Philip Leather

Grants to Home-owners: A Policy in Search of Objectives

This paper examines the policy of providing capital grants to home-owners in England and Wales for repairs and improvements to their properties since its origins in the late 1940s. Such grants have been the major mechanism for delivering state support to home-owners with repairs and improvements and at times have formed a major component of public spending. Grant aid, usually covering 50 per cent of approved costs, was initially intended as an incentive to owners (mainly landlords) to install amenities and facilities which had not been provided when properties were constructed in the 19th century. With the growth of low-income home ownership, grants were extended to provide assistance with repairs and to cover a greater proportion of the costs of work. In some cases, 100 per cent grants under which the organisation of work was taken out of the owners hands completely were provided in order to secure better works quality. Unfortunately these approaches coincided with financial retrenchment. From 1990, the government reaffirmed that repairs and improvements were primarily the responsibility of home-owners and grant aid was residualised, that is focused on the poorest households in the worst condition properties, leading to a dramatic reduction in the number of home-owners receiving state assistance. Subsequently other objectives such as community care, public health, energy efficiency and environmental concerns have further eroded the resources available for housing stock renovation. Despite the mismatch between the grant policy mechanism and available resources, there has been little progress in the development of a new philosophy defining the interest of the state in the condition of private sector housing and the respective responsibilities of the state and private owners and the introduction of alternative ways of helping low-income owners with repair and improvement.

The potential and implications of home equity release in old age

Abstract Studies of the implications of wealth accumulation through owner occupation have begun to focus on the inheritance of housing wealth. This paper suggests that such studies give too little emphasis to the consumption of home equity by older people. To date, the use of home equity has been relatively insignificant but this reflects the limitations of existing equity release mechanisms rather than a lack of underlying demand. The scale of equity held by older people, the potential for new mechanisms, and survey evidence relating to the attitudes of older people themselves are examined in detail. In the context of declining standards of state provision of many services many older people may choose or be forced to make use of their wealth to meet a variety of needs. This not only requires a reappraisal of the role of home ownership in providing for old age but also raises major questions in relation to standards of provision for those without access to such wealth.

The role of the private sector in housing renewal: Lessons from the neighbourhood revitalisation services experiment in England

Abstract During the 1980s the British government made a number of attempts to involve the private sector in the administration and financing of housing renewal initiatives in inner city areas. One of the most significant of these was the Neighbourhood Revitalisation Services (NRS) initiative which was based on the Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) concept developed in the United States. This paper traces the history of housing renewal policy in England leading up to the development of the NRS initiative. It then compares the NHS projects developed in the United States with the English NRS model and discusses the key differences. The performance of both the pilot NRS projects and the expanded programme of government‐funded NRS schemes is then examined in detail with particular emphasis upon the objective of involving private sector organisations in housing renewal. In conclusion the paper discusses the reasons why the NRS initiative failed to meet these objectives including those stemming from the differ...

Maintaining home ownership: the evaluation of home improvement agencies in the United Kingdom

Home ownership is the dominant tenure in the United Kingdom. While government policies see home ownership primarily as a solution to housing problems, there is an increasing awareness that many households experience significant difficulties in meeting their housing costs in this tenure. To date the main emphasis has been on the problems of mortgage arrears and house repossessions associated with house purchase costs, but in the long term the costs of repair, improvement and maintenance of the housing stock may be equally significant. This article traces the evolution of home improvement agencies from their origins in the 1970s to their recognition by government as a mainstream element of housing policy in 1991. Government support for the work of home improvement agencies represents a significant step because it accepts that for some groups, it is problematic to remain living in a home that they own themselves.