Full House! - Overcrowding workshop
In many towns and cities, overcrowding is the biggest challenge facing providers of social housing, with families often two or three rooms short of the ‘bedroom standard’ facing serious risks.
With reductions in benefits ahead, this situation is set to worsen: what can we do?
One option is to look at the thousands of family homes lived in by single, elderly people: how can we support and encourage them to move, whilst ensuring individual choice?
Landlords need to tackle these issues together to make best use of available stock and meet tenant aspirations, and policy-makers need to develop solutions that work in their local housing market.
We will look at current best practice in tackling under-occupation and overcrowding, drawing on national and regional research, and case studies from individual providers, to consider:
- The impact of overcrowding on families
- Overcrowding as a safety hazard – the HHSRS
- Working with private landlords
- Tools to tackle overcrowding, including enforcement
- Avoiding perverse incentives to become overcrowded
- What impact will changes to the welfare state have on under-occupiers?
- How to identify under-occupiers, and which are most likely to move
- What persuades under-occupiers to move?
- Where to invest your resources
- Ensuring the right outcome for individuals: the housing options approach
- Tools for tackling under-occupation
- Challenging community expectations about housing and household size/composition.
Who should attend?
Housing practitioners and policy-makers from housing and advice organisations of all kinds who have identified that under-occupation or over-crowding are issues in their locality. This event will be particularly relevant to housing officers, policy officers, allocation officers and housing advisors/options officers.
Our trainer
Suzanne McBride is an experienced housing trainer and consultant. She has a wealth of experience in delivering and managing general and specialist housing. She has implemented and developed policies for numerous sub-regional choice-based lettings schemes, including working with communities, local authorities and housing providers together to agree workable solutions to allocating scarce resources.
HQN has a track record of helping organisations achieve real and lasting performance improvements. If you are interested in accessing this training package please contact David Ganz, Executive Director of Training and Development Services, to discuss your specific needs on 07921 308823 or by emailing training@hqnetwork.co.uk
