Members of Housing Rights gathered in June to learn about the most recent updates in housing policy and practice.  This was the latest in our series of Housing Advice Practitioners Forum, a regular event that provides members with an opportunity to keep abreast of latest developments and to discuss approaches and strategies for complex cases.  June's meeting was particularly busy, covering new initiatives and developments that will significantly impact on the work of housing practitioners in the coming months. 

Housing options

Colin Smyth of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive briefed attendees on NIHE's new "Housing Solutions" approach to dealing with homelessness and its prevention. This approach has been piloted in certain areas of Northern Ireland with significant success and marks a move away from the Housing Executive's traditional model of providing homelessness services.  The presentation included a look at new tools that the Housing Executive is using in order to improve its counter services and illustrated how the Housing Executive's approach is moving more towards a customer-focused strategy, with renewed focus on dealing with individuals' needs and offering realistic housing options which can meet these.  Attendees were highly impressed by the presentation and were keen to know when this model would be rolled out across Northern Ireland. 

Welfare reform

Stephen Orme, Policy & Public Affairs Officer at Housing Rights updated attendees on the latest welfare reform changes, including

• the introduction of Universal Credit and how housing costs will be worked out
• the anticipated mitigations outlined in the Fresh Start Agreement and Evason Report
• the administration of the Benefit Cap
• the introduction of the social sector size criteria, or "bedroom tax" in Northern Ireland
• policy intentions regarding the expansion of LHA rates to social sector housing

New legislation

Staff from Housing Rights provided briefings on two new key pieces of legislation and on how these will impact on tenants in Northern Ireland.  These were the  Houses in Multiple Occupation Act (NI) 2016, which will introduce a new HMO regime and the Housing (Amendment) Act (NI) 2016 which creates an information sharing system for the purposes of dealing with empty homes and updates the procedures relating to disclosing information in antisocial behaviour cases.  

Those who missed the legislation update and whose job includes dealing with aspects of antisocial behaviour should ensure they are familiar with the changes contained in the Housing (Amendment) Act (NI) 2016.  This information will be included in our upcoming training session, Antisocial Behaviour and Housing.

Case law update

Solicitors from Housing Rights briefed attendees on recent cases which will be persuasive when arguing cases in Northern Ireland. These were

• R (on the application of Macleod) v The Governors of the Peabody Trust [2016] EWHC 737, a case which looked at whether a housing association should be classed as a public body
• Argue V Northern Ireland Housing Executive Neutral [2016] NICA 18, which looked at the extent of a landlord's liability under the Defective Premises (Landlord's Liability) Act (Northern Ireland) 2001
• Samin v Westminster City Council [2016] UKSC 1, in which the Supreme Court considered a decision surrounding the eligibility of an applicant for housing assistance
• The Woolwich v Boyd [2015] NICh 16, a case dealing with the extent of the court's discretion to stay an order for possession in mortgage possession proceedings

Information updates

Attendees also received a short briefing updating them on new schemes and services that may be of assistance to homeowners, including

• the updated NISEP energy efficiency schemes for 2016/17
• the creation of a new NI Public Services Ombudsman to deal with complaints against housing bodies, amongst other agencies
• the Homeowner Flood Protection Grant scheme.

Next meeting

The next Housing Advice Practitioners' Forum will take place in September 2016.  While all member organisations which provide advice should receive an invitation, this will be sent to our chief contact for your organisation.  If you would like to be added to our list of contacts or if you would like to find out more about this regular event, please contact Sharon Geary on 028 9024 5640. 

Other ways to keep up to date

Keep an eye on our training programme for details of upcoming courses, events and seminars.  These will focus on the latest changes in housing but also provide a good grounding in existing housing legislation in Northern Ireland.  Members of Housing Rights receive sizeable discounts on the costs of all our training events. 

You can also sign up to our email bulletin for regular housing updates.