Proposal to reward good tenants with stakes in their homes to be showcased at Harrogate
Money saved from reducing vandalism could be one way to fund the government's pledge to reward tenants for good behaviour by giving them a stake in their homes.

This model of equity stakes, a Labour manifesto pledge, will be put to delegates at next week's Chartered Institute of Housing conference in Harrogate.

Derby council's arm's-length management organisation, Derby Homes, is working up the idea.

The move came out of an exercise to speed up the time it takes to fill empty properties, Derby Homes director Phil Davies told Housing Today.

In some parts of Derby, high percentages of empty homes led to resources and staff time being concentrated on repairs and dealing with vandalism. But if void properties are filled more quickly, tenants can be rewarded for looking after their homes with the money saved, he explained.

"That saving on the Housing Revenue Account can be distributed to tenants' groups, the community or possibly individuals," Davies said.

Reducing tenants' turnover as little as 3% from 15% to 12% technically saves £200,000 worth of the HRA. "This saving can be put into a pot that accrues, which could then go to the community," Davies explained.

Derby already has a good neighbour award and initiatives in place to give tenants financial advice, and Davies sees some kind of community reward working in conjunction with these. "We spend a lot of time dealing with tenants who are not good tenants and we want to twist that around to give the good tenants some kind of reward," he said.

But Davies attacked government plans for negative incentives that would punish antisocial tenants by stripping them of their housing benefit. Many of Derby's tenants were already in debt and cutting benefits would only exacerbate their problems, he explained.

Local Government Association programme manager Gwyneth Taylor said any incentive should reflect local priorities. And as the HRA was purely landlord account, reinvesting savings made on it into housing issues should not be a problem.

The Chartered Institute of Housing and think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research are conducting an inquiry into equity stakes which is due to report later this month.

Institute policy analyst Mark Lupton said Derby's proposal was an "interesting and innovative way forward".

Source

Housing Today