By Neil Merrick
22 February 2010
Services run by local authority housing departments are continuing to improve with no evidence yet that rent arrears have risen during the recession, a study has shown.
According to the report by Professor Hal Pawson, councils’ performance has improved steadily since 2003/04. Uncollected rent has been cut by one-third, the time taken to let empty homes has been reduced by nearly a quarter and the proportion of urgent repairs completed late was reduced by half, from 6% to 3%.
Pawson’s analysis, for consultants Housing Quality Network, was based on management figures submitted in 2008/09 by local authorities in England. These showed that the increases in rent arrears predicted at the start of the recession had failed to materialise in spite of rising unemployment. Arrears fell from 2.2% to 2.1% of the total rent roll in the 12 months to March 2009.
At the same time, tenant satisfaction ratings – which have been rising since 2001 – appear to have ‘bottomed out’ according to the study, published on February 18.
While no figures are available for 2008/09, 17% of tenants were dissatisfied with their local authority or arm’s-length management organisation in 2007/8 – the same as the previous year but down from 21% in 2001/02.
Pawson, a professor of the built environment at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, said the economic squeeze might have caused a new ‘feel bad’ factor among tenants, especially as work to meet the decent homes standards had now ended in some councils.
‘Local authorities will be concerned about whether the tough financial environment will increasingly have a negative impact on tenant satisfaction,’ he added.
Spending on housing management rose by an average of more than 6% in 2008/09, mostly due to increases in London and northern England. The proportion of council homes classed as non-decent fell from 27% to 22% during the year.
22 February 2010
Services run by local authority housing departments are continuing to improve with no evidence yet that rent arrears have risen during the recession, a study has shown.
According to the report by Professor Hal Pawson, councils’ performance has improved steadily since 2003/04. Uncollected rent has been cut by one-third, the time taken to let empty homes has been reduced by nearly a quarter and the proportion of urgent repairs completed late was reduced by half, from 6% to 3%.
Pawson’s analysis, for consultants Housing Quality Network, was based on management figures submitted in 2008/09 by local authorities in England. These showed that the increases in rent arrears predicted at the start of the recession had failed to materialise in spite of rising unemployment. Arrears fell from 2.2% to 2.1% of the total rent roll in the 12 months to March 2009.
At the same time, tenant satisfaction ratings – which have been rising since 2001 – appear to have ‘bottomed out’ according to the study, published on February 18.
While no figures are available for 2008/09, 17% of tenants were dissatisfied with their local authority or arm’s-length management organisation in 2007/8 – the same as the previous year but down from 21% in 2001/02.
Pawson, a professor of the built environment at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, said the economic squeeze might have caused a new ‘feel bad’ factor among tenants, especially as work to meet the decent homes standards had now ended in some councils.
‘Local authorities will be concerned about whether the tough financial environment will increasingly have a negative impact on tenant satisfaction,’ he added.
Spending on housing management rose by an average of more than 6% in 2008/09, mostly due to increases in London and northern England. The proportion of council homes classed as non-decent fell from 27% to 22% during the year.
