The cover picture above is of what was the Heygate Estate in Elephant and Castle, South London. I live and work near by.
A veritable Marmite of a housing development it was both loved and hated. It was also the setting for attack the block apparently. For a much better analysis of the Heygate estate than I could offer please read Ian Steadman's article for the New Statesman.
I took this photo of one of the main buildings about a months ago from Elephant station platform... 1 I think. Two weeks later I was again on the platform and I noticed a distinct absence, the building had gone!
They are currently demolishing the Heygate Estate, an estate of flats owned and managed by Southwark Council. It is being replaced by a public - private partnership development with some "affordable housing" written into the contact. Southwark have been criticise for this re-development as many of the old tenants have been moved out of the area.
What ever the truth of the Heygate re-development the image struck me as a depiction of dramatic change in London's social housing. The move towards using PRS as a social housing solution in London is likely to be a dramatic change as well.
A final oddity, when they started knocking down the buildings a forest was revealed!
The intention of this blog is to examine the private rented sector in London and the UK as a solution to social housing demands. I am interested in practical, political and ethical issues surrounding housing. My hope is that my dissertation research and what I come across at work (as a floating support worker) will bring some interesting insights.
Monday 23 June 2014
PRS solution?
A bit about me. I'm a post grad politics student writing my dissertation, which I finally got around to starting today. The introduction is laid out so the rest should be easy, right? I am also a support worker for a large homeless charity working in London.
The question is about the public management of the private rented sector within London as a solution to local authorities housing demands. For those who don't know about the common problems of using privately owned properties as social housing you should check out the following report produced by the London Mayor's office:
http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Final%20PRS%20Scoping%20Paper%2026%20July%202012_1.pdf
According to that report in 2010 1 in 4 London households rented privately, this number continues to increase. What is also increasing in the amount of people presenting as homeless to local authorities being passed on to the private rented sector. Why? Well because housing local authority (council housing) stock is decreasing while waiting lists continue to rise. There is simply not enough social housing to meet demand. See the 2012 - 13 publication on local authority housing stock by the department of communities and local government.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/266691/Local_authority_housing_statistics_2012_13.pdf
Now I work for a charity which supports homeless people. My job is to support those people once they move into their own flats, in large part to sustain their tenancies. Many of my clients come from another part of the organisation which houses people in private rented accommodation, these people are referred to my organisation from local authorities. In other words local authorities are contracting out the procurement and management of PRS solutions to people presenting as homeless to their housing options departments.
I can tell you from first hand experience, that my organisations PRS team do a great job of housing people and under pressure to achieve results to boot! My question is why are local authorities choosing to contract out this service? Do they think charities can do the job better? Is their efficiency savings to be gained? Is there another reason? These are the question I will be attempting to answer in my dissertation and I will be posting what I find interesting on this blog as I come across them.
The question is about the public management of the private rented sector within London as a solution to local authorities housing demands. For those who don't know about the common problems of using privately owned properties as social housing you should check out the following report produced by the London Mayor's office:
http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Final%20PRS%20Scoping%20Paper%2026%20July%202012_1.pdf
According to that report in 2010 1 in 4 London households rented privately, this number continues to increase. What is also increasing in the amount of people presenting as homeless to local authorities being passed on to the private rented sector. Why? Well because housing local authority (council housing) stock is decreasing while waiting lists continue to rise. There is simply not enough social housing to meet demand. See the 2012 - 13 publication on local authority housing stock by the department of communities and local government.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/266691/Local_authority_housing_statistics_2012_13.pdf
Now I work for a charity which supports homeless people. My job is to support those people once they move into their own flats, in large part to sustain their tenancies. Many of my clients come from another part of the organisation which houses people in private rented accommodation, these people are referred to my organisation from local authorities. In other words local authorities are contracting out the procurement and management of PRS solutions to people presenting as homeless to their housing options departments.
I can tell you from first hand experience, that my organisations PRS team do a great job of housing people and under pressure to achieve results to boot! My question is why are local authorities choosing to contract out this service? Do they think charities can do the job better? Is their efficiency savings to be gained? Is there another reason? These are the question I will be attempting to answer in my dissertation and I will be posting what I find interesting on this blog as I come across them.
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