Local Government

Low income areas in the US are no longer ‘redlined’ by banks, thanks to the introduction of the Community Reinvestment Act in the 70s. Could similar legislation halt the rise of payday lenders in the UK?

In 1960s America, if you lived in the wrong neighbourhood, you wouldn’t get credit. The practice of redlining blocked lending in particular areas – a red line on a map circled ‘unsafe’ zones where lenders wouldn’t go. And evidence grew of low income neighbourhoods, and in particular African American communities, only getting access to loans and mortgages on less favourable terms.

Housing providers are responding to the need to ‘reinvent everything’ with innovative schemes that join the dots between housing and healthcare and help tenants get online and get back to work. Here’s five of the best:

1. LAUNCHING START-UP FUNDS: The Community Development Finance Association and Hact are to launch a fund to help housing association tenants set up their own businesses. Ten housing associations will provide £50,000 start-up loan funds to local residents, with a further £100,000 made available through community development finance institutions. It will provide small loans of around £1000 to tenants hoping to set up their own business, and the money will be recycled to provide further loans to the community. The Accord Group last year set up a social incubator to help new enterprises get off the ground.
2. TACKLING DIGITAL EXCLUSION: Leeds Federated Housing Association has launched the Hugo (How U Get Online) project to help its tenants – and other local people – learn digital skills. The Hugo family (pictured left) has its own website telling the stories of the various family members as they move to Leeds and explore their new city online. A mini Hugo bus travels around the south Leeds area helping people to get online, and a Hugo training centre has been launched at the housing association’s base.
3. BUILDING THE MOST ENERGY EFFICIENT HOMES POSSIBLE: Hastoe Housing specialises in sustainable and affordable rural housing and is one of the first social landlords to build to the exacting Passivhaus standard at scale. It has run two Passivhaus schemes so far, consisting of 28 homes in Essex and Norfolk. Three years after their launch only one resident within these schemes is in arrears, compared to an average 3-4% arrears level across its portfolio as a whole. A number of new Passivhaus schemes are now in development. Hastoe has also retrofitted existing homes with a mix of technologies and planted a ‘virtual orchard’ of 800 fruit trees gifted to residents and local communities.
4. PARTNERING WITH HEALTH PROVIDERS: The One Housing Group announced a partnership in 2012 with Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust in a bid to integrate healthcare and housing. Tile House, a project which houses people with mental health problems in London’s Kings Cross, is the first fruit of that partnership. It has clinical staff on site and houses patients who don’t need the level of care provided by hospitals and care homes, bringing savings to the local health budget.
5. GETTING RESIDENTS BACK TO WORK: In 2012 Family Mosaic set itself the target of getting 1000 of its residents back into work within three years. It has kept its rents at low levels to remove the disincentive for tenants to work and has invested heavily in training programmes. It has run a number of employment Boot Camps. Lasting six weeks, these programmes are aimed at the long-term unemployed and include an intensive three day course to help motivate participants and boost the skills needed to get a job. For more info click here.