A Ddylen Ni Adeiladu Cartrefi Llai ? Should We Be Building Smaller Homes?

2. A Ddylen Ni AdeiladuCartrefiLlai?Should We Be Building Smaller Homes? Steve Jones, Tai Ceredigion Cyf Steve.jones@taiceredigion.org.uk Twitter: SteveJones93 Thursday 13 March 2014

3. Tai Cymru a Ddefaid – Wales Housing and Sheep

4. Cyflwno Tai Ceredigion Cyf a fi • Established in 2009 as a Large Scale Voluntary Stock Transfer • 2227 Ceredigion County Council homes and 140 RTB leaseholds transferred • Ceredigion – 78K rural population - 47% speak Welsh (was 52%) • Board made up of 5 Council nominees, 5 Elected Tenants, and 5 Independent members – committed to deliver bilingual services • Mainly general needs family housing plus 9 sheltered schemes • 61 % of tenants on full or partial housing benefit • £35m homes improvement programme 2010-15 to meet Welsh Housing Quality Standard by spring 2015 • Developing before 2015 was not in the script! Regeneration DNA

5. Tai Ceredigion Stock Profile/Bedroom Tax • Stock Size • Stock Type • Welfare Reform Impact

6. Dysgu o Hanes - Learning from History • Pre 1988 – Housing Corp of England (Some really bad examples of one bedroom,stack it high, maximise subsidy development) • 1988 Housing Act – Thatcher’s gift to Wales! RTB, Insecure tenancies, Tai Cymruquango (Scottish Homes equiv), and the Poll Tax (Moved to Highlands!) • Tai Cymru – Development Quality Requirement – pattern book, and virtually no small 1 bed properties allowed – had to justify the need for 1 beds • 1997 Devolution and the “Burning of the Quangos” • Welsh Government took over housing directly and has not followed the #bettertogether way of reducing social housing grant rates and pushing up rents. • Design Quality Requirements still in place but more flexibility for market rent and mixed tenure grant rates – 7500 homes Welsh Government target

7. Welsh Government and Welfare Reform • Political opposition to London centric Bedroom Tax • Financial support to local authorities to assess impact and inform affected people • Late decision to protect people from Council Tax subsidy reduction – sustainable? • Social Landlord risks – Annual Financial Viability tests • £20m additional SHG top slice for smaller homes • National report on impact of Welfare Reform published in February 2014 - £930M pa lost to Wales economy!

8. Welsh Housing Association response • Effective lobbying and awareness raising • Award wining “Your Benefits are Changing” campaign • Not for profit “MoneylineCymru” lender of last resort • Increased staffing to provide advice and assistance to tenants to maximise benefits and downsize where possible • Recognition that some South Wales Valleys communities will see increase in voids in three bedroom houses • Review of risks and 30 year financial forecasts • Proactive review of stock profiles and existing development programmes – renewed emphasis on sustainable communities

9. YnoliDdefaid - Back to Sheep • Have we gone Baaaa?! And built 1 beds? • Not really, as some of £20m spent on 2 bed flats and houses. Some quality 1b2p flats. • Starting to see lower demand/voids of 3b5p & 2b4p homes in some areas • Tai Ceredigion focus on needs – new build bungalows for families/persons with disabilities families; and smaller 2b4p houses • Regeneration of Aberystwyth Football stadium with 80 1b2p mixed tenure flats plus social enterprise, training into work and community facilities • Focus on older persons, existing sheltered schemes, extra care and potential for a rural model of extra/residential care.

10. Conclusions – Bring out the Wolf! • The London Bedroom Tax is a dead parrot – time to kill off Universal Credit by #workingtogether again • We should build what is needed, not what a #bluetory #redtory #orangetory London Sheep Lord tells us to do • Build for the long term and remember history • Make history on 18th September 2014 and show Wales the way forward! #ymlaen #forward @stevejones93