together with long term unemployed.

Visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/employment-support-launched-for-over-a-million-people  

Decarbonisation Fund

Wave 2.2. of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund opened on 20 November with a deadline of 19 January 2024, with £80m of additional funding, for match funding delivery through to 31 March 2026.  Whilst applications with fewer than 100 eligible social housing properties can be considered, the preference is for applications for at least 100 homes, a number which could be reached via a consortium from eligible applicants including registered charities that own social housing.  Visit: https://www.salixfinance.co.uk/schemes/social-housing-decarbonisation-fund-wave-22  

This builds on the £778m in Wave 2.1., but the Government did not choose to release the full £3.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, which seems a missed opportunity both in terms of financial and energy savings, and we hope this will be rectified in the Spring Budget – which is likely to be the last major financial change before the next General Election.  

The announcement of an additional £3bn for the Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme, which can be accessed to finance works to improve the quality of existing homes as well as for new much needed affordable housing, has been welcomed by the National Housing Federation, as this measure is aimed at Housing Associations with registered providers being offered loans of up to 30 years to build affordable housing.  

A further £450m had been announced for a future Round 3 of the Local Authority Housing Fund, which whilst most commonly used by Local Authorities to build homes, does provide scope to work with other housing bodies. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-housing-fund 

Countdown to Deadline Day: Claim Pension Credit by 10 December and score extra £300 

Those who apply before the deadline could qualify for an extra £300 Cost of Living boost thanks to Pension Credit backdating rules. The average Pension Credit award is worth over £3,900 per year and it opens doors to other support, including help with housing costs, council tax and heating bills. 

Visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/countdown-to-deadline-day-claim-pension-credit-by-10-december-and-score-extra-300

Social Housing Act 2023

Members will likely have seen that the Social Housing Act includes Consumer Standards. The Association has been working with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to amend this aspect of the Bill through its progress in Parliament and has gained a small but important phrase in the Act. The phrase provides confirmation that the Consumer Standards will only apply to Registered Housing Providers (RHPs) and whilst this is helpful it is only half the battle. We are now working with The Charity Commission and DLUHC to seek exemption from a number of aspects of the Act as it stands:

• Mutual Exchange – clearly unlikely to work for our members as their Scheme dictates the characteristics of the resident.
• Resident Management – whilst we are sure you are regularly consulting and engaging with residents it is only trustees who can make the decisions on the management of the almshouse charity.
• Tenancy Standards – clearly not been designed around Licence to Occupy and will need some unpicking.
• Qualification – we are making a case for exemption for almshouse charities as we believe that asking trustees to complete a qualification on top of their existing commitment is not reasonable.

We realise that the aspect requiring RHPs to be responsible for anti-social behaviour in neighbourhoods is likely to be placing an unreasonable burden on members but the measures are based on reasonableness so hopefully that will be sufficient.

Pets in Almshouses

The Association is also watching the Renters Reform Bill as this also carries obligations that you may not be able to meet, although the wording in the Bill is changing to show “reasonable” steps. The only area where you will need to amend your policy is on allowing pets with the default position being to allow unless you have a strong reason not to. If you do not currently allow pets you may need to review the reasons for not allowing pets and add to your policy.

posted 30 November 2023

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The Almshouse Association welcomes CPRE report on Rural Affordable Housing in England

CPRE has published an important report on rural affordable housing in England “Unravelling a crisis: The state of rural affordable housing in England”, stating that homelessness in the countryside has surged by 40% in just five years.   

The report has a number of findings and recommendations which The Almshouse Association welcomes and notes may also apply to urban areas, e.g. the impact of short term lets on local housing markets, supporting small scale community developments and why ‘affordable rent’ is not always the best measure of affordability for housing.  

The full report can be accessed via a link.  The CPRE along with The Almshouse Association are part of the “Rural Homelessness Counts Coalition” which is looking for people with either lived experiences of rural homelessness or community representatives supporting people facing rural homelessness, to help spread the word as case studies. 

If you are interested, please contact our Policy and Engagement Office, Charles Fifield via charlesfifield@almshouses.org  .

29 November 2023

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The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act (LURA) received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. There are a number of key elements within it that will be of particular importance to almshouse charities:

• Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), will be retained by Greater London and Wales, but replaced in the rest of England by a new Infrastructure Levy (IL) system, which will be non-negotiable and set locally. It will also eventually replace s.106 contributions.
• Local Authorities must provide an exemption for Charities from IL using property for a charitable purpose, full details are within Schedule 12, Part 1.
• CIL/IL itself can be used for a wider range of “infrastructure” including “affordable housing” which is defined as:
  • (a) social housing within the meaning of Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, and
  • (b) any other description of housing that CIL / Infrastructure Levy regulations may specify.
    
    This is a very important clause, as it could allow almshouses as community housing to be considered as “affordable housing” for the purposes of receiving funding from CIL / Infrastructure Levy. 

Another potential source of funding will be from Community Land Auctions (CLA), where the receipts can be put towards infrastructure on a similar basis to CIL / Infrastructure Levy with “affordable housing” again defined as

• (a) social housing within the meaning of Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, and
• (b) any other description of housing that CLA regulations may specify.

The Almshouse Association has been lobbying hard for almshouses to be included within the definition of “affordable housing” within the regulations which will follow LURA in due course. For those members who are Registered Housing Providers, the National Housing Federation has produced a useful summary of LURA at: www.housing.org.uk/news-and-blogs/news/levelling-up-and-regeneration-bill-receives-royal-assent/

There are a wide range of other matters, such as planning and regeneration within LURA and also a section to do with Heritage which updates the Listed Buildings Act.

The full text of LURA 2023 can be found here: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/55/enacted

• Part 4 – Infrastructure Levey and Community Infrastructure Levy (pages 164-166)
• Schedule 12 – Infrastructure Levey – Part 1 England – Part 2 Consequential amendments (pages 440-469).

posted 9 November 2023

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