G15 warns vital community schemes are at risk without ‘urgent action’ from government

News13 Nov 2024Michael Lloyd

The G15 has warned that vital community schemes that its members provide are at risk “without urgent action” from the government.

Community services provided to housing association residents include food security initiatives (picture: Alamy)

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The G15 has warned that vital community schemes that its members provide are at risk “without urgent action” from government #UKhousing #SocialHousingFinance

The group of London’s largest not-for-profit housing associations said that its members play a “vital, often unrecognised” role in supporting vulnerable residents.

In its report Room to Grow: Supporting London’s Communities, the G15 said these “important” services that are provided to residents include employment programmes, food security initiatives and financial guidance. The services plug the gaps in state services, according to the report.

In 2022-23 these schemes created £23m in ‘social value’ – a measure of the broader benefits to individuals, communities and society – for residents, London and the UK. This was through enhancing financial comfort and resilience, and increasing residents’ ability to pay housing costs.

“Not-for-profit housing associations are proud to play an essential role in the lives and communities of our residents, creating room to grow whether helping with skills and employment opportunities, financial education, healthcare support and so on,” said Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chair of the G15 and chief executive of L&Q.

“Without targeted government support, we face an impossible dilemma: we cannot continue to provide the critical services our residents rely on while delivering the affordable and social homes that are key to solving London and the UK’s housing crisis.”

While the government is consulting on a rent settlement of at least five years, the G15 has called for a 10-year rent settlement to provide the “financial stability necessary for future projects”.

Without this stability, and without clarity on accessing the Building Safety Fund or a rent convergence mechanism, not-for-profit housing associations cannot effectively balance their roles of supporting their existing tenants and building new homes, the group said.

“London’s housing crisis demands bold action,” Ms Fletcher-Smith said. “The government must acknowledge the vital role we play and provide the support needed to ensure we can continue to serve our residents while delivering the homes London desperately needs.”

The report said that several G15 members have taken difficult decisions to cut back on their social impact work so that they can prioritise the “essential core work of repairs and upgrades”.

“Further cutbacks are inevitable without a boost to housing associations’ finances,” the G15 said in its report.

“This is why we need government to step in. As a first step, we’re calling on government to publish a new, long-term rent settlement for a minimum of 10 years, with cast-iron guarantees so that it can’t be amended partway through.

“Greater certainty over our key source of income would allow us to go beyond our core activity of building and maintaining affordable homes and recommit to our vital role in London’s communities.”

‘Room to Grow’: case studies

The report showed that in 2022-23, teams from G15 members provided 67 money guidance projects and 75 food security initiatives, which collectively supported 32,000 people.

G15 projects helped 6,486 people to achieve job starts or accredited training in 2022-23.

The G15 highlighted some of the community services its members provide.

These included Peabody’s hospital discharge services in Hackney, Clarion Futures’ jobs and training programme, Southern Housing’s cost of living project and A2Dominion’s financial inclusion offer.

Other case studies highlighted were Hyde and Southern Housing’s Islington food pantry and The Guinness Partnership’s collaboration with the Rio Ferdinand Foundation.

Peabody’s hospital discharge service provides specialist homes for patients who are ready to be discharged from hospital but are experiencing homelessness. With an average saving of £600 per night per bed, Peabody’s services have saved the NHS approximately £3.3m since 2017.

Meanwhile Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group, is one of the biggest jobs and training programmes in the country. This has supported more than 55,000 people into jobs and training since 2017.

Southern Housing’s cost of living project brings together a variety of teams to help insulate residents from the cost of living crisis.

In 2023-24 it provided money guidance to 4,853 residents, securing £8.3m in additional income, grants, benefits and savings, and distributed £1.05m in discretionary payments to 5,484 households to prevent acute financial crises and potential evictions.

A2Dominion’s financial inclusion offer supports residents to maintain their tenancies and prevent unnecessary evictions.

It provides varied support, including benefit advice and budgeting, and in 2023-24 it helped more than 2,000 residents to claim over £9.5m in grants, benefits and funding.

Hyde and Southern Housing’s food pantry in Islington offers healthy and sustainable food. A weekly membership cost of £3.50 gives customers a minimum of £15 of groceries.

In addition, The Guinness Partnership’s collaboration with the Rio Ferdinand Foundation provides opportunities for young people to improve their employability and life skills.