Assembly Roundup: November 2016

Private rented

To ask the Minister for Communities for his assessment of the impact of the cap on the Local Housing Allowance. Nichola Mallon, Social Democratic and Labour Party AQO 536/16-21

Since 2008, tenants in the private rented sector who are eligible to receive Housing Benefit have been subject to the Local Housing Allowance Cap. Since April 2016, this cap is subject to a four year freeze.

The key feature of the Local Housing Allowance is that it is based both on the market rent levels for the area a claimant lives in as well as how many people live with the claimant..

A clear and transparent set of Local Housing Allowance rates help tenants and landlords know how much financial help is available. When tenants know in advance the maximum amount of housing benefit available to them it allows them to make an informed choice regarding their housing options based on what they can afford.

Housing Benefit claimants facing a shortfall in rent due to the application of the Local Housing Allowance are able to apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment to make up the difference between the contractual rent and their Housing Benefit entitlement.

The Housing Executive currently has a Discretionary Housing Payment budget of £3,400,000.

In comparing Discretionary Housing Payment awards and payments over the period 1st April to 30th September for the last 2 years, there has been an increase in awards over the 2 periods of 155 and spend has increased by £282,336.

It is not certain that the increases in awards and value of payments made are directly attributable to the freeze in Local Housing Allowance rates but it is likely that this will have been a contributory factor.

There is no clear evidence of tenants moving property as a result of the freeze on Local Housing Allowance rent levels.

To ask the Minister for Communities whether the ongoing review of the role and regulation of the private rental sector is considering greater protection for landlords from bad tenants; and to outline the measures currently being considered. Paul Frew, Democratic Unionist Party AQW 6419/16-21

The ongoing review of the Role and Regulation of the Private Rented Sector acknowledges the need for a balanced approach.

Measures to address poor behaviour by landlords and tenants are being considered. Proposals for change resulting from the review will be published for consultation in the coming months.

Intimidation

To ask the Minister for Communities to detail the number of occasions the Northern Ireland Housing Executive has awarded points to applicants on the basis of being intimidated, in each of the last five years. Naomi Long, Alliance Party AQW 5259/16-21

The Housing Executive has provided details of the number of homeless presenters, who gave the reason for presentation as intimidation, by category for the last five years as shown in the tables below. The tables also provide the number of presenters accepted as full duty applicants.

To ask the Minister for Communities to outline what discussions and collaboration takes place in communities to support social housing tenants, with particular reference to racial minorities that are experiencing intimidation and attacks on their property, to continue to hold their tenancy. Naomi Long, Alliance Party AQW 5258/16-21

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive’s (NIHE) Race Relations Officer works closely with the minority ethnic community to ensure their services and support are tailored to the needs of their new communities.

The NIHE provide support to individual victims of racist hate crime to enable them to continue to hold their tenancy which will vary depending on their needs and wishes as well as a range of external factors and local circumstances. They work in partnership with the PSNI, local groups, and a range of other agencies to identify the level of any threat, the potential for repeat attacks and to see if a solution can be developed to support a tenant to sustain their tenancy.

They also support a range of initiatives to address hate harassment, anti-social behaviour and fear of crime in their estates. Examples of these are community safety warden schemes, street pastors, home security schemes, good morning services, diversionary activities, physical works to communal areas and intergenerational workshops.

Through partnership with Northern Ireland Association for Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NIACRO) the NIHE provide a floating support service which gives assistance to people whose tenancy may be at risk due to harassment or intimidation because of their ethnicity.

If the intimidation takes the form of physical damage, the HIPA scheme (Hate Incident Practical Action Scheme) is available across Northern Ireland to support victims of hate incidents in their homes. It is supported by the Department of Justice, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the NIHE and my Department. The scheme is available to owner-occupiers, tenants in privately rented accommodation, NIHE properties and has recently been extended to cover Housing Association properties.

To ask the Minister for Communities how the Northern Ireland Housing Executive can support social housing tenants, with particular reference to racial minorities, to hold their tenancy free from intimidation. Naomi Long, Alliance Party AQW 5257/16-21

The Housing Executive acknowledges that hate harassment has been identified as a current issue in Northern Ireland. They promote a clear and strong message that they will not tolerate hate crime in any form on their estates and will take appropriate action to effectively address and eradicate hate crime motivated by someone’s perceived Ethnicity, Sexual Orientation, Religion, Political Opinion, Disability or Gender Identity.

Local Offices can help if a victim has no home, is in danger of losing their home or is afraid to go home because someone has been violent, or because of threats of violence likely to be carried out. Support can range from providing safe temporary accommodation, or advice and assistance on finding somewhere else to live.

The Housing Executive is currently rolling out a Housing Solutions and Support approach across the organisation which focuses on person-centred housing and homeless services, tailored to meet the needs of individual customers and support them to achieve sustainable housing solutions. This approach is being successfully used to support their customers who have experienced racist hate crime and incidents, utilising the expertise of other agencies where appropriate.

The Housing Executive also works in partnership with Northern Ireland Association for Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NIACRO) to provide a floating support service which provides assistance to people whose tenancy may be at risk due to harassment or intimidation because of their ethnicity.

The Housing Executive’s “Safer Together” Community Safety Strategy 2015-2017 recognises the devastating impact that hate harassment can have on victims. The organisation is committed to identifying and responding to hate incidents and, where possible, perpetrators will be dealt with through the Housing Executive’s Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) process.

To ask the Minister for Communities how the Northern Ireland Housing Executive monitors incidents of intimidation of racial minorities accepting social housing offers. Naomi Long, Alliance Party AQW 5256/16-21

Where a social housing offer has been accepted and the tenant subsequently terminates his/her tenancy, the Housing Executive has monitoring mechanisms in place to collate information regarding the reasons for termination. These include circumstances where there is alleged intimidation.

If the intimidation takes the form of physical damage, the Housing Executive has monitoring information through use of the Hate Incident Practical Action (HIPA) scheme. The HIPA scheme is available across Northern Ireland to support victims of hate incidents in their homes. It is supported by the Department of Justice, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Housing Executive and the Department for Communities. The scheme is available to owner-occupiers, tenants in privately rented accommodation, Housing Executive properties and has recently been extended to cover Housing Association properties.

Homelessness

To ask the Minister for Communities how many people are homeless and sleeping outside. Alex Easton, Democratic Unionist Party AQW 4889/16-21

The most recently published homelessness figures are for the year 2015/16. The total number of homeless households accepted as Full Duty Applicants in 2015/16 was 11,202. The Housing Executive has advised that in respect of those sleeping outside across Northern Ireland, figures are not currently held.

To ask the Minister for Communities to outline what measures are in place to assist homeless people with (i) an alcohol; or (ii) a drug addiction. Mr Roy Beggs, Ulster Unionist Party AQW 6286/16-21

The Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1988 (as amended) places a statutory duty on the Housing Executive to provide interim and/or permanent accommodation for certain homeless households, dependent upon assessment of their circumstances.

The Housing Executive has advised that it currently funds £3.8 million annually for the delivery of services specifically for people with alcohol and drug related problems. This comprises 12 accommodation based services and four floating support services which currently have the capacity to provide housingsupport to approximately 400 individuals.

The Housing Executive also provides funding of £10.9 million to providers of some 46 accommodation and floating support schemes. These are for single homeless clients across Northern Ireland requiring varying levels of support. A number of these schemes also provide support to clients with complex drug or alcohol addiction issues.

Statutory responsibility for the treatment of people with drug and alcohol addictions rests with Health and Social Care.

To ask the Minister for Communities to detail how many children were declared homeless, by constituency, in each of the last three years. Roy Beggs, Ulster Unionist Party AQW 6284/16-21

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive maintains homelessness information on households, that is, individuals, families or any group of people that normally live together. The Housing Executive has advised that it does not maintain that information by constituency.

Information is available by Housing Executive Local Office and the numbers of households with one or more children accepted as homeless in each of the last three years are in the tables below. Young people aged 16/17 may seek homelessness assistance as individuals and those accepted as homeless in this category are reported separately.

To ask the Minister for Communities to outline what measures are in place to support and aid homeless people during the winter period. Roy Beggs, Ulster Unionist Party AQW 6285/16-21

The Housing Executive spends £35.6m per year on a wide range of temporary accommodation and support services to homeless households. These include:

• 157 Voluntary Sector Hostels;
• 18 Housing Executive Hostels;
• Approximately 1,100 single let dwellings (which are private sector houses and flats acquired as necessary on a temporary basis);
• 70 units of Dispersed Intensively Managed Emergency (DIME)Accommodation ; and
• Drop-In Centres, Floating Support Services and Street Outreach Services.

There are a range of specialist services commissioned by the Housing Executive to work with the relatively low numbers at risk from rough sleeping in Belfast and Londonderry. These include the Welcome Organisation which is funded to deliver the drop-in, street outreach and floating support in Belfast. DePaul Ireland are funded to provide drop-in and floating support services in Londonderry and a Housing First service in both locations which works to provide permanent housing solutions with support for homeless people with complex needs.

In addition a series of actions arose from an Inter-Ministerial Action Plan to address homelessness and rough sleeping in Belfast which are further improving services in the city.

Warm homes

To ask the Minister for Communities to outline how many of the 33,000 homes in severe fuel poverty will be removed from this position by April 2017. Andy Allen, Ulster Unionist Party AQW 6445/16-21

The Affordable Warmth Scheme targets areas where severe fuel poverty is likely to be most prevalent and delivers measures to improve the energy efficiency of low income households. In 2016/17 an estimated 3,800 homes will benefit from the Affordable Warmth Scheme which includes providing loft and cavity wall insulation as well as new heating systems and replacement widows.

Fuel poverty is caused by a combination of three factors: household income; fuel prices; and energy efficiency of the home. The level of fuel poverty is measured in the Northern Ireland House Condition Survey and the next report is due in 2017.

Welfare reform

To ask the Minister for Communities to confirm that households with children, affected by the Benefit Cap of 31st May 2016, and currently in receipt of a supplementary payment, will receive an increased supplementary payment if their Housing Benefit is reduced further by the lower Benefit Cap, planned to be introduced on 7 November 2016. Naomi Long, Alliance Party AQW 5767/16-21

I can confirm the Department will make provision to increase the welfare supplementary payment to mitigate the impact of a reduction in the benefit capplanned to be introduced from 7 November 2016. Households with children currently receiving a welfare supplementary payment will receive an increase if they continue to meet the conditions for eligibility.

To ask the Minister for Communities pursuant to AQW 5767/16-21, to outline how his Department intends to make provision to increase the welfare supplementary payments for affected families, and specifically whether this requires amendment of The Welfare Supplementary Payments Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016. Mrs Naomi Long, Alliance Party AQW 6418/16-21

The Welfare Supplementary Payment (Benefit Cap) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 come into operation on 7th November 2016 and amend the Welfare Supplementary Payments Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016. Regulation 4A(2) provides for welfare supplementary payments to be increased for families affected by the reduction in the benefit cap from 7th November 2016, which is the date the new lower benefit cap is being introduced. The link to these regulations is provided below.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2016/389 /contents/made

To ask the Minister for Communities to outline the steps his Department is taking to support people affected by the bedroom tax when the mitigation fund is exhausted in 2020. Eamonn McCann, People Before Profit Alliance AQW 5655/16-21

The Northern Ireland Executive confirmed in, “A Fresh Start: the Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan” that the Social Sector Size Criteria would not apply in Northern Ireland. In accordance with recommendations from the Welfare Reform Mitigations Working Group the Executive agreed a four year fund to “top-up” UK welfare arrangements in Northern Ireland to March 2020.

The Department’s priority has been implementation of the mitigation schemes to ensure people get the support they need. The Executive committed as part of the Fresh Start Agreement to a review of all the mitigation arrangements in 2018/19. This will provide the Executive with the opportunity to decide if it wishes to extend the mitigation scheme beyond the current planned end date of March 2020.

Department for Communities officials have developed a composite Welfare Reform evaluation strategy. This strategy has been designed to specifically evaluate each of the key reforms as well as the associated mitigations. It will be central in assessing and monitoring the impacts of Welfare Reform in Northern Ireland and will help to inform future decisions on Social Sector Size Criteria.

To ask the Minister for Communities to outline the mitigation measures in place for people on benefits following the Fresh Start Agreement. Michaela Boyle, Sinn Féin AQW 7070/16-21

The Welfare Reform Mitigations Working Group recommended that a number of Welfare Supplementary Payment schemes be introduced to provide cash payments to claimants affected by the welfare changes.

My department has brought forward the necessary legislation to make these payments and has put in place the operational arrangements to make payments to impacted claimants. Table A shows the list of mitigation schemes which are now currently operating and the claimants who qualify for payments.

It is planned to introduce further schemes in early 2017 to mitigate the impact of other changes as recommended by the Mitigation Working Group.

(See table)

Social housing

To ask the Minister for Communities for his assessment of whether regulatory changes to ensure housing associations can be reclassified back to private bodies will require dilution of tenant engagement standards within the regulatory framework. Steven Agnew, Green Party AQW 6401/16-21

The regulatory changes required to ensure that housing associations can be classified to the private sector will focus on technical issues and will not lead to a dilution of the tenant engagement standards in the regulatory framework.

To ask the Minister for Communities to outline how his Department plans to deliver 9,600 new social homes and 3750 new affordable homes between 2016 and 2021. Andy Allen, Ulster Unionist Party AQW 6054/16-21

As I advised during the debate on 18 October, I have been working with my officials on proposals for the draft Programme for Government delivery plans.

New social housing will be delivered through the Social Housing Development Programme.  My Department has started to engage with the Housing Executive and housing associations to put in place a strategy to increase the delivery of new social homes to meet the target of 9,600 by 2021.  The affordable housing target will be delivered through the Co-Ownership scheme, the Rent-to-Own scheme and the Affordable Homes Loan Fund, which are all delivered through housing associations.

Discretionary Housing Payments

To ask the Minister for Communities to outline the criteria for applying for Discretionary Housing Payment. Steven Agnew, Green Party AQW 6012/16-21

The Housing Executive has advised that the criteria for applying for Discretionary Housing Payments are as follows:-

• Applicants must be already in receipt of Housing Benefit to claim a Discretionary Housing Payment.
•  In addition there must be a shortfall between the rent charged and the eligible rent used in the calculation of Housing Benefit (Local Housing Allowance) and/or from 5th September 2016 for new and existing tenants who are affected by the loss of Family Premium in the calculation of Housing Benefit.
• An applicant must show that they require further financial assistance.
• Applications for Discretionary Housing Payments must be made in writing or by using the application form.
• The budget for Discretionary Housing Payments is an annual cash limited budget provided by the Department for Communities (DfC), therefore Discretionary Housing Payments cannot be guaranteed.
• Each application will be considered on its own merits, there is no list of circumstances that will automatically qualify someone for a Discretionary Housing Payment.
• Discretionary Housing Payments cannot be greater than the shortfall between the rent charged and the eligible rent or the difference between the current Housing Benefit entitlement and entitlement if Family Premium had been awarded.
• Discretionary Housing Payments are paid for a set period which is usually up to the end of a financial year.
• Applicants can ask us to look at the decision again (within one month) if a Discretionary Housing Payment application is refused or reduced.
• As an award of discretionary housing payment is not an award of Housing Benefit, it cannot be appealed with The Appeals Service (TAS).