Optional Extra - March 2008
Welcome to Optional Extra. Every two months we'll update you about what's happening in the world of housing and disabled people and, of course, at Ownership Options. We'll be covering subjects such as the changes in legislation affecting adaptations, the roll-out of the Homestake homebuyers' scheme and developments in benefits-based mortgage lending for disabled people. Along the way, we aim to highlight cases of good practice as well as examples of the bariers faced by disabled people in their search for decent housing.
We welcome your comments, and suggestions for subjects to be covered in future issues, which can be emailed to optionalextra@ownershipoptions.org.uk. Feel free to forward the newsletter to your colleagues, who can subscribe by emailing us at the address above quoting "subscribe" in the subject line.
Goodbye and good luck!After 6 years as Director, Richard Hamer is moving on to pastures new and the Board and staff wish him well in his new job. Looking back, Richard and Ownership Options have much to be proud of. We want to highlight just two particularly important achievements in his time with the organisation:
These are changes that have the potential to make a difference on a large scale. As we wish Richard ‘goodbye and good luck’, Ownership Options will be continuing its drive to make this happen.
Interim arrangements and future options studyOwnership Options is 10 years old this year and it’s time to take stock. The Board has commissioned ODS consultants to help it with a strategic review and decisions about its future direction. We will be taking steps to recruit a new Director and in the meantime we have appointed Julia Fitzpatrick (a former Director of Ownership Options) to provide an interim management service. It’s business as usual for Susie Fitton and Beata Kaczmarek, Housing Advisors, offering detailed housing advice to disabled people and their families, and to their professional supporters.
Firm Foundations - Ownership Options respondsThe consultation process on Firm Foundations, the Scottish Government’s discussion paper on the future direction of housing in Scotland finished at the end of February. There was a mixed response from people and organisations concerned with meeting the housing needs of disabled people. Like others, Ownership Options was concerned that the document seemed to ignore the scale of the unmet housing needs of disabled people. Nor does it consider this in terms of its wider impact on achieving a ‘fairer and healthier’ Scotland.
We are concerned that a focus on increasing competition to deliver additional volume of supply may further marginalise and exclude those disabled people and their families who need a more ‘bespoke’ response. This need not be the case. We, and others, propose that Government targets on the inclusion of accessible homes is one measure that could start to address the massive shortfall. To read Ownership Options’ response, click here. You can find other published responses to the consultation at www.scotland.gov.uk/PUblications/2008/03/04141319/0.
Housing Benefit and renting to relativesDespite what front-line advisers at Revenues and Benefits departments around the country may be telling people it is perfectly acceptable within Housing Benefit regulations to set up a commercial tenancy arrangement with a relative, as long as the tenancy agreement relates to a separate dwelling and the ‘tenant’ is not residing with a landlord who is also a close relative. This option, referred to by us as ‘Buying to Let to a Relative’ can provide an ideal housing solution for a disabled relative, particularly for disabled adults who may have been looked after by their parents for long periods of time. Buying to let when combined with robust community care packages where necessary can help promote independence and well-being for the disabled person whilst giving parents or other relatives the opportunity to ‘step-back’ from full-time caring responsibilities. Parents or other relatives may be keen to see a disabled adult in a secure or more suitable housing set-up but find it financially necessary, particularly when considering their own retirement, to repay their investment in a property by charging a commercial rent. They are therefore keen to know if their disabled relative will be eligible to claim Housing Benefit- recently reformed to become Local Housing Allowance for all private tenants making a new or altered claim for benefits assistance towards paying rent.
We have had a number of cases recently where clients considering buying to let to a disabled relative have been put off from making offers on suitable properties by largely incorrect ‘snap judgments’ from Housing Benefit staff, telling them that they cannot rent to a relative and that any tenancy will be considered ‘contrived’. We therefore thought it might be useful to take a look at what the law actually says and to give a recent success story of where this option has worked to improve a disabled person’s housing situation.
Mr M is 31 and lives with his pregnant wife and young daughter in a 3 bedroom house in Edinburgh that he shares with his brother and his brother’s family. Mr M has mental health problems and is not able to work at present. There are seven people in a small house and the overcrowding is leading to stress which is exacerbating some of Mr M ’s symptoms. Mr M’s brother contacted Ownership Options as he was considering purchasing a 2 bedroom property on the market for £150,000 and then renting this property to Mr M and his family. Mr M’s brother had been offered a buy to let mortgage and because of his need for rental income to repay this investment was keen to know if Mr M would qualify for Housing Benefit/Local Housing Allowance once he had moved in as he had been told this was not possible. Ownership Options discussed this case with Revenues and Benefits and received confirmation from the Benefits Manager that if a commercial, legally enforceable and necessary liability was in place and Mr M was eligible for benefits assistance with rent then he would qualify for Local Housing Allowance. Mr M’s brother has since purchased the house and is in the process of setting up a legally enforceable tenancy agreement with his brother. A move into the new house may help relieve Mr M of some of his symptoms and will ease the considerable strain on his wider family.
Shared equity and disabled people The Homestake Advisory Service offered to RSLs, and funded by Communities Scotland, officially came to an end on March 31st. The Homestake Hotline will transfer to Ownership Options’ own telephone number. However as RSLs go into a new development year, we hope to continue receiving your calls and offering advice and support to help RSLs to make their shared equity schemes accessible for disabled people. We will be discussing with the Scottish Government the best way Ownership Options can support RSLs in future, but in the meantime don’t hesitate to ask for our help.
TelecareAn additional £8 million to develop interactive care services for vulnerable people in their own homes has been announced by Shona Robison, Minister for Health.
Over the next two years, local health, housing and social care partnerships will benefit from this extra funding to expand Telecare programmes which allow people leaving hospital to live with greater independence and safety at home.
Telecare covers a range of devices and services that harness developing technology and are available to people in their homes to help them live with greater independence and safety.
Ownership Options is often called upon to work with disabled home owners unable to return from hospital to their unadapted home, and welcomes the availability of extra funding to enable more innovative responses to this situation.
You can find out more about the Scottish Telecare programme from the Joint Improvement Team’s website www.jitscotland.org.uk/action-areas/themes/telecare.html. Good information is also available from www.independentliving.co.uk – this refers to Telecare in England but its content may also useful to disabled people in Scotland.
Mrs D's storyMrs D is 59 and owns her flat which she has lived in for 23 years. She loves her house but it is becoming increasingly unsuitable. Mrs D has emphysema which is worsening and she finds the large steep hill leading up to her house and the steps up to the front door impossible to manage. She has been in hospital 4 times this year and requires a significant level of care from her son to ensure a successful discharge. To facilitate this arrangement Mrs D needs to move closer to her son.
Mrs D and her son therefore got in touch with Ownership Options to see if we could advise on what her buying options might be. Mrs D had her own property valued at £75,000 and with a low mortgage of £10,000 still to repay thought that she could contribute some £65,000 towards the purchase of a more suitable home.
As an Income Support recipient Mrs D was already receiving Income Support Mortgage Interest (ISMI) payments to help her cover her mortgage and after advice from us, and with professional support for her need to move, she was able to obtain confirmation that these payments would increase to cover a mortgage of up to £100,000 if used to buy alternative accommodation more suited to her needs.
Mrs D’s son investigated the property prices in his village and found a suitable bungalow on the market for £125,000. With a shortfall of £60,000 Mrs D was keen to approach a mortgage lender and we assisted her to broker a mortgage offer from the Scottish Building Society.
Just when this purchase seemed a real possibility however, market conditions slumped and Mrs D was unable to sell her own property in time to purchase the bungalow.
Despite this disappointment Mrs D’s son saw that a private let in his local area might provide the ideal short-term solution until his mother was able to sell her own house. He felt able to meet the costs of the vacant house until sale because Mrs D’s mortgage repayments were low, but he wanted to know if Mrs D would get benefits assistance with paying rent on a temporary let as a homeowner wishing to sell.
He was concerned that his mother might be forced into staying put in an unsuitable house until it was sold, and may then have to use her equity to pay rent if there was nothing suitable to buy at the right time.
After detailed advice from Ownership Options on this matter it become clear that Mrs D would get help to pay her rent on a private let and could have her capital (in terms of her property) disregarded for up to a year or even longer.
As one door seemed temporarily closed for Mrs D another door opened that could provide an ideal short-term solution until the time was right for a house purchase.
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