Children’s charity’s concern over housing provision for child offenders

Figures released today have shown that providing child offenders with safe and suitable accommodation upon their release from custody save up to £70,000 per child over three years.

Children’s charity Barnardo’s have warned that gaps in the Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke’s plans could lead to failure.

Barnardo’s have stated that children as young as 13 who get caught in a cycle of homelessness and re-offending can cost the Government as much as £116,094 over three years, but up to £67,000 per child could be saved if they were given the support they needed.

Figures showed that a total of 4,147 referrals were made to Barnardo’s to help young people in custody in 2009/2010, with their housing needs being a key concern.

Annie Marie Carrie, Barnardo’s chief executive, said: “These children can be all too easy to ignore, but our report shows that we do so at great cost to their young lives and society.

“Young people who offend are among the most vulnerable; a quarter have special educational needs and almost a fifth have depression, yet children as young as 13 are sent back to families who can’t cope and end up without a safe place to live.

“The Government is on the verge of a self-styled ‘rehabilitation revolution’ – but there are gaps in the Ministry of Justice’s plans which must be filled to ensure we do right by these children and society by bringing down crime levels.”

“We don’t say this lightly, we are all too aware of the cuts being made across the UK in an effort to fight the effects on the economic crisis we are in, but surely, if ever there is a case for return on investment this is it.”

A Government spokesman said: “There are already a range of statutory obligations on the part of local authorities to provide safe accommodation and related support for those unable to live in the family home or with relatives. This includes young people leaving custody.

“The Ministry of Justice has outlined a range of proposals in the ‘Breaking the Cycle’ Green Paper, which we are currently consulting on, to further incentivise local authorities to achieve reductions in youth offending.”

He added that the Government recognises that young people leaving custody are some of the most vulnerable young people in society and that “the effective resettlement and support of these young people is critical to breaking the cycle of offending”.

NEWS: New £1million development for disable people

A new £1million project will see the development of eight homes for people with severe physical disabilities.

The development is the first of it’s kind carried out by Stafford and Rural Homes, who are working in partnership with Housing Plus and Staffordshire County Council.

The chief executive of Stafford and Rural Homes, Karen Armitage, said: “SARH works hard to give people in the borough an independent life and this project will make a real difference to many people living with disabilities.

“We hope this successful partnership will enable us to look at assisting customers to live independently in other parts of Stafford as we continue to provide accommodation that is high quality for people with very differing housing needs in the future.”

The homes will cater for the specialist care provision by offering a communal and 24 hour care facilities on site, as well as residents’ lounge, kitchen and garden. The NHS has also contributed to funding for the specialist care required at the homes.

Matthew Ellis, Staffordshire County Council cabinet member for adults and wellbeing, said: “The development will enable each person to live as part of their local community and, with support, to have opportunities and take part in activities that have not previously been available to them.

“Some of the people have complex needs and have lived in NHS accommodation for many years. While that managed their medical conditions, it is no longer considered an appropriate way of meeting the personal needs that everyone has.”

Thomas Vale construction is working on the project, based on architectural designs by Ken Scaddon.

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Housing News: Level of house hunters at a six month high

Research has found that the amount of people looking for a new house reached a six month high in January 2011. The average number of house hunters registering with estate agents reached 252, an increase from 227 in December, however this was still 13% lower than the figure in January 2010.

January also saw a slight increase in the amount of homes for sale with the average estate agent seeing 69 properties on their books, 5 more than in the previous month.

Experts have put the increase down to the festive season and a backlog from the freezing weather we experienced throughout December.

The increase in potential buyers and sellers has resulted in an increase in actual sales, with the average estate agents selling six properties throughout January, up two from December.

The president of the NAEA, Michael Jones, said: “It is encouraging to see activity levels begin to increase following the downturn we saw in December where bad weather and the Christmas festivities kept many house-hunters away.

“However, when compared with our report from this time last year, the market is still showing signs of consumer reluctance. Macro-economic issues such as the VAT rise and interest rate pressures continue to put many people off searching for property.

“What we need to see now is the Financial Services Authority using its newly gained powers of oversight to ease mortgage lending restrictions that are preventing so many first-time buyers from entering the housing market.”

The percentage of sales to first time buyers did fall by 1% in January, to 24% compared with the 25% in December.

Figures released by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) showed house prices rose in December by 0.5%, which meant an overall increase in the average home price – 3.8% higher than the beginning of 2010.

London residents have seen the strongest gains in house prices with a rise of 6.9%

However, Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at HIS Global Insight, has predicted that the rest of 2011 will not see such rises: “The CLG data do not materially change our view that house prices will continue to trend down gradually in 2011 after losing ground overall in the latter months of 2010.

“Specifically, we suspect that house prices will fall by around 5% in 2011 and end up losing around 10% from the peak levels seen in the first half of 2010.”

Housing Trust donates grant to pre-school group

Weaver Vale Housing Trust has donated a £500 grant to St John’s pre-school group. The group has been helping to provide childcare support for over 20 children who come from low income families in Winsford.

Linda Hunter, who has run the group for the last 11 years, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to receive this funding from Weaver Vale Housing Trust. Because we aim to support low income families we need all the support we can get to keep our costs down.

“The funding will be used to provide snacks, hygiene equipment, learning’ materials and pay rent for room.”

Weaver Vale Housing Trust is now encouraging organizations’ who are in need of financial support to apply for the grants. Organizations’ can also apply for access to the Trust’s facilities such as the meeting rooms and computers.

Karen Cromwell, resident involvement support officer, said: “We are very pleased to be able to help St John's Pre-school continue their work to enrich the lives of children in the Winsford area.

“The trust is always looking for ways to support organisations such as this in all areas in which we operate. The application process is simple and quick so if your local club needs help please urge them to contact us straight away.”

Chair of Hackney Homes receives MBE for services to housing

Rupert Tyson, chair of Hackney Homes, has received an MBE, for recognition of his services to housing in Hackney.

Rupert Tyson’s involvement in the housing industry spans back to the 1980’s when he was employed in the neighbourhood housing office. Back then his days consisted of providing vital services to residents and campaigning to ensure everyone got fair access to housing.

Since taking up the chair position, Hackney Homes has improved continually. It has been accredited as a two-star housing authority by the Audit Commission, levels of staff satisfaction have improved endlessly, and the organisation is being awarded for their innovation and excellence in services.

Charlotte Graves, chief executive of Hackney Homes, reported: ““Rupert is absolutely dedicated to Hackney. He genuinely cares for residents and goes out of his way to make sure that everyone gets the service that they deserve. He is an example to us all and we are pleased that he has been honoured in this way”.

NEWS: Poorest London councils pay executives twice as much as Prime Minister...

It has been revealed that the chief executives of some of London’s poorest boroughs are paying their chief executives nearly double the salary of the Prime Minister.

Newham, Lambeth, Waltham Forest and Islington had the highest rates of unemployment and benefit claimants through-out London, yet the boroughs were paying their chief executives up to £281,085.

Tony Travers, a local government expert, announced that the salaries of London’s town hall bosses have increased whilst under the Labour government. He stated, “The last government had an obsessive interest in targets. That meant councils became very concerned about getting top ratings. Headhunters were telling them they had to pay for the best.”

The investigation also found that directors and even teachers earned more than £250,000 – including Mark Elms, head teacher of Tidemill School in Deptford. Elsewhere, Peter Lewis, Haringey’s director of children and young people’s services was reported to receive more then £280,000 per annum.

Many of the salaries of the chief executives were reduced after last April.

Darren Johnson of the Green Party, said: “It’s shocking that chief executives are paid so much in some of our most deprived communities.”

Here at Housing Jobs, we feel it would be far more beneficial to see some of the salaries put back into the communities, where it is needed most.

NEWS: 2010 sees construction rise due to affordable housing

London based consultancy firm, Drivers Jonas Deloitte, has produced a residential crane survey which has shown a 9 per cent increase in construction levels in Greater London between summer and winter last year.

The survey found that 44 per cent of the 28,150 units were affordable homes, however only 1,300 of these were family homes, with flats accounting for 95 per cent of all the properties. 

Drivers Jonas Deloitte have noted that larger building schemes were creating 2,000 - 3,000 houses per annum a decade ago, a far cry from the production levels we saw in 2010.

Construction starts has risen, primarily due to the industries confidence growing as well as the government's Kickstart housing delivery programme, however Anthony Duggan, director and head of research at Drivers Jonas Deloitte, has predicted that "weak demand will encourage developers to “slow peddle" delivery and that ultimately supply will be similar to 2010."

The rise in construction levels will ultimately mean an increase in housing jobs for the industry, whether you're looking for a position yourself or looking to advertise a position with your housing company, why not visit our specialist Housing Jobs website?