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Interview with Minister Eoghan MurphyPage 9

HOUSINGIRELANDA journal for Irish Housing Professionals

Summer 2018 Issue 13

Winner of CIH Housing Awards Best large Development 2018 Clon Elagh, Apex Housing

Digital inclusion workshopThis one day workshop will cover:

The importance of digital inclusion and why it is vital to ensurethat as many tenants as possible can function onlineThe elements of a digital inclusion strategy and how toimplement themOptions available for tenants who may never go onlineNew and free digital inclusion resources to enable them tofurther develop their knowledge, interest and skill

Date: 23 May 2018Location: Housing Agency, DublinCost: 110 for members, 120 for non-members

Effective measures for dealing with Anti social behaviourThis one day workshop will cover:

What anti-social behaviour is and what it is notDealing effectively with ASB complaintsDealing with ASB casesProactive approaches to preventing anti-social behaviour ie good practice principles and real-lifeexamples of approaches that workDiscussions with statutory organisations

Date: 25 June 2018Location: Housing Agency, DublinCost: 120 for members, 130 for non-members

Housing Festival

You haven't attended a housing event like this before! This oneday event is packed full of content which will give you thechance to explore the issues and areas that matter to you sothat you can take real lessons back with you.

From big picture sessions taking a look at the future of housingto practical sessions on everything from resiliency and wellbeing to communication skills and confidence – the housingfestival has it all.

Date: 21 June 2018Location: The Treehouse, Belfast Cost: £55 for members, £80 for non-members

To book contact Ruth Cullen on:E: ruth.cullen@cih.orgT: 01 656 4160

Editorial 5

News from Ireland and what’s happening elsewhere - CIH policy teams talk about the UK housing headlines 6

Interview with Minister Eoghan Murphy 9

Sector reclassification continues to haunt social housing 16

Housing First 18

CIH Housing Awards 2018 22

Private Rented Sector 24

Housing Leaders Programme 26

New Social Housing Assessment 28

GDPR: What are the changes housing professionals should focus on? 30

St Vincent De Paul: Challenges of being a volunteer 32

Book Review 34

Contents

Disclaimer: The views expressed by contributors in Housing Ireland are not necessarily those of the Chartered Institute of Housing,the editor or the editorial panel and should not be taken as representative of any of the above.

News from the TroikaJustin Cartwright, CIH’s Policy and Public Affairs Manager in Belfast, is Housing Ireland’s regular editor. But he wasn’t able to edit this issue so the three of us stepped into the breach. This means that if anything goes wrong, each of us can blame the other two.

As usual we have done a round up of whats happening with our colleagues in other areas. We were delighted to interview Minister Murphy as we have his precedessors and appreciate the time taken to meet with us. It is good to showcase all the hard work being done in these challenging times,and Housing First is a very encouraging initiative. In a different vein, it is also good to showcase the success stories from our glamorous Housing Awards in Belfast in February,which celebrated all that is good in housing, both in the individuals working in the sector and the quality homes being delivered to communities.

We hope you will also be interested to read about our recent Housing Leaders Programme. It is a new departure for CIH in Ireland and in response to the demand for a founding leaders group to be established to further the aim of professionalising the sector and championing excellence.

This is a bumper issue and our thanks go to all contributors, and as always to the Housing Agency for their great support.

We hope that normal service will be resumed for the next issue, but in the meantime we trust that you find this one interesting, and we secretly hope that we’ve done a good enough job to put the wind up Justin.

Simon Brooke, Clúid HousingDavid Silke, Housing AgencyCathy Etchingham, CIH Ireland

Mr. Michael Carey has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Housing Agency. Mr. Carey is the Executive Chairman of The Company of Food, a specialist food investment business, providing equity to start-up and established high-growth food businesses, and also holds the Executive Chairship of the East Coast Bakehouse, Ireland’s largest biscuit business. Mr. Carey also has extensive experience in overseeing State bodies, having served as Chairman of Bord Bia (2011 – 2018), and he has also served as Chair of the Grow Dublin Tourism Alliance since 2016. He has been involved in several not-for-profit initiatives: Chair of Soul of Haiti Foundation (2009 – 2015); Member, Clinton Global Initiative (2009 – 2015); Member, Emeratus Advisory Board Smurfit Graduate Business School (2011 – to date)

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News from Ireland and the UKIrelandConstruction costs12th April 2018 was a bumper day for construction costs enthusiasts, with three reports published, all with catchy titles: Review of Delivery Costs and Viability for Affordable Residential Developments; Cost Analysis of the Updated Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments, Guidelines for PlanningAuthorities; and Comparison of Residential Construction Costs in Ireland to other European Countries. The reports conclude that it’s very difficult to build affordable residential apartment schemes in urban areas, basement car parking is extremely expensive and needs to be reviewed, building higher isn’t necessarily cheaper, in fact building above six stories can be more expensive, the new 2018 apartment planning guidelines (see below) will reduce construction costs of apartments by between 3 and 15% and Ireland has very similar residential construction costs to the UK, Germany and France, but in the Netherlands costs are about 18% lower.

New apartment standardsIn January, the Dept of Housing and Planning published new planning guidelines that aim to boost the number of apartments. Changes include removing heightrestrictions; removing the requirement for car-parking spaces where the area is well-served by public transport; and increasing the number of apartments that can share a lift from 8 to 12. Specific standards apply to Build to Rent apartments and Shared Accommodation Developments. The new standards were welcomed by the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI), however it also recognised that more needed to be done to reduce the costs of building apartments.

Ghost estatesThe most recent report from the Departmentt of Housing and Planning on unfinished housing developments shows that the number of ghost estates has fallen from morethan 3,000 in 2011 to 256 at the end of 2017 – a drop of over 90%. In urban areas,the number of vacant units was described as ‘practically negligible’, with only 11vacant units falling into the category of unfinished developments in all the four Dublin localauthority areas.

Mortgage loan sell-off to vulture fundsPTSB is proposing to sell non-performing loans worth €4bn to vulture funds, which operate by buying non-performing assets at a low price and selling them off forhigher prices. PTSB and other banks are under pressure from the European regulator to deal with their non-performing loans, and have come up with this plan of action in response.Vulture funds do not enjoy a good reputation, so this proposal has not been met with enthusiasm. Particularly as some loans which are classified as non-performing are restructured loans where the borrower is keeping to their agreement with the lender.Property tax changes flaggedThere is considerable pressure on Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to adjust property tax arrangements to avoid large increases when dwellings are revalued in2019. One of the options under consideration is a rated banding system, which would include location and local authority service levels, in addition to the propertyvaluation which is the current measure for property tax.

AHBs reclassified In March, Eurostat decided that Approved Housing Bodies(AHBs), also called housing associations, or the voluntary housing sector), which had previously been classified in the Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households sector under EU accounting rule, were reclassified in the government sector. This means that AHBs are now ‘on-balance sheet’ ,which means that their spending counts towards the government debt and, therefore, will be in competition with other government capital spending projects in health and education. Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, hasstated that Eurostat’s ruling will not impede the delivery of social housing by AHBs,but it is likely that it will negatively impact on AHB funding in the future. Efforts are underway to determine what could be done to reconfigure some elements of AHB structures, to enable them to apply to be reclassified again in the Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households sector.

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England It feels like we’re living through a defining period for social housing in England. The Grenfell Tower fire in June last year has placed social housing in thespotlight like never before; a Conservative government has made housing its leading domestic priority with an ambitious new housing target; and we are at lasthaving a conversation about the kinds of new homes we need and how we take better care of those we have already.

With all of this in mind, CIH has developed the Rethinking Social Housing Project to fundamentally question the role and purpose of social housing in the twenty first century. What is it? What is its value to society? Who should live there? As well as compiling robust evidence to make recommendations to the sector and government, we’re also aiming to stimulate a healthy debate. To achieve this, we’ve developed a toolkit to help organisations run local workshops to discuss the key questions and then send us the results to add to our evidence base. The enthusiasm this has generated is exciting and encouraging – so far we’ve had results from 27 workshops and we’re expecting a further 50 to be completed by the end of March deadline. We’ve also had over 400 responses to our online survey and our end of March Twitter debate promises to broaden engagement even further.

This, combined with a public perception survey and secondary data analysis to build a picture of who is living in social housing today, should inform discussionsto help reconnect us with our sense of purpose. wBy doing this we can challenge some of the negative stereotypes and misconceptions about social housing, the people who live in it and the work that we do. And, most importantly of all, it is how we will get to the heart of what the role of social housing should be making sure that everyone has access to a decent, safe place to call home. We’ll be sharing our findings as the project progresses, building to an overall launch at our annual conference – Housing 2018 – at the end of June 2018. So do watch this space!

Wales Fitness for Human Habitation StandardsOnce fully implemented, the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (‘the 2016 Act’) will make it simpler and easier to rent a home in Wales, replacing various and complex pieces of existing legislation with one clear legal framework.

The new ‘occupation contracts’ replace current tenancies and will make the rights and obligations of both landlord and contract holder much clearer. This includes the landlord’s duty, of ensuring a dwelling is fit for human habitation (FFHH).

Addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) range from suffering verbal, mental, sexual and physical abuse, to being raised in a household where domestic violence, alcohol abuse, parental separation or drug abuse is present. This is an area where Housing professionals have been making excellent progress in considering how functions such as tenancy management can be viewed through an ACEs lens. Homelessness and Housing First The approach to addressing homelessness in Wales has progressed considerably in Wales since the implementation of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014. At its heart, this has meant anyone at risk of becoming homeless has been entitled to some form of help. Recognising the need to reduce pressure on the system , the Minister for Housing and Regeneration recently launched a new rough sleeping and Housing First delivery plan to implement a new model of service across the sector.

Northern IrelandThe Department for Communities (DfC) is proposing changes to the way social homes are allocated. The headline proposals include the removal of ‘intimidation points’. There are concerns in the housing sector that they are being misused to secure top priority for rehousing. Other proposals include grouping points together into a hybrid banded system and allowing social landlords to use choice-based lettings for properties that are difficult to let.Proposals: https://bit.ly/2GR96tTCIH response: https://bit.ly/2pM78no Westminster has set the 2018-19 budget in the absence of the Executive. DfC has been allocated £163 million of capital, a 30%t increase on 2017-18. Social housing supply is usually allocated a high proportion of this. Meanwhile, the Department’s revenue budget of £900 million is a real-terms reduction of 1.6 %. After protected expenditure, some sections may face reductions of ten per cent.

Budget: https://bit.ly/2GSCwba

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Ending homelessness in Scotland The Scottish Government established the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) in October 2017 to make recommendations to Scottish Ministers on how to eradicate rough sleeping and transform the use of temporary accommodation in Scotland. The working group was tasked with providing solutions to four questions: • What can be done to end rough sleeping this winter

(2017/18)? • How can we end rough sleeping? • How can we transform the use of temporary

accommodation? • What needs to be done to end homelessness?Details of the HARSAG’s work and recommendations to date are available on the Scottish Government’s website (http://bit.ly/2hSil16) and the final report is due to be submitted in Spring. Transformation work will be supported by £50 million funding over the next five years.

A new target for fuel poverty Despite an ambitious target to end fuel poverty in Scotland by November 2016 and significant investment in improving energy efficiency, around 27% of households are still living in fuel poverty. The Scottish Government is now considering a new definition of fuel poverty, taking income into account, and a new statutory target is set to be included in a Warm Homes Bill expected this summer. The Scottish Government has received some criticism for not being ambitious enough with proposals for the new target – reducing fuel poverty to no more than 10% of households by 2040. CIH Scotland’s response to the consultation is available online http://bit.ly/2BJ3vSk

Meeting affordable housing targets The Scottish Government set a target to deliver 50,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of the Parliament – 35,000 social rented homes and 15,000 other affordable tenures – supported by £3 billion funding. Recent research published by Shelter Scotland, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and the Equality and Human Rights Commission suggests that the social housing sector is on track to meet this target. However, challenges still remain, including access to and cost of land, provision of essential infrastructure and development skills.

The full report is available online http://bit.ly/2ClMVNk.

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Interview with Minister Eoghan Murphyfrom Nicola McCrudden CIH Director Ireland

Rebuilding Ireland is about accelerating housing supply-is it working? This Government recognises the serious challenge we face in terms of housing and a critical focus and priority has been firmly placed on responding to this challenge through the development and implementation of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness.

Rebuilding Ireland is a €6 billion, multi-annual, broadly based action plan which seeks to increase the overall supply of new homes to 25,000 per annum by 2020;

deliver an additional 50,000 social housing units in the period to 2021; and meet the housing needs of an additional 87,000 households through the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme and the Rental Accommodation Scheme(RAS).

The Plan incorporates a major social housing delivery programme and since 2016 has already delivered over 12,700 built, bought or long-term leased homes in addition to a further 32,000 flexible housing solutions under HAP and RAS. That’s almost 45,000 individuals and families who have had their housing needs met over a two year period.

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The Plan recognises the need for blended delivery, accessing the immediate availability of existing properties through acquisition or leasing arrangements, with a particular focus on harnessing the capacity of vacant properties, while at the same time facilitating local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies to significantly enhance their own build programmes. A review of the Plan in 2017 recognised the demand and necessity for an even greater emphasis on direct building of social housing than was envisaged and additional capital funding was secured under Budget 2018 to make this happen, bringing the overall Budget from €5.35 to €6 billion.

Strong progress on implementation is already being made. On the social housing construction front, the Construction Status Report for Q3 2017 showed a programme of works on 770 sites that will deliver over 12,300 new homes, with the number of schemes in the programme growing on a weekly basis.

Beyond social housing, all relevant indicators – including planning permissions, construction commencement notices and connections to the ESB grid - are showing very significant upward trends in home-building activity.

The Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan, together with initiatives announced on foot of the targeted review of progress which was undertaken last year, as well as additional measures announced under Budget 2018, provides a robust framework for addressing the housing and homelessness challenges we face. The focus, and that of all delivery agents will remain on implementation and delivery to ensure that the range of objectives and targets set are achieved.

We have lots of initiatives aimed at tackling our housing problems-in your view which one has the potential to have greatest impact?

There is no single initiative that will solve the housing crisis. The challenges are complex and interconnected. There are multiple housing type sectors with different problems defined by issues such as tenure, tenant type, location, property type, and a multitude of other factors. Overlapping issues affect different parts of the country in different ways and to varying degrees. That is why Rebuilding Ireland has adopted a multi-faceted approach to our current housing problems and sets out a framework to bring long term equilibrium to the housing sector to avoid the stresses and diseconomies associated with a ‘boom-bust’ sector.

I do, however, believe that while the problem is a national issue, the solutions are local. The greatest impact to tackling our housing problem is, and will continue to be, dependent on the continued engagement and proactive approach adopted by our stakeholders, such as local authorities, housing agencies, voluntary bodies and the construction sector. Stakeholders working in collaboration with my Department are and will bring decent homes to many households in need and will help narrow the affordable housing gap for those wishing to secure a home of their own.

We have done a lot under Rebuilding Ireland and follow-up initiatives to increase housing supply, for example, through increased capital investment in social housing, fast-track planning reforms, enabling infrastructure provision and new and streamlined guidance. The signs of recovery are very positive, with strong increases in planning permissions, construction commencement notices and residential construction investment.

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Indeed, construction commencements for over 18,500 new homes were notified by home builders over the twelve months to end February 2018, an increase of 41% year on year, and planning permission was granted for almost 20,800 new homes in 2017, an increase of 27% year on year.

In addition, as highlighted in the CSO’s Quarterly National Accounts for Q4 2017 and preliminary 2017 results, last year saw a 33% growth in construction investment for dwellings, which is further evidence of the construction sector getting back into house-building at scale.

As I pointed out earlier, tackling the housing crisis requires more than tinkering with the system at the edges or standalone measures. As Ireland continues to progress towards the levels of housing supply required, it is important that new homes are accessible and affordable. The Government, therefore, remains committed to bringing forward a more joined up programme of planning, funding, and project development to ensure that everyone can access a home, either on their own or with State support.

There are concerns that there seems to be little progress on delivery of affordable rental or cost rental housing. Is the Government committed to bringing forward proposals to deliver these housing options,and if so when? The delivery of more affordable homes, to buy or rent, is a major priority for Government, focusing in particular on the cities of Dublin, Galway and Cork, where people are facing the greatest affordability challenge. In January I announced a package of initiatives to help alleviate affordability pressures faced by households, particularly in areas of high housing demand and high accommodation costs. The measures announced were the new Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, a new Affordable Purchase Scheme and a new Affordable Cost Rental Scheme, and more details of the Schemes are available on the Rebuilding Ireland website at www.rebuildingireland.ie.

As I said, the signs of recovery are very positive. However, as we increase output, we must ensure that new homes are truly affordable, linked to people’s real incomes.

Our affordable housing initiatives will be delivered two-fold. • Firstly, on affordable purchase we’re helping first-time

buyers to buy new or second-hand homes through the new local authority home loan; and, local authorities will also make affordable homes available to purchase from their land banks.

• While home purchase is a very important aspiration, the system-wide and long-term impact of affordable purchase is limited (once you sell off the affordable home, the asset is lost to the State). That is why the development of a new “cost rental” sector is so strategically important. If, like Vienna and other European cities, we can put many thousands of cost rental homes into the market, we make a sustainable impact on: housing affordability; national competitiveness; and attractiveness for people on low and middle incomes to be able to live closer to where they work.

I am determined to get some major cost rental projects moving in Dublin and then roll it out more broadly. We are working with the European Investment Bank and other stakeholders on this.

Following the Eurostat Classification decision, is it the Department of Housings intention to reverse this so the AHBs are off Government balance sheet? What is your thinking around this? Following the decision in December 2017 by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to reclassify 14 of the 16 largest Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) examined as falling within the public sector, Eurostat confirmed its agreement with the decision in March.

Notwithstanding the decision by the CSO, the Government still sees an important role for the voluntary housing sector in contributing to delivery of social housing under Rebuilding Ireland, and intends to press ahead with the ambitious plans to use all mechanisms and schemes, including through the AHB sector, to ensure that we maintain our planned momentum towards meeting the 50,000 Rebuilding Ireland social housing target.

Therefore, further work is being undertaken to fully assess the implications of the reclassification decision. This is being undertaken through engagement between my Department, and the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, with technical support provided by the Housing Finance Agency and the Housing Agency. The assessment will include a more accurate understanding of the fiscal implications of the AHB reclassification, and recommendations on further measures that can be taken in mitigation of the impact of the decision to support the AHB sector and its role in delivering on the Rebuilding Ireland targets. A part of this exercise will be to examine what measures could be taken in the long run to develop the AHB sector in such a way so that it could be reclassified as being off the Government’s balance sheet. However, it has to be accepted that this will be a longer-term objective.

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It is now widely accepted by many leaders in the sector that the differential rent system provides insufficient income to manage property assets. How is the Department planning to address these concerns to ensure that the substantial national asset represented by the social housing stock is protected?

Considerable work has been carried out by my Department in developing a draft national differential rents framework, which will harmonise the approach taken to the setting of local authority rents, including income disregards. The introduction of a rent framework may mean that the amount of rent payable by some households may be subject to change in some cases. This work is now being examined further in the light of the broader commitment given in the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, to review the disparate systems of differential rent for social housing in place across local authorities. The overall objective is to ensure that housing supports are fair and sustainable, prioritise those on lowest incomes and avoid creating social welfare traps that may prevent people from either returning to work or to the private housing market. I expect that the review will be completed shortly.

Do you feel that Millennials are shifting away from home ownership in favour of renting, or do you feel that the current rental boom is simply a necessity resulting from a lack of affordable housing for sale? The Rental sector in Ireland has traditionally been a temporary tenure for households who prefer to own their own home or access permanent social housing. A temporary tenure so-to-speak on their journey to tenure of choice.

I believe that the rental sector needs to evolve and meet the needs of a modern society providing a more flexible and pragmatic housing option to a mobile labour market. I do think there is some movement away from home ownership to renting as matter of choice and this is probably influenced by changing work patterns whereby people want the flexibility to move location easily.

There are also wider societal changes which mean that renting, while not always a permanent housing solution or choice for some,,is a tenure that people stay in longer. We are marrying or finding life partners later in life; and having children later, and this changes how we use the rental sector.

We also use the sector at different points in our lives. Previously renting was typically a tenure for students and for people who had not bought a house yet, but now it is used at various stages of our life cycle. It is still the starting point for many people’s housing journey but renting now also has a role to play when there is a change in life circumstances.

We have also seen a recent phenomenon of ‘double renters’ - people who own a property that they rent out, while also renting a property themselves. Again, this can be a convenient situation for people who require labour mobility, and the flexibility renting can offer, while also having the security of owning an asset. Demand in the rental sector is high and is likely to remain strong into the future. The sector has doubled in size over the course of the last 20 years. Lack of supply, population growth, economic recovery and challenges in the home ownership market are all driving increased demand for rented housing at present. While many landlords provide good quality well managed homes, experiences vary. How do we make the sector an attractive long- term option for both tenants and landlords? Security of tenure is key in making the sector more attractive to both tenants and landlords. It provides tenants with the security they want in their housing situation, and it provides landlords with the security they seek from their investment. This is something the whole sector is calling for and one that is needed. I have recently introduced legislation providing for tenancies of 6 years duration, increasing from 4, as part of a move to overall tenancies of indefinite duration.As part of the Review of Rebuilding Ireland, I announced a set of measures to provide the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) with additional powers and resources to deliver enhanced protections to both tenants and landlords, which, inter alia, will enhance the functioning of the private rented sector, and underpin further the operation of the Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) arrangements.

My Department is currently drafting a Bill to bring to Government shortly which will give legislative effect to these commitments. The main provisions in this Bill relate to: • making it an offence for landlords to implement rent

increases that contravene the law; • providing powers to the RTB to investigate and

prosecute landlords who implement such increases;

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• allowing the RTB to initiate an investigation without the need for a complaint to be made; as well as

• technical amendments to address transparency of rental price data, to ensure that the duration of occupancy of the rental property is taken into account in any notice periods, and other relatively minor operational matters.

Education also has a role to play in ensuring that tenants and landlords alike get a consistent and positive experience in the rental sector. This is the motivation behind the RTB’s voluntary landlord accreditation scheme. The scheme will support landlords in understanding their responsibilities and rights, and facilitate them in delivering a professional, high quality service to tenants. Once a landlord has completed an RTB course they will become RTB accredited. As a result of the scheme, the rental sector will contain a large cohort of landlords who understand their rights and responsibilities, and we would therefore expect to see a consistent service being delivered across the sector.

Arising from the publication in December 2016 of the Government’s Strategy for the Rental Sector, a number of targeted measures and initiatives have been announced with the aim of providing better security of tenure, higher accommodation standards and greater rent certainty for tenants, as well as enhancing the supports and services available to landlords to facilitate the development of a more vibrant and sustainable rental sector. These initiatives include: • establishment of Rent Pressure Zones in areas of high,

and rapidly rising, rents; • introduction of new rental accommodation standards

and related guidelines; • new legislative protections for tenants where multi-

unit developments are being sold; • broadening and strengthening the role and powers

of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) to more effectively provide their services, such as through accelerated dispute resolution processes;

• developing a “One-Stop Shop” within the RTB to improve access to information for tenants and landlords, and

• introduction of a voluntary landlord accreditation scheme

The Rental Strategy gives a commitment for us to move to indefinite security of tenure. We have started this journey by already introducing legislation in late 2016 which restricted sale where more than 10 dwellings are being sold in the same development in a six month period.

However, we need to also understand that there is significant change to the regulatory structure for the rental sector underway and we cannot do it all at the same time as the sector need to be able to transition to the changes. The priority at present is to ensure that we give the RTB extra powers as a regulator, which allows them to deal with issues of noncompliance.

This is particularly important in terms of dealing with affordability issues and maximising the impact of Rent Pressure Zones.

In the interim, we will work on moving towards long-term rental through the promotion of long -term leases, which will help us normalise long-term rentals.

In this context the policy around evicting tenants in order to carry out substantial refurbishment has been tightened. The landlord is now required to have planning permission before serving notice if planning permission is required. The landlord is also required to provide a written statement to the tenant specifying the nature of the intended works. It is important to note also that in these circumstances a landlord is required when the property becomes available for re- letting to offer the tenant back the dwelling.

The works to be required are also significant, and have to be so significant that the tenant would be required to vacate the property. Therefore, it is not simply replacing a kitchen or retiling the bathroom. The RTB have provided guidance on this for both landlords and tenants which is available on their website. If a tenant feels that a notice has not been served for genuine reasons or that the works are not sufficient, they may take a case to the RTB, whereby an independent decision maker will assess the case based on evidence.

Landlords who let to private tenants benefit from 80% (increased from 75% with effect from 1 January 2017) deductibility in respect of mortgage interest for tax purposes. This will be restored to 100% deductibility of mortgage.

Do you feel we can end homelessness and is enough being done to prevent it from happening in the first place? Addressing homelessness is one of the main priorities for my Department. The key issue we need to address is to increase the supply of housing and Rebuilding Ireland includes ambitious plans to increase the stock of social housing by 50,000 by 2021.

Other measures are also being delivered such as the use of the Housing Assistance Payment to support families in private rented accommodation. In 2017, we established a Homeless HAP Placefinders service in the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, which leads the response to homelessness in the four Dublin local authorities, and in Cork. The Homeless HAP service supports families in emergency accommodation by nominating them to viewings with the Placefinders Service, and encouraging and supporting them to find private rented accommodation themselves. Over 2,000 families are now being supported by the scheme. Following the success of the scheme in Dublin and Cork, the scheme was introduced into all local authorities earlier this year.

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Over 4,700 individuals exited homeless emergency accommodation during 2017. This highlights that while the numbers in emergency accommodation remain high, results are being delivered. Presentations to homeless services remain and one of the issues we need to focus more on is prevention. I recently sought a report from the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive on the reasons for increased family presentations, which I expect to receive early in April.

Regrettably, with the level of presentations of homeless families, it is necessary to use emergency accommodation. We have been funding a programme of family hubs, which provide more suitable accommodation for families, albeit on a temporary basis. The family hubs include cooking and laundry facilities and play areas for children. Almost 500 families are not accommodated in hubs and we are delivering further hub facilities nationally during 2018 to minimise the numbers of families staying in hotels. The local authorities and the hub operators work with families to exit them into secure tenancies and the DRHE report that they are seeing many families moving from the hubs to secure tenancies within a short period of time. Towards the end of 2017, I established an Inter-Agency Group on Homelessness to provide a more coordinated Government response to homelessness. This is important both in terms of addressing the pathways to homelessness and addressing the needs of those in homeless services. Many of those in homeless services have needs beyond housing and we need to ensure we respond to those needs cohesively. An important development in this regard is the Housing First Programme. Housing First works with the most vulnerable of those experiencing homelessness and provides accommodation and wrap around supports to help them sustain their tenancies. The programme in Dublin is showing great results in tenancy sustainment and further programmes are being introduced in Cork, Galway and Limerick during 2018. Mr Bob Jordan took up duties as National Director of Housing First in February and will be responsible for the development of the programme nationally.

CIH is the professional membership body for those who work in housing. What advice would you give to leaders in the sector and also those in frontline roles?

I believe that those working in the social housing sector in Ireland over the last decade have been doing phenomenal good in the face of significant challenges. I have been in this role for one year, and I am constantly amazed by the commitment, dedication and resilience I encounter on a daily basis. It’s hard graft at every level, every day and I think respect and co-operation are the two most valuable attributes required to stay focussed. We will not emerge from these challenges immediately, but we are well advanced on a journey towards something better.

For leaders, I would say to take a moment and recognise all sides of the complicated polygon and ensure that by moving in a particular direction, your endeavours recognise and accommodate other equally necessary advances. Harness the best of the support infrastructure around you, be informed from a legislative, policy and scheme perspective and ensure that your staff are well trained to manage the work. I know that the CIH are well supported by the Housing Agency and I think that this co-operative relationship will serve members well.For frontline staff the best advice I can give you, is to take pride in the support, assistance and care you provide to our most vulnerable citizens on a daily and hourly basis. You are valued, your views are important and your experiences count.

What will be your greatest achievement in office?

All my efforts are focused on solving the challenge before us. If we can bring stability to the housing market which will ease the related housing difficulties of families and individuals affected then the country will be in a better space. Personal achievement is not what this is about.

Nicola McCrudden CIH Director Ireland

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Sector reclassification continues to haunt social housingDo you remember where you were on Halloween 2015? On that day, the Office for National Statistics reclassified English housing associations from Private Non-Financial Corporations to Public Non-Financial Corporations in the National Accounts. Within a year it announced matching rulings for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The key impact was to bring onto the public-sector balance sheet £66bn of housing association debt, alongside their assets. The shared catalyst for reclassification was central or local government control of associations.

What initially appeared to be a dry, statistical matter of interest only to the Comptroller and Auditor General, caused consternation when it emerged that reclassification could restrict associations’ autonomy and the amount of borrowing available for investment in social housing. Trick or treat?

In England, swift Government action passing deregulatory measures achieved re-reclassification within two years. Similar measures are passing through the Scottish and Welsh devolved parliaments, although progress in Northern Ireland has been delayed by the lack of a functioning government.

But it’s not just UK housing associations affected by statisticians’ new-found interest in our sector. Last December the Republic of Ireland’s Central Statistical Office (CSO) announced that it will recommend to Eurostat that 14 of the largest Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) be reclassified into the Local Government sub-sector from Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households. The Irish social housing sector is very different from the UK’s. Approximately 520 AHBs manage around 27,000 homes, but only 18 have over 300 units. These ‘Tier 3’ bodies account for 80% of the sector’s stock and the largest, Cluid, manages roughly 6,000 units. Many

smaller AHBs are single-property organisations, “staffed” by volunteers and funded through charitable donations.Additionally, over 99% of Tier 3 AHB’s capital funding comes from government. In contrast, grant constituted just 33% of the largest 300 English associations’ funding before reclassification (the remainder being private debt and retained profits). This is the key driver of CSO’s decision and it’s difficult to envisage it being reversed in the short-term.

The consequences for reclassified AHBs are extensive, depending on the destination classification. Possible consequences include:• Assets being necessarily aligned with debt, hence

‘owned’ by the relevant central government department or local authority

• Falling under public-sector spending controls, potentially including headcount freezes, permissions for capital expenditure, salary restrictions and/or redundancy limitations

• Requirements to obtain annual business plan approval from central or local government, potentially giving government the opportunity to control strategy, policy and capital projects

• Freedom to borrow new funds being replaced by the need to apply to use Government general borrowings, subject to restraints imposed by Eurozone fiscal rules. This could severely constrain capacity to fulfil development ambitions or stock transfer plans

• Accounting policies and audit arrangements needing to align with those of the public sector, and therefore the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General

CT is supporting parts of the sector to argue their case and inform Eurostat’s decision. The Irish government expects AHBs to deliver substantially against their ambitions to build 47,000 social homes by 2021. Has this target been jeopardised by the proposed reclassification? Scary indeed.

Sponsored content by Campbell Tickell16

Housing First in IrelandIn October 2017, CIH Policy and Practice teams across the UK and Ireland produced a guide to Housing First. It is intended to provide information about how Housing First is working across the UK and Ireland, to highlight some of the challenges involved in developing Housing First and encourage discussion among housing practitioners.

This article provides detail of how Housing First works in Ireland.

What is Housing First?Housing First offers permanent accommodation to people in chronic need without requiring them to go through the formal homelessness system of waiting lists, hostels and temporary accommodation. While models in different places may differ slightly, Housing First tends to be directed at people who are sleeping rough or have experienced repeat homelessness and have mental health and addiction problems.

Under Housing First, there is no requirement for the homeless person to be “housing ready” or tohave addressed their addiction problems before moving into a permanent home. Health and addiction issues are addressed after housing has been secured and intensive, open ended support is provided to help the person to maintain their tenancy.

The origins:Most models of Housing First in operation today have been adapted from Pathways to Housing, a programme established in New York City in 1992 by Dr Sam Tsemberis. Variations of this model have now been widely adopted across America and parts of Europe, most notably perhaps in Finland where evidence suggests that Housing First has contributed to a significant decline in the number of homeless people since being introduced in 2008. Housing First has also been put into practice across the UK and Ireland.

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The principlesThe most basic guiding principle of Housing First is that housing is a human right and that it should be the starting point of supporting a person to recover from other issues such as addiction and poor mental or physical health. The Pathways model sets out five clear principles which should underpin every Housing First project:Housing – Immediate access to housing with no readiness conditionsChoice – Consumer choice and self determinationRecover – Recovery orientationSupport – Individualised and person-driven support is providedCommunity – Social and community integration

However, Housing First remains distinct from general “housing-led” approaches and the success of a true Housing First approach is measured by its fidelity to the core principles, including the provision of intensive, holistic support delivered through small caseloads.

Frequently Asked QuestionsWhile the bulk of evidence suggests that Housing First can successfully reduce repeat homelessness and has positive outcomes for the individuals supported by it, there are a number of challenges that need to be overcome for Housing First to be rolled out more widely. Some of the most frequently asked questions are addressed here. The following sections, which outline how Housing First is being implemented across the UK, also include some important pointers and case studies showing how Housing First is working in practice.

Where do the homes come from?Different Housing First projects work in different ways. Homes can be sourced in thesocial rented sector and the private rented sector (PRS). While the PRS can be auseful source of stock, homes need to be within the Local Housing Allowance (LHA)rate to make them affordable. Social housing stock is often cheaper and offers moresecurity of tenure but both can be used successfully.

Who pays for the support?Housing First projects are funded in different ways and arrangements differ across the UK. Support can be funded by local authorities, charitable organisations ortrusts, health or criminal justice departments. The additional costs associated with the provision of intensive support can result in savings in other areas such as avoiding long stays in temporary accommodation, tenancy breakdown leading to repeat homelessness and avoiding unnecessary health and criminal justice interventions.

What are the criteria and who decides which people get to access Housing First?The exact criteria for Housing First varies between projects but usually it is offered to people who have experienced homelessness on multiple occasions, who may be sleeping rough or have previously slept rough and have mental and/or physical health issues. They may also have ongoing issues with alcohol or substance misuse. Housing First has been shown to be most effective for people who have multiple and complex needs and for whom other forms of support have failed.

Isn’t it just queue jumping?The Housing First model does not require the person to go through the traditional homeless route, instead placing the person directly into permanent accommodation. This process may result in a homeless person being given a permanent home before another household that is waiting for accommodation but is usually only offered to homeless households with multiple complex needs. It could be said that HousingFirst is a way of prioritising households who are in very acute housing need.

Does housing people who have ongoing health and addiction problems cause antisocial behaviour? Because of the high levels of support provided with Housing First, there do not tend to be issues with antisocial behaviour. Where an issue does arise, it can often be resolved quickly, as the support worker can help the tenant liaise with neighbours or their landlord.

Housing First in the Republic of IrelandThe shift towards Housing First in Ireland came in 2011, with the Fine Gael-Labour coalition’s endorsement of Housing First in its programme for government. The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) replaced the Homeless Agency in the same year – provided by Dublin City Council as the statutory body to address homelessness, DRHE also operates across South Dublin County Council, Fingal County Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council areas.

DRHE commissioned a Housing First pilot in 2011 known as the Dublin Housing First demonstration project. It was a joint effort between DRHE, Focus Ireland, Peter McVerry Trust, Dublin Simon Community and Stepping Stones. It followed the Pathways Housing First model closely – users were housed in the community with the same rights as private tenants, with intensive mobile support provided on an individual case management basis.

The demonstration project was part of a European wide evaluation, assessing how the model could be used in the European context. The majority of experience and research was North America based until that point. There were five ‘test sites’ (Amsterdam, Budapest, Copenhagen, Glasgow and Lisbon) and five ‘peer sites’ (Dublin, Gent, Gothenburg, Helsinki and Vienna).

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The project ran from April 2011 to September 2014 – users achieved considerably greater levels of housing stability, and they reported better health with less use of substance treatment services without an increase in drug and alcohol related problems. 80-85% of tenancies were sustained among a more vulnerable group with higher support needs. This group had been viewed as unable to be housed in traditional models – previous ‘continuum of care’ or ‘staircase models’ were foundto have only 50% tenancy sustainment outcomes.Focus Ireland and Peter McVerry Trust won the DRHE contract to deliver a Housing First service following the pilot, which commenced October 2014. This contract was due to run until September 2017 but has now been extended until mid 2018, while the future strategy for Housing First is being developed. As of March 2018, the service has secured a total of 221 tenancies for 190 unique individuals of which 166 have successfully retained housing, achieving the same level of housing sustainment as experienced internationally.

The Dublin Housing First project announced that on the 4th of January accounting for all current and active tenancies,the Housing First programme in Dublin had effectively ended 1,205 years of homelessness for 144 people.

A forthcoming European Journal of Homelessness Special Edition on Housing First fidelity across Europe includes a chapter on the Dublin project.

In 2014 the Waterford Housing First service began operating – the service is operated by South East Simon Community in partnership with the Health Service Executive (HSE), and is part-funded by Waterford City and County Council. The service normally has between ten and 15 users – in 2015,only two of ten service users were housed and this increased to nine of 11 in 2017.

All 11 of the latter group reported high satisfaction with the support received, with three people seeking less intensive support. While this may create capacity to help others who need intensive support, an expansion of the service is required if everyone who is long-term homeless with complex needs in shelters or sleeping rough in the area is to be helped.

Cork Simon Community has also been operating a Housing First service in Cork and Kerry during 2017, and will shortly conduct a review of the service.

Cork City Council issued a tender for a Housing Led programme at the end of 2017,the outcome of this is awaited.

The case of one service user of Cork Simon’s service – Mr A – is a typical example of long-term homelessness.

Case study – Cork Simon CommunityMr A, now in his fifties, first experienced homelessness before he was 18 years of age. He was an early school leaver. He spent 30 years in and out of homeless services around Ireland. He also spent periods of time in between sleeping on couches and floors of friends’ housing. He was a heroin user for 20 years. For five years before he was ultimately housed, Mr A was a chronic rough sleeper,unable to cope with emergency shelter environments or with being around people.

Three years ago, after a prolonged period of rough sleeping in Cork during the winter, Cork Simon’s Housing First team offered him one of Cork Simon’s flats. He moved directly there from rough sleeping. His support package included daily key worker visits, addiction counselling via community addiction supports, a methadone programme, literacy support and support around social engagements.

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He stopped using heroine, maintains his methadone programme and maintained his tenancy for twoyears. He subsequently moved to third-party social housing, his key worker now visits weekly and he recently re-established contact with his adult daughter. Mr A hasn’t returned to homeless services since he was housed.

Housing First practitioners in Ireland highlight the following challenges to address in order to helpmore people with Housing First:• The lack of availability of housing.• The risk of different interpretations of what Housing

First is and who it can support.• Weak security of tenure in the PRS.• Some users being excluded from accessing social

housing – for example due to having a criminal record or having engaged in anti-social behaviour – which is contrary to Housing First principles of no preconditions.

• Partner agencies generally not providing services on a 24 hours a day, seven days a week basis.

• Whether Housing First is treated as an integrated solution to chronic homelessness or a ‘bolt on’ to settlement services in a policy context – this can also relate to how much housing providers are included in delivering the Housing First ethos.

• The lack of integrated homelessness prevention and housing supply issues ensure increasing homelessness levels, which require immediate crisis response – practitioners say the ‘housing led’ strategy has been damaged as a result, returning to a stronger reliance on emergency sheltered accommodation.

Rebuilding Ireland (July 2016),the Irish Government Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness ,tripled the Housing First programme target in Dublin from an initial 100 to 300 places.A ministerial review of Rebuilding Ireland in September 2017 committed to 100 Housing First places outside of Dublin and to establish specific targets for each of the Dublin local authorities.

The new position of National Director of Housing First was established as part of the review. Bob Jordan formerly of housing charity Threshold and Special Adviser to the Minister of Housing, has been in post in the Dublin Regional Homelessness Executive since February 2018.His role is to drive a cross Government approach to Housing First,support regional and local delivery of Housing First programmes and oversee achievement of the Rebuilding Ireland targets.A National Implementation Plan for Housing First will be published in the coming months. To support national delivery,the Government has pledged that local authorities will work with housing bodies to build more one bed homes.

Our thanks go to Mike Allen, Director of Research in Focus Ireland, and Bob Jordan National Director of Housing First, for highlighting the main developments in Housing First in Ireland over the past year.

Further reading on this topic is available from Housing First Nov 2017 (3).pdf.

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Best in housing celebrated at CIH housing awards 2018People who work in housing and homelessness across Ireland have been recognised for their contribution to local communities, at the CIH Housing Awards 2018 held on Friday 23 February.

The awards, which first began in 2010, aim to recognise the many outstanding people and housing organisations that make a real difference, not only to housing, but to our many diverse communities.

A record number of over 300 people attended this year’s event, with all award winners - with the exception of Best Housing Story, which was chosen by public vote - decided by an independent panel of expert judges from across the housing industry.

Nicola McCrudden, director for the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “Our annual awards recognise the amazing work being done to support people with housing needs in our many diverse communities across the island of Ireland.

“Housing is an incredibly challenging sector which is fundamental to people’s lives. It makes an important contribution to ensuring more people have access to housing that is affordable. It is vital to celebrate the contribution the sector makes to society.

“As always, the standard was incredibly high and the judges spent a lot of time choosing the overall winners from each category; this is a measure of the amount of great work being done across the sector.”

Big wins for Irish housing organisationsThe CIH Housing Awards recognises the best housing projects right across the island of Ireland. This year, a number of Irish housing associations and organisations, were amongst this year’s winners at the ceremony, which took place at Titanic Belfast.

The award for ‘Best housing story 2018’This award went to Ffrenchmullen House, Charlemont Street by Dublin City Council in partnership with Túath Housing.

One of Dublin’s oldest communities, the residents of Ffrenchmullen House moved into their new homes in 2017, almost 20 years after the regeneration of the complex had been proposed. The scheme is a public private partnership initiative completed by Dublin City Council.

The regeneration scheme, once completed, will contain over 500 apartments, 79 of which are already completed. The redevelopment will also include shops, restaurants, a sports centre and over 20,000 square feet of office space.

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The award for ‘Housing team of the year’This award went to Túath Housing, the fastest growing approved housing body in Ireland, with over 3,600 properties managed since its inception in 2001.

Túath’s new business team consists of just three full-time staff but between them they work with 31 local authorities to deliver social housing via a range of different procurement methods such as management contracts, mortgage to rent properties, vacant homes initiatives, and private leasing.

The team of three has achieved success in delivering more homes through relationships with some of the largest house builders in the country, as well as with NAMA with whom they have entered into long-term leases through its leasing facility.

The award for ‘More than bricks and mortar’This award went to Circle Voluntary Housing Association for Peader Kearney House (PKH).

PKH is a development of 56 apartments and townhouses located in the heart of Dublin’s north inner city. The development was built following a long and successful campaign by local people to renovate their old estate, which had become dilapidated and suffered from severe social problems, and to improve their living conditions and life chances.

The Award for Housing HeroThe award went to Cluid Housing Associations Kathleen Aspel Mortimer .

The Award for ‘Working in partnership ‘ The award went to DRHE – Focus Ireland – Peter Mc Ferry Trust for their Housing First Project.

To see the full list of winners at the CIH Housing Awards 2018, please visit http://www.cih.org/ni/awards

For more information please contact Cathy Etchingham, CIH Professional Development Manager, on +353 (1) 656 4160, +353 (89) 7036248 or email cathy.etchingham@cih.org.

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Regulatory Fragmentation in the Private Rented Sector

Ireland is bucking the trend by increasing regulation in the private rented sector, says Diarmaid O’Sullivan, but it’s disjointed, and needs major reform.

The private rented sector in Ireland has grown in importance and scale in recent decades. One in five households now rent their home and this figure is likely to grow in the coming years. As the sector has grown, it has been the subject of increased regulation. In this regard, Ireland is an exception in Europe,

where the trend has been towards de-regulation.

However, the regulation of the private rented sector in Ireland is open to the criticism that it is somewhat disjointed, lacks coordination and is fragmented. Regulatory developments have been introduced in a somewhat piecemeal fashion. A constantly changing regulatory environment brings uncertainty for both landlords and tenants and is a barrier to investment in the sector.

The Residential Tenancies BoardIreland is relatively unique in having a dedicated regulatory body for the private rented sector – the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB). The primary function of the RTB is to support and regulate the private rented sector and to allow for disputes between landlords and tenants to be resolved ‘cheaply and speedily’. All private rented tenancies must be registered with the Board. In a welcome development, since 2015 this includes tenancies of Approved Housing Bodies. The RTB also provides a dispute resolution service for landlords and tenants and plays a role in gathering and analysing data on the sector, for example, the RTB Quarterly Rent Index.

However, the RTB is not the only regulatory agency operating in the private rented sector in Ireland. In fact, the regulation of the sector is dispersed across a variety of regulatory agencies, with different agencies regulating different parts of the sector. Local Authorities have responsibility for regulating Minimum Standards in rented accommodation, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) deals with discrimination issues under the Equal Status Acts 2000-2015, while the Property Services Regulatory Authority regulates letting agents. These regulatory agencies are increasingly being required to share ‘regulatory space’ which creates challenges in terms of regulatory co-ordination. Despite playing a central role in the regulation of the private rented sector, the RTB does not oversee the policy and regulatory framework within which the private rented sector operates. Rather, this role is retained by the Minister for Housing and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. This raises questions as to the degree of independence the RTB actually has from its parent Department and its ability to initiate appropriate regulatory measures and initiatives.

The Nature of Regulation in IrelandThe nature of the relationship that exists between the RTB and its parent Department, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, is not, however, unusual in an Irish context. It is the norm in Ireland for only limited power to be delegated to regulators under primary legislation, with most policy decisions being made by the relevant Minister. This is informed, at least in part, by Article 15.2.1 of the Constitution, which limits the power of Ministers to make secondary legislation. This has the effect of limiting significantly the independence and legal authority of regulatory agencies and their power to set regulatory rules. This certainly holds true in the case of the RTB. The Residential Tenancies Act 2004, which established the RTB, is a complex and prescriptive piece of legislation, which allows little scope for flexibility of interpretation.

Diarmaid O’Sullivan is a Regional Services Manager with Threshold

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The power of regulators is also limited by the extent of the resources they have at their disposal to carry out their functions. The low level of inspections by Local Authorities of rented properties under Minimum Standards and the relatively small number of RTB determination orders that are enforced through the courts are, at least in part, the result of limited resources. Not only is there a fragmentation of regulatory function in the private rented sector, there is also a fragmentation of the resources necessary to regulate, including financial resources, information and authority, amongst multiple agencies.

Regulation in the FutureGiven the key role the private rented sector is set to play in the Irish housing system in the coming decades, particularly in terms of the provision of social housing supports, it is vital that we have a regulatory system that is effective and well-coordinated.

The Strategy for the Rental Sector, published in December 2016, sets out a vision for the future of the private rented sector. The Strategy envisages an enhanced role for the RTB, but primarily as a provider of services as opposed to a regulator with policy-making functions. On a positive note, there is a commitment in the Strategy to adequately resource the Board as its role evolves, but it remains to be seen if there will be a dramatic change in the role the RTB plays. If we are to have meaningful regulatory reform in the private rented sector, there must be reform of the entire regulatory system that governs the sector, including the multiple agencies and players that comprise it. What is clear is that the need for a well-coordinated and systematic approach to the regulation of the private rented sector has never been more important.

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Housing Leaders Programme Driving the housing agenda forward in IrelandHow can we best support the housing sector in Ireland? That was the question that underpinned our consultations with partners from local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Housing Agency throughout the course of 2017. For more than 100 years the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has devoted its work to one simple purpose: to ensure that everyone has a decent, affordable home in a thriving, safe community. We help professionals and organisations to be the best they can be to work towards that fundamental goal.

We wanted to shape our work in Ireland to help tackle this country’s unique housing challenges and drive the agenda forward. Following extensive discussions with decision-makers across the public and private sectors, we have launched our brand-new Irish Founding Leaders’ programme.

Lessons from CanadaOur programme is inspired by the example set by CIH Canada – like Ireland a country where CIH is a fairly recent presence. CIH Canada was set up in 2013 – before that, there was a lack of formal educational pathways for housing in Canada. Few courses were offered in universities or colleges and learning often happened on the job.Experienced housing professionals were unable to measure their skills and expertise to a national standard for housing excellence.The CIH Canada Founders’ Programme was designed to recognise distinguished housing professionals for their substantial contribution to the sector and the experience they have gained as a result of their work. The first programme was launched in Ontario in 2013 and further programmes were run in Western Canada following CIH Canada’s expansion through partnerships with BC Non-Profit Housing Association, Alberta Public Housing Administrators’ Association and Manitoba Housing. All of the housing professionals who took part achieved Chartered membership of CIH – a recognition of housing expertise, commitment and ethical standards.

What is the Founders’ Programme?In a housing world that has never been more challenging,it is more important than ever for professionals to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to succeed.

We’ve worked with the Housing Agency to develop a programme which we believe offers an unparalleled opportunity for members and organisations to become part of a collective effort to tackle the range of issues facing housing in Ireland and to develop our profession across the country.

How does it work?The first programme took place in Dublin during January to March 2018 and was made up of three two-day residential workshops. The sessions were delivered by a range of housing experts with decades of experience between them, including CIH Chief Executive Terrie Alafat CBE, Paul Tennant, former Chief Executive of Orbit housing association, Poplar HARCA Chief Executive Steve Stride, Anna Simpson, Group Director of Finance and Company Secretary at Grand Union Housing, and Wolverhampton Homes Director of Operations Shaun Aldis.

The workshops covered a range of themes, including:

Organisational transformation and changeIn a challenging funding landscape, organisational transformation and change is a key issue. Participants took a detailed look at managing and leading change and explored everything from developing business plans to monitoring and evaluation.

RegenerationRegeneration has the potential to transform communities but such projects are costly and complex. Our programme experts drew on their own experience to explore the big challenges and opportunities associated with regeneration.

Community and tenant engagementClose working with tenants and communities is a crucial part of meeting local housing need and recent events have brought this into sharp focus. Participants looked at the different approaches to involving tenants and working with their communities.

Estate managementUsing their varied experience, our experts looked at the different models of estate management and examined key challenges, including everything from dealing with anti-social behaviour to supporting people with care needs.

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Using your assets to build for the futureThe pressure to make best use of existing assets has never been greater, so this session explored a range of challenges from managing empty homes to long-term investment in housing.

Professionalism, leadership, values and ethicsCIH is the professional body for people who work in housing, which means that a huge part of our role is to drive up professional standards and skills. So, for us, it was very important to examine the characteristics housing professionals need to meet the many challenges they face and the skills that housing leaders should have, as well as the importance of professional values and ethics and how organisations can go about embedding them in their culture.

Ultimately, the aim of the programme is to allow participants to review their own organisation’s unique issues and challenges as they learn from experts, share ideas and challenge perceptions in a supportive environment.

A total of 12 people from organisations including Cork City Council, the Housing Agency, Cluid Housing Association and Circle Voluntary Housing Association took part in the first programme earlier this year. They were:• Housing Agency Chief Executive John O Connor • Circle Voluntary Housing Association Chief Executive

John Hannigan • Urbeo Residential Director of Housing Aidan Culhane• Fingal County Council Director of Services Margaret

Gerraghty• Residential Tenancies Board Director Rosalind Carroll• Kildare County Council Director of Services

Tadhg O Donnell• Cork City Council Senior Executive Officer Catherine

Kelly• North and East Housing Association Chief Executive

Vincent Keenan• Louth County Council Senior Executive Officer

Aiofe Lawlor• Housing Agency Director of Research and Corporate

Affairs David Silke• Cluid Housing Association Chief Executive

Brian O Gorman• Circle Voluntary Housing Association Manager

Pat CostelloeWe asked one of the participants – John Hannigan, Chief Executive of Circle Voluntary Housing Association and CIH chartered member to give us his overview.

John said: For me, it is just the start of our mission to work with the housing profession in Ireland.There are many ideas about how the expanded and strong housing sector can support young and emerging leaders raise the profile of CIH as the sectors international professional body and be a policy voice for housing leaders in Ireland in the future.

Among the many ideas brought forward by housing leaders on the programme was a desire to nurture and develop the leaders of tomorrow.A future leaders programme will be designed to complement the founders programme and ensure that organisations are looking at skills development and succession planning to ensure continued growth and strength in the sector.

It is envisaged that the leaders programme will mature into a key influence group in housing in Ireland.It will help to champion best practice ,articulate policy positions and continue the professional development of all those engaged in the delivery of homes.Has the programme been beneficial?

I’m a housing professional with more than 20 years experience in a number of jurisdictions.I can honestly say that I have learned a great deal,expanded my housing and professional network and contributed to the thinking that may effect the sector in the years to come,as a result of this programme.All serious housing professionals should take part .

What comes next?For us the Founders’ Programme is just the start of our mission to work with the housing profession in Ireland. We have many ideas about how an expanded and strengthened housing sector can support young and emerging leaders, raise the profile of CIH as the sector’s international professional body and be a policy voice for housing leaders in Ireland in the future.In fact, among the many ideas brought forward by the housing leaders who took part in the first programme was a desire to nurture and develop the leaders of tomorrow.

We are looking at the possibility of developing a future leaders’ programme which would be designed to complement the founders’ programme. We think this would help to make sure that housing organisations across Ireland are looking at skills development and succession planning to ensure continued growth and strength in the sector.

We are envisaging that the people who take part in our leaders’ programme will mature into a key influence group in housing in Ireland. Ultimately, we hope the programme will help to champion best practice, articulate policy positions and continue the professional development of all those engaged in delivering homes and supporting communities.

The next Housing  leaders Programme takes place later this year. For more information or to register your interest in taking part, contact Cathy Etchingham on 01 656 4160 or at Cathy.Etchingham@cih.org.

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Overview of the Summary of Social Housing AssessmentsThe Summary of Social Housing Assessments brings together information provided by local authorities on households in their area that are qualified and waiting for social housing support. The most recent assessment, published in January this year, identifies 85,799 households in Ireland that were on the waiting list for housing support on 28 June 2017. This figure represents a decrease of 5,801 households (a drop of 6.3%) compared to the number recorded in the previous assessment carried out in September 2016. In the nine months between the two most recent assessments, 25 of the 31 local authorities saw the number of households waiting for support in their area fall.

What is it and who’s included?The Summary of Social Housing Assessments is shaped by policy and grounded in legislation. The system revolves around a point-in-time assessment of the circumstances of the household applying for assistance. The outcome of this assessment determines if the household is placed on the waiting list for support. The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 establishes the framework for how assessments are carried out by local authorities. Under the Act, qualifying for social housing support is a two-step process: the household must be both eligible for and in need of support before being placed on the waiting list.

Eligibility for support is evaluated with reference to four key criteria: the level of assessable household income, the applicant’s residency status, the availability of alternative accommodation, and a record of (no) rent arrears to a local authority. The second stage of the process of qualifying for housing support centres on an assessment of need. According to the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, housing need includes, amongst other circumstances, households living in overcrowded accommodation, those residing in an institution or emergency accommodation, and people in receipt of rent supplement. Why mention all of this? The Summary of Social Housing Assessments publication draws on the administrative data collected as part of this legislative process. The framework established under the 2009 Act and the associated regulations directly influence who’s included in the count and the household circumstances reported on. The publication refers to households deemed qualified for support whose housing need is not being met. This means that households already living in homes owned by local authorities or approved housing bodies are excluded from the count, as are those in accommodation supported by state payments made through the Housing Assistance Payment, the Rental Accommodation Scheme or a long-term lease arrangement. The focus of the report, therefore, is on the need for additional housing supports.

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The location and profile of households on the listThe number of households on the list is down, but the 2017 report finds one out of every twenty households in the state qualified and waiting for support. Social housing in Ireland is often characterised as acting as a safety net for those unable to meet the cost of accommodation from their own means. The profile of households on the waiting list for support in June 2017 broadly supports the idea that social housing is targeted at those most disadvantaged. The waiting list overwhelmingly comprises households with a low income and the majority (57.5%) of those qualified for social housing support are unemployed.

Those on the list are getting older, as time spent waiting to receive housing support increases. A quarter of the 85,799 households captured in the most recent assessment were on the list for more than seven years. The two most recent assessments relate to snap-shot counts taken only nine months apart, so a comparison of the most recent results with the 2013 assessment is a better way to demonstrate the extent to which the age profile of those on the list has shifted in recent years. Back in 2013, 15.5% of main applicants in households waiting for support were over 50 years of age, but by 2017 this had increased to just over one-in-five (21%) of all households on the waiting list. The increase in the share of households on the list with an older age profile may have implications for the mix of new homes required in the coming years.

Together, the four Dublin authorities, Cork City and Galway City have just under half (49.3%) of the 85,799 households on the waiting list. These authorities have a much greater amount of households living in their jurisdiction compared to the numbers based in many other parts of the country, so would be expected to have the highest quantity of households on their waiting list. Presenting the headline figures for 2017 as a percentage of the total number of private households living in each local authority area is one way to give a more balanced picture of the number of new supports needed to meet the identified demand in various parts

of the country (see Figure 1). Taking this approach, again, it is authorities that contain large urban areas and those close to our biggest cities that record the highest percentage of households on the waiting list relative to the total numbers living in that area. This suggests additional social housing need in the years ahead will be concentrated in cities and the near-by suburban areas.

The Summary of Social Housing Assessments is an important publication for housing practitioners. It contains a wealth of data on the scale of the need for new housing supports and profile of households on the waiting list. The full publication can be found on the Housing Agency’s website (www.housingagency.ie).

Daragh McCarthy is a Researcher in the Housing Agency

Figure 1: Number of households on the waiting list for support relative to the overall number of private households in the local authority area

Source: Author’s calculations based on the “Summary of Social Housing Assessments 2018” and Central Statistics Office “Average Number of Persons per Private Household 2011 to 2016 by County and City” [E4003]

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GDPR – What does it mean for Approved Housing Bodies?

Data protection is a hot topic at the moment. People are beginning to ask exactly who has access to their personal data and how is that data being used? The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on 25 May 2018. If you haven’t already begun planning your route to full compliance, now is the time to consider what changes GDPR will bring and how they will impact your business. A good starting point is to define what the term ‘personal data’ means.

Officially, its data that relates to a living individual who can be identified by one or more pieces of data relating to that individual that is held by your company. Examples include name, address and date of birth, but GDPR goes a step further and also includes items such as IP addresses and mobile device IDs. Clúid Housing has always valued the importance of data protection and our journey towards GDPR compliance began over a year ago. From the beginning, the project took a ‘risk based approach’ to all of the personal data processed by Clúid. That means identifying what data the organisation processes, how safe it is and how quickly it can be accessed should a request arrive. It is important to note that certain personal data is categorised as being high risk and should be addressed first. Examples of high risk data include data relating to minors. It may seem obvious, but don’t forget that personal data includes both employees and residents!

There are eight principles of data protection to follow when processing personal data:You must ensure the data is: 1. Obtained and processed fairly 2. Used only for the purpose that it was gathered in the

first instance 3. Kept safe and secure 4. Accurate and up to date 5. Disclosed only in line with the original purpose6. Not excessive but relevant and adequate 7. Retained only for as long as needed for the

original purpose8. Presented to an individual on request There are,of course, additional GDPR requirements including consent, the right to be forgotten, data access, increased territorial scope, data protection officers and breach notification. For a detailed compliance list, visit your data protection supervisory authority’s website.

When planning your data protection strategy the first step to take is to establish what personal data is processed by your organisation. For the purpose of GDPR compliance, processing data covers many things including collecting, storing, disclosing, deleting and using data. Think practically, creatively and constructively! In Clúid’s case, the organisation uncovered a series of ‘hidden data protection gems’, like the employee details we share with winter flu vaccine providers or sheltered housing scheme information the organisation provides to the Fire Brigade Service in an emergency. A comprehensive approach is paramount. The next step is to establish the legal basis for your business to have the data in the first place. In the case of tenancy agreements the contractual necessity is the legal basis for processing this personal data. Additional legal basis, such as consent, must be considered. Verbal consent is not sufficient and your organisation must ensure that consent is freely given and not just assumed. For example, if you send newsletters to your residents, you may need to update your mailing list to ensure that everyone who receives a newsletter has given their explicit consent to be on that mailing list.

Ann Hayes is Data Management Project Manager at Clúid Housing.

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Managing unnecessary data effectively can reduce the risk of data breaches. Identifying the expiry date of data your organisation keeps on file and shredding hard copies is an easy way to manage this. The thing to remember is that you must keep a record of what you destroy and always ensure you receive a certificate of destruction. For Clúid, the solution was to create a comprehensive data retention log that clearly identifies how long the organisation will keep data on file, what the legal basis is to process the data and the proposed destruction date. It is important to remember that some retention periods cannot be set by you but are governed by other authorities such as Revenue. If in doubt, check with your data protection supervisory office.

GDPR will have far reaching implications and it is important to take the time to study the legislation appropriately. In particular, the time allowed to respond to Subject Access Requests (SARs) and the time allowed before you notify the data protection supervisory authority of a data breach are key concerns. The SARs response time is now 30 days and data breaches must be registered within 72 hours. Failure to do so may result in a hefty fine being issued.

From 25 May 2018, the data protection supervisory authority of each EU member state will have the authority to issue fines for breach of GDPR. These fines could potentially cost an organisation as much as 4% of annual turnover or €20 million (whichever is the greater). A tiered penalty system will apply, with the largest fines expected for lack of adequate data security, ignoring the law and repeat offences. In addition to fines imposed by the supervisory authority, the data subject will also be in a position to claim compensation for damages, including stress.

GDPR is here to stay and AHBs must commit to achieving compliance with the legislation. When it comes to GDPR,no stone can be left unturned. Organisations must now ask themselves: Have our suppliers achieved GDPR compliance before we share personal data with them? How will our IT systems be affected? Have our employees been adequately informed about GDPR? Identifying what personal data your organisation processes, why this data is stored and identifying whether it is secure or not is a solid start to your compliance journey. For Clúid Housing, GDPR has enabled us to begin a journey that will continuously promote, embed and monitor data protection processes across the organisation.

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St Vincent De Paul: Challenges of being a volunteerPaula Kenny tells the story of the contribution of volunteering in two St Vincent De Paul housing schemes for older people, and identifies regulation as both a challenge and an opportunity to improve future housing services.

The delivery of the Society of St Vincent De Paul’s social housing has been realised through the work of community based housing groups (called Conferences), with a total of over 750 volunteers involved in local communities across the country. The provision of mainly special needs older persons accommodation is strongly linked to the Society’s overall mission of its founder Frederick Ozanam to promote community self-sufficiency, provide support and friendship and working for social justice.

The provision of social housing by the Society, like many small community-based housing associations across the country, has developed amidst the need to respond directly to a local community need with housing and supports that help to keep older people and people with disabilities within their communities, near their families and in close proximity to community supports and facilities.

The significance of the work of the Society’s volunteers in the provision of social housing has recently been recognised through the Irish Council for Social Housing Community Housing Awards, whereby the inclusive approach to tenant management was highlighted as the ‘added value’ element to the community volunteer led approach. The award winning older persons scheme in Foxford, Co. Mayo demonstrates, through its volunteers, a unique tenant management system whereby a dedicated volunteer member is assigned to each tenant, ensuring that support or assistance required is met effectively.

This volunteer-led approach has also translated successfully into ensuring an effective design solution in the delivery of the scheme. Working closely with a local architect and the local authority and applying local knowledge of tenant needs has meant that the design has responded appropriately, allowing for life cycle adaptability, ensuring effective connectivity and creating a sense of community. The local volunteer approach has also fostered very strong relationships with other community stakeholders, including disability service providers, local enterprises and the local school with

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St Vincent De Paul: Challenges of being a volunteer

school children actively involved in visiting the tenants and looking after the tenant’s gardens.Another group of Society volunteer members located in the villages of both Upperchurch and Drombane in County Tipperary have been recognised for creating an environment that facilitates individual tenant wellbeing. The Society’s St Bernadette’s Housing Group were recognised for their commitment, not only in meeting the accommodation needs of older people, but also addressing their needs for further learning and social inclusion, while involving engagement between tenants and the wider community to the fullest extent possible. The Group believe that tenant and community involvement is a critical element in the success of the housing provision encouraging both to look beyond their own boundaries. Committee members actively organise community events e.g. social dancing, card games, social trips etc and support tenants in creating communities which are enjoyable and sustainable places to live.

Due to the convenient location of the houses in the village, there is a natural involvement in the community by tenants through accessing local facilities such as the church, pub, community centre and post office. The nearby location of the school and creche facilities also nurture intergenerational relationships and achieve a better sense of community and connection across all ages. Overall the work of the local volunteers has ensured that the potential which lies within their community is fully realised, delivering quality of life for its tenants and supporting community sustainment.

The Society is conscious that its volunteers involved in its housing operations now operate in a far more challeng¬ing regulated housing environment than when the sector first started out. The new regulatory

compliance requirements impose significant additional work on volunteers and is a new operating ground for many. The Society is working to meet those challenges through resourcing and supporting its volunteers to deliver the best service they can. The views of its volunteers over the last number of years have been critical in helping to formulate a new Social Housing Strategic Plan, with key underlying aims focused on governance, viability and performance and very much informed by new regulatory and legislative requirements.

The Society views regulation as providing a focus in making the Society ask important questions about its housing operations, allowing it to identify areas of further work in its housing provision and management. Notwithstanding the volunteer-led approach, it is clear that it needs to operate effectively and seek continuous improvement in the management of its housing stock and ensure the delivery of highest quality services to its tenants. Crucial to going forward will be a pipeline of dedicated people with varying skillsets to ensure that the volunteer commitment and enthusiasm will continue to be supported. In addition, the organisation’s successful partnership working within the sector needs to be fostered.

The Society’s uniqueness as an organisation is its strength, and the organisation recognises the need to continue to nurture those involved, ensuring the highest standards in the provision and management of its housing.

Paula Kenny is National Manager for Social Housing and Specialist Services with Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.

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Book ReviewSustainable Communities and Urban Housing: a comparative European perspective, edited by Montserrat Pareja-Eastaway and Nessa Winston, London and New York, Routledge, 2017, £110 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-138-91148-2 Review by Roslyn Molloy Naturally enough, most people tend to view housing markets as a national problem

largely isolated from global trends. In fact, housing markets in many parts of Europe share common characteristics although the solutions adopted by national governments tend to be very different and often culturally specific.

Sustainable Communities and Urban Housing, edited by Spanish academic Montserrat Pareja-Eastaway and UCD counterpart Nessa Winston does a great job exploring some of the similarities and differences between 11 European countries (Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Britain, Romania, Hungary, Switzerland and Germany) and their policy responses Each chapter provides a background to key issues and the impact of the recent financial crisis, a description of the housing system and an analysis of sustainable housing policies and practices.

The editors conclude there are four ways to improve housing; regenerate existing built environments; regenerate the physical housing stock and the public realm; improve the economic, social and physical well-being of residents and change the practices and cultures of housing professionals such as planners, developers and architects.

What is striking for an Irish reader is how many of the issues in countries as different as Sweden and Switzerland are also shared by Ireland’s housing market. The Swedes, for example, are struggling to create ‘Compact Cities’. Responsibility for housing and planning is decentralised and devolved to Sweden’s 290 municipalities which control the planning system and issue legally binding, detailed land development plans that are conditional for building permits. Sweden has a low density of inhabitants scattered over many small cities and towns and, like Ireland, is highly car dependent with a lot of one-off housing. Cities are small, families are small and there is difficulty developing public transport and other collective services. In 2012, just under 21% of the population were living in densely populated areas, compared to 35% in Ireland. At the same time, there was greater demand for smaller types of housing in cities, increased rates of overcrowding in urban areas and an increasing population.

It is a similar story in Switzerland, where housing decision-making is highly democratised and decentralised to the 26 cantons, this has been an important barrier to sustainability in some areas, yet a spur to sustainability in others. Like Sweden, Switzerland is not densely populated, with just over 26% of the

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population living in densely populated areas, compared to the EU average of 42%. One consequence of the democratic decision-making is the considerable urban sprawl as cantons zoned land for one-off housing to attract middle- to high-income earners paying higher taxes, but it is now recognised that this urban sprawl is no longer sustainable. In cities such as Zurich and Basel, citizens have voted for a binding framework limiting the cities to existing boundaries and settlement areas, meaning increased building density and additional housing on brownfield sites.

A second challenge common to many countries is the pressure to provide affordable housing in urban areas. In Sweden, the reasons cited for this shortage seem all too familiar; planning problems; difficulty for private investors to make a profit; high capital gains taxes. In 2011, three quarters of the local electorate in Zurich, Switzerland, voted to boost social housing from a quarter of all housing to a third, to be achieved by the city building more housing and encouraging non-profit housing bodies to build on city-owned land.

The development of Kalkbreite in Switzerland is described; where a group of housing experts, residents in the areas and activists set up a non-profit housing cooperative and built on city land with a lease of 92 years. The objective was to create a socially and ecologically sustainable urban living space to: “provide affordable rents for a balanced mix of residents, varying in household composition, of age, gender, income and wealth, as well as education level and nationality”. In Germany, councils have responded to rising rent levels in large attractive (“swarm cities”) through rent controls. Though rent regulation was in place for existing tenancies, a new law was introduced in 2015 limiting the level of rent increases for new tenancies to 10% above the ‘comparable’ rent in the city for so-called ‘stressed markets’.

Land use in cities has been restricted in-line with the German sustainability goal of reducing daily land consumption from 80 hectares to 30 hectares per day by 2020. However, with limited land available, planners are looking at new upper limits for high rise developments. Supply has been steadily increasing and the national government has increased subsidies. With Ireland placing sustainability at the heart of long-term planning and Project Ireland 2040 National Planning Framework seeking to ensure that the decisions we make today meet our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, there is plenty to ponder on in this excellent and very useful book.

Other chapters relate tales of plans that have gone awry and projects with often unexpected consequences. Who would have thought that retro-fitting Danish houses with insulation would have led to increased energy consumption as residents turned up their thermostats, for example? This is, in short, a useful and thought-provoking introduction to the challenge of creating sustainable communities and urban housing.

Roslyn Molloy is a Researcher with the Housing Agency.

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Chartered Institute of Housing53 Mount Street Upper, Dublin 2, Ireland

T: 01 656 4160E: roi@cih.org

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