The quarterly newsletter of the Nottingham strategic housing network

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Nouse News
Summer 2019




Welcome to the latest edition our quarterly newsletter. Got an article for our next edition? [email protected] 31st Oct 2019.

NPRAS expands its offer to PRS landlords

NPRAS [ www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/housing/private-sector-housing/selective-licensing ]

Nottingham Private Rented Assistance Scheme has been working hard to attract more private sector landlords to help accommodate households facing homelessness. NPRAS already offers a long-standing free service to landlords including elements such as tenant matching, support with benefits and payments, deposits and rent in advance.

In addition to this the scheme now offers a low cost tenancy management service for just 35 per month, covering:
- regular property and gas safety inspections
- rent collection and account management (incl. statements)
- tenancy management and mediation
- check out at the end of tenancy including inspection

This new service would greatly reduce the amount of work landlords have to put into managing their properties while helping relieve the growing local and national homelessness problem. Interested landlords should enquire to [email protected] tel 0115 876 1644. Read more here [ [link removed] ]


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A new deal for private rented sector tenants?

s21

The private rented sector has grown significantly, accounting for roughly a third of homes in Nottingham. Interest in the sector has increased, reflected in recent legislative changes; perhaps the most radical being the proposed ending of Section 21 notices [ [link removed] ] that enable landlords to end tenancies at the end of their term without providing a reason.

In Nottingham loss of a PRS tenancy is a leading reason for homelessness but councils also rely upon the sector for homelessness relief. There is a concern that S21 negatively impacts tenancy security and their proposed scrapping has therefore been broadly welcomed. However landlords often use the notices as an efficient means of ending a tenancy where there has been a tenancy breach, avoiding an alternative slow court process.

What are your views? Have your say on the governments consultation until 12th Octhere [ [link removed] ]


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Landlord Breakfast Briefing what did you miss?

Landlord briefing

On 11th July Nottingham City Councils Safer Housing service facilitated a breakfast briefing for private sector landlords covering legal updates, what landlords should do in cases of modern slavery and selective licensing. Demand was high with all places allocated incredibly quickly and not everyone wishing to attend could be accommodated.

Fortunately some footage of the event, including addresses from speakers Cllr Linda Woodings (Portfolio Holder for Planning, Housing & Heritage) East Midlands Property Owners Giles Inman and Dave Walker, NCC's Head of Safer Housing & ASB, is now available to view here [ [link removed] ]. For a copy of the presentations from the briefing please email [email protected]



Council consults on its allocations policy

Homelink

Nottingham City Council is consulting on its new draft allocations policy until 15th September. The policy required a review to ensure it reflects the latest housing legislation and responds to current local housing demand and choice, while ensuring it remains compliant, fair and transparent in its letting practices.

The policy is used by the Homelink partnership, which covers the vast majority of social housing in Nottingham, including all council housing. The draft policy and consultation are available online here [ [link removed] ].


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Longhurst Group joins Housing First initiative

Longhurst Group is proud to have joined up to an innovative new scheme to help tackle the issue of homelessness in Nottingham. Housing First [ [link removed] ] models, which as the name suggests provides accommodation as a starting point before addressing an individuals often complex support needs, are being introduced across the UK following positive reports of their use in Finland.

Opportunity Nottingham, a service working with people facing multiple disadvantage due to a mixture of complex needs, is one organisation spearheading its use locally. It is working with the city council and some local registered providers including Longhurst to provide accommodation before offering holistic support from a team comprising personal development coordinators, a clinical psychologist and a social worker.

One beneficiary has already been housed successfully, and Longhurst Group looks forward to continuing to work with the project. Read the full article here [ [link removed] ].

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Homes & Places: 100 years of council housing

Homes and Places

2019 sees 100 years since the introduction of the 1919 Housing Act and the advent of council housing. To mark this author Chris Matthews book Homes & Places the story of how council housing and estates have developed and changed over the years in Nottingham - has been revised and expanded.

The second edition includes new photographs and material to bring the story of council housing in Nottingham right up-to-date after first being published in 2015 by Nottingham City Homes, whose Policy and Planning Manager Dan Lucas edited the book as well as providing background research.

A historical map [ [link removed] ] has also been published showing examples of where to find the different types of homes built in Nottingham over the decades. The book is available to purchase from Five Leaves Bookshop [ [link removed] ] but a low-resolution version can be downloaded here.


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NCHA retains position as one of UKs top 50 builders

Top 50

Nottingham Community Housing Association held on to its spot in Inside Housings UK 50 biggest builders list. The provider of low cost social and affordable housing is committed to developing new homes people can afford to live in.

In the last financial year the registered provider invested 35.8m topped up by a further 3.6m of government grant to build almost 300 new homes, helping them secure 44th position for the second year in a row. Read more here [ [link removed] ]


strategy and policy banner
National Right to Rent guidance published

rtr

In May this year changes to the procedure followed when certain foreign nationals enter the UK came into effect, which has required changes tothe government'sRight to Rent guidance [ [link removed] ]. The new guidance covers what sort of reasonable enquiries should be made and what steps are reasonable in verifying tenant ID. All landlords are required to check new tenants have the right to rent and should familiarise themselves with the new guidance.

Landlords should also be aware that some landlord associations and other bodies have expressed concerns [ [link removed] ] that one element of the guidance appears to contravene the policys Code of Practice and are advised to keep themselves updated in the development of this challenge.


nouse banner specialist housing
Volunteers to the rescue!

volunteers

It was all hands on deck on 22nd July when volunteers from the public, private & voluntary sectors worked together to help a single parent at risk of homelessness move house.

Local lettings agent NGalloway helped the household, who had no personal support network or resources, find another home but they still needed assistance in moving furniture and belongings. Nottingham City Council made a plea to its Homelessness Stakeholder Forum and the offers came flooding in.

On the day it was NCCs Community Protection Team and local charity Hope Nottingham, with the letting agent on hand, who carried out the move but special thanks must be extended to Muslim Hands, Emmanuel House and the many other individuals who offered assistance but were ultimately not needed.


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Navigators will support entrenched rough sleepers

Nottingham City Council has secured government funding to provide navigators for a specific client group locally. The council is working with other local authorities in the county and the health and criminal justice sectors to introduce the roles that will help to prevent homelessness for people with histories of rough sleeping who are in prison or hospital.

These individuals are some of the most marginalised and vulnerable citizens who would greatly benefit from personal support in navigating local services to help address their additional support needs and improve their lives and overcome homelessness.

The navigators will be the latest addition to Nottinghams comprehensive suite of support services available to rough sleepers provided in partnership with local charities and other stakeholders. If you see someone sleeping rough call Frameworks Street Outreach Team 24/7 freefone helpline on 0800 066 53 56. The team will attempt to visit the rough sleeper and offer appropriate support.

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Nightclub provides light relief for care home residents

Pryzm

More than 160 pensioners from dementia care homes across Nottinghamshire headed to Pryzm nightclub for a Boogie and Buffet event. The nightclub opened its doors to elderly care home residents to dance away, and they shared lots of stores from the clubs heyday. Residents were invited to relive their youth for an afternoon of dancing and the event triggered many happy memories.

The daytime event was held following the success of the nightclubs recent birthday celebrations, which was attended by Alder House Care Home residents. The residents had a great time and photos from the event went viral, prompting calls for another event specifically for pensioners. Full article here [ [link removed] ].


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New guide for supported housing providers

guideance SA

Nottingham City Council has developed a Good Practice Standards guide to assist organisations providing non-commissioned supported housing in Nottingham.

The guide has been devised primarily for organisations specialising in providing supported housing accommodation. It has been produced in response to a number of enquiries received about good practice standards in the sector.

The guide aims to assist, inform and signpost to further useful resources and covers the following topics: Core Values, Citizen Focus, Support, Accommodation, Safeguarding.

Click here [ [link removed] ] to access to the guidance.


Nottingham Nouse BABN
New project to get more people into construction

skills hub

The Building Skills for Construction project was launched on 4th July by its partners Nottingham College, Nottingham City Council, Nottingham City Homes, Nottingham Jobs, Nottingham Futures, Wates Construction and the Woodhead Group.

Utilising 1m of government grant the project will support 650 people aged 16+ by providing them the skills and training needed to work in construction, using a live training environment operated by Wates Construction, who are currently building the new Nottingham College on Canal Street. Students overlook the site from their classroom so they can see just how working in the industry is changing the citys landscape - as it happens!

Pictured at the launch event at Nottingham Construction Hub are (L-R) James Whybrow (Nottingham College), Nick Murphy (NCH) & Chris Grocock (Futures). Find out more here [ [link removed] ].


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More family homes coming to The Meadows

Clifton MW

Twenty new council homes are being built in The Meadows, providing sustainable properties for local families already on Nottingham City Councils housing waiting list. The Meadows area has been subject to regeneration for the past few years facilitated by a number of redevelopment opportunities; with this latest housing being built upon land formerly occupied by the demolished Clifton Miners Welfare.

More than 500 new council homes have been built for local people as part of Nottinghams Build a Better Nottingham programme and this latest scheme is part of a longstanding partnership between the Woodhead Group and Nottingham City Homes, which has delivered 164 homes together so far.


Nouse news housing market headlines
City house price growth stronger than most

UKHPI May 2019

According to the latest UK House Price Index [ [link removed] ] (May 2019) the average price of a home in Nottingham in May was 141,124. This is an annual growth rate of 2.6%

This is also more than double the rate of growth across England (+1.0%) and is significantly higher than that of the region (+0.4%). However it is lower than growth in the county (+3.4%) perhaps due to continued large scale development in some out-of-city districts and boroughs. Larger family style housing (semi detached & detached) continues to experience the highest levels of growth in the city and county, although this is not the case for detached properties across the wider areas of the East Midlands and England.

While annual house price growth has slowed across the UK in recent months, growth in Nottingham remains stronger than most UK cities. Latest Hometrack house price growth data [ [link removed] ] places Nottingham 4th in its comparison of 20 key UK cities, and 2nd of English cities, behind only Liverpool.


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Cost of PRS rents soars for 2 bed homes

Hometrack rents June 2019

Housing intelligence specialist Hometrack [ [link removed] ]reveals median PRS rent in Nottingham have barely changed since our last bulletin, which looked at the position in Feb 2019.

Comparison with median rents one year previously however reveals a different picture - as to be expected all rents between Jun 2018 and Jun 2019, but the rise was highest for 2 bed properties, arguably the property size for which there is most demand among renters. Rises were as follows:
1 bed +5.0%
2 bed +11.6%
3 bed +3.1%

Data from the latest ARLA Propertymark PRS report [ [link removed] ] suggests that rents will continue to rise following the introduction of the Tenant Fees Act [ [link removed] ] in June 2019.

Due to the limitations of the paid subscription service from which the above local information is extracted we are not able to make comparisons with other areas.


Nouse News Coming UP

Your round-up of notable events, consultations and policy changes for the coming weeks:

*September*
4 Money management session [ [link removed] ] Nottingham City Homes residents only
13 Michael Varnam Awards 2019 [ [link removed] ]: nominations deadline
13 Food Parcel Challenge [ [link removed] ], Broxtowe Youth Homelessness
14 NCH Tenant Fun Day [ [link removed] ], celebrating 100 Years of Council Housing
15 Homelink Allocations Policy [ [link removed] ] consultation close
15 Local Authority Housing Statistics [ [link removed] ] government consultation close
8 Management of ASB in rental properties + pitfalls of property management [ [link removed] ], East Midlands Property Owners*
23 Bar Iberico fundraising lunch, raffle & auction in aid of Emmanuel House [ [link removed] ]
25 Celebrating council housing: past, present & future [ [link removed] ], CIH East Midlands
30 Basic Law for Lettings [ [link removed] ], East Midlands Property Owners*

*October*
2 Intermediate Law for Lettings [ [link removed] ], East Midlands Property Owners*
8 Housing Health & Safety Rating System [ [link removed] ], East Midlands Property Owners*
10 CEO Sleepout [ [link removed] ]in aid of local charities
15 Homelessness Reduction Act call for evidence [ [link removed] ] consultation close
17 Legal Update [ [link removed] ], East Midlands Property Owners*
29 Women in Construction taster session [ [link removed] ] Nottingham City Homes *chargeable

Got a diary date between Nov and Jan you'd like us to include in our next edition? Let us know at [email protected] <[email protected]>




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