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Welcome to our latest edition of Nouse News, the local strategic housing e-newsletter facilitated by Nottingham City Council's Housing Strategy team.?
2020 has been a very unsettled year and it's been a little while since we last posted a newsletter but we aim to return to quarterly bulletins in 2021. If you're a local organisation with an article you'd like us to share email [email protected]?
Places for People have been named a winner of the ?Proud to Help? award at the recent Building Awards ceremony, which this year focussed upon acknowledging the work that many companies have undertaken to support others during the pandemic. The provider of social housing in Nottingham received the accolade after:
- making over 60,000 calls to more than 12,500 customers to ensure their welfare
- donating to food banks
- sourcing PPE for Public sector organisations.
Well done Places for People! Read more about their achievement HERE
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Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing are passionate about reducing challenges facing communities and have been providing opportunities for young people In St Ann?s Nottingham.
Partnering with Ultimate Learning MTVH has been running an educational after-school service for its young residents living on the Brewsters housing estate since September 2019. The twice-weekly sessions ensure students from Year 10 to Sixth Forum are able to access support, tuition and mentoring for STEM subjects such as Maths and Science. Read more HERE.
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Nottingham?s largest registered provider of affordable social housing does much more than rent out homes. Nottingham City Homes supports both its tenants and the wider community through initiatives like the Women In Construction programme, which recently turned 5!
Since it began over 500 women in Nottingham have been helped by the programme which aims to get more women into trade jobs more traditionally occupied by men such as joinery, plastering or bricklaying.
A special free webinar welcoming women from Nottingham?s diverse communities to gain experience of the trades and find out what courses are available will take place on 9th December at 2pm: click HERE to book a place.
Read more about the programme's special anniversary and hear one woman?s personal experience HERE
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The long-awaited Social Housing White Paper was published on 17 November. The paper contains 7 main themes, with a strong focus on tenant safety, strengthening regulation in the social rented sector and ensuring tenant voices are heard ? areas particularly pertinent following the Grenfell tragedy.
The paper also introduces a new performance framework based on resident satisfaction, underpinned by a new regulatory structure under which social landlords will be subject to regular inspection, a regime abolished under the Coalition government in 2010.
While the paper has been broadly welcomed by the sector commentators have noted that commitment to the tenure is somewhat undermined by the absence of a large-scale increase in the supply of social housing coupled with a whole theme on helping tenants to become homeowners.
Nottingham City Council?s Good Practice Standards Guide is highlighted in government?s recently published National Statement of Expectations for Supported Housing (England) setting out its vision for the planning, commissioning and delivery of supported housing.
The guidance makes recommendations for standards in accommodation and is an important step in establishing ?what good looks like? and how it can be achieved. Nottingham is proud to be selected as a featured case study in the guidance, promoting ?The Nottingham Way?
The full guidance is available HERE.
The Government published back in March providing advice to landlords and tenants on the provisions in the Coronavirus Act 2020, and further advice for landlords, tenants and local authorities more broadly about their rights and responsibilities during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The guidance has been updated a number of times, most recently on 17th November to reflect new legislation to prevent enforcement of evictions in England during the period of national restrictions & over the Christmas period, and on 27th November in respect of the local restriction tier system that will be in place from 2 December.
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Nottingham Financial Resilience Partnership are sharing their conference report ?Tackling the Impact of Covid-19 on People?s Financial Well-being in Nottingham?, following their conference held in September. The report brings together:
- all slides presented, containing a wealth of insightful data including benefit claims, food bank usage and rent arrears during the pandemic and the results of a Nottingham Residents? financial resilience survey
- a summary of workshops held at the conference
- panel responses and commitments
For more information please contact Emma Bates at [email protected]
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected everybody and every sector, including private residential letting.? During the summer NCC?s Housing Strategy team undertook a survey of local landlords to ascertain the impact locally, revealing the challenges in the sector as well as some very positive independent actions taken by landlords to support tenants.
The survey results help the council tailor its response to preventing homelessness going forwards, an area in which the PRS is inextricably linked. The results have also been shared with other related council services who need to be aware of issues and demand in order to best support citizens.? Read the survey summary report HERE.
Homeless charities from across the city have joined forces to launch an exciting new initiative connecting people and organisations locally to tackle homelessness.
The Covid-19 pandemic leaves more people vulnerable to homelessness than ever therefore the timing of the online Street Support resource ? a ?one stop shop? to find or give support for homeless people locally ? couple not be more appropriate.
This initiative will enable homeless people to find the information they need quickly and easily, reducing the time they might need to sleep on the streets and helping to protect them from the risks associated with begging and sleeping rough. ?
Street Support Nottingham is supported by Nottingham City Council and city and county libraries with initial financial support provided by Boots Charitable Trust and the National Lottery Community Fund.
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The Big Give returns this week providing opportunities for any public donations to participating charities to be match funded. A number of our local homelessness charities are listed including:
Arimathea Trust
Open Homes Nottingham
Streetwise Opera
Hope Into Action
Additionally some of our key homelessness partners are operating independent winter appeals:
The Friary winter appeal 2020
Framework Homeless To Home ? supported by Nottingham Building Society
Emmanuel House You Can Make A Difference
Charities have been hard hit this year at a time of increased pressure so please do consider supporting one (or more) of these worthy causes this Christmas.
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The Nottingham Practice Development Unit have partnered with Opportunity Nottingham?and?Framework?to develop a suite of free e-learning modules that will be particularly relevant to anyone working with or providing support to people who experience multiple disadvantage.
Covering good practice themes such as being more psychologically informed and aware of the impact that traumatic experiences can have on service users and staff, the suite provides insights and tips on improving practice and supporting colleagues & service users. To find out more, including how to access the suite click HERE.
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For a number of years Nottingham has gone beyond its statutory duty in providing emergency shelter to rough sleepers on nights of freezing (or below) temperatures ? conditions that present a threat to life.
Despite the additional challenges faced this year, the council and its partners are committed to continuing this commitment within Covid-safe environments. While the London Road Fire Station sit-up service can no longer offer communal shelter, it will serve as a first point of contact for referrals where clients will be assessed to ensure they are offered the most appropriate form of assistance. More information is available in the Nottingham Cold Weather Plan (open with MS Word)
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Nottinghamshire Energy Partnership has joined with Notts County Council & E.ON to launch Green Homes Grant Nottinghamshire. Homeowners with a combined household income of ?30,000 or less with a home EPC rated D or lower could benefit from free grant-funded home improvement measures including solar power, insulation and replacement external doors.
Landlords meeting the household income criteria may also apply for partially funded improvements. Read more and register your interest online HERE or call the team on 0115 947 2207
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Government is consulting on a set of energy efficiency proposals that could have a huge impact on the private rented sector. Key elements are:
- raise the minimum energy efficiency standard to EPC Band C for new tenancies from 2025 and all tenancies from 2028
- raise the maximum spend cap to ?10,000
- introduce a ?fabric first? approach to energy performance improvements
- encouraging compliance ? implications including advertising/letting rules, increased fines and a property compliance & exemptions database
- Assisting enforcement ? enabling councils to inspect properties, increasing penalties, empowering tenants
Consultation details & online response form HERE. Deadline to respond: 30.12.20.
Nottingham City Homes have been granted planning permission to build 36 new council flats on the site of the former Southchurch garages in Clifton. The new development, construction of which will commence next year and complete in 2022, has been designed by Halsall Lloyd Architects. Read more HERE.
The planned new development follows planning approval of a further 131 council homes to be built on the site of the former Padstow school. In addition construction of 17 new council homes recently began in Basford, built by Nottingham City Homes? own in-house team of local tradespeople.
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In October Nottingham City Council purchased its 100th property since the local election in May 2019 as part of its programme to increase affordable housing stock.? All properties purchased were ex-council houses previously sold through the Right To Buy Scheme, which means they are on the estates and of a type which Nottingham City Homes has expertise in managing. ?
The programme has helped bring 15 long-term vacant properties with environmental health implications back into use.? Nottingham City Homes ensure the necessary works are carried out to bring them up to the Decent Homes Standard, for letting to households in housing need.?
For more information email Paul Flowers [email protected]
According to the UK House Price Index between September 2019 and September 2020 the average cost of buying a home of any type in Nottingham rose by 8.4% - the highest growth rate of all UK cities.
The rise is almost certainly influenced by the current stamp duty holiday and pent-up demand after the first lockdown and cities such as Nottingham with excellent transport links and good universities, but comparatively cheap housing, are seeing increased demand. This could also be influenced by moves from more expensive areas as more people work from home.
Over the same period growth in the UK was 4.7%, 5.0% in the East Midlands and 5.8% in Nottinghamshire.
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The average cost of renting a home in Nottingham during Q3 2020 was
?706. While this is an increase of 2.4% on the price one year previously, this is an early sign that growth in Nottingham is beginning to slow with the rate lower than the UK cities of Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol & Cardiff.
Compare this with Q1 2020 - immediately prior to the Covid pandemic & first lockdown - when Nottingham's annual growth for rents was the highest of all UK cities at 5.9% Click HERE for the latest Hometrack report
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 08 December? Responding to domestic violence during the pandemic - how housing providers responded and what lessons can we learn? National Housing Federation
09 December? Women in Construction diverse communities webinar Nottingham City Homes
17 December New model for Shared Ownership technical consultation deadline
30 December Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes: consultation
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