Some perspectives on mobility

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Some perspectives on mobility
Mike Ward Assistant Director of Business
Growth Circle Housing Group
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Why does being able to move matter?
(With apologies to lovers of Springwatch)
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Why does being able to move matter?

• It is simply wrong that families are trapped in
  homes that are overcrowded, or that they find
  difficult to manage because of ill health or
  advancing years, while others who want to move to
  take up new job opportunities or to live closer
  to family are unable to do so.
• I am determined that we make it easier for
  tenants to move.
• The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP

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For us as a provider

• Supports our mission to enhance life chances
• Logical response to intensifying pressure on
  supply
• Saves money

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Human City Institute

• Independent charitable think-tank undertaking
  research into human city issues.
• Identifying barriers to the creation of
  successful settlements
• Aspects include housing, health, the environment,
  community development, ethnicity and faith
• Counting Costs research led by Kevin Gulliver
• www.humancity.org.uk
• kevin.gulliver_at_tiscali.co.uk

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Counting Costs

• Commissioned by Circle Anglia a year ago
• Identifies the barriers to mobility in the sector
• Uses existing datasets to estimate the number of
  tenants seeking a move
• Considers the costs arising from an inability to
  move

www.humancity.org.uk
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Barriers to mobility

• Buying is beyond most of
• our tenants
• 1997 one in 77 could buy
• 2009 one in 500
• Fewer social rented homes
• 4.4 million in 1997
• 500,000 fewer today (11)
• Growth in waiting lists
• 39 increase between 2003 and 2009
• One in twelve households are registered

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Real consequences, real burdens
Health
Education
Social Care
Policing ASB
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What is this costing?

• Human City apply indicators of scale to a cost
  per case based on relevant studies e.g. cost
  to NHS of poor quality or overcrowded housing
  172 per case
• Totals estimated in this way are
• Social care 305m
• NHS 81m
• Education 32m
• Criminal Justice 58m
• Employment 66m
• TOTAL - 542 million annually

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What are we doing?
Promoting and enabling mutual exchange good for
customers and good for landlords

• Simple
• Fast
• Puts the customer in control
• Saves us money -v- transfers
• Drives customer satisfaction

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• Created in 2004 for Wherry HA
• An alternative to paper-based systems
• Also needed because Move UK was not working
• Quickly identified as positive by neighbouring
  councils and associations
• Now has 170 landlords and House Exchange
  Direct, so is accessible to all
• More than 130,000 registered users
• Unique three-way exchange search to enable
  chain-building

www.houseexchange.org.uk
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Housing options and advice

• Conversions
• Rehousing some people in
• over-crowded homes
• Sometimes its not about a move
• e.g. space-saving furniture
• Group-wide principles
• Maximising our allocation freedoms
• Best practice guide being produced

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The national scene

• Localism Bill - paves the way for a regulatory
  direction requiring all social landlords to
• Subscribe to an internet-based mutual exchange
  service that tenants can register with, free of
  charge
• Use a service conforming to minimum standards
  around matching and data sharing
• Provide support for tenants who are unable to
  access the internet

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National home swap scheme
Membership
Testing June 2011 Available for users July
2011
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Web services option
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Mobility in London

• Home Connections G15 service launched last month
• Landlords pledge 5 of lettings available for
  cross-London moves
• Expects to enable around 150 moves annually
• Initially for those with offers of work or
  work-related training
• Now extending eligibility to include
  under-occupiers
• Mayors pan London scheme under development

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Other news

• Vanguard projects

• 1m over 2 years to support 12 councils or
  sub-regions to
• Demonstrate the economic benefits of increased
  mobility
• Demonstrate the savings of moving through mutual
  exchange
• Explore what can be done locally to promote more
  mobility
• Test the potential benefits of payment by
  results
• Identify any further steps which Government could
  take to promote mobility in a cost-effective way.

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And finallythe words of the wise

• If everyone is moving forward together, then
  success takes care of itself. Henry Ford
• The world is moving so fast these days that the
  man who says it can't be done is generally
  interrupted by someone doing it. Elbert Hubbard
• The good man is the man who, no matter how
  morally unworthy he has been, is moving to become
  better. John Dewey
• In Cleveland there is legislation moving forward
  to ban people from wearing pants that fit too
  low. However, there is lots of opposition from
  the plumbers union. Conan O'Brien
• mike.ward_at_circle.org.uk 01603 703819 or 07736
  028389