Homestake Extra - January 2008

Welcome to Homestake Extra. The newsletter is produced as part of Ownership Options' Homestake Advisory Service for Registered Social Landlords in Scotland. It will highlight cases of good practice and explore issues which have arisen when Homestake has been used by a disabled person to buy a home more suited to their needs. We welcome your comments which can be emailed to homestake@ownershipoptions.org.uk

Information about the Advisory service can be found at www.homestake.ownershipoptions.org.uk. The advice line for RSLs - the Homestake Hotline - can be contacted on 0131 656 6979.

Homestake LIFTs off!

Last week, Stewart Maxwell, Minister for Communities launched LIFT, the low cost initiative for first time buyers announced In Firm Foundations: the Future of Housing in Scotland. The Open Market Shared Equity Pilot is part of a range of assistance for those who find it difficult to find affordable homes for sale, which also includes ‘New Supply’ Shared Equity. These will replace Open Market Homestake and New Build Homestake.

As we reported in November, the Open Market Sharer Equity Pilot, previously only available in Lothian, is being extended from January 2008. Three registered social landlords will run the pilot:

• Highland Council area

Albyn Housing Society - tel 01349 855991 or 0789 4568182

• Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray Council areas

Grampian Housing Association - tel 0800 1214496

• City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, and West Lothian Council and Perth & Kinross and Stirling Council areas

Link Homes - tel 08451 550019

The Open Market Shared Equity Pilot mainly aims to help first time buyers, and will be promoted to local authority and RSL tenants. However it can help others, in particular disabled people whose home does not suit their needs.

This extension of the Open Market Scheme offers a great opportunity for many disabled people to find suitable housing in the locality they need to stay in – providing they want to live in one of the pilot regions. With an estimated 230,000 disabled people living in unsuitable housing, long waiting lists for accessible homes in the social rented sectors and lack of suitable properties in any tenure, most housing market areas are pressured for disabled people or families with a disabled household member.

Homestake was the first low cost home ownership initiative in Scotland (and we’ve had them for over 20 years) to explicitly think about how low cost home ownership initiatives can meet the housing needs and aspirations of disabled people. Its replacement with LIFT extends opportunity and an invitation to the RSLs running the Open Market pilot, and to RSLs developing new supply, to meet the diverse needs of the communities they serve.

In 2008, LIFT can build on the progress that Homestake has started in finally opening the home ownership door to disabled people, as illustrated in the articles below.

We’re here to help

We’re here to help and would be delighted to hear from you in relation to:

• Assisting you with assessing need and demand

• Integrating New Supply and Open Market Shared Equity for disabled people into your wider organisational objectives

• Advising on, or reviewing, your New Supply Shared Equity (previously Homestake) development plans

• Working with you to develop information and marketing materials

• Training for staff

• Applying the Homestake exceptions criteria, which will transfer to the new shared equity schemes.

In this newsletter we still refer to Homestake for projects in progress, but all of advice and training is directly applicable to LIFT shared equity schemes.

Homestake scores twice for Grampian Housing Association

Low cost home ownership initiatives have long been part of Grampian Housing Association’s overall strategy for developing sustainable communities and meeting the housing needs of a wide range of people. Integrating shared equity into development plans is not a big deal for the Association. But what about integrating this into problem solving approaches that cut across housing and estate management, wider role activities, multi-agency working and – most importantly – which result in tailor made housing for people in the greatest housing need?

Grampian Housing Association is developing two Homestake projects using just this approach. Neil Clapperton, Director of Housing and Property Services explains: “Mrs V has been on our transfer list, and the housing lists of other providers, for many years, waiting for the wheelchair adapted property she needs. We have looked at a number of options with her but to no avail.

Her current home is not adaptable at an economic cost; we had been exploring the possibility of an individual house build for rent via the local community care charitable trust using SNCG. However when SNCG for rent was withdrawn, this plan fell. Mrs V is finding it increasingly difficult to manage where she is, but we couldn’t find a solution.

“At the same time, our maintenance staff had been working up ideas to resolve some major estate management problems focused on an area of rough ground, which happens to be not far from where Mrs V lives. “We hadn’t previously considered a home ownership route. Mrs V could not afford to buy a property without help. Even if she could, we know that finding a house designed to meet the needs of a wheelchair user on the open or new build market is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

So we put our two problem situations together … and added Homestake. Working with Mrs V we’ve drawn up plans to build a bespoke property to meet her needs, on this land. Using Homestake means Mrs V will be able to afford this purpose built property.”

This approach sounds simple, so what’s the big deal? Many RSLs can offer first class examples of housing solutions for disabled people in the social rented sector (although the sector could do more to record, analyse or celebrate these). However there are few examples in Scotland of RSLs applying this imagination and innovation to supply housing for disabled people using low cost home ownership. Grampian Housing Association is showing that not only is it possible, it comes with valuable fringe benefits.

Benefits based buying: Clyde Valley Housing Association makes sure disabled people know what’s possible

Clyde Valley Property Services, the subsidiary company of Clyde Valley Housing Association, will be selling 51 properties through Homestake in the next nine months, with 29 of these currently available in Carluke.

In liaison with Development colleagues, Elizabeth Miller, Office Manager, has taken on the marketing role. She’s brimming with ideas and enthusiasm for the range of ways she is planning to make sure disabled people and their families get to know about Clyde Valley and the potential of Homestake.

First up, Elizabeth sought input from Ownership Options to the information pack being designed for prospective purchaser. Together with good use of the Communities Scotland application form, which asks for information about disabilities or health conditions which could require adaptations, this is one way of letting people know that their needs can be accommodated.

Having learned that it was possible for disabled people on benefits to access help with mortgage payments, Clyde Valley then worked with Ownership Options to devise a leaflet for disabled people or families on how benefit income can be used to support a mortgage. The leaflet will be included with every Homestake information pack as well as being distributed to local Councils and available as a download from the Housing Association’s website, www.cvha.co.uk.

If you want to use a similar branded leaflet on benefits based buying, contact the Homestake Hotline or email homestake@ownershipoptions.org.uk for information and support on integrating this into your Homestake marketing strategy.

You can’t miss it…getting the word out to disabled people about shared equity

Tentacles are being spread: wherever Clyde Valley Housing is advertising its Homestake (shared equity) properties, they will be pointing out that this could assist disabled people – from the article in the newsletter to all customers, to the posters in their local office reception areas.

Pre-marketing plans for Homestake in Cambuslang (completion Sept 2008) include proposals for meetings early in the year with Occupational Therapists and others in Social Work departments, who are likely to be in touch with disabled people and aware of their needs.

To date, one of the Homestake properties in Carluke is being adapted for the specific needs of a disabled applicant using Stage 2 adaptation funding; and although the Cambuslang properties have not yet been advertised, already one disabled person has made enquiries.

Clyde Valley HA is making Homestake for disabled people an integral part of its marketing rather than an afterthought. It’s a proactive approach, which will foster word of mouth marketing. As a strategy, it supports an emerging market to become established, along with clearer relationships between demand and supply of low cost home ownership for disabled people. For further information on Clyde Valley’s Carluke and Cambuslang developments contact Elizabeth Miller at millere@cvha.org.uk.

Using Homestake to stay put and prevent homelessness: Link Homes and Helen work it out

The housing dilemma: Helen Martin* has been privately renting her ground floor one bedroom flat for many years. She has learning difficulties, cerebral palsy and arthritis. The property suits her needs, she is familiar with and known in the area, and the property has been adapted to include a wet-floor shower and ramped access.

Helen gets Housing Benefit of £550 a month towards the rent for the property. Now the landlady wants to sell and has asked Helen to leave. Helen is potentially homeless. This is not an uncommon situation. However Helen’s disabilities mean the process of moving would be particularly disruptive and difficult. The Local authority has already spent considerable sums adapting her current home and it seems wasteful that a new owner will probably strip out these adaptations, while Helen will need more grant from the local authority to adapt another property. If only there was a way for Helen to buy the flat…

It would be easy to rack up all the reasons getting in the way of Helen becoming the owner of this flat; but the biggest one was that she could not afford enough mortgage to buy it without help. Ownership Options and Link Homes, agent for the Lothian Open Market Homestake scheme systematically worked out a proposal that made human and financial sense.

• Helen could translate her Housing Benefit claim into a benefits-based mortgage claim. This would allow her to support an interest only mortgage of around £70,000, enough to contribute at least 51% of the property value, as required by Homestake.

• Helen had to have her application to the Open Market Scheme assessed, as any applicant, to ensure she was in a target group for the scheme. She satisfied several of the eligibility criteria.

• Open market Homestake means the property has to be for open market sale. This was a potential problem, as Homestake cannot be applied to properties that are the subject of a private bargain. However Link Homes advisor was able to advise on the level of marketing required and Communities Scotland accepted that the marketing might be of a more limited nature in the circumstances.

• It would also be possible for the property to be purchased as a Type 2 (off the shelf) purchase by an RSL for onward sale under shared equity terms. However, as the open market route was available this offered a simpler way to proceed.

The outcome is that, with the help of Homestake, Helen has purchased the flat of which she was previously the private tenant, and in so doing now has long-term security as a homeowner in a property adapted for her needs.

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.” Henry Ford

*(not her real name)

LIFT hot topics: Everything you ever wanted to know about …

Our regular feature responding to Frequently Asked Questions looks at Golden Shares and ‘What happens if the person dies?’

Q: Can we retain a ‘Golden Share’ in Homestake property developed for disabled people?

A: The most accurate answer is probably ‘it depends’ and it prompts another question: Why would an RSL want to retain a golden share? Communities Scotland Homestake administrative procedures refers to two situations that might prompt a request:

“RSLs may request …to hold a golden share due to the pressured nature of the local market”; and

“Retention of a 20% equity stake in the property could also be appropriate for adapted properties, as this would help keep them in areas where they might otherwise be lost to the market. ”

It is not possible to write into the deeds of sale that the purchaser has to sell back to the RSL or give the RSL a pre-emptive right to buy back. However you can have a separate contractual agreement with the purchaser such that they agree not to increase their stake beyond, for example, 80%, and that they agree to offer the RSL first refusal on purchase.

Providing the RSL intends to hold a golden share in all the properties it is selling in a particular development, or several property types not just adapted properties, then the contractual agreement would need to be negotiated with anyone applying to purchase in that particular Homestake scheme (or subset), including any adapted properties.

For legal reasons it is important that you do not impose more restrictive terms for level of ownership or subsequent sale on a disabled person than you would on a non-disabled person. Advice from the Disability Rights Commission suggests that requiring only the purchasers of adapted or accessible property to sign such a contract could be discriminatory and in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

There would be an irony in promoting Homestake for a group which is particularly disadvantaged in the home ownership market, only to introduce conditions which could further disadvantage them both practically and in the eyes of the law.

Q: So is there anything else we can do to try to keep these properties available for disabled people in future?

A: The fact that an accessible house is sold on the open market does not mean that it will be lost to disabled people. Many disabled people and their families are so acutely aware of the housing shortage that, if they are moving on, they will be keen to sell to someone who can make best use of the design features of the property. Here are a few ideas:

• You can provide one page information sheets with suggested routes for direct marketing to those selling, e.g. via local disability and carer organisations, local disabled persons housing services, occupational therapy departments, GP surgeries.

• You can encourage shared equity owners to positively market their accessible or wheelchair designed home should they come to sell, providing information on the need and potential market. You can offer links to potential purchasers from your housing and Homestake waiting lists.

• You can develop your own profile as a housing provider that actively seeks to include disabled people – the market is there, but it is very poorly catered for with the Catch 22 that unsuitably housed disabled people, including current home owners, give up looking.

• You can tell them about, and promote the use of, the website www.mobilityfriendlyhomes.co.uk a relatively new but growing site which specialises in buying and selling accessible and adapted homes. You might also find this useful for your own first time marketing of accessible and/or adapted properties – whether for sale or let.

Q: What happens to the shared equity arrangement if the owner dies?

A: When Mr and Mrs M were buying a home with the assistance of Special Needs Capital Grant, Mrs M, who has Multiple Sclerosis, anxiously enquired, “what will happen if I die?” Her husband tenderly responded, “we will bury you, my dear”, humorously removing all discomfort about discussing the subject.

While this is a question that has been asked by RSLs, it is also a question of concern to people whose conditions may affect their life expectancy and their families.

If the property title and shared equity agreement is in one person’s name i.e. one person is the named owner, and that person is married or in a civil partnership, then on the death of the owner the LIFT or shared equity arrangement transfers to the spouse or partner.

If there is no spouse or partner, or if both die, then the shared equity contract ends and the LIFT grant is due to be repaid from the estate. If there is a mortgage on the property very similar provisions apply i.e. a mortgage does not transfer on death from the owner to a son or daughter who may be living in the house.

In any ownership situation, but particularly where there are concerns to ensure the legal, financial and housing security of a disabled person then the owner should be advised to think about making a Will.

If this is concern for you or one of your purchasers, Ownership Options advisors may be able to help with information about solicitors and other advisors specialising in Wills and Trusts planning for families of disabled people.

Gathering good practice

This Homestake Extra has featured just a few of the innovative applications of Homestake and developing good practice in several RSLs. Julia Fitzpatrick is currently drafting a good practice briefing.

If there are any areas you would particularly like to see covered, or if you would like to contribute ideas for good practice please do contact us on 0131 656 6979 or email homestake@ownershipoptions.org.uk

Homestake Hotline

The Homestake Hotline continues to be popular. We have had requests for more Roadshows in the future, information about what the Ownership Options service will provide to RSLs, plus difficult questions about the complexities of the Homestake exception criteria.

Please keep your calls coming. The Homestake Hotline is available on 0131 656 6979 and is staffed from Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm. The Hotline is provided as a service for RSLs operating Homestake. Individuals wishing advice should be asked to contact Ownership Options on 0131 661 3400.