Welcome to HACT
www.hact.org.uk
@HACThousing
A brief history of HACT…
1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s today
Growing, funding
“Cathy Come Home”
generation of
community-focused
HAs Co-founded
Shelter
Shelter
spun
off
Growing focus
on northern,
community
housing
Founded
Homeless
International
Barings funding
Supported
start-up of
c60 new
urban HAs Incubated
Care&Repair/
HIA sector
Growing focus
on migrant groups
Barings
Crash
Focus on community
engagement issues
Significant programmes
around asylum dispersal,
supporting people
Relaunch 2012
Weakening of links
to mainstream sector
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@HACThousing
Current investor/partners
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Strong focus on community,
impact, social purpose
HACT doesn’t campaign or
represent
Historic role as a vehicle for sector
development collaboration,
innovation
www.hact.org.uk
@HACThousing
1960
Being a housing association used to be easy…
1860 1910
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2010
It used to be easy…
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@HACThousing
2010
But now…
X X X
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What are housing associations for?
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Everything is changing everywhere
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Even if the worst avoided in Europe…
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What we do know…
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Regeneration funding
• 2009/10 - £11.189 billion;
• 2010/11 - £7.926 billion;
• 2011/12 £3.872 billion
www.hact.org.uk
@HACThousing
Even if short term stimulus package in autumn, spending cuts likely to last years
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Local government finances facing permanent squeeze
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And the biggest impact is going to be in some of our most deprived communities
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And then you have welfare reform…
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So why worklessness?
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Moral and social mission
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Business opportunity
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Business fundamental going forward…
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Welfare reform upends business models and assumptions about revenue risks….
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@HACThousing
Tacking worklessness is all about derisking your business…
• £40bn historic grant – tempting
to a cash strapped public sector
• Focus on short term v long term
sustainability
• Continued reductions and
uncertainty on welfare benefits
• Outsourcing the risks and costs
of social and economic decline
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@HACThousing
Challenges?
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@HACThousing
Sharing, learning, maximising impact
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@HACThousing
Targeting, vfm, additionality…
88% of housing providers investing in employability and skills
42% have information on employment status of residents
28% linked their work to Work Programme or Jobcentre+
Source: HACT/CESI research April 2012
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Proving value…
“At least 30 differing
approaches to collecting & demonstrating
social value in housing sector”
Source: Snapshot survey conducted by HACT and the University of Birmingham in March 2012
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…and focusing on building long tem resilience, not just short term fixes
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@HACThousing
HACT programme 2012-14
Contact: Matt Leach [email protected]
Register for a demo of Community Insight at www.communityinsight.org
Housing providers’ approaches to tackling worklessness
Assessing Value and Impact
Dave Simmonds, Inclusion
www.hact.org.uk
@HACThousing
Workless social housing residents
• There are 3.5 million workless social housing residents = 56% of working age residents
• 2.2 million or 35% of residents are claiming out of work benefits (other tenures = 8%)
• Between 2011-15 up to 1.6 million social housing residents could be referred to the Work Programme
• This is 27% of all residents and 45% of all referrals
• A further 600,000 are eligible to volunteer for the WP
• Workless social housing residents 4 times more likely to have long-term health conditions or disabilities and 6 times more likely to be lone parents
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@HACThousing
Much being done • Widespread consensus that a housing providers’ role is not
just about bricks and mortar:
‘Our vision is to create prosperous communities, enhance life
chances and maximise people’s opportunities – we see employment and skills as critical elements of this.’
• 88% doing things to help residents into work:
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Childcare provision/support
Jobs targeted specifically at workless people
Enterprise support
Projects providing support to find employment
Apprenticeships
Other information, advice and guidance services
Work experience placements
Money advice
Referrals to other organisations
Training and skills development
Dedicated projects, programmes and interventions Work opportunities
Universal services
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Tighter funding
• 75% used a mix of internal and external funds
• Only 4% were entirely reliant on external funding
• Everyone reporting less funding
• Looking for lower cost projects and innovative ways of working
www.hact.org.uk
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Serving residents and communities
• Social housing residents particularly disadvantaged, but most providers do not limit employment and skills activities to their own
residents...
• ... but only 42% know the level of worklessness among tenants or residents
Residents only,
29%
Both residents and
the wider
community, 71%
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To target or not?
• Half do not prioritise
• Young people a clear priority
• Focus on most disadvantaged and those not served by mainstream
12%
17%
33%
46%
49%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
People with health problems ordisabilities
Parents or lone parents
Long-term unemployed people
Young people
Not prioritising any particular groups
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@HACThousing
Lots of partnerships, but more engagement needed
• Very few housing providers approach worklessness in isolation – they build effective partnerships with other housing providers and with contractors in their supply chains...
• ... but more engagement with mainstream welfare to
work provision is needed: – Only 28% are engaging with/linking up to Work Programme – 35 housing orgs in WP supply chains = 2% of housing sector
www.hact.org.uk
@HACThousing
A wide-ranging approach to capturing value
• 63% of housing providers have mechanisms in place to review the impact and effectiveness of efforts to tackle worklessness...
• ...but a wide disparity in approach is preventing housing providers from comparing their work, benchmarking good practice and communicating their successes
www.hact.org.uk
@HACThousing
Impact of Universal Credit
• Anticipating impact on residents and HAs • Improving support and advice for residents • New conditionality on UC • Financial products and services for residents • Delivering end-to-end support – claiming UC, managing
UC, finding a job, changing UC, moving off UC • Imperatives to join-up provision and avoid duplication
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@HACThousing
Recommendations to housing providers
• Short term: work collectively to understand and benchmark worklessness among residents, in order to target opportunities and interventions and link up with mainstream provision
• Longer term: establish and articulate the sector’s role or roles in a resident’s journey from worklessness into employment
www.hact.org.uk
@HACThousing
Recommendations to prime welfare to work contractors
• Short term: ensure that subcontracting terms allow housing providers to focus on the areas in which they operate and the groups with which they work best
• Longer term: collaborate rather than compete in small areas with high concentrations of social housing and, where appropriate, contract housing providers to manage delivery in these areas
www.hact.org.uk
@HACThousing
Recommendations to government
• Short term: commit to making information on tenants’ receipt of Housing Benefit available to housing providers following the transition to Universal Credit DONE?
• Longer term: reward housing providers for reducing worklessness among residents on a payment by results basis
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In summary
• Target services and opportunities
• Engaging with mainstream provision
• Common approaches to assessing impact and effectiveness
• Meeting the challenges of welfare reform and Universal Credit